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94 - Choices
Clearly, they weren't going to be heading back into the building anytime soon. Jia took a deep breath before turning to look at Ava, making sure her face betrayed nothing but steady composure.
"You care about Atlas," she said shortly, "and so do I. It's your right to doubt my intentions, but our relationship is ours and no one else's. Meaning that it's his choice to stay in one with me, just like it's my choice to do the same with him."
"So, in other words, you don't care. About letting the company crash because you can't give him up?"
"...I'll consider everything you said to me today. You can interpret my intentions however you want. I care about Atlas. He is important to me. So is Pandora Lights. I am not 'giving' either of them up like I'm swapping trading cards."
"That's a nice, self-righteous way of saying you'd rather screw the whole company over rather than let go of his money. Before you say it's not about that, I'll just remind you that it's funn
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When Atlas finally came to bed, it was already past two in the morning. Jia had let the twins know she wouldn't be coming home - and although they probably thought she was up to mischief, the reality was that she knew she couldn't leave Atlas alone tonight. Even now, he sat on the side of the bed, slouched over with his elbows on his knees.She sat up and rested her fingertips on his bare, muscular shoulder. He felt so strong, and yet..."Sleep," she told him. "You'll know what to do tomorrow."He reached back and grasped her hand in his before turning around and sliding under the covers beside her. She was ready when he pulled her close and began kissing her neck and working his way down her chest, pulling on her clothes with growing insistence. But instead of yielding, she reached up to cradle his face in her hands and urged him with slight pulls to lift his head and look at her."Atlas," she murmured as she stared up at him. "I'm glad you told me."He stilled, so she kept on."If yo
In the Shadow of the CEO Epilogue
Jia pushed Atlas away from herself with a furtive look around the dim rear hallway they found themselves in. "Stop that! Someone will see."But he didn't listen. With a low, rumbling chuckle in his chest, he pressed her up against the wall and nuzzled her neck, breathing her in as if he couldn't get enough of her scent. She did her best to keep from melting in his arms as they snaked around her, one around her waist and the other coming up to cup the back of her neck, but a small gasp left her lips when she felt him grind his hips against hers."The things you do to me," he whispered in her ear, and she had to bite down hard on her tongue so that she didn't let out a breathy moan and tremble against him.No, they were absolutely not doing this. They were in a restaurant. In public! At a party! The last time they had done this, they had almost gotten caught by a waiter and only barely managed to hide themselves in a tangled mess in the utility closet."Atlas -""Fine, fine," he said, an
In the Shadow of the CEO Author's Note
The ending has been modified due to feedback from several readers that were unsatisfied with the ending. While I can't really say I'm proud of the cut version because it doesn't properly envison what I had in mind for the story's conclusion, I'm happy to let readers leave off the story on a thoroughly final note.As a result, I have withdrawn plans to write a sequel and will leave the story as is. But thank you all anyway for coming with me on this journey! :DFind me on facebook @ManaSolStories so that you can keep up with my other stories here on GoodNovel instead.
In the Shadow of the CEO 1 - Atlas Grayson
Wednesday nights at La Dolce Vita had never been so disastrous. This time, it was as if every rich businessman breathing in the Manhattan borough of New York City had stampeded through this restaurant, but as it so happened, the lowest point of Jia's evening hadn't even come to pass yet.She had known something was wrong when Richard sent everyone else home minutes after the massive VIP dinner event concluded - but then asked her to stay behind to clean up. Alone. Yes, he was an exploitative asshole who freely abused her vulnerable circumstances, but he had never done this kind of thing before: he simply hadn't ever been around for the Wednesday night clean up himself.Ever.If anything, he was the one who always went home early after the weekly Hell Night and made everyone else take care of the mess without him. But not today, though. No, not tonight - because the owner of the five-star La Dolce Vita was intent on making an even worse mess rather than cleaning anything up.A wine glas
In the Shadow of the CEO 2 - Home
"Your address, miss?"Jia's head jerked up. "Sorry," she said hastily, wanting to pinch herself for zoning out in a stranger's car.This was why she preferred the subway. Yes, it would have taken far longer than this forty minute drive from Manhattan to the Bronx, but anonymity among strangers felt so much safer. And she could only imagine what kind of attention they were attracting now as they cruised down a dirty, pot-hole ridden street manned only by a few homeless, some delinquents out past curfew, and generally everything that the rich and glitzy Manhattan wasn't. The Bronx borough - particularly this side of it - was a different kind of beast altogether.
In the Shadow of the CEO 3 - The Resume
"Mr. Grayson, you have a guest waiting in the lobby. Would you like to see her now?""We're not done here.""Yes, sir. My apologies, sir."The intercom clicked off with a swipe of Atlas's finger scarcely before the woman on the other end of the line, his newest assistant, had finished speaking. "You can continue, Daniel," he said with a wave of his hand as if he hadn't just potentially scarred yet another new assistant with his coldness. It didn't matter. She probably wasn't going to last long anyway. "You were saying?"Another man stood before him on the other sid
In the Shadow of the CEO 4 - Questions
“Why do you want to work here?"Jia hesitated. “I’m sorry?” she asked, eyeing the man behind the desk with a leery uncertainty disguised as a case of bad hearing. Or maybe she really had heard him wrong, because what he asked made no sense at all. Last she had checked, she hadn’t had a choice in coming here.“Why,” he repeated, stressing the syllable with a sardonic impatience, “do you want to work here, I said.”“I…” Was this a test, or some kind of sick joke? She was here because he had blackmailed her, plain and simple. Jia wished Mr. Grayson had at least invited her to sit before b
In the Shadow of the CEO 5 - Silk
“Do I have to pay for all of this?”Lydia gave Jia a scolding look with a furrow of her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “Don’t be silly,” she chided before dropping the pile of clothes into the other woman’s arms. “Who would make you pay to take old discards? Imagine. We have to pay to get our trash taken out, you know.”Jia’s eyes dropped down to inspect the expensive fabrics with an apprehensive grimace. True, she had never had an eye for fashion. But these looked just as stylish and modern as any ensemble fitted onto mannequins in department stores, all far beyond her budget. Trash, Lydia had said, but if this was trash, what did that make her wardrobe?“Are you sure these are discards?”she repeated skeptically, and squinted at the topmost article on the stack. Was that a Gucci logo? Discard, really?“Well, all right, not all of them are,” admitted Lydia. “But the damage you would do to our image if
Latest chapter
- In the Shadow of the CEO Author's Note
- In the Shadow of the CEO Epilogue
- In the Shadow of the CEO 95 - Offerings
- In the Shadow of the CEO 94 - Choices
- In the Shadow of the CEO 93 - Adjustments
- In the Shadow of the CEO 92 - Games
- In the Shadow of the CEO 91 - Trees and Forests
- In the Shadow of the CEO 90 - Idyllic
- In the Shadow of the CEO 89 - Concealed
