Semua Bab Falling in Love with my cocky boss: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The office air was heavy with the usual post-lunch hum when the security guard stepped forward, his tone low, uncertain, as if unsure whether the message he carried was even real.“Miss Hart?” he asked again, and something in his eyes made my stomach turn, the kind of look that says whatever you’re about to hear, you won’t like it.I nodded slowly, heart thudding as I instinctively glanced toward Matteo’s glass-walled office, only to find it empty, his presence gone but his weight still lingering in the air like smoke.“There’s a woman outside asking for you,” the guard continued, glancing toward the elevator. “She says she’s your neighbor and that it’s… urgent.”My heart dropped.I followed him wordlessly, the hallway narrowing with every step, my thoughts already spiraling through worst-case scenarios, none of them prepared for what I was about to hear.Outside the building, standing nervously in front of the revolving doors, was Mrs. Carter my retired neighbor from the apartment fl

Matteo’s POVShe stood there, wet and shaking, her camisole molded to every curve, her lips parted slightly, eyes locked on mine like she was daring me to say the one thing I shouldn’t.And maybe I already had.I’d pulled her out of the pool with my heart in my throat, driven by fury and panic, the kind I hadn’t felt since I was a boy watching my world fall apart without being able to stop it.But the moment we got inside, everything changed.Now it was just her.Just Sarah.And the terrifying realization that I couldn’t keep pretending she was just another assistant.I helped her out of her soaked top, my hands careful, deliberate but every inch of exposed skin ignited something deeper, something darker. My fingers itched to trace the line of her spine, to rest on her waist and hold her there, still, close, mine.“Say something,” I’d said.She didn’t flinch.She didn’t move.“Why do you keep doing this?” she whispered. “Looking at me like I’m everything you want and then pretending I

I didn’t wait for the elevator this time I took the stairs, each step louder than the last, like maybe the noise could drown out the breaking sound inside my chest.By the time I reached the sidewalk, the cold air bit at my skin, but it still didn’t numb me more than what I had just overheard inside that cursed building.Matteo and Isabelle moaning behind that door like nothing else mattered, like I had never existed, like I hadn’t been in that very room wrapped in him days ago.I climbed into the first cab I saw, slamming the door harder than I meant to, giving Mia’s address in a voice I barely recognized as my own.The driver didn’t speak, thank God just nodded and turned on some soft jazz, which only made the pain sharper, like I was trapped inside a memory montage.Every traffic light we passed felt like time mocking me, stretching out my shame second by second as my reflection in the window stared back with wide, disbelieving eyes.Mia opened the door the moment I knocked, her rob

Matteo's PovThe morning started like any other too much coffee, not enough patience, and a dozen fires to put out before lunch.I was scanning over a financial report when my phone buzzed.A message from Isabelle.I almost ignored it.Then I saw the image.Sarah.With Ryan.Smiling.Leaning close across a table with wine glasses and tiramisu between them, her hand almost brushing his, her eyes shining the way I’d once imagined they would… for me.Beneath it, Isabelle had written:“Thought you might want to see where your assistant spent her night. She seems… occupied.”A second image followed. Sarah laughing, her head tilted back in a way I’d never seen in my presence. Unapologetic. Free.Something inside me snapped.I slammed my laptop closed, shoving back from my desk so violently that the chair scraped against the polished floor. I paced the office once, twice, trying to breathe, trying to remind myself it didn’t matter.But it did.I didn’t want it to.I had no right.But it did.

It had been a long day. The kind where your feet ache, your back complains, and your head is still full of conversations you never wanted to have.I had just grabbed my coat from the rack near reception and was heading toward the elevator when I heard the footsteps.“Hey,” Ryan said, catching up. “You walking home?”I blinked. “Yeah. Just need some air.”He fell into step beside me like it was natural, like he’d always planned to walk me home and just waited until the moment felt right.“I figured I could tag along,” he added. “I mean, after last night’s glamour and Isabelle’s lunchtime villain monologue, I feel like you deserve a proper escort.”I smiled. “You’re volunteering as tribute, huh?”He grinned. “Consider it community service.”The walk was quiet at first. Our hands brushed a few times accidentally, I think but neither of us pulled away. The city buzzed around us, but our steps fell into rhythm, comfortable and close.“You okay?” he asked after a block.“I am,” I said. “Or…