All Chapters of Forbidden: Claimed by My Ex's Father and Brother: Chapter 341 - Chapter 350

Joella’s POVThe next morning, as I got ready for work, my mind pulled me in two different directions and refused to pick one.One part of me could not stop thinking about my fate at the office. Was I going to be laid off? Would I walk in and find my name already halfway off a list? Would somebody smile at me in the kitchen and then later box up my things like I had never been there at all?The other part was worse.The stubborn part.That part kept drifting back to dark eyes in a starry night and fingers that made me gush. To a rooftop rail. To a timer on a phone. To a man who licked my come off his hand and called me a word I still did not know how to say.Asteraki.I stood in front of the bathroom mirror with my toothbrush in my mouth and glared at my own face.“No,” I said around the foam. “We are not doing this.”My reflection did not look convinced.I spat, rinsed, and tried again, out loud this time, like that would make it stick.“You do not even know his name. He made you com

Joella’s POVI hung up and sat there with my hand still on the receiver.The CEO wanted to see me.Mr. Ahmed had walked back into that office with my folder. That had to be it. The error. The millions we almost lost. A thank you. A question. Maybe even the beginning of the promotion I had been chasing for over a year.My hands were not steady when I stood.I smoothed my blouse. Checked my reflection in the dark computer screen. I looked like a woman who had come to work. Blouse. Hair. Lipstick that was already fading. Not a woman who had come on a stranger’s fingers the night before with her back against a rooftop rail.Good.That was the version of me this building needed.I took the long way to the elevator anyway, just to give my pulse a chance to slow down. It didn’t. People on my floor were still talking in that tight, careful way. Joe was at somebody else’s desk, no doubt spreading the same story he had brought to me. I kept my eyes forward and walked past all of it.The elevato

Joella’s POVI picked up my notepad and a pen and walked down the hallway. The conference room was already filling when I got there. People were taking seats, murmuring, glancing at the empty chair at the head of the table. Somebody had put out water bottles. The air smelled like dry-erase markers and leftover lunch.I sat near the middle and opened my notepad. I wrote the date at the top just to give my hands something to do.The head chair stayed empty.Then the door opened.Mr. Ahmed walked in first.Cavern Kingston walked in behind him.My pen slipped a little in my fingers.I looked down at my notepad at once. I did not need to see him. I already knew how he looked in that suit. I already knew how his mouth moved when he spoke. Looking at him would only make it worse.Chairs shifted. The room went quieter.He took the seat at the head of the table.For a second, nobody spoke.Then he did.“Good afternoon,” he said. His voice filled the room without him raising it. “I’m Cavern King

Joella’s POV“Hey,” she said, warm and immediate. “I was just thinking about you. How did it go? Did they fire half the building or what?”I let out a breath I had been holding since the elevator.“I didn’t get fired.”“Oh, thank God.”“I got a promotion instead.”There was a short silence. Then Lia squealed so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear.“Joella! Are you serious?”“Yes.”“I knew it. I knew they were going to see you. You work harder than all of them put together. You deserve this. I’m so happy for you I could cry.”I smiled, even though my chest still felt tight.“Don’t cry,” I said. “It’s just an office.”“It is not just an office. It’s proof. Tell me everything. What happened? Did they call you in? Did somebody finally grow a brain?”I looked around the big room, the window, the door with my name on it.“There was a mistake in one of the records,” I said. “A bad one. I caught it. They moved me upstairs.”“Upstairs as in—”“Last floor.”Lia made another sound, hal

Joella’s POVThe payroll girl made a tiny sound, like a laugh she swallowed too late.I looked at all four of them.“Enjoy your break, guys” I said. Then I walked out.The hallway air felt cooler. My hands were steady now. The coffee was hot against my palm. Behind me, I heard a chair move and Joe start to mutter, but I did not stay to hear it.I took the elevator back up with my head still high.When I got back to my office, my phone lit up before I even sat down.It was a message from the executive assistant.Mr. Kingston would like to see you. Now.My stomach tightened. I set the coffee on my desk, checked my blouse in the dark screen of my laptop, and picked up my phone. My hands were steady. That felt like a small win after the break room. Joe’s voice was still sitting somewhere under my ribs, but I was not going to carry it into that office. Not if I could help it.I walked down the hall.The last floor was quiet in the middle of the day. Soft carpet. Low voices behind closed d