"But I'm not a mum to keep my hands folded. Remember we are engaged? How could you dare leave your fiance in his helpless state while you enjoy bonking that man there?" He roared at her nursing his injured leg.
"Fredrick please do not accuse me of something I haven't ever done." Aliza cried claiming her innocence. "Do not show me your crocodile tears and listen to me well, you whore." He catapulted Aliza with his Accenture. "My sister pleaded with me to marry you. I cannot see my sister unhappy. That is why I accepted her request even though I know you are a shameless prostitute." Aliza broke into a wail at the atrocious accusation. "Please Fredrick do not call me that." She cried.
But Fredrick was a demon with no heart. He ignored Aliza's plea and continued in his command. "I have discussed our marriage with my sister and brother-in-law. Before you join me at the aisle with a huge bump of one of your retinoid clients I am supposed to be cautious." He spilled the heart-wrenching statement of blaming Aliza for infidelity with zero regrets. "I'm a very noble person that is why I'm still talking instead of killing you and accepting you despite your adultery."
Aliza had no psychological strength to counter. She had already succumbed to isolation with the insensitive baseless allegations of her heartless fiancé but Fredrick wasn't the person who cared. "Two days later I am going to the church to speak to Father Thompson and fix the date of our marriage. I do not think I will have the ability to move even for tomorrow. That is why I planned my visit two days later and the courtesy is your Lothario's driver." He grunted on his last words.
"The marriage will most probably be next Wednesday, a week from today. Do not try to act smart by framing something with your sexy billionaire rake because I'm not going to spare you any more. I will kill you most brutally so that you will remember your hazardous death even for your next hundred births to come."
Aliza fell speechless in fear. Her lips trembled with hatred. She despised herself, detested her existence, and cursed her fate. A heavy stone weighed on her heart. What is she going to do? How is she going to escape this sinful wedlock? Just one week left with her. Is her life going to terminate in the hands of a rogue with no trace of retrieval? Mom and Dad, why did you leave me so early? She mewled in pain.
The words of Fredrick rang in Aliza's ears bringing her back to the present. "If you have even the minimum of decency you will ask permission from your boss and accompany me to the church to speak to Father Thompson." Aliza cried hysterically like someone stabbed her chest. Death was much a better version to suffer than getting tied to the scum bag. But did she have a choice? If she tried to escape, her aunt would pick her up even from the grave.
As a child, Aliza remembered running away from her uncle's home unable to bear the torture of her aunt. Stella caught her back within a few hours using all her public relations and beat her like a mad sorceress. She did not give Aliza food for five days until Aliza was on the verge of dying. It would have been better if she had left her to die but again she pulled her back from the clutches of death to make her suffer for more.
"You damn bitch speak before you cry like a dying pauper," Fredrick yelled on the phone. "Yes..yes Fredrick, I will speak to my boss and join you at the church." She spoke meekly. "Good." He sounded an evil grin and cut the call. That night Aliza couldn't sleep after the talk with her fiancé. Before she could cheer for her good days to start they had already ended. She had no idea what she was going to say to her boss.
Charles had been very kind to Aliza since the beginning. He employed her even when she was underqualified and underage for the job. He gave her rent-free accommodation in one of his staff quarters and also sent a doctor when he understood she had health constraints. Could there be a better humane person than Charles Rodriguez?
In the morning two days later Aliza rejoined for work and arrived at the CEO's room with her usual cup of coffee. "Good Morning sir," she greeted him. Charles gave a nod to Aliza with his eyes still stapled to the laptop in front of him. "Sit down, I'm going to dictate you a letter. You need to immediately draft it and send it to the respective address specified in the envelope." He forwarded a post to Aliza from one of the drawers of his office desk. "Make the format of the letter on your own. I'm just dictating to you the contents."
"Yes sir" Aliza gave a soft reply and Charles started dictating the letter.
We haven't received the proceeds of sales for our consumable supplies within the last three months. The grace period that Richmond Industries had awarded you is also over. In the next two days if we do not receive the bill payments from you, then we are forced to sue you and take the matter to court.
"Draft this letter immediately Ms Stelwart and connect me to the lawyer." He ordered and continued typing on his laptop. Aliza stood there plastered to the ground. She felt her stance going jittery and she mumbled weakly. "Si...sir..can..can I speak to you for two minutes?" Charles raised her eyes from the laptop to her and Aliza felt a sudden rush of heat in her body with anxiety. His eyes were sharp steel like the tip of a knife staring at her damn seriously.
Aliza was immensely intimidated by her boss' roost aura and felt like she was going to pass out at any moment. But before the uncontrollable could happen she had forced herself to be cautious and blurted out the words. "Sir, I need to resign."
"Excuse me?" Charles snapped standing from his seat pushing his coat behind and hands inserted into his pant pockets. He circled the table walking predacious and looked at Aliza ravening. Aliza prayed if earth could swallow her assimilating the deathly tenor of her boss. "Sir, my fiancé..... my fiancé wants me to resign from the job?" Aliza's eyes were stapled to the floor as she spilled the words unable to meet the eyes of her boss.
"My fiancé or my abusive fiancé, Ms Stelwart?" Aliza looked at Charles in shock turning as red as a tomato. "Do you think I do not keep a record of the personal details about my staff?" He asked her, irritated, squinting his eyes. "Your output affects the turnover of my company." He hurled in anger poking on the table beside him with his forefinger.
"Do you still wish to continue your life with such a wolf even after suffering the consequences of his attack?" Charles pointed with his eyes to Aliza's almost broken leg a couple of days ago and examined her for a second with strictness in his demeanor. "I know about everything you suffered...." Aliza did not wish for her boss to continue with her sad story. Before he could speak further she broke into whimpers. "Sir, he threatened to kill me if I did not abide by this marriage. He called me a slut and accused me of holding illicit relations with other men when I'm a virgin."
"What?" Charles was taken aback by the novel revelation of Aliza. "Yes," she replied to him weakly, almost unheard. "This is the heck of it, bloody bastard..." Charles bit down the curse. Aliza snorted with her eyes still directed to the floor. She was heaving in agony. "In an hour he is going to reach here and pick me up at the church to speak to Father Thompson to fix our marriage date."
"Aliza" was the first time Charles called her by her first name. Aliza heard her name more beautiful than ever before. Goosebumps crawled in Aliza's nerves even in this disastrous situation as soon as her primary name rolled out of her boss's lips for the first time. It was the magic of him and the power he held on her...Aliza instantly leaped her eyes on him. . "Do you wish to marry him? Answer me prudent exploring yourself because this is the question of your life." Aliza inhaled a shaky breath, her eyes still directed to the floor but she looked back into Charles's eyes with a blaze of determination. "No sir."
Charles placed the notepad in Aliza's hands which she had previously taken down his dictation. "Okay, then leave the matter to me. Forget that you were ever engaged. You will not see your fiancé abusive again." Aliza stared at her boss dumb-struck.
And what she saw coming next snatched away the living lights in her body.
Chapter 9
He smiled at her. It was the most beguiling, chivalrous smile she had seen since her birth. He was the sexy, hot, arresting, and most prepossessing handsome in the complete universe. For a moment Aliza felt lost from the world. The atmosphere was getting hotter than she had estimated. She was unable to control the stupid hormones going wild inside her body. She was sexually attracted to her boss and to digest the reality, Aliza would be the last woman in the universe whom the richest billionaire in the world Charles Rodriguez the CEO of Richmond Industries would think of marrying.
Aliza stared at her boss like she was seeing a supernatural human. She gulped heavily with a faint nod and wanted to sprint away from the room. But before she could do that she hit her leg to the table in her haste. "Careful" Charles voiced behind but before he reached Aliza ran away from the room like a dunce moron.
As soon as Aliza left, Charles dialed security and informed them to direct a man called Fredrick Roger to his office. No sooner Fredrick reached the premises of Richmond Industries he was received with warm welcome. Little did he know he was like a goat fed sumptuously before its slaughter. The receptionist immediately called the boss's secretary and personally accosted him to the CEO's floor.
Fredrick was enthralled by the personal reception and importance given to him by the kind-hearted CEO. He felt sorry for the abusive words he used on him. He had second thoughts on why he should make Aliza leave the job. Her workplace felt exceptionally exemplary, the pay was good and the boss was extremely genial. Well, who would give such pleasing hospitality to congratulate a probation employee's fiancée? The CEO's personal touch caught Fredrick's heart. That is why Richmond Industries has achieved the status of a top-class company. Fredrick thought with contemplation.
No sooner had he entered the CEO's cabin than the doors were automatically locked and the room was completely dark even on midsummer morning. Has there been a power failure? For such a huge company with millions of turnover over a day his thoughts are ridiculous. Fredrick's sanity taught him better. "Who is here?" He frantically voiced but there was no answer. His conscience cautioned something dire and his heart began to beat ten times faster. Something is wrong. His intuition screamed.
A couple of minutes later a fleck of light happened with the ignition of a lighter followed by a puff of smoke. A faint sketch of a man from the lower part of his face came out displayed. Fredrick had a rush of adrenaline to his throat in fear peering at the devilish aura of the person. He had a chiseled jaw so sharp that it could cut anything to two. Those soft thin lips were very beautiful in a cupid's bow yet everything about the man left out esoteric feelings that spoke vile, abominable, and dreadful about him.
Arcane and disquiet were small words to describe his mental status. "Who are you?" Fredrick voiced low in panic but again got no reply. Turning back he rushed to the door to open it but it was locked. Slowly he could hear heavy steps approaching him in leisure and there unveiled the face of a man with only a speck of light coming from a night bulb attached to the ceiling. Who put on the light, the man standing in front of me? Questions crossed Fredrick's mind like a waterfall drowning him more in horror.
A chill ran down his spine staring at the perilous reflection of the male. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and black pants. His tie was hanging loose and his sleeves folded just below his elbows exposing his hairy skin. Fredrick stared at him with trepid in pin-drop silence in the spill-dark room with just the night bulb glowing. His heart missed a beat in fear. He wanted to ask him why he was brought here but before he could speak his lips were blocked by a rough hand.
Even before digesting the next course of action his head went twisted followed by a pretzel of his chin. Fredrick's face bungled in blue and bent out of shape. His jaw broke shooting a sharp pain upwards to his head and his lips warped to a side. The man spoke throaty with a cigarette playing in between his lips. "You would not say what happened here to anyone in this world. Otherwise, you will regret every moment spent on earth awaiting death. Never dare to touch that orphaned innocent girl again either physically or psychologically. Is that clear?"
A puff of smoke went out of his lips hitting Fredrick's face. "Give this information to your sister too. If she uses any of her tricks, on the girl...." He pulled Fredrick by his collar to his face and marked him menacingly low. "I haven't touched a woman till date and your sister will be the first person blessed in my hands breaking the record to enter hell on earth."
He released him with a jerk.
There was malice in his speech. Earth shook under the feet of Fredrick recalling his words. Before he could count on what happened next he noticed blood running from his ears and he lost consciousness.
Charles called the security people soon after Fredrick launched to the floor unconscious. Within five minutes two buffy men reached his office. "Clear the muck from here." He ordered and pressed a button. The clean white wall facing him opened leading to a pathway followed by a staircase. He pressed another button and the dark walk path was filled with lights. One of the bodyguards exited the room carrying Fredrick and the other cleaned the blood marks littering the floor leaving no vestiges. The wall came back to its position once again like nothing happened and lights glued back in the room like always.
Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door. Aliza came inside the room with the notepad in her hand. "Sir, I drafted the letter you told me. Your signature is required here." She pulled out the letter from the file she was carrying and placed it on the desk before Charles. "I have contacted the lawyer and he said he will reach here in an hour but because you have a meeting at twelve I postponed his appointment to three in the afternoon when you are free," Aliza informed her boss.
"Alright, that's for today. By the way, where is your fiancée? It has been more than two hours since. You said he would come and pick you up at the church?" Charles asked, holding the innocent face of a three-year-old boy after recording the time from his Rolex. "I wanted to give him a brainwash so that he doesn't go trouncing on you." Aliza played her fingers in anxiety as she heard the name of Fredrick fall out. "Sir, as long as he stays away from me I am very happy. The more our marriage is postponed, the greater happiness I would feel." Aliza released a pleasant smile that brought an unfathomable satisfaction in the chasm pleats of Charles's body cells.
"He will not disturb you again, like I promised earlier." Charles declared it like a prophecy of a saint. "Call him, he might pick up your call and tell you what got him delayed." Aliza nodded with a faint 'yes sir' and pressed the buttons on her phone with trembling fingers. Even after ten rings the phone wasn't answered and it subsequently went to a voice mail. Charles spoke thoughtfully. "Maybe he is stuck in traffic. But when he comes to meet you bring him to my room. I would wish to speak to him and reform your future." He spoke firmly, leaning back like a king on his executive chair with his polished boot-clad ankle resting on the knee of the other.
*****
Aliza was in a fun mood when she did not receive either a call or a message from her fiancé. She called Charla and soon after work, they went out shopping. Aliza bought a host of new dresses for office wear and a few pairs of nightwear. For years she had been living with dirty and worn-out clothes covering her skin. After almost two decades of suffering, she was able to breathe an air of joy and felt her life was worth living.
After shopping both Aliza and Charla went to a movie theater and watched the latest movie by Chris Hemsworth followed by dinner at one of the city restaurants.
At nine in the night, Charles called Aliza through the intercom of employee quarters to inform her of a sudden change in tomorrow's work but the call wasn't being lifted even after twelve rings. Something about his innocent PA did not settle well with the CEO. He immediately called the security at the gates of his estate who informed him that Aliza did not reach home yet.
Charles paced in his living hall with a glass of Bourbon in his hands. The nascent knowledge about Aliza's whereabouts was bothering him. Just as he was to dial his detective and bodyguards he could see a taxi stop at the entrance of his estate through his monitor. Aliza stepped out of the car followed by Charla. "Let the women use the taxi and come inside." He ordered the security at the gate and the car reached the entrance of employee quarters.
Was the girl insane that she thought she could walk all the way more than twenty miles from the estate entrance to her quarter? Firstly, what happened to the brain of Charla? Well, they also turn out to be stupid when they go into the company of fools. Charles justified himself. They were carrying around a dozen shopping bags giggling like school girls and unlocked the entrance door of Aliza. Charles ordered his security to drop Charla at her house. It was unsafe for her to travel alone.
After Charla left Aliza received a call and the words she heard next from the speaker got her far-fetched. Her knees went weak and sweat covered her body as if she just reached home running a marathon. A low squeak involuntarily went out of her throat as she landed a thunderbolt on the floor unable to believe what she heard.
Aliza was knocked out.
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I Hate to Love You, Mr. CEO 
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