Strange transactions!

Strange transactions!
Heat rushed to my cheeks at the way he was looking at me.

I quickly lowered my head, pretending to focus on the floor, but it wasn't easy. His piercing blue eyes felt as though they could see through every lie I was trying to tell.

"T-There's nothing, sir," I replied quietly. "Please... Ellie is your wife. If possible, just attend the party for her happiness."

The words sounded strange even to my own ears.

Honestly, I didn't know where the courage had come from.

A few minutes ago, I had been too nervous to knock on his office door. My hands had been shaking so badly that I almost turned around and walked away.

Yet now, I was standing in front of him, begging him to attend a party that was meant to destroy me.

The irony wasn't lost on me.

If my mother weren't involved, I would never have said those words.

Everything I was doing... every lie, every humiliation, every sacrifice... it was all because of her.

As long as Ellie held my mother over my head, I had no choice but to obey.

Diego remained silent for a few seconds, studying my face carefully.

"Hmm," he murmured. "Interesting."

He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.

"Do you even know what this party is about?"

The question caught me off guard.

My fingers tightened behind my back, and I swallowed hard.

Immediately, Ellie's voice echoed inside my head.

This party is to disgrace her.

Imagine everyone finding out that a sister betrayed her own sister by sleeping with her husband.

A sharp pain settled in my chest.

It wasn't true.

Not the way everyone believed it.

If I had known whose room I was walking into that night, I never would have stepped inside.

I had been set up from the very beginning.

One mistake…One carefully planned trap…And my entire life had fallen apart.

Now everyone looked at me as though I was nothing more than a shameless woman who had stolen her own sister's husband.

No one would care to hear my side of the story.

No one would believed I was innocent.

The worst part wasn't even the humiliation.

It was the fact that Ellie refused to let me move on.

She had forced me to work for the very man whose life she had turned upside down.

Every single day, I had to stand beside Diego as his secretary, pretending nothing had happened while carrying the weight of a secret that wasn't even my fault.

Sometimes I wondered if she enjoyed watching me suffer.

Wasn't destroying my reputation enough?

Did she really have to keep finding new ways to torment me?

What else would she force me to do next?

Would she make me betray Diego again?

Would she push me into hurting him just to satisfy whatever twisted plan she had in mind?

"It seems you've wandered off somewhere."

Diego's calm voice pulled me back to reality.

I blinked several times before realizing he was still watching me.

"I... I'm sorry, sir."

I quickly composed myself and took a slow breath.

"Please... just think about it one more time."

I finally looked up at him.

"I know you've already refused, but... please reconsider. I'd do anything if you'll just attend the party."

The moment those words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back.

My eyes widened slightly. Why did I say that? The office suddenly became very quiet.

Diego didn't speak immediately.

Instead, he rested one elbow on the desk and looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"You'd do anything?" he repeated slowly.

His deep voice made my heartbeat quicken.

I could only stare at him, unable to answer.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

The silence between us grew heavier with every passing second, and I suddenly realized that I had just made a promise I might not be able to keep.

He slowly stood up from his chair, and my eyes widened.

What was he doing? No... he shouldn't come any closer. Being close to him already felt like a nightmare, and if he got any closer, I was afraid I might collapse.

"Sir... do you need something?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Before I could say anything else, he closed the distance between us. He reached out slowly and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. It was such a simple gesture, yet it made my heart skip a beat.

For a brief moment, I forgot how to breathe.

His fingers lingered for only a second before he gently lifted my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"For you, I will be attending," he whispered.

His voice was softer than I had ever heard before.

The words caught me completely off guard.

Without thinking, I quickly looked away. I couldn't allow myself to get attached. No matter how gentle he sounded or how kind his actions seemed, it changed nothing.

He was my sister's husband. What did he mean by that?

Why was he saying he would attend because of me?
Why couldn't he simply attend for Ellie's sake?

My thoughts became more confused by the second.

Perhaps he noticed the fear written across my face because he slowly let go of my chin and walked back to his chair without saying another word. I remained standing where I was, unable to move, while my heart continued beating wildly inside my chest.

After taking his seat, he picked up a file from the table and held it out to me.

"Take your seat and go through this file. I've been trying to check it, but I've been getting distracted for days now," he said.

I nodded quietly. The warmth in my cheeks still hadn't disappeared. I could still feel where his fingers had touched my face.

Trying to ignore my racing thoughts, I sat down across from him and accepted the file.

Anything for the pay.I opened it and looked at the first page.

\-Jones CA Finance Record-

I blinked. He was giving me a financial record sheet?

Curious, I flipped to the next page.

Rows upon rows of transactions filled the document. Some were deposits, others were withdrawals, and the amounts were enormous.

Millions. Billions, my jaw almost dropped.

As I continued reading, something didn't feel right.

This didn't seem to belong to Diego's company.

He must have noticed the confusion on my face because he spoke before I could ask.

"This is our partnering company."

I nodded slowly and continued examining the records.

The more I looked through them, the more one particular name kept appearing.

$2 million sent to Zoha Shares LTD.

A few pages later...$10 million sent to Zoha Shares LTD.

I frowned. I turned another page.There it was again, And again.

The same company.The same account, Different amounts.

I went back through the previous records, checking the dates one after another.

My heart slowly began to pound. The transfers weren
't random.

They had been happening consistently for the past seven months. My eyes widened as I looked back at the file.

Something about these transactions didn't seem right at all.