Page 2

TWO

Ashley

My back hit the door before I slowly slid to the floor. When I finally let myself exhale, my breath came out short and gasping. With my head tucked on my knees, I focused on the hardwood floor, trying to think. It didn’t matter how much I beat myself up over it, I knew I couldn’t change what I’d done. The smart decision—to let someone know I’d left my stuff downstairs, that wasn’t the one I’d made.

Nope, I craved adrenaline rushes like an addict craved drugs. The thrill I got from beating the odds was better than the most luscious chocolate cake. The most mind blowing sex. It was like weaving in and out of traffic in a Lambo quicker than the wind. It made me feel alive.

I used to take stupid risks when I knew better. I never did figure out where my wild ways came from, but I mostly kept them in check these days. Until today. It was a huge risk to sneak downstairs and if I was honest with myself, I’d enjoyed breaking the rules.

Andy and my parents knew about my past, they’d bailed me out of trouble before. But I’d never let any of my newer friends like Della or Karissa know the fine details of my crazy past. They only knew I used to run with a shady crowd.

I was broken, somehow. I’d never gotten to the root of why I’d needed the excitement or why I was wired differently than most of my friends to crave and seek out danger. At my age, I sure as heck should’ve known better than to try and break the rules.

Micha was going to be utterly delighted to find out I’d violated policy. The production room where I’d left my things after a photo shoot was off-limits to me. I’d only been allowed in there for a few hours while taking selective shots for a marketing project. As it was, I hadn’t even gotten the chance to get my things back, so I was doubly screwed. Personal items plus trespassing.

I was done for.

Micha wasn’t even my direct boss. He was my boss’s boss. He had no business harassing me, I was nothing to him. Nothing, other than someone he loved to give a hard time to at every available opportunity. And there were a lot of those since he was always around, lurking, watching me like I was a show dog about to do a trick.

He picked on the way I talked, the clothes I wore, and even went so far as to tell me I shouldn’t eat soup every day. In my defense, the restaurant here made the best soup I’d ever tasted in my life, of course I was going to consume as much of it as possible. Just because Micha tore my bowl away one day and replaced it with steak and salad mumbling about my iron levels being low, it didn’t mean I was going to stop eating it. His sense of boundaries was abysmally nonexistent, never mind my iron levels. How would he even know?

Gone were the days when he’d praise my work. I missed when he’d check on me the way he used to when he was normal and kind of helpful. Not that he knew much of anything about social media marketing—I was the expert, after all. But he had a great eye for detail.

One day, while I sat at my desk, he’d placed a fresh cup of my apple pie flavored coffee in front of me right when I told someone on the phone I liked their name. The moment I’d said, "Isaac” the lid popped off the cup. Micha went on to remind me of the zero fraternization rule Ipomoea had and I told him to stop flirting with me. His eyes had widened, and I could’ve sworn he’d blushed. I teased him for days.

Then it all ended suddenly, and he became the bane of my existence. It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment he became my enemy, but it was shortly after I’d teased him. He practically disappeared from my life, other than to yell at me for bullshit. My ad copy was immature, the photos lacked substance, my shirt was too low, I looked like a stripper, my search engine optimization was amateur. The harassment never ended.

Perhaps if I’d never teased him, he would’ve stopped the stranger and helped me get my stuff out of the room since he’d always seemed to be right wherever I was.

The rumors I’d heard about Ipomoea’s brutish handling of problem employees were believable to me after Micha stopped being friendly.

It was almost as if the security officer who’d discovered me downstairs enjoyed every second of our contact, the way he’d touched me. My body had responded to his like a flower to the sun and I hadn’t wanted him to stop despite the danger. Maybe that’s how they got you, by making you let your guard down, so their job was easy. The man could’ve railed me right against the counter and the only screams he’d have elicited from me would have been ecstasy, not terror.

I’d honestly thought it was the end when he’d caught me and the fact I wasn’t led away in handcuffs stunned me. But still, the door I was leaning against could be busted down any second, and I would be taken away.

At that, I shoved myself off the floor and moved farther into the convenient, on-site apartment.

I worked for a luxury pharmaceutical company that spared no expense with its products, or with its employees. The building contained studios for workers who needed rest or a respite between projects and the living spaces were incredible. It was the perfect space for me to take a breather and collect myself while deciding the next course of action.

My stomach was screaming for food and that was the one thing these little apartments didn’t have stocked. The employee lunchroom was mere steps away and contained a restaurant and coffee bar that rivaled some of the best boutiques out there. There were many to choose from; this was New York City after all, but I always ate at work rather than leaving or bringing something in.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t leave this room and risk being seen, though I would’ve killed for some soup and the amazingly delicious apple pie flavored coffee the bar carried. It was probably the cinnamon they added to the brew that did the trick, but just thinking about it made my mouth water. They were open twenty-four hours a day, but I didn’t dare step outside the door and draw attention.

My life was perfect, these days. I’d just gotten a nice new apartment with Andy, I was making more money than I’d ever dreamed of, and my best friend, Della worked here, too. Even Karissa was employed by the company. She and I weren’t as close, but she had become a good friend.

Unfortunately, Karissa’s keycard had been in the pile on the table. I didn’t know it was hers until I’d gone to grab my things and saw her name.

My blood ran cold when I remembered my phone. Frantically, I patted my pockets searching for the missing device and came up empty.

It must’ve dropped somewhere back in the work room and now I’d accidentally implicated her because her card was near my stuff. Shit . The way the company operated, there was no way there wouldn’t be repercussions for Karissa. I’d once seen them fire an entire shift because someone wore sneakers to work. When no one corrected their coworker’s behavior, it made them all complicit. It was insane and very likely illegal to operate that way, but that was Ipomoea for you. They were untouchable.

Sinking onto the bed, I let myself fall backward. The prickly feeling that’d coursed over me was debilitating. The last time I’d felt this awful was over a decade ago, when I’d been arrested for vandalism. It wouldn’t have been that bad if we hadn’t combined coke and hallucinogens together, but too bad for me and my friends. We were idiots, back in those days, recklessly consuming whatever.

For some reason our little group had decided to hiss and bark at the cops when they’d responded to a complaint and the situation rapidly devolved from there.

When I’d finally come down from the high—a good twelve hours later, this was exactly how I felt. I had a horrible, impending sense of doom and instability along with a stretched out string of “what the fuck do I do now” running a treadmill through my head.

Older did not equal wiser in my case. Not at the moment, at least. Never, ever again would I take a chance like that, not at any job. I pounded my fists against the memory foam mattress, stood up and shoved my unruly curls back, and snagged my keys from the floor where I’d tossed them.

It was so blindingly stupid, what I’d done. I couldn’t blame Karissa for being pissed, at least not once she found out. The opportunity for her to grab her card in the morning without anyone realizing she’d left it behind was gone.

The impression of the man who’d cornered me downstairs drifted into my mind. How long before he ratted me out? The concern was there but my distraction from other things continued. The feel of his torso against my back, the way he’d clearly been turned on when he shoved me against the counter. Maybe he’d keep his mouth shut since he obviously liked me.

Yes, I’d been terrified—still was. But the sensation of his body next to mine in the dark room, dominating me without a word, with no visual, had done something to me. With one arm around my neck and the other around my waist, he’d owned me, subdued me. I wasn’t able to speak a word.

So, who the hell was he? I’d never paid much attention to the company’s security people; they’d blended into the woodwork, and I tended to forget they were even there.

Mine and Andy’s relationship had gone the way of the dodo bird, so I’d been hurting for intimacy. The romantic love between us was lost, and the lust was gone. In retrospect, it never should’ve been there in the first place but being such close friends, we’d given it a shot. Fortunately, we were able to remain friends and roommates. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but we’d been friends since we were kids, so we adjusted.

But it’d been a while since I’d been intimate with anyone, so it hadn’t taken much to get me revved up and lusting after the first man to touch me in months.

I turned toward the door, still half expecting a group of Ipomoea’s guards to come busting through the lock like a SWAT team. Nothing happened, which was almost as bad as if it had. It was two in the morning, and I had the feeling the late hour wouldn’t stop my arrest. There was still time to be trampled by Josiah and Micha’s goons.

Should I stay? Go home? If I left the confines of the studio, I risked running into whoever it was who’d caught me in the act if he was searching for me after I ran away. This job wasn’t one I could lose. If the guy didn’t keep his mouth shut, I was toast.

Tugging off my shoes, I got as ready as I could for bed. I took off my skirt and sweater and crawled under the blankets with only a tank top and underwear on. The anticipation of the morning was almost too much to bear while I tried to fall asleep. Would I still have a job? Would they call me into the office and have the men in black waiting for me?

With the way Micha felt about me these days, the idea wasn’t that far-fetched. The man was one of the two company owners, and he absolutely despised me. He’d have fed me to wolves if he could, in a heartbeat. I had no clue what I’d ever done to attract his attention in the past, but it had been intense.

Della wasn’t here for me to subtly question in the morning, and I would’ve loved to ask her if she’d heard anything and find out what they were planning. Not that it would’ve helped any, it just would’ve mentally prepared me.

As it was, she’d been dragged away to Canada by Josiah, Micha’s best friend and ultimately, his boss. Della and I had been texting sporadically, but it looked like this work trip of theirs would be going on for a while and it seemed to be a very busy one.

Josiah was a stickler for order and ran the company with an iron fist. He wouldn’t overlook my breach of security or my irresponsibleness. He’d very much overlooked the rules against fraternization when it was personally convenient, but he’d have a much different opinion about me, no doubt.

There was no way I’d put the burden of my stupid actions on Della, especially when she was thousands of miles away enjoying a work-slash-vacation trip with her boyfriend. She’d want to help me and be completely unable. It was bad enough I’d screwed Karissa over; I didn’t want to drag my best friend into my dumpster fire as well.

Micha was going to have to be faced on my own, sans a crutch.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to have enough time to go home. It was now three in the morning, and I hadn’t slept at all. The same sweater and skirt I’d worn all day would go right back on in the morning. Luckily, they were both black, so they’d blend by default. If I walked into the office like nothing happened and everything was normal, I’d probably be okay.

Somehow, I dozed off for a couple hours. When I got up, I showered and then strategically washed my face, trying to preserve as much of yesterday’s smoky eye makeup as I could. As it was, I was shocked more of it hadn’t smeared on the pillowcase.

* * *

“Hey, how are you,” I greeted Karissa, not waiting for an answer. “Sit with me.”

I sipped on my coffee and weaved my way through the employee dining room, my friend following along behind. So far, everything was as it should be. There wasn’t anything outside of the norm, just the usual security guards and employees. No one’s gaze lingered.

“Have you heard from Della?” Karissa asked, sitting down across from me.

“Not for a few days. They’re way out in the wilderness I guess, several hours from Vancouver.”

She looked down at the table, where I’d normally place my phone. I felt ridiculously naked without it, as if I were missing a limb. The urge to say “I lost my phone” or make some other inane excuse was welling up and I had to squelch it and pray she didn’t mention the missing device. I couldn’t trust myself not to spill out everything that’d happened.

Why she’d be so interested in my phone was beyond me but the chances of her bringing it up felt like it would be magnified just because of last night’s events. Just my luck, and all that.

“I’m sure I’ll hear from her soon,” I said, and smiled.

Karissa tugged the string of her tea bag and squished the pouch against a spoon. A fragrant orange scent drifted through the air. Not once had I ever seen the girl drink coffee.

“Mike and Andy are having some people go over Vincent’s tonight, I gotta make sure I get out of here on time for a change,” she said.

It was hard to focus on my friend when all I wanted to do was keep scanning the room. “What’s going on, anything special?” I asked, forcing myself to stay attuned to my company.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Just the usual, I guess?”

What that meant was a whole lot of nothing. Drinking, gossip, maybe a game on the television. “Sounds about right. God forbid we do anything interesting.” Karissa laughed at my complaint. “Need a lift?” I offered.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” she said, a look of relief softening her features. She had a driver, thanks to her parents, but she avoided using them or the provided car as much as possible. I wasn’t clear on all the details for that and never asked for an explanation. Not my place.

“Of course,” I said, standing up and grabbing my cup. “I gotta go. I’ll grab you later.”

Karissa gave me a little wave and replied, “Okay, see you. Have a good day.” She tossed a smile at me and made her exit.

The girl was far too sweet for what I’d accidentally done to her, and I was torn between wanting to warn her and not making a big deal over it on the off chance nothing happened. Why stress the poor girl out?

If I’d gotten the chance, I would’ve slid the card through the slats on her locker and helped her out. She was going to go look for it and it was going to be gone, pocketed by a man in a full facemask.

I’d only seen him out of the corner of my eye but the little bit I could see was a wall of black. Not enough for identification if I wanted to rescue the card.

The elevator had just enough people in it so I could hide my shattered nerves, lost in a shuffle of humans on their way to their floors and offices. Twisting my thumb ring around in circles, I watched the numbers change until we arrived at my stop. It happened much quicker than I’d hoped.

Keeping my head down and my eyes on the floor, I took a deep breath and stepped from the lift. I was probably worried for nothing. I mean, if something was going to happen, it would’ve already, right?

“Ashley,” a low voice murmured my name.

Fuck .

Satan had found me.

“Come this way,” Micha ordered, curling his fingers at me.

Obediently, I followed along, trying to keep up with his strides. He seemed unhurried, as if nothing was wrong and he was merely escorting an innocent employee. I searched for a sliver of relief but the fear I was walking to my imminent doom overpowered any bit of confidence I could’ve possibly have mustered.

We arrived at his office, and he held the door open. He took up the doorway, facing me directly, and clearly expected me to enter. It was all I could do not to glare while he stared down at me, his deep gray eyes seeming to penetrate right through my skull, accessing my private thoughts.

After I’d twisted sideways past him, I stopped in the center of the room.

When I’d first started at Ipomoea, eye contact with superiors was expressly forbidden. Josiah and Micha had worn sunglasses, almost never removing the blocking shields from their faces. Once Della and Josiah had started dating, Josiah let down his guard around me but still kept the shades on in the office and public, most of the time. And it was no wonder, with his coal black irises. They were both simultaneously weird and cool, demanding attention.

Micha’s eyes were different. A deep steel-color that appeared metallic at times, they were pretty and nearly as disturbing as his friend’s due to the uniqueness. I’d wondered about their unusual eye colors until I remembered my friend in kindergarten who had honey-colored eyes, and then another I’d met who had purple. There was infinite variety in nature, and it wasn’t polite to stare.

Micha often wore glasses too, but after a while he’d stopped bothering around the quieter areas of the building, and he never wore them around me. It was almost as if he wanted me to stare, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Like right now, he wasn’t wearing them, and I wished he was. He stood unmoving, holding me in place with laser-like focus, not saying a word. He’d done this to me before, except this time the aggression radiating from the coiled tiger of a man filled the entire room instead of just giving me a fleeting headache. It was choking me, drowning me, and if I’d been able, I would’ve melted into the carpet.

As always, his appearance was immaculate. His black pants were perfectly creased, and his shoes shone like mirrors. A button-up shirt matched his eyes perfectly and a sleek gold-toned bar held his tie down in absolute submission. If I dared touch his suit jacket, the sharp edges of the lapels would’ve sliced my fingers to the bone.

No sane person would fuck with Micha or Josiah.

The silence ticked by until I couldn’t bear it any longer. “Did you need something from me? I’m expected at my desk.”

Micha’s eyes perused my outfit, breaking our staring competition. I could’ve sworn I caught one corner of his eyes crinkling with a quarter second of amusement while he took in my appearance. Had I discovered a tell? The man was known for just staring and my theory was it was an intimidation tactic—he used it to break people. He probably didn’t need to go to such lengths since just being around him made any normal person want to run away.

I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of doing so.

His gaze softened and he tucked his hands in his pockets. “I do, Ashley. I do.”

On edge, I waited. He strolled around his desk, seating himself in the leather chair before running a hand through his hair. Then he tapped away at his laptop, like he had all the time in the world.

I suppose he did, being as he was running the whole place while Josiah was gone.

When he leaned back, he opened a drawer and retrieved something and tossed it to the edge of the desk. A key card.

My heart skipped a beat, and I swallowed, my vision going blurry before I collected myself, praying I gave nothing away. “What’s that for?”

Micha rested his arm and pressed a finger to his lips before answering. “You know exactly what that is.”

“Yes,” I sighed. “It's a key card. What am I supposed to do with it?”

Micha glanced at the bookcase to my left and I followed, letting my gaze trail over what appeared to be an extensive collection of the classics with some legal and motivational publications mixed in. The standard knickknacks of an executive broke up the shelves, with molded statues and artwork, the odd award or two.

He returned his gaze to me. “We have camera footage of an incident last night.” He licked his lips before capturing my eyes once again. “Downstairs in the labs.”

My pulse began racing, and my skin grew moist. My deodorant better stay working , I thought, though that was probably the least of my worries. My frayed nerves almost had me laughing out loud over my trivial concern. Biting my lip stopped a nervous smile.

Micha’s eyes narrowed. Unsure what to say, I suggested, “That sounds like an issue for the security department.”

“Um huh,” Micha said. “You’re playing coy with me. I don’t like it.”

What do I do? The question looped through my head on repeat and suddenly, the man was directly beside me, his hand gripping the back of my neck like I was a cat. I froze. He’d never laid a finger on me before and I was at a loss for what to do.

Everything came into hyper-focus. The feel of my skin captured in his grip, my shoulder and upper arm against the solid wall of his chest. The ascetic, sharp scent of his cologne. His belt buckle pressing into my rib cage, hard enough to bruise me.

Foolishly, I glanced up, inadvertently increasing the pressure of his grasp. I let out a squeal and his nostrils flared lightly. His eyes looked like swirling pools of mercury, and I stared, transfixed by the sight. I blinked and the oddity was gone before I could determine whether I was hallucinating out of fear, or he had some crazy contact lenses.

Micha dragged me across the room and tapped a spot on the wall by the bookcase. Next thing I knew, the wall separated, opening a hidden space.

“What? What are you doing? What is this?” I flung my hands up and grappled with his, but he wouldn’t let go. He squeezed harder, moving a finger and increasing the pressure on a spot that left me gaping in pain. My legs gave out and soon I was being dragged into the secret room.

Micha tossed me to the floor, and I rolled onto my side, curling in the fetal position and waiting for the shock to pass.

He nudged my rear with his leather shoe. “Get up, you disgusting thief,” he growled at me. “Before I make you.”

My head spun and as much as I wanted to tell him to get it over with, whatever he was going to say or do, I wouldn’t give him the pleasure. There was certainly no escape, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. I rolled over again, getting on all fours before pushing myself up.

The contracts I’d signed when they on-boarded me mentioned instant termination for the theft of product. Any mention of anything having anything to do with the company was described the same. There was nothing I could legally do to help myself.

It was comprehensive and left no room for error, and not one, single ounce of grace. Right now, I had the sneaking suspicion “termination” may very well have been literally translated.

“What are you going to do to me? I’m not going to just roll over and die.” I sure as hell wouldn’t give the asshole that satisfaction.

He chuckled, his laugh low and dark, and eyes glittering silver. “Oh, trust I have plans for you. You’ll die if I say so—without hesitation.”

What the actual fuck ? He couldn’t be serious. He had to have been joking. “You can’t just go around killing people. What about your company? What about Josiah? He’d never let you do that.”

“Josiah would never let anything happen to his company. Who do you think cleans up after him?”

Micha stepped closer and closer to me, but I stood my ground. I’m not sure how, but I didn’t move. Every cell of my body screamed at me to run, to flee as far away as fast as I could. For whatever reason, I didn’t listen to my survival instinct.

“Josiah kills people.” I muttered under my breath. It was too crazy to believe though the more I thought about it, with their ruthlessness, the more it made sense. People were fired all the time, and we never saw them again.

“I need my cell phone! You have it, don’t you?” I accused him. “Give it to me.”

The stranger who’d interrupted me downstairs had to have turned in all my items. Making a run for his desk if I ever got out of this room was the only way I’d get it back. It was probably in the same drawer as the key card. It had to be.

“Della is safer than anyone else on this planet. You, on the other hand, are not,” Micha told me, before sliding his tongue along his teeth.

The room we were in looked like an expensive apartment, all gray, black, and with wooden accents. If I hadn’t been here under duress, I would’ve been eager to poke around and admire the space. For now, I just needed an escape route.

He walked behind me, placing one hand on my shoulder while the other moved my hair away from my neck. He dipped his head down and I felt his forehead move against me until his hot breath hit the sensitive skin below my ear.

He stilled for a moment, and then I felt his lips. Goosebumps broke out across my body, and I shivered when he nipped at me. Like a light switch, he’d flipped from threatening to kill me to nuzzling me affectionately. It confounded me to the point I couldn’t even think anymore. My breath slowed while my heart raced, my eyes slowly closing as I let my guard down.

I felt him inhale the same time he squeezed my shoulders and pulled me flush against him. I was supposed to scream, to fight, but instead, my head lolled back, as a warmth flushed through me like I’d been drugged. No sooner had he assaulted me than he broke the contact, leaving me feeling oddly bereft and smartly fearful at the same time.

Dazed, I reached out for something to steady me and was met with empty air. I wasn’t sure why I’d thought he'd catch me. Collapsing to my knees, I just sat on the floor and waited, completely confused over my reaction to him. For some godforsaken reason, I’d wanted more.

Micha tapped the side of my leg with his foot and motioned for me to stand up. “I need to show you something,” he said.

I didn’t want to go anywhere with him and kept searching for a nonexistent way out as we moved deeper into the apartment. He’d all but threatened to kill me and then treated me almost like a lover would. I had no idea what he was playing at, but I knew I needed to leave as soon as possible.

We went through a hallway lined with paintings and gilded mirrors before stopping at a door. Micha punched a code into a small keypad and soundlessly, a panel slid into the wall. He went inside, not waiting for me, expecting me to follow. All it took was one look at the massive king-sized bed and I spun on my heel.

He was on me before I could blink, both arms around me and holding me like a pile of firewood. I was going to burn for my transgressions, I had no doubt. This wasn’t Netflix and chill. Whatever he had planned it wasn’t going to be pretty or entertaining. Visions of being raped and murdered danced in my head. My body seemed to want him, but my heart and brain most assuredly did not.

He deposited me on his bed and turned around, reaching for a small box on top of his dresser while I examined him closely, waiting to make my move.

Micha was incredibly strong and fast. He wasn’t overly muscular, in fact he was quite lean and tall, reminding me of a fashion model from a magazine. I’d felt his arms around me more than once at this point, and knew he had an impressive physique. There was no way I could fight him off.

None of this helped the unreasonable pull I felt toward him, not after he’d played with my neck. It was the worst feeling, having this attraction to the one person who hated me more than anyone else. I’d always been attracted to him, if I were to be honest with myself, but it was easy to dismiss when his behavior was so awful. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I wasn’t supposed to feel compelled toward him.

He was perfect in many ways. Except for the unfortunate personality and morals.

I scooted back on the comforter when he approached, his fancy watch dinging against the box he held in his fist. He opened it as if he were presenting me with a piece of jewelry. “Look inside,” he ordered me.

Hesitating, I squeezed my eyes shut. This wasn’t the kind of excitement I had in mind when I thought about my life being boring, having a psychotic boss terrorize me.

“Open your eyes, thief,” he demanded.