My Father's Bestfriend의 모든 챕터: 챕터 11 - 챕터 20

SAKIA POVThe elevator ride down to the main lobby was dead silent. Evander stood beside me, his hands clasped loosely in front of him, staring straight at the shiny metallic doors. His posture was stiff, completely detached. Looking at him now, nobody would ever guess that his mouth had been burning against my skin just minutes ago.When the doors slid open, the quiet atmosphere of the upper floors vanished.The ground floor lobby was crowded. Victoria stood right in the center of the polished marble floor, looking entirely in her element. She was flanked by two men holding large professional cameras and a woman holding a digital voice recorder with the *Financial Chronicle* logo printed on the side. A few security guards stood a few feet back, looking nervous and unsure of whether they should intervene."Ah, there they are," Victoria announced, her voice carrying beautifully across the wide room. She didn't wait for us to approach. She marched right up to us, her heels clicking aggr

SASKIA POVThe desk phone continued to buzz, its sharp electronic tone slicing through the heavy, dark silence that had settled over us. Evander didn't move. His hands remained wrapped around the armrests of my chair, his chest rising and falling against the edge of the glass table. His dark eyes held mine captive, refusing to let me look away."Aren't you going to get that?" I whispered, my voice barely carrying over the noise."Let it ring," he murmured, his face so close I could feel the heat of his breath against my lips."Evander, we're at the office," I said, placing my hands flat against his chest to keep some distance between us. His heart was beating with a heavy, frantic rhythm beneath the expensive fabric of his vest. "Your secretary knows we're in here. If you ignore the phone while the door is locked, it looks suspicious."He let out a sharp, frustrated breath through his nose. He stayed still for one more agonizing second, his eyes burning down into mine, before he final

SASKIA POVThe frantic rattling of the door handle sliced through the thick, heavy heat between us. Evander froze, his lips still pressed against the racing pulse at my throat. His hands tightened on my hips for a fraction of a second, his knuckles digging into my skin before he slowly, deliberately let go."Mr. Sinclair!" Brenda’s voice came through the thick wood again, louder this time, her usual professional calm completely replaced by panic. "They're coming up the east elevator right now. Victoria has the court bailiffs with her!"Evander stepped back. The transformation on his face happened in the blink of an eye. The raw, territorial dark look vanished, replaced instantly by the cold, calculating mask of the billionaire CEO. He reached up, smoothing down his vest and fastening the buttons of his suit jacket with perfectly steady hands."Fix your clothes, Saskia," he said, his voice flat, low, and utterly calm. It was the tone he used when a multi-million-dollar deal was hanging

SAKIA POVThe private service elevator was small, utilitarian, and smelled faintly of industrial cleaner and damp concrete. Evander didn't let go of my hand until the heavy metal doors fully slid shut, trapping us in the dim, rattling space. The absolute silence inside the elevator shaft felt heavy after the chaos of the boardroom and the frantic shouting of the lobby.I leaned my back against the cold steel wall, looking down at my hands. They were still trembling slightly. Evander stood right beside me, his jaw set, staring straight ahead as the floor numbers ticked down on the overhead display.He had just admitted it. Right before we left the office, he called me his price. He told me that losing me was the only thing that mattered. My chest still felt tight from the sheer weight of his words, a strange mix of fear and relief swirling in my stomach. For days, I had been telling myself that he was just a cold tyrant doing a favor for a dead friend. I thought he was just using his p

SASKIA POVThe temperature dropped significantly as we descended the narrow concrete steps. The air down here was dry and stripped of moisture, chilled specifically to keep the estate’s heavy tech hardware from overheating. At the bottom of the stairs, a single flickering fluorescent bulb illuminated a heavy, reinforced steel door.Evander stepped past me, the silver keycard gripped tightly between his fingers. He swiped it against the digital scanner. A sharp beep cut through the silence, followed by the heavy, mechanical thud of the internal deadbolts shifting.He pushed the door open, revealing a narrow room lined with tall, black metal racks filled with blinking blue and green LED lights. The low, steady hum of the cooling fans filled the space, a white noise that made the outside storm feel miles away."Stay close," Evander said, his voice echoing slightly against the bare concrete walls. "The floor is slick from the condensation near the vents