LOGINThe moment I entered my apartment, every strength that I had been building up in the office broke to pieces.Not gracefully. I broke completely.My handbag dropped somewhere near the door. My heels came off halfway down the hallway. And by the time I reached the couch, I was crying so hard I could barely breathe.Everything hurts.My chest. My head. My pride. My heart.I curled into myself, trying to stop the tears. Trying to stop the embarrassment replaying in my mind.A knock sounded at the door. I ignored it.Another knock. Then my phone rang.My husband name displayed on the screen.“Klaire?”The moment I heard his voice, I started crying harder.“Klaire?” His tone changed instantly.“What happened?”I couldn’t answer.Twenty minutes later, he was standing in my apartment holding takeout food that I still haven’t touched, and I sat curled against him, still crying and falling apart.His arms tightened around me and his warmth encircled me. The exact opposite of how I felt.“Klaire
Yeah, this was messing me up. Nothing about this was funny any longer. I needed to do something and I needed to do it fast. I would not take the blame for something I didn't do.What the hell?The once loving hardworking staff, a few weeks ago, received deadly glares at the office now. The elevator doors slid open and I stepped inside.And immediately wished I hadn’t.Aleksander Vilmorre stood inside.Alone.My heartbeat stopped.And the doors closed behind me with a soft ding. For a few seconds, my mind and my mouth struggled for words.The elevator suddenly felt too small. Too suffocating. And slowly, my eyes drifted toward him.He looked exhausted. The dark circles under his eyes had deepened. I was dying to ask what happened to his woman and if she was okay…But I knew I had worsened whatever he might have been going through.As much as I hated to be seen as weak, I couldn't control all the tears that I shed yesterday. Yet, this man remained cold, hearing me soullessly.The man sta
And then my eyes traced back to Klaire. I stepped backward. One step after another.She shouldn't be crying…because those swollen red eyes weren't about to move me. Getting into Vilmorre had always been her target.If she was crying now, it was probably because Kingston tricked her. She was caught up in her lie. And she wasn't getting what she had always wanted.Disgust settled heavily inside my chest. “You fooled everyone and congratulations on that.”Then I walked away.Before she could speak.My head pounded throughout the drive to the hospital and my chest felt tight. And this tough phase wasn't on my to-do list. I had no business scampering my emotions to and fro.Eventually, I parked outside the hospital. And finally entered Grandmother’s ward.She was awake, and for the first time in days. What hung on my chest all this time, seemed to relieve me unexpectedly.“Oh dear.” Her eyes found me. "You look awful.”Coming from someone who was almost dying, she still found every corner
I should have fucking known.And I should have acted when I needed to. The thought repeated itself over and over again as I sat inside my car across from the restaurant.The signs had always been there.A woman too competent to be a secretary. Too intelligent. Too ambitious. Someone who somehow knew things she shouldn’t know and constantly found ways to prove herself useful.I had let my guard down.But how? I was very strict with her. I ran a disciplinary program at the office.I squeezed the steering wheel. The tiny amount of trust I had given her. The benefit of doubt. And it bruised my ego…more than the leak or the millions.When Hale informed me that morning that the leak had reached Brooks, Carvena, and Kingston officially, I had felt something I rarely experienced.Shock.Not because confidential files had leaked. Competitors fought dirty all the time. What shocked me was the trail.The access logs. The timing. The documents.Everything pointed toward one person.Klaire.Yet ev
I didn't blame Hale for telling Mr. Vilmorre. But I knew this was about to get worse than it already was. I had immediately thought of the next step…Meeting my father.Maybe I could get something out of him. A truth. A secret perhaps.Maybe he had a spy here. Something must add up to all this nonsense. And the moment he sent the address on where to meet him, I had zoomed out of the office.The restaurant was expensive. Everything around my father had to be expensive.Expensive suits. Expensive watches. Expensive meals.Those were the things he spent his money on. The Kingston money was to his advantage. And while I worked there, we fought almost all the time.He broke the system. Made us lose millions and wanted my marriage to Andrew to fix everything.I would have gone with his plan…except Andrew cheated…I stood outside for almost five minutes before gathering enough courage to walk in. My palms were sweating.Which was ridiculous because I was a grown woman. Yet one meeting with m
The rest of the day faded way too fast. Like I couldn't wait to see my doom. Emails. Reports. Investigations. Endless questions.Where had the leak happened? Who had access? Who downloaded what? Who opened which file? Who sent what email?Nobody was finding answers.Including me.I skipped lunch, breaks, breathing, probably.By evening my head hurt. My eyes burned and were swollen.And I still knew absolutely nothing.I sat alone inside my office. Staring at spreadsheets. Trying to force the numbers to reveal a secret. They didn't.My phone buzzed. I answered immediately. I had called him several times and he had texted about calling back, because he was extremely busy."Klaire?" The concern in his voice nearly broke me.Because it was the first kind voice I'd heard all day. "I've had a terrible day."His tone softened. "What happened?"I told him everything. The suspicion, the leak, and the panic. The possibility that all my recent work was about to collapse.He didn't judge me, whil
I hated the applause. It still resounded in my ears even after the board meeting had been over, hours ago. I hated all the attention she was getting."Klaire did an amazing job.""Klaire saved us time.""Klaire is a gem."Klaire blah blah blah.Almost every day, I would watch how employees would ga
Today would be different.It was the only way I could assure myself. I had come into a conclusion yesterday. Mr.Vilmorre was danger… and that only meant one thing… staying away from him.I would never have imagined what could have happened if Elise, truly walked in on us in that…position. Worse, if
He stepped away and I wiped my face with the back of my palm like…he was too hot to handle. "Erhm…" I stuttered, my eyes wandering willy-nilly around the office.Then my phone suddenly rang and the sound seemed impossibly loud. Mr. Vilmorre and I both looked down when I pulled the phone from my bag
“Klaire?” Immediately the elevator stopped, Elise’s voice resounded through the quiet hallway. My eyes widened. But before I could react, Mr. Vilmorre moved.Very fast.One second I was standing in the hallway, The next I was pulled into a corner beside the office wall. My back hit the surface soft







