Chapter 14 Tessa #2
He stands up slowly. He walks around the desk. He stops a few feet away from me, crossing his arms.
“I thought I made myself clear that night,” he says. “It was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re right,” I say. “It won’t happen again. Because I quit.”
I reach into my bag and pull out the letter I printed this morning. I slam it onto the desk, right over the spot where he…
I push the thought away.
“My resignation,” I say. “Effective immediately.”
Ethan looks at the paper but doesn’t pick it up. He just stares at it, his jaw tightening.
“Accepted,” he says.
The word is so quiet, so devoid of emotion, that it stops me cold. I blink, thrown off balance. I expected a fight. I expected him to beg.
“You can leave,” he continues, walking to his desk and tapping a key on his laptop without even looking at me. “But per Section 9, Clause C, the signing bonus is contingent on a twelve-month tenure. You leave early, the clawback is immediate.”
He looks up then. His eyes are dead. “The repayment for the fifty thousand dollars is due in twenty-four hours. Or I file a lien against your accounts.”
“That’s…” I stammer, the blood draining from my face. “That’s extortion.”
“It’s a contract,” he corrects me, his voice dropping, becoming dangerous. “And I know you spent the bonus.”
My breath catches in my throat.
“Excuse me?”
“The signing bonus,” Ethan says, stepping closer. “Fifty thousand dollars. You took the check on day one. You wired forty-eight thousand of it to Sallie Mae to kill the principal on your private loan. You have less than two thousand dollars in your checking account.”
My blood runs cold. “How do you know that?”
“I checked your onboarding file and credit report this morning,” he says simply. “I saw the bonus clear and your debt vanish. You don’t have the cash to leave, Tessa.”
He leans in, invading my space.
“If you walk out now,” he says softly, “you’re in breach of contract. The clawback clause activates immediately. And since we both know you don’t have the liquidity, my legal team will freeze your assets by morning to recover the debt.”
I stare at him, horror dawning on me.
He isn’t just threatening a lawsuit; he’s threatening bankruptcy. A lien on my accounts. A credit score destroyed before I’m twenty-six.
He owns me.
He knows exactly how desperate I am right now, and he’s using it as a weapon.
“You wouldn’t,” I whisper.
“I would,” he says. “You think I want you here? You’re a distraction.”
He steps closer, looming over me, his voice dropping to a rough whisper.
“But if you leave, you become a variable I can’t control. And I don’t tolerate loose variables. You stay where I can see you.”
I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut.
This isn’t the man who held me in the dark. This isn’t the man who whispered my name like a prayer. This is the CEO. The soldier.
“You’re a monster,” I whisper.
“I am a man who keeps his word,” he counters, straightening up and adjusting his cuffs. “I told you I wasn’t the good guy. You didn’t believe me.”
He picks up the resignation letter. “Since you don’t have the liquidity to execute this…” He rips it in half. Then in half again. He drops the pieces into the trash bin. “You’re staying,” he says. “You will finish the campaign. You will attend the launch party. You will do your job.”
“And us?” I ask, my voice trembling with rage. “What about us?”
“There is no us,” Ethan says. “There never was. From this moment on, we are strictly professional. You report to me on strategy. Nothing else. I don’t care who you talk to. I don’t care who you date. I don’t care who you sleep with.”
He leans in, his face inches from mine. His eyes are cold, but there is a fire burning deep within them that contradicts his words.
“You’re free, Tessa,” he lies. “Do whatever you want. Just do your job.”
I hate him. In this moment, I hate him more than I have ever hated anyone in my life.
“Fine,” I hiss. “You want to be professional? I’ll give you professional.”
I turn on my heel.
“Tessa,” he calls out.
I pause at the door, but I don’t look back.
“Cover the mark on your neck better next time,” he says softly. “The concealer is cakey.”
I slam the door so hard the glass walls rattle.
I’m shaking again.
I stand in the break room, gripping the edge of the counter, trying to breathe.
He trapped me. He actually trapped me.
“You’re gripping that counter like you want to snap it in half,” a voice says.
I look up.
Owen is standing in the doorway. He looks tentative, unsure. The swagger is gone.
“I do,” I say. “Your brother.”
Owen winces. He walks into the room, closing the door behind him. “I heard the door slam. The whole office did.”
“He threatened to sue me,” I say, the words spilling out. “I tried to quit, Owen. And he brought up the signing bonus.”
Owen’s eyes widen. “He what?”
“He threw my rent in my face,” I laugh bitterly. “He knows I can’t afford to pay it back. He trapped me.”
“He’s bluffing,” Owen says instantly. “Ethan wouldn’t sue you. He’s just… he’s panicking. He’s trying to keep you here.”
“He has a funny way of showing it.”
Owen steps closer. He reaches out, as if to touch my arm, but then stops. He pulls his hand back.
“Are you okay?” he asks softly. “After Friday?”
I step back. “Don’t.”
“Tess—”
“Don’t ask me about it,” I warn him. “Ethan made it very clear. Strictly professional. That applies to you too.”
“I don’t work for Ethan’s rules,” Owen says, a flash of anger in his eyes. “And I know he hurt you. I saw his face when he kicked us out of his office on Friday. I saw the text he sent the group. I know what happened.”
“Nothing happened,” I lie. “We had a meeting. It was productive.”
“Bullshit,” Owen says. “You slept with him.”
My stomach drops, heavy and cold.
“I…” I can’t deny it. Not to him. Lying to Owen feels like kicking a puppy. “Owen, I—”
“Don’t lie to me,” Owen says. His voice cracks. He looks devastated. “I came back, Tessa. After we left, I was worried about you. I came back up to make sure you were okay.”
He swallows hard, looking away.
“I heard you,” he whispers. “I heard you screaming his name.”
The blood drains from my face. “Owen…”
“The pancakes. The weekend. I thought…” He looks at me, his eyes wet. “I thought we were starting something. But you were just waiting for him.”
“No,” I say, stepping toward him. “That’s not true. I like you, Owen. I really like you. But Ethan…”
“Ethan always wins,” Owen finishes bitterly.
“Ethan destroyed it,” I correct him. “He trapped me, Owen. He’s blackmailing me to stay. I’m not here because I chose him. I’m here because he threatened to ruin my life.”
Owen straightens up. The heartbreak shifts into confusion, then anger. “He’s blackmailing you?”
“Yes. So I have to stay. But us? That’s over.”
“Ethan doesn’t get to decide that!”
“He does,” I whisper, shaking my head. “He holds the contract. He holds the debt. He owns me, Owen.”
“I don’t care about the contract,” Owen says, stepping closer, his eyes burning with intensity. “I care about us.”
“There is no us!” I shout, the panic finally fracturing my voice. “Don’t you get it? He’s the boss! He’s the one holding my financial life hostage! I can’t do this, Owen. I can’t be the wishbone you two pull apart.”
“I’m not pulling you apart,” Owen says. “I’m trying to hold on to you.”
“Well, stop,” I say, tears welling in my eyes. “Just stop. I can’t handle the charm right now. I can’t handle the nice guy act. I need to work. I need to finish this campaign so I can keep my apartment and not end up on the street.”
“You wouldn’t end up on the street,” Owen says fiercely. “I would never let that happen.”
“I can’t rely on you,” I say. “That’s the problem. I relied on you guys, and look where that got me.”
I push past him.
“Tess,” he says, grabbing my wrist.
His grip is warm. Familiar.
“He’s lying,” Owen says, his voice low and urgent. “He’s telling you he doesn’t care. He’s telling you to be professional. But he’s lying. He’s terrified.”
“I don’t care,” I say, pulling my arm free. “Let him be terrified. I’m just done.”
I walk out of the break room.
I walk past Asher’s desk. It’s empty.
I walk to my desk, sit down, and turn on my monitor.
I open the “Be Seen” campaign folder.
You aren’t broken. You’re just buffering.
I stare at the slogan.
I’m not buffering. I’m broken.
But I’m going to fix myself. And I’m going to do it by being the best damn strategist this company will ever see. I’m going to make Mosaic a success. I’m going to make them rich.
And then, the second my contract clears, I’m going to leave them all behind.
The week passes in a blur of caffeine and cold silence.
I work. I eat lunch at my desk (salad, which I finish out of spite). I avoid the break room. Ethan stays in his office. Owen stays in the creative pit. Asher is a ghost.
On Wednesday afternoon, a notification pops up on my screen.
Asher: Check your drawer.
I frown. I look around the bullpen. No sign of him.
I open the top drawer of my desk.
There is a small silver flash drive. And a sticky note.
The hacker logs. I thought you should know.
I plug the drive into my computer. A folder opens.
It’s a system audit log. Timestamp: Saturday Morning, 01:15 AM.
It’s a command history from the central security server. I read the lines, my heart stuttering.
USER: E_brANSON ACTION: ACCESS_CAMERA (CEO_OFFICE) STATUS: RECORDING FOUND COMMAND: PURGE_ALL_DATA CONFIRMATION: OVERRIDE_SAFETY_PROTOCOLS STATUS: DELETED PERMANENTLY
I stare at the screen.
Ethan went into the server minutes after we finished, found the recording of us on his desk, and nuked it. He overrode the safety protocols.
I slam the laptop shut, my hands shaking.
Why did Asher give me this? Is he blackmailing me? Is he threatening me?
My phone buzzes.
Asher: He scrubbed the server logs. He destroyed the only evidence that proved he broke the contract.
I stare at the text.
Me: Why are you telling me this?
Asher: Because you think he doesn’t care. But a CEO doesn’t destroy his own leverage unless he is protecting someone.
I look at the flash drive.
Ethan purged the file. He destroyed the proof. If he wanted to fire me for cause, that video was his smoking gun. It was his get-out-of-jail-free card. And he incinerated it so no one could ever see it.
Asher: He is trying to save you, Tessa. His methods are just… inefficient.
I pull the drive out and drop it into my purse.
I look at Ethan’s office door. It’s still closed.
He’s trying to save me, by breaking my heart.
I get back to work.
But for the first time in two days, the anger in my chest feels a little less like fire, and a little more like grief.