Chapter 29

Chapter 29

My skin crawled. The very thought of being Bob’s paid lover sent a flurry of emotions through me that I could scarcely control: disgust, anger, repulsion, hatred–towards him for suggesting it and a little towards myself that my life had come to this. I tried to shake the last of these off and remind myself that it was not, in any way, my fault.

It was his. All of this was his fault.

“No.” I said firmly and clearly. “No, I will not be your lover, even if you weren’t about to be married, and there is no amount of money that you could pay me that could convince me otherwise.”

“What about $100,000 a month?” Bob asked. “Or $150,000?”

I was appalled by the mixture of stupidity and arrogance he was showing in his persistence. Could the man not take a hint, or was he truly that guided by his dick?

“What part of ‘no amount of money‘ do you not understand?”

“Think about it. You would never have to work again. You’d never have to stoop to groveling to more–righteous–than–thou clients ever again, no matter how powerful they are.”

He brushed his hand against the bruise left by Lisa’s slap. I took a step back. Even though I loved the idea of never having to bow to Lisa’s whims again, nothing could ever make me go so low as to service Bob.

Never have to work again, my ass, I thought. I’d be working twice as hard as I am now just to tolerate being around you, let alone do what you want me to do.

“You’d be set for life, everything taken care of for you,” he continued, seeing that my desistance was not letting up. “And you’d still get to be with me. Now tell me, does that sound so bad?”

I narrowed my eyes at him and stepped farther out of his reach.

“I told you, I don’t want to be with you. Not now, not ever again. And you can’t pay me to change my mind.”

He snarled and closed the gap between us.

“Do you think you’re better than me?” he asked through clenched teeth. “You’re not. I could ruin you heartbeat.”

“I know. You’ve tried.”

He paused briefly, and when he spoke again, his voice was calmer, almost mechanical,

FIF

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re the one who attacked me outside the shop that night.”

Bob’s eye twitched, but he maintained his composure.

“You have no proof.”

in a

He was right, I didn’t not beyond what I had smelled and heard that night. Still, I could rile him up into saying something that he would regret.

“And the fire/I know you caused it.”

Bob grinned with a bone–chilling chuckle. Susan bristled inside of me, but I forced her down, for the moment.

“Accidents happen, Crystal. And they can happen again, when you least expect them. You would do well to remember that.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“And what if I am?”

“You really shouldn’t do that”

“I wouldn’t have to if you just gave me what I wanted.”

The

way he referred to my b*dy–to me–as some object that he could just come in and demand that I hand. over nearly sent me over the edge. Susan urged me again to attack him, but I reminded both her and myself

that he was still Andrew’s future son–in–law, and not someone that I could attack on a whim. I took a deep, shuddering breath to steady myself.

“I told you no, so why don’t you just get out of here?”

His hand lashed out and wrapped around my throat before I could even register what was happening. The look in his eyes was dark, dangerous. Blood rushed through my b*dy so quickly, I could practically feel it pumping in my veins.

Susan roared at Bob.

“I am not leaving without getting what I came here for,” he hissed,

“Yes,” I choked out, “you are.”

Bob loosened his grip on my throat so I could speak.

“Oh?” he said with a malicious laugh: “Why is that?”

I brought my phone out from behind my back. The recording app showed that it had been recording since soon after I opened it, and it was still going.

“Because I’ve been recording this entire conversation. Unless you leave right now and never harass me again, I will make the recording public.”

His eyes darted from my eyes to the phone and back again. The dangerous look from moments ago was replaced with one of fear and anger.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said, the strength in his voice wavering.

“Try me.”

Bob glared at me and lurched for the phone, which I dropped onto the floor and then, slid across the room, He released me to chase after the phone, but I jumped on his back and put him in a chokehold. He was hard to take down, but the maneuver slowed him down.

I allowed Susan to come forward and extend my nails into claws. I dug them into Bob’s face and dragged them down to his n*eck, causing him to scream out in pain. With him distracted, I leapt off his back and dove for the phone.

Once I retrieved my phone, I stashed it in my pocket, certain he wouldn’t be able to get it there–not without a good fight from me, first.

I looked at the time on my phone.

I

“You’ll want to leave now,” I said as my claws retracted. “My coworkers will be back any minute, and I doubt that you’ll want to explain those huge scratches on your face. I’m betting that you’ll have an excuse ready for when you next see Lisa and Andrew, unless you want me to reveal the whole truth to the world.”

He glared at me with murderous intent. His eyes went to my pocket, probably considering going for my phone. again, but he must have thought better of it because he started backing towards the door instead.

“I tried to be reasonable with you, Crystal,” he said as he stood in front of the door. “I tried to offer you a comfortable life. Instead, you rejected me.”

His voice turned into a growl so low, it was almost incomprehensible.

“I’m tired of being patient.”

I rolled my eyes. Did he really call setting my workplace on fire “being patient“?

“You’ve made a powerful enemy. Don’t forget it.”

“And don’t you forget that if you ever harass me again, I will release this recording.” I said, putting as much bravado into my voice as possible. “I won’t even think twice about it. So tell me, is it worth it to stroke your ego?”

Bob glared at me one last time before storming out the door.

I knew that everything that he said were just the words of a cornered animal, scared of getting caught. At the same time, cornered animals were very dangerous because they were scared, tending to lash out and cause great damage when they did. And I was directly in the path of this cornered animal’s claws.

He would be looking to get rid of me, and I had to be ready.