CHAPTER 22: Boundaries

Sybil

I felt the sudden shift in his energy.

The air in Casimir's office became instantly suffocating. He was standing entirely too close to me. I looked up into his icy blue eyes and saw something dark and completely unreadable flashing in them. It looked like raw hunger.

It was the absolute last thing I expected to see from the man who treated me like a major security threat. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.

I took a quick step backward and my heel bumped against the heavy leg of the leather guest chair, but I managed to keep my balance and put some much-needed distance between us.

"If that is all, sir," I said. My voice was shaky, but I forced the polite words out. "I should get back to my desk before I am missed."

Casimir did not say a single word. He just stood there and watched me. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides.

I turned around and walked out of his office. I pushed the heavy glass door open and moved quickly down the corridor.

I did not look back. I returned to my desk and took a deep, shaky breath. I tried to calm my racing pulse.

I was deeply confused. He had looked at me like he wanted to devour me, and it terrified me because Casimir was a man who always maintained complete control.

I shoved the encounter to the back of my mind. I had a job to do.

Days passed. The week turned into a grueling, exhausting routine.

During the day, I sat at my desk and managed the schedule for the CEO. I fielded calls from caterers. I sorted through expensive floral arrangements and seating charts for Elias and Quinn's upcoming engagement party.

Quinn visited the executive floor twice more. She made sure to drop off more wedding files directly on my desk, offering her polite but highly dismissive smiles every time she walked past me.

At night, the routine was entirely different.

I walked to the end of the hall in the west wing. I knocked on the heavy wooden doors. I entered Elias's private quarters and fulfilled the physical requirements of the surrogacy contract.

The encounters with Elias continued. He was always demanding and completely in control. The pull between us was undeniable, but the moment it was over, he rebuilt his cold corporate walls.

He treated the intimacy exactly like a business transaction. He sent me back to my own room in the dark without a second thought.

The looming engagement preparations made the intimacy feel incredibly strained. I was organizing the catering for the woman he was going to marry, and then I was sleeping in his bed a few hours later.

It was taking a massive emotional toll on me. I felt entirely used, although I shouldn't.

By Thursday evening, I had reached my absolute limit.

The executive floor was completely empty. The junior staff had gone home at six. It was past eight o'clock. The sun had set, leaving the large windows overlooking the city completely dark.

I was still sitting at my desk. I was organizing a massive stack of budget reports Elias had handed me right before the end of the normal workday.

My back ached terribly and my eyes burned from staring at the monitor. I was utterly exhausted, running on barely four hours of sleep a night.

I looked at the closed wooden doors of his office. I could not do this anymore.

I stood up. I gathered the printed budget reports into a neat stack and walked over to his office. I raised my hand and knocked twice on the wood.

"Come in," his deep voice said.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Elias was sitting at his large glass desk. He was typing quickly on his laptop, his focus entirely on the screen.

I walked up to his desk and set the thick files down on the glass.

"Are the budget reports finished?" He asked without looking up.

"No, sir," I said quietly. "I have sorted the first half, but I need to leave the rest for tomorrow morning. I am going home."

Elias stopped typing immediately. He looked at the files, then looked up at my face.

"I need those sorted for the board meeting tomorrow morning," he stated calmly.

"I am very sorry, sir," I replied. I kept my voice respectful, but firm. "But I am too exhausted to focus on the numbers. My shift ended over two hours ago. I will come in early tomorrow to finish them before the meeting."

Elias leaned back in his leather chair. He folded his hands together. "You are my executive assistant, Sybil. You work the hours the schedule requires."

"I understand that the job is demanding," I said. "But I am doing two jobs for you right now. I manage this desk during the day, I handle the engagement logistics, and I fulfill the surrogacy contract at night. I cannot do all of it on four hours of sleep."

"You are well compensated for your time," he said, his voice a bit cold.

"This is not about the compensation," I said, refusing to back down. "This is about my health. I am establishing a boundary, sir. I will manage your schedule from eight in the morning until six in the evening. But I can no longer stay late for extra clerical duties. If I am going to carry a child safely, I need to sleep."

His jaw tightened. "You should finish the reports before you leave tonight."

"No, sir. I will not," I said.

Elias stared at me. The silence in the large office was heavy and suffocating. No one told the CEO no.

"I am asking for basic rest," I told him. "I will fulfill the strict physical requirements of the contract at the estate because I signed the paperwork. But I cannot work fourteen-hour shifts in this building on top of it. I am going back to the estate."

"You are my employee," he warned.

“As well as your surrogate," I corrected him quietly. "And I am completely exhausted. Goodnight, sir."

I turned around to leave the office. I wanted to order a car and get out of the building as fast as possible.

"Stop right there," he suddenly called out.

I froze halfway to the heavy doors. My heart skipped a beat. I slowly turned my head to look back at him.

He stood up from his leather chair. He did not raise his voice. He did not shout. But his dark eyes darkened to a terrifying pitch black. The cold, rational corporate CEO was completely gone.

He walked slowly around the edge of his glass desk. Every step he took was deliberate and heavy. The silence in the room thickened, pressing down hard on my shoulders.

I felt a sudden spike of real fear.

He took another slow step toward me. He did not speak a single word, but his posture made his intentions very clear.

He was a man who demanded absolute control over everything in his life, and he made it very clear that he did not like it when his property tried to set boundaries.