Chapter One
Isobel
I should have known today was bound to take a darker turn. I woke up late and a little colder than usual. Not because it was winter but because I felt a growing chill on my skin, the kind that made a pit settle in my stomach. A gnawing in my gut that something horrific was going to happen today.
First, I spilled coffee on my dress, leaving an ugly red burn on my stomach.
I had to suck it up, apply some ointment, and change into another outfit for work.
I knew I’d get another strike at work for coming in late again this week.
But that pit in my stomach, the one that consumed me all morning, deepened in intensity when I walked off the elevator.
The moment the doors swung open, my colleagues huddled around their desks, speaking in hushed tones, which grabbed my attention.
They looked up as though they sensed my presence, and I didn’t miss the suspicious looks on their faces.
I furrowed my brows in confusion, feeling their stares linger as I headed for my cubicle.
Their stares continued to grow under my skin like ice, tormenting me. Everything suddenly felt like a trap. I was wary of taking a seat in my swivel chair, and the items on my desk looked like a bag of thorns I didn’t dare touch.
“Isobel.” I spun around to see Rachel, one of my coworkers. Rachel was probably the only girl at work who kept to herself. She rarely talked and usually had her head buried in her computer. When she didn’t, she was hanging out by herself at break, reading a book.
“Ms. Lang asked to see you in her office.”
My body froze at the mention of the head of HR’s name. Why would she want to see me? My mind buzzed as I tried to recall when I did something that warranted her attention.
“Why?” I realized how stupid that sounded. There was no way she would have told Rachel why she requested to see me. But Rachel didn’t take offense. She shrugged, her expression indifferent.
“Thank you.” I didn’t bother dropping my bag and my coat.
I headed straight for her office with a pounding heart.
I knocked softly on her door.
“Come in.” Her detached voice sent shivers down my spine.
Clara Lang’s jet-black hair came into view as she scribbled something on the paper before her.
It was swept in a tight ponytail. She looked up as soon as she heard me come in.
Her Asian features were pressed into her signature frigid look.
Her dark eyes gave nothing away, making it hard to discern what was going on in her head.
It spiked my anxiety even harder.
“You are here.”
“You asked to see me.” I swallowed, approaching the seat before her.
“We won’t be needing your services any longer.” My butt froze against the surface of the seat the moment I sat down.
“I don’t understand...”
Clara exhaled. “You’re fired, Isobel.”
“What? You can’t do that!” The tremble in my raised voice was unmistakable.
Surprise crossed her features, mixed with anger. It elicited a sigh from me, then I took a deep breath.
“What I meant was that you can’t fire me without cause. You can’t do that. Please, I-I really need the job.” My eyes instantly filled with tears.
This was such a bad time to get fired. This couldn’t be happening right now. I had so much to lose, too much to lose, and this was the only job keeping me together. Heck, it was barely enough to sort out my pressing bills.
“The company is not firing you without cause. You have consistently shown up late to work, spaced out during tasks, and mismanaged your responsibilities. Your effectiveness as the boss’s secretary has dwindled. He doesn’t want you working for him anymore, so I have to let you go.”
My lips trembled as I breathed in harshly. “Is he making you do this?”
Clara blinked, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Is he making you do it? Mr. Cullen.” I emphasized my words with so much spite.
Ned Cullen, my boss, was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
I had put up with his wanton sexual advances ever since I started working for him.
He wanted me to sleep with him. He promised me all sorts of luxury as long as I spread my legs for him.
The bastard was married, and no matter how many times I turned him down, he wouldn’t listen.
I didn’t think he’d pull such a petty stunt after the other day at the club, when he got drunk and I went to fetch him.
He tried to grope me. I was defenseless, and the only way to save myself was to kick him in the balls.
I was convinced he might want to fire me, but he apologized to me the next day.
I thought we were past that.
Well, I was.
He wasn’t.
“Are you accusing me of something?” Clara arched her brow, her voice low and threatening.
“He’s taking away my job because I won’t sleep with him!” I yelled, rising to my feet.
“Whatever tension exists between you two is none of my business. I’m only doing what I’m told,” she said sternly.
I looked at her with so much disbelief. “Do you hear yourself?”
“I won’t have you insult me in my office,” she gritted.
“If you wanted to keep your job so badly, maybe you should have spread your fucking legs and let him fuck you in all the ways he wanted, instead of claiming Miss Goody Two-shoes. But you didn’t.
So I suggest you get up and get the hell out of my office. ”
A tear trickled down my cheek, and others rapidly followed. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. My shoulders sagged in defeat, glancing at her with so much hate coursing through me.
“You and him—you belong in hell.”
“Get. Out.”
I choked back a sob and dragged myself out of her office.
Bad things didn’t come in threes. They came in twos. First, the burn from the morning, and now losing my job.
The greedy old banker would soon come calling about the payments I had been making to him to keep altering the records for the debt my late mother owed to the bank. If I don’t pay him this month, I might as well forget about the estate.
The Dupont family estate had been in my family’s line for as long as I could remember. Call it a twisted ancestral heirloom. It belonged to my mother, her mother, and the other women before her. It had been passed down through generations of the first daughters.
We might not have been at risk of losing it if my mother hadn’t loved too recklessly. I grew up with luxury because my mother provided everything I wanted without breaking a sweat. She ran her successful chain of businesses and made it her focus after my father died when I was a baby.
Maybe if she had learned that some of us weren’t destined to find love, she wouldn’t have fallen prey to my stepdad, who tricked her into marrying him and carted away everything she owned with another woman.
The only thing we had left was the estate.
My mother tried her best to keep things afloat after such a huge loss, but after her depression pushed her to commit suicide a few years back, the bank came calling. I had to clear up what was left of my mother’s debt or risk losing the estate.
It was bad enough that I had to go through such soul-shattering grief. I had to work my ass off constantly to keep the payments rolling in.
I had suffered and bled to keep the estate, and now, I was going to lose it because of Ned fucking Cullen. I knew how much the estate meant to my mother, and it had come to mean so much to me, too. The estate was all I had left of my mother. I couldn’t give it up.
I left the building through the blur of my tears and snot.
When I took to the streets, I contemplated calling my best friend Maria.
But all she’d tell me was not to whine about taking up shifts and to strip like her.
The wintry air of the bustling streets bit at my skin.
The thick layers of my coat couldn’t diminish its effects.
My eyes blurred with tears as I made my way through the city, clutching the straps of my bag absentmindedly.
A shoulder roughly bumped into mine, snapping me back to reality.
My gaze swung up, harsh and burning, only to collide with a dark-gray cashmere coat. My throat closed as my eyes trailed up the stubbled, angular jaw to firm, sensual lips.
And then, brooding dark eyes sucked me in.
“You should pay more attention to your surroundings, Red.”
A handkerchief descended on my nose when I parted my lips to speak. My eyes widened as a thick smell flooded my nostrils. I tried to make muffled sounds, but as I moved back, my back crashed into a hard surface.
The smell clouded my senses swiftly, and my body turned heavy.
My eyelids shut, and the world around me turned black.
****
The crackling and popping of the fire stirred me awake, eliciting a soft moan. Smoke, leather, and something along the line of sandalwood invaded my nostrils. I turned on my side, feeling a handful of fabric in my hands. A frown dented my face as I pried my eyes open.
Confusion swept through me like tidal waves as I took in my surroundings.
Warm tones of ash, black, and brown unraveled before me.
There was a fireplace opposite the king-sized bed I was sprawled on.
The flames crackled more fiercely, illuminating the vast space in a warm amber glow.
It had to be the largest room I had ever been in, with its luxurious and grand decor reminiscent of a modern cabin.
To my left was a wide, floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked an array of lush green trees covered in dense fog and mist. If I hadn’t pinched myself and felt pain, I’d have thought I was trapped on an island that was cut off from the rest of the world.
This place was strange ... and beautiful and attractive.
It was like something nestled in the woods, deep within some rainforest.
I sighed, rubbing my nape. My palm trailed downward only to conveniently dip into my cleavage, which was all over the place. My tits were almost spilling out of the scandalous, silky, dark nightwear I was in.
“I’d kill to wake up to this sight for the rest of my life.”