All Chapters of HE PAID ME TO FORGET MY SON…NOW I WORK FOR HIM: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

🌹TESSA🌹The coffee poured and ran across his perfectly organized documents. I watched it spread, a dark stain creeping across the white pages, soaking through the paper and bleeding into the words beneath. The liquid pooled around the edges of his desk and dripped onto the floor in slow drops.I froze on the spot. My hands were still in the air, still holding the tray, still frozen in the position they had been in when the cup tilted. I watched the coffee stain his papers and I could not move. I could not make my body do anything except stand there and watch the mess I had created.It had not even taken up one minute. One minute of working in his space and I had already created a mess. I was definitely getting fired. This was it. The first day and I had already ruined everything. Wayne's medication. The school fees. The rent. All of it slipping away because I could not keep my hands steady."I'm so sorry," I said, and my voice came out thin and shaky.Raymond remained calm. His face

🌹TESSA🌹My opinion.The words echoed in my head louder than they should have. They bounced off the walls of my skull and settled somewhere deep in my chest, heavy and insistent, pressing against my ribs like they were trying to escape.Why was he asking me? I had only been his executive assistant for less than a day. I had spilled coffee on his signed contracts. I had apologized more times in the last hour than I had in the last eight years. I had no business giving him my opinion on anything.But there he was, sitting behind his massive desk with his cold gray eyes fixed on me, the black invitation held loosely between his fingers like it was a puzzle he was trying to solve. He was waiting for my answer. He was actually waiting. The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy, and I could feel the weight of his gaze pressing down on my skin.The thought of walking into a room full of Caldwells made my stomach knot. The thought of walking into a room full of Harts made my stomach

🌹TESSA🌹He was standing in front of me, his hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable. He was wearing a dark coat and his hair was slightly disheveled, as if he had been waiting for a while."I did not know Mr. Reddington keeps his staff this late," he said, and his voice was casual, almost conversational.I felt my face go hot. I was tired and hungry. I did not have the energy for this."What do you want, Max?" I asked, and my voice came out sharper than I intended. I did not have time for pleasantries. I had a son waiting for me at home.He raised his eyebrows slightly, a flicker of amusement crossing his face. "Oh, I am glad we are not keeping it formal. It has been years since I last saw you, Tessa." He paused, studying my face. "When I came back from my travels, I heard Lucien cut things off with you."I felt the words land somewhere in my chest, sharp and unwanted. I wanted nothing to do with the Caldwells. I had wanted nothing to do with them for years."What do you wan

♠️RAYMOND♠️Oliver parked the car in front of the house. The headlights cut through the darkness, illuminating the stone facade and the manicured hedges that lined the driveway. The mansion loomed above us, all dark windows and cold elegance, the kind of place that looked impressive from the outside but felt hollow once you stepped through the doors."Are we staying the night, sir?" Oliver asked, his voice low and steady.I sighed, looking at the front door. The lights were on in the foyer but the rest of the house was dark. Quiet. The way it always was. The way it had always been."No," I said, my voice flat. "We'd leave in thirty minutes or less."I got out of the car and walked toward the front door. The gravel crunched beneath my feet, the sound sharp in the silence of the night. The air was cool and damp and I could smell the faint scent of jasmine from the garden, the same jasmine my mother had planted when I was a child. She had said it was for the aesthetic. She had said it ma

🌹TESSA🌹I closed the door and I stood there with my hand still on the handle. I did not turn around because I could not let Wayne see me almost tearing up. I could not let him see the thing that was happening behind my eyes, the numbers that were already rearranging themselves in my head like they always did when something like this happened, when the ground shifted beneath me and I had to find new footing before I fell."Mama?"His voice came from the kitchen, small and searching, and I heard the question in it, the thing he was not old enough to put into words yet but that he felt in his bones the same way I did, that something was wrong, that something had shifted.I forced my shoulders down. I pressed my lips into the realest smile I could manage and turned around."Finish your breakfast," I said, and my voice came out steady even though nothing inside me was steady.He looked at me for a moment. His eyes moved over my face in that way he had, that way that made me feel like he