SOPHIE “I don’t think anyone really has a price. You’re just refusing to admit what yours is,” Maya says again, like she’s been thinking about it for a while and won’t let it go.Vanessa leans back in her chair and looks at her. “What about you then? What’s your price? Fifty bucks?”Maya laughs immediately, shaking her head. “I wish. If I was that cheap, life would be so much easier than this.”Tyra tilts her head. “How exactly would that make anything easier?”Maya shrugs like it’s obvious. “Because then I could just pack my things, quit, and disappear from my boss’s life without stress.”Vanessa laughs a little. “Yeah, but you’d miss us.”Maya pauses for a second, then nods. “Okay, that part is true.”I smile and look at her. “So what is your price then?”Maya goes quiet for a moment. She leans forward slightly, lowering her voice like she’s about to say something serious, something secret. “I could tell you… but then I’d have to kill you.”I don’t even hesitate. I grab a fry and t

Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-07-29

SOPHIE It’s only a short walk, maybe half a block, back to the Calloway Holdings Tower. There’s been an accident up ahead, and the sidewalk is blocked off. Police are redirecting people into a narrow side street instead.Normally, I wouldn’t care. It’s a warm April day. Almost seventy degrees. I didn’t even bother with a jacket.But the detour slows me down. I start walking faster, trying to stay on time.I’m two streets away when the weather shifts without warning. The sun fades fast. The sky goes darker. Then rain starts pouring hard, like someone flipped a switch.I break into a run.My heels slap the wet pavement. I’m almost at the building when my heel catches on an iron grate hidden in the ground.I lose my balance completely.And I fall forward onto the pavement.For a moment, I just lie there. People move around me like I’m not even there. The rain keeps hitting my skin. My knee burns badly. Blood runs down my shin, mixing with rainwater and spreading.“Shit,” I mutter under

Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-07-29

ETHAN My blood is moving too fast. I give a simple nod anyway. “I’m excited to be here and work with you all.”I don’t hear my own voice properly. I don’t feel present. I can’t remember a single line from the speech I rehearsed over and over. It all disappears.My mind is stuck on Sophie Matthew.Her blue lace panties. Her legs. The way she was sitting earlier.I shouldn’t be thinking about it. I know that. But it’s still there, sharp and distracting.I worked ten years for this role. Ten years of pushing, building, proving myself. And she managed to shake me in a way no boardroom ever did. Without even trying. Just by existing in the same room.“Don’t start celebrating yet. I’ll still be around, but as you all know, this gray hair didn’t come from nothing,” my uncle Harrison Calloway says.The room breaks into light laughter.Everyone laughs.Except her.Sophie shifts in her seat. A small movement, like she’s adjusting herself, trying to stay composed. Her face is slightly red now.

Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-07-29

ETHAN The door opens again.She steps back into the executive meeting room, and my attention snaps straight to her.For half a second, everything else disappears.The long table. The city view outside the glass walls. The papers scattered in front of me.None of it matters.She walks directly toward me with steady steps, and something tight pulls inside my chest because my brain instantly goes somewhere dangerous.She came back for me.She feels this too.I rise from my chair just as she reaches the seat she used earlier. I'm taller than her by enough that she has to tilt her head slightly upward, but she doesn't back away.Not even when there are only inches between us.I stare down at her, and my breathing immediately turns heavier. My heartbeat starts slamming hard enough that I can feel it in my throat.Then her scent reaches me again.Soft perfume. Warm skin. Something clean and addictive beneath it.The closer she stands, the worse it gets.The air between us feels charged. Thi

Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-07-29

ETHAN My pulse rises into my throat again. Part of me hopes she never comes. This whole thing already feels risky. One bad decision and this turns completely inappropriate."Called it. No work ethic.""Golden Orchid. Shrimp pad thai. Medium."The restaurant she picks is a tiny rundown place. Nothing fancy at all. Her food costs only $5.28. That surprises me. I expected her to choose the most expensive thing she could find just to get under my skin.Another message appears."Cold water."Cold water.My thoughts immediately start racing. I head down the private hallway and enter my code into the keypad. The elevator carries me up to the skyline suite hardly anyone knows I own.Ethan's uncle sold it to me before I relocated to Seattle. Since I didn't know the city well, living close to work seemed smart. I had the entire place renovated before moving in.The moment I walk inside, I check everything again even though I already know the suite is spotless. I walk through the grand loung

Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-07-29

Alle Kapitel von The Ruthless CEO's Obsession : Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 5

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