All Chapters of Terms and Temptations: The CEO spoils me silly: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Emma's POVI know he’s given me a job—but I still need freedom.I want something outside of him. Outside of this penthouse. Outside of the way he looks at me like he’s waiting for me to vanish.Technically, I work at Blake & Rowe. Technically, I have an office with a view and a fancy badge that lets me through executive elevators. But everyone there knows I’m Mrs. Blake first, and a project analyst second. Half the time, people ask if I want sparkling water or if I need help opening Excel.No, Karen. I can handle pivot tables. I just don’t want to pivot my whole life around a man I barely understand.So today, I did what any woman in desperate need of breathing room would do.I applied for another job.Not a glamorous one. Nothing that screamed I married into billions. Just a quiet, normal admin position at a nonprofit a few blocks from Central Park. I used a fake last name. I didn’t mention Blake & Rowe. I even wore flats and tied my hair into a low bun to look less like someone who

Emma’s POV“They’re going to announce it.”Danielle’s voice echoed long after the call ended.I stood in the penthouse kitchen, spoon in hand, absentmindedly stirring a now-forgotten cup of chamomile tea. The liquid had gone cold—just like the pit settling deep in my stomach.Our wedding.The one I signed in silence... for revenge, behind locked emotions.The one I was not ready to share with the world.“They’re going to make it public,” I whispered.Across the kitchen, Xander leaned against the counter, arms folded, phone face down on the marble. His expression unreadable but his jaw? Tight.“You knew?” I asked quietly.He didn’t speak immediately.That half-second pause? It was enough.“You knew.”“Danielle called me first,” he said slowly. “I was going to tell you tonight.”“Right,” I snapped. “After dessert? Or maybe during the press conference?”He moved toward me. “Emma, I told them not to say anything until we agreed. But you know how my mother is.”“I don’t care what your moth

Emma's POVThe sky outside the penthouse windows was a muted gray, heavy with clouds but holding back the rain. It mirrored the haze in my head—the static that had settled in ever since the phone call. The raspy voice. The warning."You don’t know me. But you should be careful. There are people more dangerous than Diane watching you."The words played on repeat like a broken record in my mind.I hadn’t told Xander.Not because I didn’t want to.Because I didn’t know how.I was curled up on the sofa, nursing a cup of coffee I barely sipped, when my phone rang again. I braced myself, expecting another unknown number. But this one was familiar. Danielle.I answered on the third ring."Don’t tell me you’re still sulking," her voice came with a mix of teasing and gentle concern."Not sulking," I murmured. "Just thinking.""Well, stop it. Put on something cute. We’re going out.""Out?""You need to breathe, Emma. I need to breathe. And we’re going shopping. Retail therapy is good for the so

Emma's POV I need an escape. Not just a walk around the block, not another coffee run with Danielle or a quiet dinner with Xander where the silence between us says everything we’re too afraid to admit. I need a break. A real one. Far away from the shadows that have begun creeping back into my life. This second chance—this life—was supposed to be different. But it’s not. The air feels the same. Heavy. Tainted. The Polaroid. The boy in the hoodie. The bloodstained note that read "Finish what you started." All of it was suffocating me. One breath at a time. --- I stared at the bloodstained note again. It was still on my dresser, weighted down by the edge of my hairbrush like some twisted souvenir. The handwriting—so elegant, almost gentle—mocked me. Like a whisper in my ear: You don't belong here. Not anymore. My heart hadn’t stopped racing since it arrived. I slept with one eye open, one hand under my pillow gripping the scissors I now carried around like a weapon. I was

Emma’s POVI didn’t know what it felt like to be hunted until that night at the cabin.I thought I’d gone far enough, erased enough tracks, made enough fake bookings and alternate itineraries. But none of that mattered. Whoever they were—they found me. They came inside. Took a photo of me while I slept. Left a message meant to scramble my sanity.Still pretending you don’t remember? Let me help you.I couldn’t breathe when I saw those words again. Not because of what they said but because of what they meant.This wasn’t random. This wasn’t some obsessed stranger.This was personal.I left the cabin at dawn. Drove without stopping. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going......not even Bella. I didn’t want to risk leading the danger back to anyone I loved. Not again.But I needed to see Xander. I needed safety. I needed answers.---The guards outside his penthouse didn’t recognize me at first. My hair was a mess, eyes hollowed out from no sleep, clothes wrinkled from two days of paranoi