جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

NIAI knew something was coming the second my mother told me to sit down after breakfast.Victor sat across from me at the dining table, calm as always. My mother stood beside him with that determined look she got when she’d already decided how the conversation would end. Kingston was already gone to the office. Victor spoke first. “There’s an open junior marketing associate position at Carter Global. I’d like you to take it.”I stared at him. “No.”My mother’s eyebrows shot up. “Nia—”“I already have applications out,” I said. “Real ones. I don’t need a job handed to me because I live here.”Victor didn’t look offended. He just nodded once. “I understand that. This isn’t charity. Your grades are strong. Dean’s list three semesters. The role is entry-level but real. You’d report to the marketing team and handle actual campaigns, not coffee runs.”“I can get that somewhere else.”“You can,” he agreed. “But you’re living under this roof right now. You’re family. I’d rather put you some

NIA I left Carter Global with Kingston’s come still sticky between my thighs and the badge reader beeping behind me like an accusation. The private elevator felt too bright. My blouse was wrinkled. My legs still trembled. Every time the doors reflected my face I saw the same flushed, thoroughly fucked expression I’d worn leaving his office. I fixed my hair with shaking fingers and told myself no one would notice. At the penthouse the elevator opened straight into silence. My mother called from the kitchen. “You’re late. Everything okay?” “Long first day,” I said, already moving toward the hallway. “I’m going to shower.” I locked myself in the bathroom and stood under hot water until the evidence of what we’d done washed down the drain. It didn’t help. My body still felt him—the stretch, the desk under my chest, the way he’d held my hair while he finished inside me. Addiction was too soft a word for it. I dressed in leggings and a hoodie and sat on my bed with my phone. Three mi

NIAThe office floor emptied slowly after six.I stayed at my desk longer than I needed to, staring at the same spreadsheet until the numbers blurred. Every few minutes my eyes drifted toward the glass wall that looked into Kingston’s office. He was still there, sleeves rolled, focused on his screen like the rest of the building didn’t exist.The camera sat in the back of my mind like a splinter. He’d said he would handle it. I didn’t know how, and I hated that I trusted him to try. Because what if the camera caught him eating me up?At 7:12 I stood, grabbed the folder I’d been pretending to review, and walked to his door. It was half-open. I knocked once.“Come in.”I stepped inside and closed the door fully behind me. The click sounded too loud in the quiet.Kingston looked up. “You should have gone home.”“So should you.”“I’m finishing the East Coast numbers.”“I’m not here about numbers.”

NIA The rumor reached me before I even sat down at my desk. I heard it in the break room first—two women from accounting speaking just loud enough as I walked past. “—living in the penthouse and somehow lands a marketing role in under a week. Convenient.” “I heard she’s very close with Kingston already. Late nights. Private meetings.” The second woman lowered her voice. “Serena said she saw them.” I stopped walking. Both of them froze when they realized I’d heard every word. I turned slowly, coffee in one hand, and looked straight at them. “You got something you want to say to my face,” I said, “or you just practicing for the group chat?” The taller one opened her mouth and closed it again. The other one flushed. “That’s what I thought.” I kept my voice even but loud enough to carry. “Next time you want to discuss my job or who I talk to, do it where I can answer. I’m not hard to find.” I walked to my desk without waiting for a reply. My pulse was up, but the pride felt bet

NIAVictor’s words from the night before were still in my head when I sat down at my desk.I’m glad you two are getting along so well.Getting along. That was one way to put the hotel room and the fresh bruise on my hip that my pants barely covered. I opened my laptop and forced the thought away. The spring campaign file sat waiting. Kingston had escalated the project after my first summary. Now he wanted a full competitive breakdown and three positioning options by end of day. Real work. Visible work.I got to it.By mid-morning the floor had settled into its usual noise. A few people still glanced at me longer than necessary after Kingston’s public statement the day before, but no one tried the same digs. Pride kept my posture straight. I didn’t need them to like me. I needed the work to be undeniable.At 11:40 I walked the draft into Kingston’s office. Door half-open. He looked up from his screen.“That fast?”