The wrong deal

Zara’s pov

The investor's hand was still in the air when I decided that I was done.

“Say that again,” I said quietly.

I was trying so hard not to get out of character because this man was crossing many lines and even though this was the last investor on the list that has decided to have a meeting with me, I’d rather slit my throat than have anything to do with him.

“I said, funding doesn’t come for free. Not in this world and clearly not for someone like you.” He said as he leaned back on his chair, smirking now.

Someone like you. 

That phrase landed heavier than anything else in the room.

The restaurant around us kept pretending not to hear—soft music, expensive laughter, the gentle clink of glasses from people who didn’t know their lives were falling apart in real time.

Mine was already falling apart. 

Three years. 

Three good years of building a company from nothing but stubbornness and broken sleep. Three years of telling myself I didn’t need anyone’s  approval. And now I’m sitting across a man who thought all of that could be traded for one night. 

He slid a black card towards me like it meant something. 

“I have booked a room for us in one of the best hotels. Spend the night with me and I’ll sign the paperwork before you wake up in the morning.” He said it so casually.

For a second I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. 

“You look like you haven’t been laid in a long time. And I promise you that when I’m done with you, you will want to see me again.”

For Christ's sake, where do these men come from? 

This man should be in her 70’s and he thinks he can satisfy me sexually? Someone that wouldn’t even last a minute.

I stared at the card and then at him. Then at the life I had worked hard for suddenly narrowing into something small and humiliating. 

It wasn’t even anger that came first. It was disbelief.

“You think that’s how this works?” I asked softly. 

“That’s how it always works.” He said. 

That was when something inside me went very still. Like a door closing. 

I pushed back my chair. 

The sound scraped through the room louder than it should have. 

His smile faded slightly. 

“Sit down,” he said, losing patience now. “Don’t turn this into a scene.”

A scene. 

I almost laughed at that. Because I wasn't the one turning this into anything. 

I stood anyway and for a split second everything paused. Even the air felt like it was waiting. 

Then my hand moved before I could think. 

The slap landed harder than expected. 

The sound cracked through the restaurant like glass breaking.

His head turned sharply to the side. A fork dropped somewhere behind me. A chair shifted. And suddenly I was aware of every single eye in the room. Watching, measuring, judging. 

My fingers burned immediately, but I didn’t lower my hand. I think that was the moment I realized that I wasn't scared anymore. Just tired. 

He turned back slowly. There was a red mark forming on his cheeks. For a moment he said nothing. 

Then he smiled. That slow kind of smile that never meant anything good.

“You just made a very expensive mistake,” he said quietly. 

“No,” I said. “I just made a necessary one.”

I picked up my folder and walked away before my legs could start shaking.

———

The air outside felt like punishment.

Cold. Sharp. Alive. 

Rain was falling heavily now, turning the city into blurred lights and reflections I could focus on. I stood there for a second long, clutching my folder against my chest like it could hold everything together for me. My breath came unevenly. Not from fear from him but from what came next. 

Because I knew that men like that didn’t lose politely. They destroyed things on their way out. 

A black car sat near the curb, engine running quietly. I didn’t notice it at first. I was too busy trying not to fall apart in public. Inside the car, someone was watching me. 

Rain splashed against the edge of my heels as I stepped closer to the road to look for a cab I could barely afford. 

A sharp breath left my lips as I tried to steady myself. The cold wasn’t helping and if I had known that the rain was going to pour down today, I would have won something less revealing. 

Then I heard it. 

A door closing. 

It was not from the restaurant. But from the car black car that has been at the side of the road. 

A man stepped out. 

Tall. Calm. Expensive suit untouched by the rain b like it didn’t dare reach him. 

He didn’t come closer. Just looked at me. Like he was studying something he had been searching for. He whispers something to the man staring close to him. I presume he was his body guard because of the body language. 

One of the men walked towards me holding an umbrella. 

“Where are you going to ma’am?” 

“How is that your business?” I replied. 

“My boss wants to take you wherever you are going.” 

I obviously didn’t have money for a cab back home and even if I was going to be kidnapped it was going to be a plus for me because I have no money to pay for my rent. 

I let out a breath and walked to the car. The man was standing at the door of the car looking straight at me and smiling like he just won a lottery. 

It’s this how my life is going to end? I said to myself. 

He opened the car door and I stepped inside. The car was more luxurious on the inside than it looks on the outside. The leather seats were more comfortable than anything else I have ever sat on. 

The man turned round the car to open the other door and entered the car. 

He looked at me again 

“You are the one I have been looking for,” he said with a smile.