The CEO's Forbidden Fling - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

A year ago, the company's prized client was a sixty-year-old man—a notorious pedophile.
Impossible to please. No matter how many times the team revised their proposals, nothing satisfied him. But his order promised staggering profits.
Desperate, the boss set his sights on Dorothy Evans’ daughter.
The girl was only five or six at the time—adorable, sweet. Dorothy had brought her to the office a few times, but something about the way the boss looked at her made Dorothy’s skin crawl. She stopped bringing her after that.
Then came Children’s Day.
The boss announced a company perk: a fancy dinner for employees’ kids, complete with Barbie dolls as gifts. Dorothy’s heart leapt when she saw the exact doll her daughter had been begging for—the one she couldn’t afford.
She brought her daughter to the dinner, giddy with excitement.
The upscale restaurant served dishes Dorothy had only ever heard of—abalone, sea cucumber, all extravagant. She ate eagerly, unaware that the food had been spiked with heavy doses of sleeping pills.
By the time she passed out on the restaurant sofa, her little girl had been lured into the old man’s room with the promise of that doll.
No one knew what happened to her that night.
Later, the girl spiraled into depression. Dorothy took a hefty payout from the boss and quietly resigned.
Listening to Yvonne recount the story, my chest tightened like a thousand needles were pressing into it.
The office women sat in stunned silence.
I clenched my fists, then stormed out to Dorothy’s home.
When we saw the girl again, she was older but still hollow-eyed, refusing to speak. The colleagues pooled money to hire a lawyer and a therapist.
After a week of coaxing, she finally agreed to testify.
Dorothy broke down, explaining how the boss had threatened and manipulated her, leaving her no choice. Her husband had been attacked in retaliation—left with a permanent limp. For years, they’d barely scraped by, struggling to afford their daughter’s treatment.
Guilt twisted inside me. I had nearly become another pawn in the boss’s sick game, fooled by his fake affection.
The lawyer filed the case, and we took shifts staying with Dorothy’s family.
The trial was brutal, but justice won.
The boss, Vincent Lowell, the old man, and others tied to the company’s corruption were all arrested. With the mountain of charges against them, their sentences were severe.
On my last day at the office, I packed my things and exhaled.
It all felt surreal.
As I carried a box toward the exit, the lobby mirror caught my reflection—delicate face, curves in all the right places. A true bombshell.
But was beauty really a blessing?
I froze, staring at myself.
If I’d been born plain, maybe the boss wouldn’t have targeted me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been reduced to a bargaining chip. Without this face, I might’ve focused on real skills instead of shortcuts. Maybe then I would’ve seen through his lies sooner.
"Excuse me, is this where you’re hiring clerks?"
A young girl’s voice stopped me at the door.
She was pretty, with long hair cascading past her waist.
"Sorry, this company’s shut down," I said, shaking my head.
"Ugh, what a waste. I heard the boss was some eligible bachelor," she huffed, tossing her resume aside.
I picked it up. The cover page listed her education: high school diploma.
"Even if they were hiring, sweetheart, you’d need a degree. Go study, get into a good college."
I handed it back.
She snatched it and ripped it in half.
"What’s the point? Look at you—working yourself to death for pennies. Marry rich and skip the grind. Or at least be a sugar baby and cash in."
She glared before walking off.
I swallowed my words.
So the same story repeats every day.