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Lahat ng Kabanata ng One Night, Wrong Man: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

146 Kabanata

Chapter 21 — The Price of Wanting

-POV Derby I left Jordan’s office that evening knowing I’d just made everything harder. I couldn’t bring myself to go home yet, so I spent the next hour wandering the city with nowhere specific to be, letting the cold night air sting my skin, hoping I’d stop replaying every conversation we’d had that week. If anything, it made things worse. Somewhere along the way, Jordan had stopped being a mistake and started becoming a habit, how he’d fucked me deep and slow while whispering that my pussy was his. How I’d come so hard I saw stars, moaning his name like it was the only word I knew. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was too tired to keep arguing with myself. I took a long shower, trying to wash him off. The shower helped about as much as everything else I’d tried that week. The problem wasn’t the scent or the memory of his hands, that was I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on his face when I left. For the first time, he’d looked less like the man with all

Chapter 22 — No More Running

-POV Derby I didn’t leave his penthouse that night. After everything that had happened between us that night, leaving stopped feeling as simple as walking out the door. We lay there in silence, his arm still around my waist, and for once neither of us seemed interested in breaking it. Somewhere along the way, pretending this was temporary had gotten a lot harder. The problem was that nothing had actually changed while we were lying there. At 6:30 AM, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. Jordan reached for it, glanced at the screen, and whatever sleepy ease had been on his face disappeared. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. Of course it was Tamara. He silenced the call and set the phone aside, but neither of us could pretend it hadn’t happened. The silence that followed felt a lot heavier than it should have. I sat up and pulled the sheet closer, suddenly aware of how exposed I felt.. “You should answer her,” I said quietly. He didn’t ev

Chapter 23 — The First Crack

-POV Derby I didn’t expect to see him again so soon. But two days later, at the annual company gala, Jordan Vasquez walked into the ballroom with the kind of presence that made conversations pause mid-sentence. Judging by the way half the room turned toward the entrance, I wasn’t the only one watching him. He looked devastating in a black tuxedo, the kind that made every head turn. Tamara moved easily beside him, greeting investors, board members, and executives as though she’d been preparing for this role her entire life. I stood near the bar in a simple black cocktail dress, trying to disappear into the crowd. My manager had insisted the entire team attend. My manager had called it a networking opportunity. Standing there watching Jordan and Tamara together, it felt more like a punishment. I’d only been there a few minutes, and already I was counting how long I could stay before leaving wouldn’t look rude. I don’t know how long it took him to find me in the crowd. It f

Chapter 24 — The First Real Choice

-POV Derby Somewhere below us, the gala was still going on. People were probably laughing, networking, making deals, completely unaware of what had happened upstairs. The problem was that I wasn’t sure I could go back downstairs pretending nothing had changed. Neither of us moved right away. The silence that followed felt heavier than anything we’d said all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about who was waiting downstairs. Tamara. Noah. An entire room full of people who would’ve looked at me very differently if they knew. Walking away had been getting harder long before tonight. The gala had only made that impossible to ignore. For the first time, I wasn’t worried about whether Jordan wanted me. I was worried about what happened if he did. Jordan took a step back and ran a hand through his hair, looking more exhausted than satisfied.. His hands cupped my face, thumbs brushing away the tears I didn’t realize had fallen. “Don’t cry,” Jordan whispered, his hand lingering a

Chapter 25 — The Breaking Point

-POV Derby Life went back to normal faster than I wanted it to. Work gave me plenty of excuses to stay busy. Somehow I still managed to build my entire week around not ending up anywhere near the tenth floor. Avoiding him turned out to be surprisingly easy. Pretending I wasn’t thinking about him was another story. Every time things got quiet, my mind drifted back to the same conversation in the lounge. Not the part where he asked me to stay. The part where he asked for more time. I kept acting like I’d made a decision. Deep down, I knew I was still waiting for his. By Friday night, I was back on my couch with a glass of wine and absolutely no progress to show for the week. My phone buzzed. Jordan: Open the door. For a second, I just stared at the screen, wondering what had finally pushed him to show up. I told myself not answering would make things easier. The fact that I stood up anyway probably said enough. I should turn off the lights and pretend I wasn’t home.

Chapter 26 — The Silence Between Us

-POV Derby Walking away had felt brave that night. Five days later, I wasn’t so sure. Being removed from the Vasquez project should have made things easier. Somehow it made everything worse. My manager kept calling it a conflict of interest. The problem was that the phrase sounded a lot more serious now than it had a week ago. He had no idea how right he was. I kept replaying the same question in my head. Was Jordan actually trying to change something, or had I simply become another problem he hoped time would solve? What followed me home wasn’t desire anymore. It was uncertainty. I kept replaying the same conversation from the lounge, searching for something I’d missed. Some sign that Jordan actually intended to do what he claimed he wanted. Every night ended with my phone in my hand and the same unanswered question sitting in my chest. Was he finally going to choose, or was I still waiting for a decision he’d never make?. On the fifth night, my phone rang. And i can se t

Chapter 27 — Too Close

- POV DerbyThe human brain is remarkably adept at rationalizing bad behavior when the alternative requires too much effort. For three days, I had successfully convinced myself that sharing a temporary office suite with Jordan Vasquez on the forty-second floor was purely a logistical necessity. The main executive wing was undergoing a tech overhaul; the Vanguard merger required immediate, uninterrupted oversight. It was professional. It was logical.It was a complete lie.Every time the heavy oak door clicked shut behind us, the air in the room didn’t just grow quiet—it grew heavy, thick with the unsaid, vibrating with the ghost of a night that neither of us had the right to remember."The revised projections for the logistics acquisition," Jordan said. His voice wasn’t loud, but it had that low, gravelly weight that always seemed to cut straight through the hum of the central air conditioning.I didn't look up from my laptop immediately. I kept my fingers poised over the keyboard, co

Chapter 28 — First Jealousy

-POV DerbyI’d gone to bed feeling victorious. By breakfast, that confidence was already looking shaky.I’d replayed the meeting so many times that I’d almost convinced myself I’d handled it perfectly.Then came the Tuesday morning press preview in the main atrium, and everything I’d spent the night telling myself lasted right up until I walked into the atrium.By the time I arrived, the lobby barely looked like the building I worked in every day. of camera flashes, public relations managers, and high-profile industry analysts. Vanguard and Vasquez Holdings were officially announcing the secondary phase of the logistics acquisition, which meant the room was packed with people who talked about market capitalization before breakfast. My job was simple: stay near the media desk, hand out digital press kits, and avoid attracting attention."The new compliance strategy is a bold move, but it’s the legal counsel that’s really driving the timeline," Marcus murmured from beside me, nodding t

Chapter 29 — But I Do

-POV DerbyHis words hung in the cramped space of the service corridor like a physical weight, pressing the oxygen straight out of my lungs.*Who you belong to in the dark.*I hated the word. *Belong.* It sounded heavy, archaic, and terrifyingly permanent. It sounded like something a man like Jordan Vasquez said when he wanted to remind a low-level operations assistant exactly where she sat on the corporate food chain. He wanted me compliant. He wanted me to be the secret little escape hatch he could open whenever his perfectly tailored, high-society lifestyle got too boring to handle.I forced a cold, shallow breath through my teeth, my back pressing hard against the cool tile wall as I tried to build my defenses back up from scratch. "I don't belong to anyone, Jordan. Not in the dark, and definitely not out there under the press lights."Jordan didn't pull his hand back from the wall. If anything, he leaned in closer, his broad shoulders completely blocking out the rest of the corr

Chapter 30 — Tamara Notices

-POV DerbyThe afternoon integration brief didn't happen in a cramped office suite. It happened in the glass-walled VIP lounge overlooking the main atrium, a space designed specifically to make lower-level employees feel like ants while the top-tier executives decided their fates over espresso.I stood near the secondary display monitor, my fingers clicking through the asset transition slides with mechanical precision. I was wearing my professional mask like a shield, keeping my voice flat, measured, and entirely robotic as I ran through the third-quarter compliance targets.*Don't look at him,* I repeated to myself like a prayer. *Just look at the data columns.*Jordan was sitting at the head of the long obsidian table, his large frame relaxed, his navy suit jacket unbuttoned. He looked completely untouchable, his face an unreadable block of stone as he listened to the presentation. But every time I paused to change a slide, I could feel the heavy, electric weight of his gaze tracki

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