JENETA'S POV
"Hi, I'm here for Mr Agu. I'm his wife," I said, setting down the lunch flask on the receptionist's desk. The secretary smiled politely, her expression was warm as she pointed toward Nonso's office.
She didn't say a word. Odd.
Still, I assumed he was free. My heels clicked softly as I walked down the corridor. When I reached the door, I gave it a light push and stepped inside and I froze.
A man stood with his back to me, tall and broad-shouldered. For a moment, I thought I'd walked into the wrong office.
But then he turned.
And my breath caught.
His chest was sculpted beneath the crisp lines of his shirt, the faint stretch of muscle visible beneath the thin fabric.
His skin was pale. Asian from his looks. His jaw was sharp and his lips set in a firm line. His dark hair shimmered under the white light of the office, slightly tousled, as if even perfection refused to be tamed.
There was something about him, an energy that filled the room before he even spoke.
"You are?" I asked, trying to sound composed, though my voice came out softer than I intended.
He didn't answer. His gaze swept over me slowly like a man measuring, not admiring. His brown eyes were cold and piercing, and yet beneath that stillness lurked something dangerous.
My palms went damp. The silence stretched, heavy enough to make my heartbeat echo in my ears.
"Hey," I tried again, forcing a small, polite smile.
Nothing. Not a word.
He just stared, hands buried deep in his pockets, as though I'd intruded on sacred ground.
And then, just as I was about to repeat. His lips curved into a faint smile too rehearsed to be kind.
A familiar voice broke the tension. "Jen, what are you doing here?"
I turned, relief washing through me. Nonso was approaching with a file tucked under his arm. He looked up, but the instant his eyes landed on the stranger, his expression changed. He stopped short and gave a small bow.
"Mr Maynard."
I almost dropped the flask. My mouth parted slightly, my mind piecing the name with the face in front of me. Mr Jinhai Maynard.
Of course, I knew him. Nonso's boss. His mentor. The man who dominated his late-night phone calls, meetings that stretched till dawn, and countless dinner cancellations.
Mr Jinhai Maynard, CEO of the Simao Group of Companies. He was ruthless. Brilliant. Feared. His name alone could silence an entire room.
And Vancouver was like a chess piece in his hands.
And I had just walked in on him like a fool.
Nonso leaned close, whispering harshly, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to give you your lunch. I was passing by," I murmured, heat flooding my cheeks as he slipped an arm around my waist in a quick, nervous gesture.
Then came his voice, so low, I barely heard a thing. Controlled, and smooth enough to cut through glass.
"It seems I'm interrupting. I'll leave you two." Every syllable vibrated with authority. What was he? I had never seen someone so composed and filled with elegance before.
Nonso's arm dropped from my waist immediately. Panic flickered across his face as he stepped forward, clutching at Jinhai's arm like a drowning man reaching for his saviour.
"No, Mr Maynard. My wife was just leaving. Please, come in. We can discuss the promotion."
The word promotion landed like a slap. My stomach twisted.
I stepped back with my head lowered and humiliation burning through me. When I looked up again, Jinhai's eyes were on me.
"Jeneta Arinze, right?"
His voice dropped a little softer now and was almost intimate. I froze as he walked toward me.
He took my hand. His touch. God, his touch was warm and he lifted it to his lips. The faint brush of his mouth against my skin sent a jolt of some kind of electricity straight through me.
"It was lovely meeting you," he said, his eyes holding mine far too long.
No one had ever looked at me like that, not with that kind of desire. For one dizzying moment, I forgot to breathe.
He let go of my hand and turned back to Nonso as though I no longer existed.
That was my cue to leave.
I forced my legs to move, each step heavy, like walking through water. My fingers trembled on the doorknob before I finally slipped out, the cool air of the hallway hitting my flushed skin.
Don't look back, I told myself.
But I did.
One glance. Just one.
And that one glance stretched into eternity.
Because when Jinhai Maynard looked at me. It wasn't a look at all. It was possession. A warning.
No. I never want to see him again.
That's what I told myself. But I didn't know that by nightfall, those words would come back to choke me.
The apartment smelled faintly of dust and reheated stew. The light flickered in the corner, and the fan hummed lazily, stirring nothing but stale air.
I sat across from Nonso, my fingers still sticky from cutting vegetables, the kitchen knife lying on the counter.
He looked exhausted, shirt wrinkled, eyes sunken. But there was something else in him tonight. Something sharp and hollow, like hope had drained out of him and left desperation in its place.
"Jeneta," he began, voice trembling, "please, you have to. I promise everything is going to be fine. After that, we'll be happy. We'll be rich. He's offering ten million dollars."
I blinked, the words floating in the air between us, absurd and poisonous.
"What?" My throat felt dry. "Are you... Are you insane?"
He rubbed his hair, a buzzcut, pacing the small living room. His movements grew restless. "I think you're the one being unreasonable! Ten million dollars could change our lives forever. We could get a house. A new car. Move somewhere better than this... this filth we call home. It's not like your body is gold!"
My heart stuttered. "Nonso!" I screamed, my voice cracking with disbelief and betrayal.
The sound startled him but only for a moment.
"You listen to me!" he shouted back, louder than I'd ever heard him. The words hit me like a blow. My body jerked before I could stop it, instinctively recoiling from the man I thought I knew.
He had never raised his voice at me. Not once.
And now here he was, screaming for me to sell myself.
Tears welled up, hot and fast, blurring my vision. My chest heaved as I stared at the man who had once promised to protect me, to love me, to build a future with me.
"You want your boss," I whispered, my voice shaking, "to have sex with me… while you watch?"
Silence.
He didn't deny it.
He just looked away, jaw tight, breathing shallow. And in that silence, something inside me broke quietly and completely.
The sound of the fan filled the room again, slow and monotonous, as my world came crashing down around it.