From my Bully to CEO のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

PASTSELENE’S POV:The manor was chaotic when I stepped in. Mostly, it was just Nancy and Andrew quarreling about something very random - like which color napkins to use while setting the table or whether the flower arrangement from yesterday still looked flattering or should be thrown out. I was used to ignoring their squabbles, though secretly, I found comfort in the noise. This suburb was far too quiet, eerily so. Even the birdsongs here never sounded quite right. Their chatter was the only thing that felt normal - almost like home.But today, what caught my attention wasn’t their quarreling. It was my grandmother, standing beside the long dining table in her sprawling living room.“Hi,” I said slowly, eyes darting from Nancy and Andrew who were standing at opposite ends of the table, and then towards my grandmother and staying there.“Hello, darling,” Nancy said quickly, breaking off whatever staring match she was engaged in with Andrew. “I hope you’re hungry. Go clean up while

PRESENTGRAYSON’S POV:My office was spacious enough to not feel crowded—even with the entire board filing in like vultures circling fresh meat.“Mr. Vexley,” Barbara McCasey—an elderly woman with greying hair and the only board member I halfway respected—spoke first. “Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to move this to the conference room?”“No, Barbara.” I leaned back, fingers steepled, watching as they took their seats in the chairs that had hurriedly been arranged fifteen minutes ago. “Since you’re all so intent on dissecting my personal life like it’s company property, we’ll do it here.”Barabara pursed her lips but didn’t argue. It took another excruciating minute for these grown adults to arrange themselves. Like children called to the principal’s office.“Mr. Vexley,” one of them finally said, clearing his throat. Avery, always the first coward to break. “I assume you’ve seen the news by now.”Of course I had. The headline—America’s beloved bachelor CEO cavorting with his secretar

PASTSELENE’S POV:I shoved through the bodies, not caring who I elbowed along the way. My lungs burned like I’d just sprinted laps. I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to go. My vision was blurry with tears I was holding back for weeks. My heart thumped like a war cry in my chest.I kept running until I stumbled upon the heavy double doors at the far end of the hall. They loomed like a portal to some other world, somewhere distant and unreal, somewhere that might actually let me breathe. No one ever used them, but there wasn’t a sign saying I couldn’t, so I shoved the left door open just wide enough to slip inside.On the other side, there was nothing magical waiting. Just a shadowed staircase blanketed in dust, the air thick and stale. The banisters curled in elegant spirals, the wood groaning faintly under the weight of age. I’d seen the blocked entrance somewhere on the ground floor before, but I’d never known where it led.I wasn’t sure why nobody used this anymore. The stairs lo

PRESENTGRAYSON’S POV:It was the start of the third week on Selene’s ‘deadline’ and only a week since I fired my other secretary.Selene had been absolutely insufferable since then and the thought had occurred to me—more than once—that hiring her for the secretary position had been a colossal mistake.Now I was doing three times my usual workload, managing my own calendar, scheduling my meetings, triple-checking every minor detail she “forgot” to handle.But for all the gloom my nights demanded, the mornings were always worth it.Just the sight of her sitting there on her desk, that slight smile on her face as she chatted with some employee or the other was enough to erase an entire day of frustration.Offering her some other position wouldn’t have ever let us be this close. I wouldn’t have been able to see that unguarded warmth on her face which she never reserved for me.And for that, I was willing to do the work of the entire floor if need be.Still, she was a menace who was still

PRESENTSELENE’S POV:I was walking away from Grayson. As though the distance could shield me from the storm he lit in my chest every time he touched me like I might shatter. Every time he looked at me like breathing was impossible without me.I hated him for it. For making me feel so much.Hating him was easier, safer. It’s what I've learned to do in the last ten years. It was the armor I wore and I wasn’t ready to let him strip it away, wasn’t ready for him to force me to face what I thought I had left in the past.I wasn’t running, I told myself. Just walking away.But my chest heaved as if I’ve just run a marathon, my breaths coming out ragged.Mostly, I was hiding.Curled up in the shadowed alcove at the back of the hall, knees pulled tight to my chest, I tried not to think about the destruction I just unleashed on him.“Sel?” A familiar voice called.My heart sunk. It didn’t sound like Grayson but dread filled my chest nevertheless.I looked up as a figure blocked my way, his fa