Lahat ng Kabanata ng Billionaire's Lost Girl: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

ElaineA few hours later, I dragged my feet up the lonely road that led towards home, a pounding headache rocking my skull from sleeping off on the bus. I nodded in response to greetings from a few passing people who shook their heads at me sympathetically. I was barefooted, exhausted, hungry, and more frustrated than I’d ever been in my entire life. After I left Sturm Publishing Inc., I’d rushed to secure my alternative at Simon and Schuster but was told that they’d canceled the job vacancies and were no longer accepting editors and proofreaders in the meantime. I couldn’t work as a Janitor – that was the only job available at that moment – so I just decided to go home. The trauma of running into the man that’d caused me this much pain and losing both job offers on the same day was devastating. I was too tired even to cry.“Mommy’s home!” Finn yelled, abandoning the football he’d been throwing about in the front yard. I pushed open the gate and scooped him up into my arms, twirling h

Elaine“Listen up,” Mr. Sturm boomed, using a forefinger to push back his glasses that were about to fall off the bridge of his nose. I tried not to stare too long, especially after the way he overreacted a few moments ago. He didn't even let me explain myself. “I want these manuscripts,” he lifted a tall bundle of files from a brown cardboard box by his feet onto the table. “To be read, analyzed, proofread and the grammatical errors taken note of. Can you do that?”I gulped, picking up a file and weighing it in my hands. He watched me intently. “But Sir, it'll take ages to finish this. I thought we had different departments specifically designed to handle proofreading and editing?”“ This is my work, which in turn becomes yours. I still have a couple more manuscripts over there,” he pointed at a shelf at the end. “Those are mine to work on. These are yours.”I bit my bottom lip, feeling a protest bubbling in my throat. The files were humongous and a single one contained at least thir

ElaineI'd never been so afraid of anything like this in my entire life.My heart raced as he walked around me slowly, his footsteps light on the rug, yet they sounded like the silent ticks of a bomb about to explode. A tremor went through me as he laced his thumb on my collarbones, rubbing a particular spot.“Stand.”I lifted my face to hold his gaze. He watched me impassively for a minute, turning to settle back on his swivel chair. Being alone with him there was hard, but watching him sit and spread his legs apart, his suit pants clinging to his slender legs and thighs gave me a mini-orgasm. There was just so little I could allow myself to take on at this point. “Come closer and get on your knees,”I nimbly stepped forward, kneeling before him. He kicked off his shoes, impeccable black loafers and thrust a foot into my hands. “Massage it. There’s oil in the cupboard to your left.”I knelt still, rooted. “I beg your pardon? You want me to massage your legs?”“I think I made myself

The first thought that came to mind after my shock was to shut the door in his face, race upstairs, throw my clothes into suitcases and get the hell out of New York with Finn.But that would be a fool-hardy thing to do. I'd only just gotten a job and life was really looking up.Tch, what a lie. Life was turning out to be a very bad bitch.His eyes roamed past my shoulders into the sitting room as he shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Is Cora inside?”“No — yes,” I mentally facepalmed, moving out of the way so he could pass. His cologne — a heady mix of raspberries and blackcurrant took over my sense of smell as he brushed past me, oddly filling up the room with his presence. He glanced around the furniture fittings and the ceiling-high windows. “You have a nice place, Miss Matthews. Moved in recently?”“Yes,” I placed Finn down, grumbling when he ran off to hug Manny's legs. Manny squatted so he was face level with him and pinched his cheek. “I'm so sorry, Sir. He can be...a lot to take on

There were days I didn’t want to get out of bed.Sleep was that basic necessity that was sometimes hard to get enough of. And coupled with the loads of manuscripts Mr. Sturm ensured I took home with me every fucking day of the week, I wasn’t even sleeping my normal eight-hour ration. I always stayed up late till two, cutting down sleep time to four and when my alarm went off at five I was too groggy to even move. Some nights Cora stayed up with me to chat as I worked. Sometimes when I fell asleep on my makeshift desk near the window, she piled the manuscripts away and helped me to bed.“You’re not going easy on yourself, Elaine,” she told me one Monday morning as we were having breakfast. Finn was already ready for school and was finishing up his homework on the sofa while I had taken my bath but hadn’t dressed up yet. “I understand that you’re a go-getter. You’re hardworking and hates having work piled up but don’t you think you should take good care of your health first? It’s taking