All Chapters of Officially Yours, Sir!: Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

19 Chapters

Chapter 11

CELESTEMy breath caught in my throat.Those words echoed in my head as his hand cupped my cheek, warm and solid against my skin. His eyes were dark, intense, fixed on me with an expression that made my knees feel weak.But then his other words registered. The ones about the contract. About not forcing me. About letting me go if I wanted.I should have felt relieved. Instead, I felt something else entirely. Something that scared me more than his threats ever had."You would let me go?" I had asked him."I would let you go," he said. "But I would spend every day until I die trying to earn you back."That was when I kissed him. That was when everything changed.But now, standing here with his body pressed against mine, his hand still on my face, his breath warm on my lips... the reality of what I had just agreed to began to sink in.He wanted to touch me. He wanted to be inside me. And I...I had never done this before.My body tensed. He felt it immediately—the way my shoulders drew ti

Chapter 12

CELESTEHe reached inside and flipped a switch. Soft amber light filled the room.It was his bedroom.The space was large but intimate—dark wood, a fireplace, a bed that seemed to take up half the room. The sheets were black, the pillows piled high. The windows faced the garden, moonlight spilling through the glass.He led me to the bed and stopped beside it, turning to face me."One more time," he said. "If you want to stop, tell me. I will stop. Do you understand?"I nodded."Say words, Little Doe.""I understand," I said.He nodded once, then his hands came up to the collar of my blouse. He unbuttoned it slowly, one button at a time, his knuckles brushing against my skin with each movement. The fabric fell away, and he pushed it off my shoulders, letting it drop to the floor.My bra was next. He reached behind me, his fingers finding the clasp, and undid it with a single motion. The straps slid down my arms, and then I was bare from the waist up, standing in front of him with nothi

Chapter 13

CELESTEThree days passed like a dream.I woke each morning in Lazarus's bed, wrapped in his arms. Breakfast was served in the dining room or sometimes on a tray in bed when he didn't want to let me go. He went to his meetings, and I explored the mansion with Harlan as my guide.The days were peaceful. Almost too peaceful.I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.On the fourth morning, I woke alone.The sheets beside me were cold. Lazarus's pillow still held the scent of him, but he had been gone for hours. I sat up, blinking in the gray light filtering through the curtains.A note on the nightstand. His handwriting was sharp, precise.Meeting. Back by dinner. Rest. —LI read it twice, then folded it and tucked it under my pillow like a secret.The mansion felt different without him. Larger. Emptier. The servants moved silently through the halls, their eyes down, their voices low. I ate breakfast alone at the long table, the clink of my fork against the plate echoing off the walls.

Chapter 14

CELESTE Lazarus returned at seven. I heard his car pull through the gates, heard the front door open and close, heard his footsteps in the foyer. Then his voice, low and questioning, and Harlan's murmured response. A moment later, his footsteps approached my door. He knocked. Not entered. Knocked. "Little Doe? Are you in there?" I sat on the bed, still in the same clothes from this morning, my phone untouched on the nightstand. I hadn't eaten lunch or dinner. I hadn't left this room. "Come in," I said. The door opened. Lazarus stood in the doorway, still in his business suit, his tie loosened, his hair slightly disheveled. His eyes found me immediately, and I watched concern flicker across his face. "You didn't answer my message." "I was busy." He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "Harlan said you spent the day in your room. He said you looked upset." "Did Harlan also tell you why?" Lazarus's jaw tightened. "He mentioned there was a visitor. A woman

Chapter 15

LAZARUSI led her to my study, the one room in the mansion she hadn't seen yet.It was smaller than my office at Walkez Tower, more personal. Dark wood bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books I had actually read. A fireplace that crackled even in spring because I liked the sound. My father's desk, the only thing I had kept from my childhood home.Celeste looked around with wide eyes, taking it all in."This is where I make decisions that matter," I said. "Not the office. Not the boardroom. Here."I sat behind the desk and pulled out the black folder. The contract. The one I had rewritten."Sit," I said, pointing to the chair across from me.She sat.I opened the folder and slid it across the desk toward her. "Read it. The whole thing."She picked it up, her eyes moving across the pages. I watched her face as she read—the way her brow furrowed, her lips parted, her breath caught.When she finished, she looked up at me."You changed everything.""Not everything." I leaned back in

Chapter 16

CELESTEThe next morning, Anne was back.I was in the garden again, because I refused to hide in my room like a frightened animal. I was pruning roses—badly, with clumsy hands and a pair of garden shears that were probably worth more than my old car."You're still here," Anne said.I didn't turn around. "So are you."She walked around the rose bush until she was standing in front of me. Today she wore pale pink, a soft color that made her look innocent. I knew better now."I spoke to Lazarus last night," she said.I kept pruning. "Good for you.""He told me to leave. He said there was nothing between us anymore."I looked up then. "Then why are you here?"Anne's composure cracked. Just a little. I saw something raw in her eyes—anger, maybe, or grief."Because I don't believe him," she said. "The Lazarus I knew would never have chosen someone like you over someone like me.""Someone like me?""You know what I mean." She gestured at me, at my simple clothes, my unmanicured hands, my hai

Chapter 17

CELESTE The afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the pavement. I stepped out of the boutique with three shopping bags hanging from my arms. The silk scarves inside were for my mother. The leather journal was for Lily, who had started writing again. The small velvet box contained a pair of sapphire earrings I had bought for myself, because Lazarus had looked at me that morning and said, "Buy something that makes you happy. Not for me. For you." So I had. The security guards, Marcus and Davis, followed at a respectful distance. They had been trailing me all week. Ever since the gala. Ever since Leon showed up at the mansion gates, drunk and shouting, demanding to see me. Lazarus had handled it. He always handled everything. But he had also doubled the security detail and told me never to leave the mansion alone. I didn't argue. After what happened at the gala, after Leon's hands on my wrist, I didn't want to be alone. But today, walking through the

Chapter 18

CELESTE "Fuck you!" I screamed to his face. He looked happy. The warehouse smelled of rust and decay. They had dragged me inside after the van stopped. Rough hands on my arms, my shoulders, my hair. I stumbled on the uneven concrete floor, my bound ankles making it impossible to walk. So they carried me. Like I was nothing. Like I was garbage. They threw me onto a wooden chair. The legs scraped against the floor, a sound that echoed off the high ceiling and the corrugated metal walls. I looked around. The space was enormous. Abandoned. Broken windows lined the upper walls, letting in slivers of moonlight that cut across the darkness like knives. Old machinery loomed in the corners, rusted and forgotten. The air was cold and damp and smelled of mold. And in front of me, leaning against a metal table with his arms crossed, stood Leon. He was smiling. Not the sad, broken smile from the café. Not the desperate, crying expression I had seen when he confessed about Sarah

Chapter 19

LAZARUS The boardroom was silent. Fifteen men and women sat around the long mahogany table, their eyes fixed on me. The quarterly reports were spread across the polished surface. Projections. Acquisitions. The usual noise that filled my days before Celeste. I was barely listening. My phone buzzed in my jacket pocket. I ignored it. The meeting was important. A merger worth three hundred million. Every person in this room was counting on me to make the final decision. It buzzed again. Then again. Something cold settled in my chest. "Excuse me," I said, standing. The executives exchanged glances. I never took calls during meetings. Never. I stepped into the hallway and pressed the phone to my ear. "Report." Davis's voice was strained. Almost panicked. I had never heard him panic before. "Sir. Miss Celeste. She's gone." The world narrowed. "What do you mean, gone?" "We were at the plaza. She was shopping. A van pulled up. Five men, maybe six. They took her. Marcus is down.

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