VOWS OF DECEPTION; THE CEO I HATE

It was almost midnight and my feet were killing me.It was a friday and Blue Lounge bar was packed, as usual. It was the same old crowd, city guys in suits, too drunk to stand but somehow still cocky enough to make my skin crawl.“Selena!” my manager yelled from behind the bar. “Table nine’s drunk and rich. Go charm ‘em.”I rolled my eyes as I picked up the tray of drinks and summoned my best fake smile. “Yeah, because that always ends well.” I muttered to myself. Most of the men in the bar were sleaze bags that thought they were entitled to getting in my pants.As I walked over, I could already hear them. The loud, annoying laughter, the clink of glasses and a comment about my ass I pretended not to hear. I dropped their drinks on the table.“Three bourbons, one gin and a martini. Anything else?”One of them with a red tie and greasy hair grinned at me, licking his lips like I was dessert. “You, sweetheart.”I froze first, stopping myself from giving him a dirty look. Then I turned a

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It wasn't the burner Dante had given me. My personal one. Somehow it was still active but it barely had any signal in this place. I reached for it. had any signal in this place. I reached for it.It was a call from prison. Inmate name, Richard BlakeI accepted the call, voice trembling as I spoke. “Dad?”“Selena…” His voice was hoarse. Just hearing it broke something inside me.“I miss you.” I whispered.“I miss you too, baby girl. Didn’t think I’d be able to get a call out this morning,” he said. “Are you… okay?”“I’m hanging in there.”There was a pause. I could hear the distant buzz of the prison behind him. My dad sounded smaller somehow. Like those prison walls were pressing in on his soul.“Selena, listen. I don’t know how much time I have left—”“No.” My voice cracked. “Don’t say that.”“I just… I need you to be okay. You've been so strong, trying hard to hold it all together,” His breath hitched. “And I hate tha

Three months. It had been three whole months since they had taken my father away in handcuffs.Three months since I stood in the middle of the street, crying like the world had ended. Because in a way, it had.My life had unraveled pretty fast after that night. Legal consultations, working three jobs, court hearings…The business my father had spent his entire life building— completely gone now. The business had already gone under a year ago due to losses, but my father had just received an opportunity for a huge grant. It was supposed to change everything.Instead, everything changed.His name was dragged through the mud, on every headline like he was some lowlife criminal. What little friends he had left disappeared. The shame was like a heavy coat I couldn’t take off.I remembered sitting by his side in court, watching helplessly as they tossed around allegations of embezzlement and fraud like they knew the truth. Like they knew him.But they didn’t.My father was framed.And the

Serena POVThe wheel of the car stopped after making a cracking sound that nutted my brain and screwed my ears, making me fold my arms after covering my ears with my ear.“You asked for a flight with no words, and now here you are,” Dante said after locking off his seatbeat and looking at me with a slime smile on his face as if he had bought me the whole world.I looked back at him as I was about to step out of the door, with no words but with a brown, old picture paper of myself and my father still in my hands and close to my chest.I held my hand to the knob of the door to the car and I was right about to twist it open when a hand grabbed my hand on the knob from behind and leaned towards my back, “you don't appreciate favors right? This wasn't in the agreement. You don't have a dime to pay and your lips are too heavy to say thank you as well?” Dante asked and had his nostrils breathing to me.My eyes were cold, my lips mumbling without an uncertainty of words. I knew I wanted troub

Serena POV“What was the last statement I told you about Aiden” Dante looked down in his hoodie and only his words were out of his mouth.I was only cleaning up myself, when I looked up and scoffed, “Didn’t you see what he did to me? Is that what you’re going to say? Is that what really matters now? And what are you both hiding from me?” I asked him while I boldly moved closer to him and leaned towards him. Dante stared at me slowly and smiled, “I am married to you..” he hesitated.“Yes, but for a year” I took the words from his lips.Dante pointed a finger at me, “And what does that mean?” he asked while his hands were in his pocket and his hoodie standing right back at his ears.“It means that you need to tell me what I need to know. Who are you? I knew I might have signed a contract with the devil but I want to be sure of the kind of devil I am dealing with” I spoke out.“Is that what you want?” he asked and slowly dipped his hands out of his pocket, smiled and leaned towards me,