Alex pov
My fist clenches around the coffee cup I haven't even touched. The porcelain creaks under the pressure before I finally throw it into the bin. The sharp crack of shattering ceramic does nothing to silence the storm inside me.
Fuck.
Bloody fucking hell.
It's been an hour since I fired her, and the wildfire raging in my chest won't die down. I've gone through two meetings, three phone calls, and still—still—I can't think about anything except the look on her face when I said the words.
"You're fired."
As if I hadn't just ripped her world apart. As if I hadn't torn open the past and poured salt into the wound.
She had to run that mouth of hers.
She had to say that.
How the hell did she even know?
No one knows those details. Not about my father. Not about that day. Not about why I can't stomach pesto or why I used to throw up my food.
No one but me.
Everyone thinks I'm picky, difficult, impossible to please.
Everyone assumes I'm an arrogant prick who enjoys control.
And maybe I am. But she—she—looked past the mask. Like she always did.
The previous queen bee. The golden girl who ruined me once and still has the power to do it again.
Natalie Brooks. The one person I swore would never have that power over me again.
And yet…
I grip the edge of my desk until my knuckles turn white. I want to go after her, grab her, b..beg her.
God, the look in her eyes shattered me.
I want to make take her back.
And maybe—God help me—I want to kiss her again just to shut her up.
The tremble in her voice when she said she hated me—
It's burned into my brain like a brand.
She looked ready to crumble but still stood her ground. Still looked at me like I was the one who destroyed something precious.
Maybe making her my assistant was a mistake.
Maybe plotting revenge was the biggest fucking mistake of my life.
I wanted to watch her squirm. To make her feel small, to remind her that the tables had turned. I expected triumph. I expected satisfaction.
But all I feel is the hollow echo of something I don't want to name.
And I hate it.
I hate that I can still feel anything when it comes to her.
I hate that I miss the smell of vanilla perfume
I hate that her voice still lingers in my office, soft and defiant.
I hate that she's in my head when she should be gone.
But most of all, I hate myself.
Because she was right—I am my father's son.
And I've turned into the same monster I swore I'd never become.
The door creaks open and my head snaps up.
David strolls in like he owns the place, a stupid grin stretched across his smug face.
"What?" I snap.
He doesn't flinch. "Looks like I'm about to win that bet."
My brows furrow. "What bet?"
He smirks, dropping into the chair opposite me like he's settling in for a show. "You'd know if you ever checked the group chat."
I pull my phone from my pocket, mostly to prove him wrong, and scroll to the muted chat I've been ignoring for weeks. The usual nonsense floods the screen.
---
**David:** Who's in the mood for a game?
**Xander:** Always.
**Cole:** Depends. Does it involve alcohol?
**Aiden:** If there's alcohol, count me in.
**Levi:** I sense stupidity brewing.
**David:** Not stupid. A bet. About Alex, our resident heartless bastard.
**Ronan:** Did someone say bastard? I'm here.
**David:** We all know Alex is traumatized by blondes. Poor man's got PTSD from that college bombshell—Natalie Brooks.
**Cole:** Oh, her.The one who dumped him like a bad haircut.
**Aiden:** You mean the one he used to stare at like a lovesick moron every lecture?
**Levi:** Confirmed. Puppy eyes. Witnessed it firsthand.
**Ronan:** Are we finally doing a therapy intervention for him?
**David:** No. A wager. I bet ten thousand that he'll cave for her within a month.
**Cole:** Ten thousand pounds, not dollars. Keep it classy, mate.
**Xander:** I'm in.
**Levi:** Make it fifty thousand.
**Aiden:** Hundred for me.
**Ronan:** Damn, this escalated fast.
**Aiden:** So did his feelings back in the day.
**David:** Here's the deal. If Alex caves and admits he's into her—or sleeps with her, whichever comes first—he pays up. If not, we pay him.
**Ronan:** Add me in for twenty grand. He's *definitely* going down.
**Cole:** More like down bad.
**Levi:** Man's allergic to blondes, but apparently enjoys the rash.
**Ronan:** Cheers to that. Someone records it when it happens.
**Cole:** I'm only betting because watching Alex lose his mind will be the highlight of my month.
---
I exhale slowly, my jaw locking tighter with every line. When I look up, David's grin has only widened.
"You're all idiots," I mutter.
"I fired her", I told him.
"Sure," he says lightly, "but we're rich idiots, and we're about to be richer. You fired her, yeah? That means you've already lost."
"You're the one who'll lose," I say coldly. "I fired her. Game over."
David leans back, arms crossed. "No, Alex. That's how the game starts."
Before I can tell him to shove it, the door slams open again—hard enough to rattle the frames on the wall.
Laura storms in, her red hair blazing like warning lights.
If wrath were a person, it'd be her.
David mutters, "Ah, the Valkyrie arrives," under his breath.
I don't even look at him. "What is this? Open-door day?"
"You fired her?" Laura's voice is deceptively calm. Dangerous calm.
I'm sorry, who's her?" I fake nonchalance.
"Natalie. Natalie Brooks, who you've been a dick to ever since she started working here."
"I don't remember inviting you to my employer-employee TED talk, Laura."
"And I don't remember you having the type of small dick energy to actively ruin a woman's life just because you can't Man up."
"I'm bringing her back as my second assistant and you will stay the hell away from her," Laura tells me.
No, actually, she informs me, and I'm starting to realize why people find her insufferable. She's the reason redheads are stereotyped as hellions who only ride the devil's face.
"No you won't," I inform her right back, sounding calm and definitely not on the verge of throwing her and David out the window.
"Yes, I will. Stay out of my way or I'm calling a board meeting on your ass."
"Kinda bold coming from someone who's facing their own board meeting. Heard David is kicking you out soon, Laura? Will my disciplinary shit happen before or after yours?"
"First of all, he's not kicking me out, not unless he wants me to haunt his nightmares.
David laughs like a fucking cockroach.
Second of all, if you don't let her be, I'll make sure to bring you down with me, even if it's the last thing I do." Laura says
"That's a good one." David grins. "I wish I'd brought some popcorn."
Laura lifts her chin. "You have two choices, Alex. Leave her alone or suffer. Which one will it be?"
"I choose the third."
"There's no third option."
"There will be after you tell me what you know about Natalie, I guess she told you a lot of things that make you so possessive of her.
"Why would I?"
I grind my teeth and catch David grinning in the background and throwing imaginary popcorn in his mouth.
An hour ago, I was contemplating burning my office and detaining myself for my foolish behavior.
An hour ago, I was burning with fire because she said she spent the night taking care of her lover whose name is Zade.
An hour ago, I felt no different than the teenage me who couldn't stop looking at her.
And I hated it.
All of it.
Now, I also hate it as I say, "Because I will
bring her back as my permanent assistant.
David blinks. "What?"
Laura narrows her eyes. "You what?"
"I'll bring her back," I repeat, my voice low and rough. "As my permanent assistant."
David's grin returns, slow and wolfish. "And there it is. The confession. Boys are cashing in tonight."
Laura stares at me, her expression unreadable. "You don't deserve her."
"Maybe not," I say. "But she's mine to deal with."
The words hang heavy in the room, darker than they should be.
Possessive. Wrong. Honest.
Laura shakes her head, disgusted. "Then may God help her."
She storms out, slamming the door behind her.
David whistles again. "So… when's the wedding?"
"Get out," I say, voice deadly calm.
He chuckles, hands raised, and saunters toward the door. "You know, for a guy who claims not to care, you sure bleed a lot."
The door clicks shut behind him.
And for the first time all day, I let out a shaky breath.
Her name echoes in my mind again.
Natalie.
The fire doesn't go out.
It never does.
It just burns deeper.