Jethro's patience wore thin as he waited for Ricardo to answer.As the silence stretched on, I noticed that Ricardo was about to buckle. It became clear that his misconduct wasn’t limited to his lecherous behavior. He had been embezzling funds from the company too.The documents laid out financial inconsistencies spanning multiple years, adding up to a staggering sum of nearly one million. Even without Jethro spelling it out, all of us could guess the money had ended up in Ricardo's accounts in view of the tight budgets we were familiar with."Sir... I..." Ricardo stuttered, unable to articulate a coherent response as he stared at the documents."Every time a budget gets approved, a corresponding deposit appears in your account. Care to explain that, Mr. Ricardo? Where did those deposits come from?" Jethro probed further."Sir, I’ve realized my mistake. I promise this will never happen again. Please give me another chance." Ricardo trembled uncontrollably.Even without the specif

At my straightforwardness, Jethro's brows creased, and he shot me an unexpected look of disapproval. He was likely thrown off by my directness, given that many men are inclined toward women who are more reserved and demure in nature.Just when I thought he would say something more, Jethro started the car again and continued driving. While relief washed over me, a lingering sadness gripped my heart as I once again thought of the nature of our relationship.I gazed out of the window, my mood somber. While irritated, I felt powerless to express my feelings without having any significant standing in his life. From the beginning, our relationship had never been anything more than transactional. It was a common belief that men could easily switch off emotions post-intimacy, whereas women tended to get emotionally invested.Our relationship was purely transactional, the day would inevitably come when Jethro would grow tired of me."You're the only woman I’ve been seeing since we got invol

As soon as he threatened me, I leaped to my feet, shot him my meanest glare, and stormed into the bathroom. As water streamed down my body, I wondered how on Earth I was gonna discuss leaving this "partnership." I surmised now was not a good time to talk, not while he was riding high on his hormones. He’d definitely go apeshit if I tried to bring this up. My mind became a mess the more I thought about it. I haphazardly showered and emerged from the bathroom with the towel wrapped around me. Jethro’s eyes instantly settled on my body, his impatience obvious. He strode toward me, and I felt my heart racing. This was a thing lately. Every time he got close to me, my heart raced. It was uncontrollable. He put me over his shoulders and went into the bedroom. He chucked me onto the bed and pounced on me before I could even make sense of where I was. It was another violent affair.When Jethro was done, he lay on top of me, panting. Then, turning on his back, he lay next to me and pulle

"Say you're not going again and our friendship is over!" There it was. Summer finally showed her trump card.I sighed helplessly. I knew it was an empty threat, yet I said, "Fine, fine! You win!"I changed into something presentable and threw on some make-up. I had put a lot of effort into my looks for the past few days, but my bet was this thing with the new fellow wasn't gonna fly anyway, so what was the point? I finally got to the restaurant—with Summer in tow. She was so worried that I’d bail on the date, so she came along. God, what a drag.I examined my date of the night. Clean-shaven, an air of politeness, a pair of golden-rimmed glasses perched on his nose… He was 10 times better than all the losers I had met prior to this. I mean, he looked good enough.Summer nudged my arm. "See? I told you tonight is a game-changer." I rolled my eyes.The man offered his hand and smiled. "Evening, Serena. I'm Ignatz Fernandes, a lawyer—wait, you already know that. Sorry, I'm just

Jethro’s icy fury was palpable as he stared down at me.I felt guilty, as though I had been found out while committing a crime.Ignatz sensed the air thickening between us and stepped closer to me while extending his hand to Jethro. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ignatz Fernandes, Serena’s boyfriend.”My heart thumped a little harder. Why did Ignatz just say? I said we could try dating, but that didn’t mean we were really, really dating. How was I supposed to explain myself to Jethro now?!And it was just as I expected. Jethro’s expression turned even stormier. He practically burned a hole in Ignatz’s hand with his stare. Ignatz’s expression fell before he withdrew his unshaken hand.My eyes shifted away from Ignatz to Jethro as I asked, “I-Is there something you want from me, sir? It’s the weekend, you know?”“Yes, I’d like a word. You’re coming with me.”I should’ve fled when I could. I replied, “C-Can we talk about it some other time? I’m occupied right now…”Jethro’s attitude was t