공유

Chapter 2

작가: Joe Michael
last update 최신 업데이트: 2025-08-24 04:41:12

The next morning, Daniel was already at his desk when Ethan arrived. His morning Coffee in one hand, his eyes scanning the spreadsheets of his laptop. Too focused and too composed.

Ethan’s phone buzzed in his pocket as he passed. Same unknown number from last night.

“Watch him. He’s not what you think.”

He never flinched, but something about the timing made his stomach twist.

“Morning, Mr. Richard.” Daniel looked up with that calm smile. “You’re early today.”

“You’re late,” Ethan snapped, brushing past.

Daniel glanced at the clock. “It’s 6:45 a.m.”

Ethan didn’t reply. He shut the office door harder than necessary.

By mid-morning, tension snapped again.

“Reyes!” Ethan barked through the intercom.

Daniel appeared instantly, holding a file. “You called?” He asked.

“Where’s the McKenna report?”

“On your desk.”

Ethan scanned. Page after page. Everything in order. Too perfect.

“You did this overnight?”

“Yes.”

“You stayed late?”

Daniel raised a brow. “Someone has to keep the empire from crumbling.”

For the first time, Ethan almost smiled.

But then Daniel leaned forward, whispering his voice. “You should check who’s leaking your numbers.”

Ethan froze. “What did you just say?”

Daniel slid another paper forward. “Last night, I found duplicates of your files on a hidden drive. Someone’s feeding data outside.”

“How do you know that?” Ethan asked.

Daniel’s eyes held his, too direct. “Because I found them. And I deleted them.” Daniel answered.

“You touched my systems again eh?”

“You asked me to protect you, remember? Even if you didn’t say it out loud.”

For a moment, the air between them charged.

Then Ethan grabbed the phone. “Security. I want a full trace on system access—”

Daniel reached across the desk and pressed the receiver down. “Don’t bother. If you go official, the leak will know you’re onto them.”

The nerve. Ethan’s blood burned hot. “You think you can dictate how I run my company?”

“No,” Daniel said. “I think I can save it.”

At noon, Ethan attended a high-level lunch with investors. He brought Daniel along—not out of trust, but because he wanted to watch him.

The restaurant was buzzing, every table packed with power suits. The investors leaned in numbers.

“Rumors say your company’s bleeding data, Richard. Competitors are already circling.”

Ethan hated rumors. Hated weakness. But before he could reply, Daniel spoke.

“That’s a lie," Richard’s Tech runs tighter security than any firm in this city. Whoever fed you that garbage was trying to spook you.

Every head turned. Ethan’s pulse spiked. His assistant had just spoken for him—at his table.

“Who are you?” one investor asked.

Daniel didn’t blink. “The man who makes sure Richard never loses.”

The table erupted in laughter. Ethan sat back, silent and watching. Daniel had just silenced billionaires with one line.

But Ethan couldn’t ignore it. The timing. The confidence and even the unknown number.

Who the hell was this man?

That night, Ethan confronted him.

“You don’t speak for me.”

Daniel stood by the window of Ethan’s office, the city lights painting him. “I spoke for the truth. You needed it.”

“I don’t need you,” Ethan snapped.

Daniel turned. “Then why haven’t you fired me?”

Ethan froze.

“Face it,” Daniel continued. “You don’t trust anyone. But you trust me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Liar.”

The word sliced deeper than Ethan expected.

Before he could reply, Daniel stepped closer. “Someone inside your circle is leaking data. If you don’t let me help, you’ll lose everything. Including this company you pretend is all you have.”

Their faces were inches apart.

Ethan’s voice dropped. “And what do you get out of this?”

“Maybe I like saving sharks before they drown.”

Something inside Ethan cracked. He hated him. He wanted him. He didn’t understand him.

But before he could say anything, the office door burst open.

It was Alex, his rival from the board.

“Well, well,” Alex smirked. “I wondered why you stayed late, Richard. Now I see. You’ve been busy.”

Ethan’s chest tightened. Alex’s eyes flicked between him and Daniel, hungry for gossip.

“Careful,” Alex sneered. “Shareholders wouldn’t like to know their CEO’s assistant spends more time in his office than his wife ever did.”

Daniel’s jaw clenched. Ethan shot him a warning glance—stay silent.

But Daniel didn’t.

“Funny,” Daniel said stepping forward, “I didn’t know blackmail was part of the board’s job description.”

Alex’s smirk faltered.

This wasn’t how he wanted this confrontation. Not now. Not with Alex.

“Leave, Alex, before I remind you what happens when you overstep.”

Alex chuckled. “Enjoy your little secret, Richard. It won’t stay hidden for long.”

He left. The door slammed.

Ethan's fury boiling. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

Daniel didn’t flinch. “I protected you.”

“No, Reyes. You just painted a target on my back—and yours.”

Daniel’s mask slipped. Fear flickered in his eyes, quick, before vanishing.

And Ethan caught it.

“You’re hiding something, Daniel."

Daniel’s silence was the only confirmation he needed.

But, Ethan didn’t sleep. The anonymous texts, Daniel’s perfect timing, Alex’s smirk—it all twisted together into one undeniable truth:

Daniel Reyes wasn’t just an assistant.

But what was he?

The next morning, Ethan opened his email.

His stomach dropped.

A single file sat in his inbox. No subject. No sender.

Inside: photographs, clear enough. Him and Daniel. Last night. Standing too close. Daniel’s hand brushing his sleeve. Ethan leaning forward.

The kind of pictures that could ruin him.

And a message attached.

“How much is your assistant worth to you, Mr. Richard?”

Ethan’s blood ran cold.

Daniel walked in just then, holding two coffees. “Long night?”

Ethan slammed the laptop shut.

“Reyes!” he called, “you have exactly one chance to tell me the truth. Who the hell are you?”

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  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 49

    Alex, who had always been a man of ambition—a strategist in charm, a schemer with the face of a friend. At Richard’s Tech, he’d been known for his smart instincts, his ability to read a room, and his uncanny sense for survival. But now, as the once-mighty company crumbled around him, he was something far more dangerous—a man with knowledge that everyone wanted.He knew where Daniel Reyes was.And for now, that secret was his and rumors around. Richard’s Tech’s near-empty boardroom. The space reeked of desperation. Coffee cups littered in the table, papers were scattered like casualties of war, and the men seated around the table looked more like mourners than executives.Ethan sat silent, his face was like a restrained fury. The empire he had built brick by brick was slipping through his fingers, and every report, every whisper of Summit Global’s triumph, was another twist of the knife.Alex sat two seats away composed, but inside his mind raced.He had been there since dawn, listen

  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 48

    Richard’s Tech that's once the empire of innovation and pride, now drowning like a wounded lion. The halls that once echoed with ambition were now silent, filled only with the failing systems and the panic of those who hadn’t yet fled. Screens flickered with red alerts—missed contracts, canceled investments, and unpaid dues.The company that once led the industry was collapsing under its own weight. And at its heart, sitting in a vast office, that no longer respected his name, Ethan Richard.He looked nothing like the man who once commanded rooms with a fling of his finger. His expensive suit loose on his shoulders; his hair was disheveled, his eyes hollow. There were dark circles under them—signs of nights without sleep and days without peace.Emails went unanswered, phones rang endlessly, and messages from investors piled up on his desk, unopened. Every report was a reminder of failure—missed opportunities, stolen clients, and projects that had vanished overnight.And through it all

  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 47

    The Rise of Summit GlobalThe Summit Global now trending with prosperity and power. In it, phones rang, heels clicked into the floors, and executives darted between meetings with urgency. Investors crowded the lobby like pilgrims seeking blessings at a holy shrine.And at the center of it all was Daniel Reyes. He had done it in the past, with so many companies he had worked with, including Richard's Tech.Everywhere you now look in Summit Global, his fingerprints found. The reorganized schedules that allowed executives to handle twice the load without drowning. The presentations that made clients moved with interest. The smooth handling of calls from investors in time, delivered with the grace of a seasoned diplomat.He wasn’t just the Executive Secretary to the COO anymore. He was the engine running the company’s facade, a force that kept the chaos aligned.On the executive floor, whispers followed his name.“Have you seen the COO’s schedule? Flawless now, thanks to Reyes.”“Reyes ha

  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 46

    The Ruins of Richard TechThe next day, Ethan Richard sat in his office at Richard Tech. The rain tapping the roof top, a drumbeat that mocked him. The city had moved on, indifferent to his suffering, indifferent to the empire that had once been the pride of Richard Tech. Outside, traffic ebbed, people hustling, living, thriving—all except him.The company he had built, that had consumed his life for decades, was bleeding out in plain slight. Each day brought fresh whispers of ruin: investors backing out, suppliers canceling orders, and clients abandoning projects mid-stream. Contracts that had once been celebrated were now irrelevant pages gathering dust. And at the heart of it all, one truth remained unclear: without Daniel Reyes, Richard Tech had no pulse.He sink into his leather chair. The silence of the room was deafening. His phones sat side by side, screens plain, notifications piling up unanswered. His fingers hovered over the devices, but there was no longer any urgency to r

  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 44

    The RefusalThe conference room was on three sides, to anyone passing by, it looked like an ordinary meeting: two men seated at a table, their hands resting close to their files, their faces arranged in order. But inside, the tension was anything but ordinary. It was taut and weighted with things unsaid, and sharpened by everything both men carried into the room.Alex had imagined this moment for weeks—months, if he was honest with himself. He had thought he would stride in, self-assured, commanding, delivering the words that would bend Daniel’s attention, maybe even his loyalty. But now, face-to-face, Alex felt strangely hollow, like a man who had climbed to the peak of a mountain only to find the air too hut to breathe.Daniel sat opposite him, composed, his tablet sitting beside him, the whole of Summit Global clipped to his suit. His posture was impeccable, not rigid but efficient, the kind of stillness that came from someone who had trained himself never to waste a gesture. His e

  • CEO Craving for His Assistant   Chapter 44

    The RefusalThe conference room was on three sides, to anyone passing by, it looked like an ordinary meeting: two men seated at a table, their hands resting close to their files, their faces arranged in order. But inside, the tension was anything but ordinary. It was taut and weighted with things unsaid, and sharpened by everything both men carried into the room.Alex had imagined this moment for weeks—months, if he was honest with himself. He had thought he would stride in, self-assured, commanding, delivering the words that would bend Daniel’s attention, maybe even his loyalty. But now, face-to-face, Alex felt strangely hollow, like a man who had climbed to the peak of a mountain only to find the air too hut to breathe.Daniel sat opposite him, composed, his tablet sitting beside him, the whole of Summit Global clipped to his suit. His posture was impeccable, not rigid but efficient, the kind of stillness that came from someone who had trained himself never to waste a gesture. His e

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