MasukMore chapters coming soon, my lovelies 🫶🫶
Joella’s POV“Hey,” she said, warm and immediate. “I was just thinking about you. How did it go? Did they fire half the building or what?”I let out a breath I had been holding since the elevator.“I didn’t get fired.”“Oh, thank God.”“I got a promotion instead.”There was a short silence. Then Lia squealed so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear.“Joella! Are you serious?”“Yes.”“I knew it. I knew they were going to see you. You work harder than all of them put together. You deserve this. I’m so happy for you I could cry.”I smiled, even though my chest still felt tight.“Don’t cry,” I said. “It’s just an office.”“It is not just an office. It’s proof. Tell me everything. What happened? Did they call you in? Did somebody finally grow a brain?”I looked around the big room, the window, the door with my name on it.“There was a mistake in one of the records,” I said. “A bad one. I caught it. They moved me upstairs.”“Upstairs as in—”“Last floor.”Lia made another sound, hal
Joella’s POVMr. Ahmed stayed behind.He waited until the last of them were gone before he spoke.“Joella,” he said quietly. “I’ll send the paperwork this evening. You should start packing your desk tomorrow.”I looked up at him.“The last floor,” I said.“Yes.” He almost smiled. “You earned it.”“What exactly is the position?” I asked.“You’ll support the executive financial review directly,” he said. “Reports. flags. Anything that goes to his desk from this side of the company. It’s more responsibility. More visibility too.”More visibility.That was the part that scared me.I nodded, gathered my notepad, and stood.“Thank you, sir” I said.“You don’t have to thank me,” Mr. Ahmed said. “You did the work. I only told him who found it.”I walked out after the others. I could already hear it starting again.Last floor.Close to him.Must be nice.I kept walking.Aunt May’s voice followed me all the way back to my office.Men are not to be trusted.I sat down at my desk, stared at the b
Joella’s POVI picked up my notepad and a pen and walked down the hallway. The conference room was already filling when I got there. People were taking seats, murmuring, glancing at the empty chair at the head of the table. Somebody had put out water bottles. The air smelled like dry-erase markers and leftover lunch.I sat near the middle and opened my notepad. I wrote the date at the top just to give my hands something to do.The head chair stayed empty.Then the door opened.Mr. Ahmed walked in first.Cavern Kingston walked in behind him.My pen slipped a little in my fingers.I looked down at my notepad at once. I did not need to see him. I already knew how he looked in that suit. I already knew how his mouth moved when he spoke. Looking at him would only make it worse.Chairs shifted. The room went quieter.He took the seat at the head of the table.For a second, nobody spoke.Then he did.“Good afternoon,” he said. His voice filled the room without him raising it. “I’m Cavern Kin
Joella’s POVLike I was a file he had asked to see. Like last night had happened to some other woman, in some other city, with some other man who only looked like this one.“Miss Smith,” he said.His voice was the same.Deep. Controlled. The velvet I had felt against my throat when he told me to stay quiet. When he called me asteraki. When he told me I tasted like honey.I had to swallow before I could answer.“Mr. Kingston.”Mr. Ahmed kept talking, filling the space the way people did when they did not know the room had already changed.“Joella has been with the finance team for four years. She’s one of our strongest analysts. This morning she identified an error that would have caused a serious loss if it had gone unnoticed. I thought you should meet her directly.”Cavern Kingston nodded once.Still looking at me.Still giving me nothing.“I read the report,” he said. “You caught it by going back through the supporting figures.”“Yes, sir.”“Why?”The question was simple. His face s
Joella’s POVI hung up and sat there with my hand still on the receiver.The CEO wanted to see me.Mr. Ahmed had walked back into that office with my folder. That had to be it. The error. The millions we almost lost. A thank you. A question. Maybe even the beginning of the promotion I had been chasing for over a year.My hands were not steady when I stood.I smoothed my blouse. Checked my reflection in the dark computer screen. I looked like a woman who had come to work. Blouse. Hair. Lipstick that was already fading. Not a woman who had come on a stranger’s fingers the night before with her back against a rooftop rail.Good.That was the version of me this building needed.I took the long way to the elevator anyway, just to give my pulse a chance to slow down. It didn’t. People on my floor were still talking in that tight, careful way. Joe was at somebody else’s desk, no doubt spreading the same story he had brought to me. I kept my eyes forward and walked past all of it.The elevato
Joella’s POVI sat very still for a second, staring at the folder like it might change its mind.Then I stood up.This could not wait.I took the folder and left to find the head of finance, Mr. Ahmed.His office was two floors up. I knew the way by heart. I had been in that hallway enough times with reports, questions, and the quiet hope that somebody would finally see how hard I worked.His secretary looked up when I arrived.“Is he in?” I asked.“He’s on the CEO’s floor,” she said. “Meeting.”Of course he was.Today of all days.“Thank you,” I said.I should have waited.I didn’t.The longer this sat, the worse it could get. If the new CEO was already in the building, the last thing I wanted was for this to reach him through some ugly surprise instead of through the people who were supposed to catch it.I took the elevator to the last floor.The ride felt longer than it was. My reflection in the mirrored wall looked flushed. I told myself it was the error. Not last night. Not dark
When I finally got to my room, I stopped in the doorway and just stared.It was beautiful. Really, genuinely beautiful. The room was spacious and airy, with high ceilings and large windows that looked out over the water. The last light of the evening was painting the Mediterranean in shades of oran
Lia's POVI dove back down, taking every thick inch until he pressed deep into my throat. My nose brushed the dark hair at his base, and I held there, swallowing around him, letting my throat massage his cock while spit ran messily down my chin. His thighs shook on either side of me. His hand fiste
Lia's POVBut even as I flew away from the island, even as physical distance grew between me and what had happened there, I knew something fundamental had shifted.I wasn't the same woman who'd boarded this plane days ago.I wasn't the same woman who'd accepted Rob's neglect and disrespect as norma
I spun around with a sharp intake of breath, my hand flying to my chest.Victor stood just a few feet away, watching me with those piercing blue eyes. He was so quiet I hadn't heard him approach at all. He'd changed since earlier—now he wore a dark suit, perfectly fitted, the kind that probably cos







