Forgive Me, Mr. CEO

Melanie's POV “Get off her!” The words tore out of my throat before I could stop them. I stood frozen at the edge of the dim hallway, my phone already in my hand, my heart slamming so hard against my ribs I could feel it in my throat. A tall man in a black shirt had a woman pinned against the wall, one hand locked hard around her wrist, the other clamped over her mouth, and she was fighting him with everything she had, her heels scraping frantic lines against the floor as she twisted and strained to get free. Every part of me went cold and electric at the same time, the way it always did whenever I saw someone smaller being hurt by someone bigger. The man's head snapped toward me the second I spoke, and in the low, flickering light I caught the hard lines of his face, dark eyes that didn't so much as flinch, a cold, unreadable expression that made my skin crawl in a way I felt all the way down to my fingertips. He didn't let go of her. Not even a little. That alone told me

Melanie's POV I had never wanted the ground to open up and swallow me so badly in my entire life. Unfortunately, the ground seemed determined to keep me alive. He didn't wait for me to find my voice again. Whatever answer he'd been expecting, my silence seemed to satisfy him more than words would have, because he simply turned and walked toward the elevator bank without another glance in my direction, leaving me standing alone in that gleaming hallway with my heart hammering somewhere up near my throat. This is Sinclair Enterprises. Meaning he's the fucking cold CEO that people whisper about. The famous Damien Sinclair. Fuck it. I don't know how long I stood there after the elevator doors closed behind him. Long enough that the receptionist at the front desk started giving me curious looks, long enough that my folder had gone soft and damp where I'd been clutching it against my chest without realizing it. Eventually I made myself walk out of that building on legs that didn't fe

Melanie’s POVWhat?What did I just hear?The woman I had been so certain he was assaulting that night was actually his cousin? That single piece of information sat in my chest like a stone, heavy and impossible to ignore. I kept replaying the dark hallway in my mind — the way she had been struggling, the muffled sounds, the cold expression on his face when he turned toward me — and none of it seemed to match what he had just said. I had been so sure of what I was seeing. So completely sure that I hadn’t hesitated even for a second before calling the police.“Your cousin?” I asked, still half hoping he might take the words back or tell me it was some kind of twisted joke.“You heard me,” Damian replied, his gaze already returning to the computer screen in front of him as if the conversation barely deserved his full attention.“Then what actually happened that night?” I pressed, unable to stop myself from asking.“That’s for you to find out,” he said without looking up. “You had alread

Melanie’s POV Oh shit! I think the only solution to this embarrassment right now was for me to disappear from this place. Maybe the ground should open up and just swallow the fuck out of me. I wouldn't even mind wherever it took me to, just take me away from here because standing in that doorway felt like the worst punishment anyone could possibly give me. What was I supposed to do now that I was having a staring competition with Victoria? I'd already gotten on my boss's bad side, was I supposed to get on his fiancée's bad side too? Someone whom everyone had been saying was nice, polite and practically impossible to dislike? Great. Just fucking great. I had somehow managed to embarrass myself in front of the one person in this company I absolutely should not have embarrassed myself in front of, and there wasn't even anything I could do to fix it because what exactly was I supposed to say? Hi, sorry for interrupting your make-out session with your fiancée, but can you please pa

DAMIAN’S POV “Man... I thought you had a date with Victoria?” Ethan, my best friend, asked immediately after I entered his apartment, and before I could answer, he slapped my hand in greeting and followed me toward the sofa. I dropped my keys on the small table beside the couch and sank into the closest seat, loosening my tie slightly as Ethan sat beside me. “Something came up for her,” I said, leaning back against the sofa. “So, we had to cancel.” “Oh... no wonder we see you here, because I know the usual you don't just visit me,” he said, settling comfortably beside me and giving me a knowing look. “Ah, of course you know that's a lie,” I replied, and despite myself, a small smile spread across my face. Ethan immediately pointed at me. “Ishh... Anyway, how has work been?” he asked, then paused for a second before adding, “And how is that mysterious girl?” “Melanie?” I asked, pretending not to understand who he was talking about. “Of course,” Ethan replied with a laugh. “I