Chapter 39 Chapter 39
Amelia
“What do you want in return?” I asked. The question hung in the air between us, deep down, I already knew he wouldn’t let this go without demanding something unreasonable. After the way I had cornered him the other day, I knew he would want payback.
“In return,” he said calmly, “you will come work for me. As my secretary.” For a second, I was sure I had misheard him.
My laugh tore out of my chest, sharp, incredulous, furious. “Your what now?”
“My secretary,” he repeated evenly, as if he were discussing a simple business arrangement.
Rage surged through me so fast it made my vision blur. I shoved my hands against his chest and stepped back. “Have you lost your mind?” I snapped. “I am a CEO, Maxwell. I own a company, I earned that seat. You don’t get to reduce me to taking notes and scheduling meetings like some—”
“Like some nobody?” he cut in smoothly, his voice calm in a way that only made me angrier.
I clenched my fists. “Like someone beneath me.” He tilted his head, studying me in that infuriatingly calm way of his. Then he smiled—slow, knowing, cruel.
“You are confusing pride with reality,” he said. “My organization is a hundred times bigger than yours. The smallest department under me makes more in a quarter than your company does in a year.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he didn’t give me the chance. “And for the record,” he continued, his voice low, deliberate, “you are not richer than my secretary.”
The words hit harder than I expected. I stiffened. “That’s not the point.”
“It is exactly the point,” he replied. “You see this as a downgrade because you are still clinging to titles. CEO, founder, boss, all baseless” He stepped closer, his shadow swallowing mine. “Out there, Amelia, those titles are already being questioned. I am the reason they haven’t stripped them from you yet.”
My throat tightened. “You want your company back on the map?” he asked quietly. “You want investors to stop whispering about instability and incompetence?” His gaze locked onto mine. “Then you work for me.”
Silence pressed in around us, thick and suffocating. “You don’t get to humiliate me like this,” I said, my voice trembling despite my effort to keep it steady.
“This isn’t humiliation,” he said. “This is repayment.” “For pulling your company back from the edge,” he continued. “For silencing the board members who were already sharpening their knives. For putting my name, my money, and my influence behind something everyone else was ready to abandon.” Each word felt like a nail being driven in deeper.
I felt my anger spike. “But that was your fault!” I snapped, my teeth clenched, my fist tightening at my side. “We were doing fine, everything was fine until you started interfering with my company, we had investors!”
“You think?” he said, almost casually. “It didn’t even take me a minute to convince them. They were ready to pull out. Some of them were already being swayed, even before I got involved.”
My eyes widened, disbelief mingling with shock. Someone on the board was already working against me? Even before Maxwell had made his move?
“You will sit outside my office,” he went on, unbothered by the way my jaw tightened. “You will watch, you will see how a real empire is run. You will learn and you will earn your place back. But it will be on my terms.”
I hated that part of me understood exactly what he was doing. “And if I refuse?” I asked.
His expression didn’t change, that was the most terrifying part. “Then I step away,” he said simply. “I let the board do what they have been planning. I let your company bleed until there’s nothing left to inherit.”
My chest ached. My father’s face flashed through my mind, his hands on mine, his voice telling me to protect what he’d built.
Maxwell leaned down slightly, his voice dropping to something almost intimate. “This is the only way you can thank me.”
I swallowed hard, every inch of my pride screaming in protest. My heart broke quietly, in pieces I didn’t even know could break. From being a CEO to agreeing to work as his secretary, I had never felt so small, so exposed, in my entire life.
How could I ever explain this? What if someone sees me walking into his office every morning, taking orders, filing papers, answering phones all while knowing I was once the one in charge?
The words tasted like ash as they left my mouth. “Fine,” I said quietly. “I will work for you.” I said, I never believed those words would make it out of my mouth.
Something shifted in his expression, he straightened, his gaze slow as it dragged over me, and then he stepped closer, invading what little space I had left.
“That’s good,” he said. “But that’s not all.” My stomach dropped.
“This,” he continued calmly, as if discussing another clause in a contract, “is how you thank me.”
I followed his gaze downward as he dropped the pants he was wearing, I instantly stepped back and looked away, heat rushing to my face, my hands curling into fists.
“No.” The word came out sharp, unshaken. “Absolutely not.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Don’t pretend to be surprised. You know exactly what kind of man I am. You didn’t think I would ask for money or some polite token of gratitude, did you? The only thing I want from you is to suck my cock.” He said.
I lifted my head, meeting his eyes despite the tremor running through me. “I don’t count this as a favor,” I said firmly. “You didn’t give me a choice. You cornered me, you threatened my company. That isn’t help, it’s leverage.”
His jaw tightened. “You wouldn’t have a company left without me,” he replied coolly.
“Everything you are standing on right now exists because I allowed it.”
“That still doesn’t give you the right to demand this,” I shot back. “I agreed to work for you. That’s all.”
He stepped closer, his voice dropping, dangerous and unyielding. “You are my wife and I am allowed to demand anything from you any time I like, and I want you to go down on your knees right now and suck my cock.”
My heart pounded violently, but I refused to back down. “I won’t do it,” I said, my voice shaking but resolute. “If this is what you think you are owed, then you can take your deal and burn it along with my company.”
I shoved past him before he could stop me and ran straight to my room. I slammed the door shut, locked it, and slid down until I hit the floor. My knees gave out beneath me as I pressed my back to the door, my chest heaving, my hands trembling
Author's note: And I would have loved to see that, but our female lead doesn't want to