《THE BILLIONAIRE FORBIDDEN ASSISTANT 》全部章節：第 41 章 - 第 50 章

Aiden's Pov I walked into the office and everyone stopped talking when they saw me. They all knew what happened and they all knew that Elliot was the new temporary CEO. The whispers started as soon as I passed and I could hear them talking about how the roles had reversed. Marcus caught up with me near the elevators. "Aiden," he said. "Did you hear the news?" "About Elliot?" I asked. "Yes." "The board made it official this morning," Marcus said. "He starts today." I nodded because I already knew but hearing it out loud made it real. Elliot was my boss now and I had to take orders from him. The thought made my stomach twist but I also felt something else. Something like pride because Elliot deserved this even if it meant I lost everything. "How do you feel about it?" Marcus asked. "I feel fine," I lied. Marcus looked at me like he did not believe me but he did not push. "The transition should be smooth. Elliot knows the company well." "He does," I said. "And Aiden?" Marcus sa

Aiden's Pov I stayed at the office until almost midnight working on the reports Elliot gave me. The numbers did not make sense and the more I dug the worse it got. Someone was moving money around in ways that were almost impossible to track and they were doing it carefully. Sarah from accounting had gone home hours ago but she left me her notes. She found patterns in the transactions that pointed to someone with high level access. Someone who knew the system well enough to hide their tracks. My eyes hurt from staring at the computer screen but I kept going because this was important. If someone was stealing from the company again we needed to stop them before it got worse. I pulled up another spreadsheet and started cross referencing account numbers. That was when I saw it and a transfer that did not match any of the authorized payments. The amount was small only five thousand dollars but it was the same amount that had been moved every week for the past six months. I did the mat

Aiden's Pov I did not sleep at all that night. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking about Elliot. The way he looked when he said working with me was killing him and the way his voice cracked when he said he was trying to forgive me. I kept replaying our conversation over and over in my head. Every word and every look and every moment when we stood too close and wanted things we could not have. At five in the morning I gave up on sleep and got out of bed. I showered and got dressed and left my apartment while it was still dark outside. The city was quiet and empty and I walked to the nearest coffee shop that was open. I ordered my usual black coffee and then I thought about Elliot. He always got a vanilla latte with extra foam. I remembered because I used to watch him drink it every morning when he was my assistant. Before I could stop myself I ordered a vanilla latte with extra foam. The barista gave me a weird look because I was holding two cups but she did no

Aiden's Pov The crisis got worse the next morning when I walked into the office and saw Elliot pacing in his office on the phone. His face was tight and his voice was sharp and I knew something bad had happened. I waited outside until he hung up and then knocked on his door. "What is wrong?" "Anderson Corp wants to pull their contract." "What? Why?" "They heard about the embezzlement investigation and they are worried about working with us." Anderson Corp was our biggest client and they brought in almost twenty percent of our annual revenue. Losing them would be a disaster. "When did they call?" "Ten minutes ago. They want a meeting this afternoon to discuss terminating the contract." "Can we stop them?" "I do not know. But we have to try." Elliot ran his hand through his hair and I could see panic in his eyes. This was his first real crisis as CEO and if he lost Anderson Corp the board would blame him. "We can fix this," I said. "How?" "We make a plan. We show them that

Aiden's Pov I could not stop thinking about what happened in the elevator. The way Elliot looked at me and the way he said he could not tell me to move back because he did not want me to. That had to mean something and that had to mean he still wanted this as much as I did. I spent all evening thinking about it and by the time I went to bed I had made a decision. I was going to take a risk and I was going to ask Elliot to dinner. The next morning I got to the office early and practiced what I would say. I must have written and deleted ten different versions of the same email before I finally just walked to his office. Elliot was at his desk reading through contracts. He looked up when I knocked and I could see surprise in his eyes. "Do you have a minute?" "Yeah. Come in." I walked in and closed the door behind me. My heart was beating so fast I thought he could probably hear it. "What is it?" Elliot asked. "I wanted to ask you something." "Okay." "Would you hav