Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1
ALIRA'S POV
“Can you take all of us?” Draco asked with concern, something I'd come to get used to, rely on, with him.
“I'm not that easily broken, baby,” I chuckled, crawling up his naked, perfect torso, “I want you all to set my soul on fire.”
“Fuck,” Florian cussed from behind, his view of my pussy making him shake. I could feel the heat roll off him. “You're going to be our ruin and our salvation Alira, that much is obvious.”
The third man that set my soul on fire was silent, but the second my pussy sank down on Draco’s cock, I heard his loud breath as clear as day.
I'd broken him, finally. He can pretend all he wants but I know he loves watching as my pussy gets fucked more than he let on.
So I made sure to give him a good show.
There are bad days...
And there's whatever the fuck happened to me on Wednesday, from morning until midnight when the doctor walked out of the surgery room, shaking his head.
Let me start at the beginning. Otherwise, my crash won't make any sense.
I flung the damned file at the far, white walls of my tiny office, frustration rolling off my entire being.
I held back the curse words that threatened to spill from my lips as the memory of the meeting I'd just escaped from washed over my mind.
Six months of working harder than everyone else, of securing high-end clients who actually want to invest long-term in the company, rather than just taking my cookie and dipping, and yet, the promotion skipped three steps below my level.
I’d gotten to work later than usual, still early but I was an early riser and I hated the silence of my now empty house so I was always rushing out of the house.
The pitiful look Elena gave me at the front desk should have been a sure sign but I assumed it was because of the recently wrapped-up divorce.
Sometimes, people mourned these things more than the woman who escaped from the prison she unknowingly locked herself in.
But when I was called in by the Head of Operations and Sales department, my heart skipped a beat.
I was sure I was finally going to get it, this role I'd dreamed about after the first house I sold gave me a thrilling excitement.
Being the Utah State manager would give me a much-needed pause in my life. As important as that salary increase is, it's the vacations I'll be able to take that call to me more.
I'd made work my escape from my past ever since I left College but it's been three years of working, getting married, escaping my ex-husband's brutal hands, and working twice as hard, and goodness gracious, I deserved a fucking break.
But then, I work with a melee of assholes, forgive my language, and nothing ever goes as expected.
Walking into Mr. Harvey's office, I plastered a practiced smile on my face.
I'd learned it right from the third orphanage I was taken to, ashes and all. I'd kept it that way after Jake's hands had cut me open and I had to pretend to restless neighbors that I was a happy, clumsy, very unabused wife.
And although I never knew what people saw in it, I always had it on whenever I went to meetings with clients and most time than not, it's always a success.
Mr. Harvey had called me in, not to give me the promotion I'd been overdue for, but to inform me that due to Stanley's new role as Regional Manager, I'll now have to report to him and he gets first pick of the houses that are up for sale.
“Why?” I'd asked, my nails digging painfully into my palm as I forced the tears welling in my eyes to stay up there.
He looked up, surprised.
“What do you mean? Is there a problem?”
“Why does he get it and not me? My success rate is three times higher than his, I've been here longer, damn, I put him through! He doesn't even have a degree that's half as good as mine!” I screeched, then took a deep breath, knowing that I already messed up with my outburst but I couldn't back down either. “I just want to know why him and not me, that's it.”
He let out an anxious laugh, his eyes anywhere but on my face. Stanley had been sitting there all the while, going through a Twitter thread as though he'd not just stolen my promotion.
After my rant, he gave me a disdainful look, one that signaled he was done pretending to be my friend and ‘work husband' before going back to his device.
“Look,” Mr Harvey cleared his throat, “it's nothing personal, alright? In fact, you should be grateful for this. You have just gotten through a terrible time and you don't need all this extra work on your shoulders. But here,” he tossed me a file, “once you finish with that, we can discuss your next step in the company.”
I sizzled with rage that was foreign to my body, at least for the past ten years.
I had gotten used to how life was unfair, after all, I got good things far and in between that made it all the better.
But in that moment, standing before the smug face of a misogynistic boss, I felt like shredding and destroying things.
I haven’t felt this way in a long while, at least not after what happened with my first adoptive parents.
The memory jolted me back and I seized control of my emotions.
Blue Haven Real Estate was quite far from the Fire station.
“You realize this whole divorce debacle was six months ago right?” I pointed out, “If you were comfortable allowing me to work myself to the bone, securing local and international clients for the company during the entire process, how come you're being ‘considerate’ now that I'm finally free and less constrained?”
“Come on Alira,” he groaned, “can't you hear yourself? You're being emotional over nothing and that's proof that you can't handle this important position. When you are ready, I'll let you know.”
Which is never, except Stanley gets in an accident and is burned to a crisp.
‘Calm down, Alira,’ I told myself. The image was too tempting.
I blew out the straying hair from my eyes as I took the file, defeat washing over my shoulders.
“Maybe she's on her period,” Stanley chuckled, still not taking his eyes off the phone.
The heat rose in me but once again, with practiced ease, I drowned it in a sea of calmness and walked out of that door before I completely lost it.
“You can take the day off!” My boss yelled as I let the door slam behind me angrily, and I forced myself to keep moving as I heard laughter from the large office he occupied.
Since I woke up from that particular nightmare, I knew my day was going to be ruined, I just didn’t know how bad it was gonna get.
But if I thought my day was going bad, well fate had a sense of humour because my phone rang and before I could hear a word from the other end, my sensitive ears picked up the sound of sirens and an ambulance coupled with screams from the background.
“Is this Miss Ferguson?” A male voice asked, his gruff voice doing nothing to quell the panic that was rising in my gut.
“Yes, it is.”
“You have to get to Intermountain Medical Centre as soon as possible. We need you to identify a patient who's in critical condition, you are the last person she contacted.”
Oh no.