The entire department froze. Maria shifted uneasily in her chair, the sound of her papers suddenly too loud in the stillness. The others pretended to look busy, but every gaze flicked toward Lilly, waiting, watching.
Her throat tightened. For a moment, she considered saying no again, considered planting her feet to the floor and refusing, but she knew the weight of the moment. He wasn't just her boss. He was the CEO. And everyone's eyes were digging into her skin.
She rose slowly, her chair scraping against the floor. Her palms were damp, but her chin tilted upward, if only to keep from crumbling in front of them all. Without a word, she walked past him, her heels clicking against the polished surface, a rhythm that sounded too loud in the silence.
Mark didn't speak as he followed her, but she felt him there, his presence suffocating and close. The elevator ride up was wordless. She could feel the stares from behind as the doors closed, sealing her inside with him.
When they reached his floor, her hand trembled as she gripped the handle of his office door. She stepped inside, closing it behind her.
And then everything moved at once.
Mark's hand slammed against the door beside her head, the sound sharp, the wood trembling. His other hand pressed her shoulder back until she was pinned between the door and his towering frame. His eyes blazed into hers, the steel of dominance and something darker tightening the air around them.
"What are you trying to do?" His voice was vibrating through the space between them.
Her breath caught, but anger flared hot in her chest. She shoved at him, though he barely moved, "You know what? I don't care if you're my boss," she snapped, her voice trembling but firm, "If you want to fire me, then fire me, but I won't do anything with a married man. Are you insane?"
The words burst out of her, and for a second, the office felt like it cracked open around them.
His eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. He didn't move, didn't speak. Then, slowly, like a predator giving his prey a sliver of space, he stepped back. She felt her lungs open again as air rushed in, her chest heaving.
Mark adjusted his cufflinks with unsettling calm, as though nothing had just happened, "Are you done?" he asked evenly, his voice quieter but still carrying the weight of command.
Lilly's hands balled into fists, "I'm done with you!"
"Good," He cut her off, "Now listen to me."
She froze, her anger colliding with the authority in his tone.
"From today, you'll be working here. In my office." His gaze swept over her, not as a question but as a decree, "Consider it… a reassignment."
Her stomach dropped, "What?"
"I don't trust you in that department," he continued, moving behind his desk, his composure unnervingly intact, "You'll sit here, under my eye, until I decide otherwise."
Her lips parted in disbelief, "You can't just do that!"
"I can, and I just did." He opened his leather briefcase and pulled out a sleek silver laptop, setting it on the desk with a deliberate motion. He looked up at her, his stare holding hers without a flicker, "You'll use this for your work. Maria will send everything you need."
Lilly shook her head, her voice raw, "You think you can trap me here? Like some… like some possession?"
His expression didn't shift, "No," he said, "like an employee who needs to understand boundaries." He leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on the desk, his voice lowering. "Don't mistake your defiance for power, Miss Levine."
Her skin prickled, fury and something more dangerous twisting inside her. She wanted to scream, to storm out, to slam the door and never look back, but her body betrayed her. The memory of his hands, his mouth, the fire he'd lit inside her. It pulsed like a secret she couldn't scrub away.
She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her nails digging into her skin, "This isn't professional. None of this is."
His lips curved, not quite a smile, "You're right, but you signed something that erased your right to question what's professional when it comes to me."
The words cut sharper than she expected. Her mind flashed to the paper, her trembling hand as she signed it, the weight of ten times her salary hanging like a noose.
"You think money fixes everything?" she whispered.
"No," he said, his tone dark and certain, "But loyalty does. And I will have yours, one way or another."
Her body trembled, anger clawing at her ribs, "You're unbelievable."
Mark rose from his chair slowly, his presence filling the room again. He walked around the desk until he was standing just a breath away. She stiffened, her back brushing the cool wood of the door again.
"You'll sit at that desk," he said softly, pointing to the chair across from him, "and you'll work. You'll look at me when I speak to you, and you'll remember that you're mine until I say otherwise. Is that clear?"
Her breath shuddered in her throat. Every instinct screamed to fight back, but his eyes burned into hers, steady and unrelenting.
She forced the words past her lips, her voice low but edged with steel, "Yes."
The ghost of satisfaction flickered in his eyes. He stepped back at last, as though releasing a leash, "Good. Then sit."
She moved stiffly, her legs betraying her with their trembling. Lowering herself into the chair, she opened the laptop with shaky hands. The screen glowed back at her, a blank page waiting.
But no matter how hard she tried, her mind wasn't on the numbers. It was on him. His control. His shadow. The terrifying, undeniable pull that kept her caught in his orbit even as her soul screamed to escape.