CHAPTER 14 ~ CEO SHATTERS

The heavy oak doors slammed shut behind my mother with a loud bang that rattled the tall glass windows of my office.

I stood behind my desk and stared at the empty space where Victoria had just been standing.

A deep surge of genuine pride swelled inside my chest because my beautiful lead analyst had just dismantled a billionaire board member using nothing but raw numbers.

My mother rarely lost an argument to anyone in the corporate world, yet a twenty-three-year-old intern had just forced her into a humiliated retreat.

I wanted to praise Alexandra for holding her ground so well.

I turned away from the door and looked across the gray carpet to see the brilliant woman who had just saved my company forty million dollars.

I expected to see a confident smile on her face, but a loud smacking sound echoed through the quiet room instead.

The black leather presentation folder slipped out of Alexandra's hands and hit the glass table hard.

She slumped forward in the wide leather chair while her shoulders curled inward to hide her body.

A harsh, ragged gasp left her mouth as she struggled to pull enough air into her lungs.

I watched her press both of her hands over her mouth while thick tears spilled from behind her black-framed glasses.

The drops of water slid down her flushed cheeks and dripped onto the collar of her white silk blouse.

My heart dropped heavily into my stomach when I realized she was having a severe panic attack right in front of me.

"Oh god, oh my god," she choked out while her chest heaved with rapid, shallow breaths.

I stayed frozen behind my desk for one second while a sharp wave of guilt hit my conscience.

I had forced her into this brutal confrontation because I wanted her to realize her own intellectual power.

I wanted her to see that she did not have to shrink away from cruel people anymore.

I pushed her into the shark tank without thinking about the deep childhood trauma she still carried inside her mind.

My mother had insulted her weight and her clothes only moments before I demanded that she fight back.

Alexandra was terrified, and she was crying because the stress of the boardroom politics had finally broken her fragile nerves.

"I-I'm so sorry," she sobbed out in a broken stutter.

She squeezed her eyes shut and kept apologizing because she actually thought I was going to fire her for crying in my office.

The cold, calculated persona I used to run my financial empire shattered into pieces the second I heard the fear in her voice.

I did not care about the forty million dollars or the ruined acquisition deal anymore.

I did not give a single damn about corporate boundaries or human resources protocols.

I only cared about the terrified, curvy woman sitting ten feet away from me.

I pushed my heavy leather chair backward so hard that the plastic wheels squeaked loudly against the floor.

I stepped around the edge of my glass desk and closed the distance between us in two long strides.

I stopped right next to her chair and looked down at her shaking frame.

She flinched slightly when my shadow fell over her desk, and that tiny movement made my jaw clench with dark anger.

Her toxic ex-boyfriend had spent years conditioning her to expect yelling and punishment whenever she made a mistake or showed weakness.

David had destroyed her self-esteem so badly that she thought a few tears would cost her a massive executive promotion.

I hated that man with a burning passion, and I swore to myself that I would make sure he never worked in the financial district again.

I needed to prove to her right now that she was safe here in my territory.

I reached down and wrapped my hands gently but firmly around her soft upper arms.

Her skin felt warm through the thin silk fabric of her white blouse, and I could feel her muscles locked tight with pure panic.

I pulled her up from the wide leather cushion so she was standing in front of me.

She stumbled forward slightly because her legs were shaking too much to support her heavy curves.

I did not let her fall to the ground.

I wrapped both of my arms tightly around her waist and pulled her directly against my chest.

She gasped softly against my collarbone when our bodies collided in the quiet room.

I ignored the rules that said a billionaire boss should never hold his employee this way.

I tucked her head beneath my chin so nobody else could see her vulnerable tears.

I buried my face into her dark hair and inhaled the faint, sweet scent of her cheap vanilla shampoo.

She held her arms stiffly at her sides for a few seconds because she was not used to being comforted.

Then a loud sob ripped out of her throat, and she finally let go of her professional restraint.

Her hands came up to grip the lapels of my dark suit jacket with a desperate, crushing force.

She pressed her face deeply into my chest and cried against the crisp white cotton of my shirt.

I felt the damp heat of her tears soaking right through the expensive fabric to touch my bare skin.

I moved my right hand to the middle of her back and rubbed the soft fabric of her blouse to soothe the violent trembling in her spine.

My left hand rested securely on the curve of her wide hip to keep her anchored against my tall frame.

I closed my eyes and listened to the ragged sound of her breathing as she slowly tried to match the steady rhythm of my own heart.

The heavy scent of Victoria's expensive perfume still lingered in the air, but I focused all of my attention on the soft woman trembling in my arms.

I wanted to go find my mother and scream at her for insulting Alexandra's body.

I wanted to fire the security guards downstairs for even letting Victoria up to the ninetieth floor today.

But right now, my only job was to piece my broken data analyst back together.

She squeezed my jacket tighter and let out a long, shaky breath that ruffled my tie.

"I thought y-you were going to send me back down to the intern floor," she whispered against my chest between her quiet sobs.

My chest tightened with a harsh ache when I heard the raw defeat in her voice.

She still viewed herself as an imposter who did not belong on the executive floor.

I tilted my head down and rested my cheek against the top of her head.

I refused to let her believe those toxic lies for another second.

I wanted her to know that she owned this room just as much as I did.

She had earned her place beside me with her own brilliant mind.

"Breathe, Alexandra," I whispered fiercely into her hair while tightening my grip around her waist. "You were f***ing brilliant."