[Adelaide Knowles]

•

Livid was an understatement to what I felt right now as I marched right to the underground parking lot where the VIPs parked, just when I saw the cheeky bastard getting into his Porsche. Oh no, he doesn't get to do that. He doesn't get to make me lose my fucking job and drive away like nothing happened even after our stupid deal.

I marched-stomped towards the fucker, slamming the car door close as soon as it opens, causing him to reel his face on me, green eyes narrowed into deadly slits.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I could ask that. How dare you walk into my life, disrupt it and leave like you didn't do a fucking thing."

His eyes skimmed down at me like he was drinking in my annoyance, my furiousness at him all the while maintaining the passiveness on his face, "I was keeping to our deal."

"You said and I vividly remember you said that me keeping my job even after I see Reyes was thanks to you if I bite the bullet." I am on the verge of exploding, it's surprising how much I rein in my anger when what I want to truly do to the motherfucker is unalive him with every passing minute.

"I didn't use those exact words, Ms Knowles." He says in a dry tone.

"Adelaide!" I snap and the next minute, my back is slammed against the car, one hand of his bounds my wrist, and the other hand slowly touches my chin and abruptly stops at my jaws which he roughly tilts upwards, bringing me to absorb the mercilessly searing of his gaze.

"How many times do I have to warn that smart-mouth of yours to watch your tone, hm?" He growls in a deep baritone.

I try to think that the throbbing in my clit is simply because I'm scared of how much he towers over me, glaring down at me like he wants to bend me over and break me apart till I fall into pieces of savaged art. I try to think that his voice doesn't have that effect on me where I want to reach into his soul and smear it all over my desires.

I don't know how much trying I do because they seem to not be working as my heart thumps inside my chest, I fear he may hear them, my knees grow weak and my nipples harden at the fact that my both hands are still bound in one of his and he's gaze is transfixed on me.

"I hate you." I punctuate the words, staring directly at him who is looking at me unflinchingly.

"You should. You have no business doing otherwise and while at it, quit being a brat around me."

Damn him. I deserved to be a brat as much as I could, after what he just did. He lost his right to dictate my life-he never had that right though. I puff my body, "Or what?"

His gaze darkens and his tone drops a notch lower than before as he says, "I will fucking make sure I punish you with my cock until you drizzle with my cum and beg for release."

My throat bobs down a swallow, for a second his words ruminate in my mind and a secret part of me feels a thrill of excitement at his words while the logical part of me is sneering at how straight-out prude he sounds. So what if he desires me? How does that justify how jobless he's rendered me?

Still, the part of me that feels the excitement wants to probe him further, make him lose his control, snap at it until it cracks. I'm still debating my choice of action when I hear him say.

"What? You can't speak again?" His face has a smug look plastered on it as he releases my hands to fall limply on my side, "Run along, little miss feisty. Don't tempt me."

I clear my throat and step away from his burning gaze, "I agreed to the deal you gave me."

"I know that."

"I lost my job."

"I know."

I take in a deep breath, "You said-"

"I know what I said, now get to the part where you make this conversation make sense."

God, I hate him.

"I need to know what you said to Reyes."

He gets into his car, winding down the glass so he can peer at me, "That he gives you money to sort your debts and let you go because you'd be working for me."

I stare at him for a minute, "What?"

"We made a deal, remember? Keep to it."

"I never told you I had money issues."

Christian gives a dry shrug, "Reyes must have found that out. He usually does a lot of inside searches about whoever wants to talk to him."

Reyes was that secretive? What was he hiding from? I mean, I didn't know anything about my boss-or ex-boss, but I knew this club was handed to him by his grandfather who was as carefree as a bird until the day he died. What was Reyes's fear?

I figured I had to worry about that or leave it to someone else to do the worrying considering Christian had blatantly meddled with my life like it was his toy world.

"I still liked working at Vespera." I pointed out.

"You wouldn't be needing it again."

"How about my other jobs? I would need to work and not just be your unemployed personal assistant which you can use and discard when you feel like."

"Ms Knowles," He grunts, plainly worn out from my inquisition. "I don't bloody care about what you wish to do except that you bloody answer when I need your presence. And I mean, whenever."

I'm amazed at how authoritative he sounds while dictating my life schedule to suit his needs. I wonder how long he plans to make me bend to his will or do whatever he wants. He had said it would not be anything illegal. Yet, a part of me wants to know how legal he needs me to be. Yet, the most important of all I think about is how my family intends to survive while I play pawn to Christian Castillo's wishes.

"Will I get paid for answering to you at your beck and call?"

"Depends on if you're good."

"That's not an answer." I protest, just as soon as the ignition comes on.

"Why don't you see for yourself then?" He asks and without as much as waiting for me to respond, he zooms out of sight, leaving me standing there. Alone.

I surprisingly feel a sense of loneliness immediately after he leaves. I must be mentally insane enough to think this devil could be the one I want to feel that vacuum of loneliness.

•

"Dee!" I hear my friend squeal out as she comes up to me in a drunken stagger, holding a glass of cocktail and pouting with her smudged lipstick on her lips.

I hold onto her as soon as she comes to hug me, "Where did you run off to? I was looking for you!" She says, looking at me drowsily.

"I was right here, baby. What happened, are you okay? You're wasted."

"I'm perfect. This club serves the best drinks and has a good number of hot guys," she flushes, " I almost got laid."

Oh my God. Tonight turned out more drastic than I expected.

"Okay, you'll give me all the deets later, but for now, let's get you home, alright?" I tell her, pulling a staggering Eva along. How am I going to get us out of this environment in one piece?

"Did you know I saw Ace today?" Eva continues to chatter, oblivious to our situation. My brows shoot up at this information though.

"Ace Cromwell?"

"In the flesh. The bastard." She chuckled soberly and slowly, I could feel the air around us grow quiet. Quieter when Eva doesn't say a word again. I figure it's why she's drunk a lot tonight.

Eva and Ace Cromwell had to be the most complicated people I have ever known, They obviously love themselves way too much to have gone through every back and forth they've been through, and even after what they-Eva calls their permanent goodbye, I know she's still hung up over him but wouldn't want to let herself acknowledge that fact.

However, my mind wanders to the disclosure of Ace being in the club and I piece it together. He was there with his best friend. Birds of the same devilish feather flocked into every drench hole marked out to edge us over.

Just then, a car honks at us, I peer at the flashy sports ride, wondering who it could be that deigned to be our savior. The windows roll down and my phone vibrates inside my purse, causing me to reach out for it, wondering when I ordered a ride this expensive.

My mouth drops open as I stare at the notification stretched across my screen. The amount in figures is louder than I expected from Reyes who had attached a note which said: courtesy of C.C.

I gulped, for a moment, I was frantic when I didn't see Eva beside me. I'm about to dart back to the club just when I spot her throwing up by the side of the road, and a tall figure leaning on a pole, a step away from her. I make out the face, and it's Ace Cromwell.

His face lights up when he sees me, grinning like he's actually happy to see me here as he nudges his head to his ride, "Christian asked me to make sure you're home. Long time, no see, Adelaide."

|•|

Okay, so, I might be pausing here for a while. If you came across this book and read up to this point, please leave a comment or comments, tell me what you think about the characters, like and share too. Ciao✨