Lahat ng Kabanata ng Involved with my Boss's Fiancee's Lover: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

I make it three blocks before my legs give out.Not literally—I’m not that pathetic—but I have to stop and lean against a lamppost because my hands won’t stop shaking and my brain won’t stop screaming he knows he knows he knows.The wig comes off first. I shove it into my bag like it personally offends me, then the sunglasses, and I stand there in the middle of New Greenland’s financial district looking like exactly what I am: a woman who just got caught doing something she has no business doing.Forever yours.The email signature burns behind my eyelids every time I blink.Those emails started four years ago, back when I was still in university scraping together tuition with that stupid fish stall and three part-time jobs. At first, I thought it’s sweet; some shy guy who couldn't work up the nerve to talk to me in person. Then the emails got more detailed. More knowing. They mentioned things no one should've known. What I ate for breakfast. What time I left my dorm. I’d deleted the a

She has to. Why else would she mention Foxe's name like that? Why else would she look at me like she wants to see me buried six feet under?My phone buzzes.Melly: hello??? anella you can't just drop a bomb like that and then GHOST MEMe: Kerry just threatened meMelly: WHATMe: subtly. but yeah. she definitely knows something's upMelly: babe you need to GET OUT of this situationMe: i need the moneyMelly: you also need to NOT DIEI almost laugh. Almost.Me: i'll be fine. probably.Melly: that's not reassuringMe: gotta go. shift starting?Melly: yeah. night shift at the hospital. pray for meMelly: also please don't do anything stupidMe: no promisesI shove my phone in my bag, grab my coat, and decide I am done with this day.®®®The thing about New Greenland in February is that it gets dark stupid early. By the time I make it out of the office, the sun is already setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink that would be pretty if I wasn't so exhausted I can barely see s

It isn’t gentle.It isn’t sweet at all.It’s the kind of kiss that feels like warfare. His mouth claims mine like he has every right to it, one hand sliding into my hair, the other holding my waist hard enough I feel my ribs bruising. And I—God help me.I kiss him back.Not because I want to or because this makes any logical sense. But because my brain has apparently short-circuited and my body has decided that self-preservation is optional.His tongue sweeps against mine and I make a sound I’ve never made before; it's desperate and broken and completely mortifying. He pulls back just enough to look at me. His pupils are blown wide, and he's breathing hard.“That,” he says roughly, “was not in my plan.”I shove at his chest. Hard. “Get off—”“You kissed me back.”“I did not—”“You moaned.”My face goes nuclear. “I didn’t—that wasn’t—you can’t just—”“Can’t just what?” He catches my wrists and pins them against the shelf above my head with one hand. “Kiss you? Touch you? Make you admit

▪ Foxe ▪Present dayThe photo on my desk is from that day.I had Luigi take it secretly, from a distance. Anella standing behind her fish stall, holding the cash, smiling so wide it hurt to look at.I had forty-three photos of her now.Different years. Different contexts. Different versions of her life that she had no idea I'd documented.The one from her graduation. Her in scrubs outside Saint Mercy Hospital where Jericho had his first surgery. Her laughing with that friend of hers—Melly—outside some dive bar in the financial district.And the newest one: her in the archive room this morning, eyes closed, my mouth on hers.I should feel guilty.I don’t.The hotel suite smells like her, or rather, like the twelve different perfumes she’s worn over the years that I’ve had recreated and mixed into a custom diffuser blend. Vanilla and citrus from her university days. Something floral from when she first started working for June. The expensive one she wears now, 24k and Dear Body, that s

The flash drive felt heavier than a brick when I dropped it onto June’s desk the next morning.I had barely slept an hour. My eyes burned violently from staring at my dark bedroom ceiling all night. Between the terrifying anonymous email I received last night and the haunting hospital bills for Jericho, my brain felt like a fried circuit board. I just wanted to wrap myself in a cheap blanket and sleep for a full week. I wanted to be a normal twenty four year old woman with normal problems like bad dates and burnt toast.Instead I'm standing here in a restricting pencil skirt, pretending I didn't just spend yesterday evening in a dim hotel room with my boss's worst enemy.June doesn't even look up from his tablet. He just nods his thanks and immediately launches into an aggressive tirade."Victor Harrow’s completely losing his mind," June snaps. He swipes aggressively at his screen, his jaw clenched tight enough to crack his teeth. "He wants the Shield partnership finalized by Friday.