Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 277: Fire

Chapter 277: Fire

There was no justice in the world, not even a shred of fairness. How could there be? Emily had gone through most of her life trying not to step on anybody’s toes. Doing her best not to hurt anyone intentionally. If you want to have good things happen to you then do good deeds. That was what she had always believed. So she had tried to do mostly good deeds in her life.

But what had that gotten her?

She now had no job, she had no man. And to add salt to injury, her mother had been the one to find her nearly catatonic on the floor.

After her mom had guided her to bed. She’d had to explain exactly why she was in the state she was. There was nothing quite like telling your mom that you had quit your job without a plan in sight. All because your boss had gotten engaged while the two of you were dating.

Dating in the work place.

The one thing that Emily had promised her mother that she would not do.

I told you so, had not been said aloud, but she had seen it clear as day on her mom’s face, and Emily had known that she would have deserved those words had her mother uttered them. Do not date where you work, and most importantly never ever get into a relationship with someone who is your boss. Things have the tendency to go south with a quickness in those types of relationships.

Her mom had given her that advice, and for years and years, Emily had followed it. It figured that the one time she disregarded her mother’s words. Things came back to bite her in such a monumental fashion.

It was only after her mom had fixed the covers, and left that Emily had realised something.

She had never told her mom exactly who it was that she was dating, but the older woman had seemed to know without Derek’s name being mentioned. When her mom had come back, a few minutes later, carrying a glass of water in one hand, and a pill in the other. Emily had asked and the reply had been simple. "I am your mom. It is my job to know," Emily had wanted to ask. To delve deeper, but by then it had been too late for her.

There had already been fire lurking at the edge of her vision. The beginnings of a fever pushing at her. Making it impossible for Emily to question her mom.

Being kidnapped by a very rich woman who hated your guts. Having said woman be the one to tell you a truth that you did not know. That her son was merely using you. Ripping your heart out in the process, and then proceeding to toy with it, was hard on the soul.

But then Emily had proceeded to make things worse by spending the night out and about, instead of resting. Not allowing herself to process, to come to terms with how spectacularly her world had fallen apart in just a matter of hours.

Taking an emotional and physical battering, all at once had effects on the body, and now Emily was paying the price.

Fire, fire, burning bright, she thought, staring at her bedroom ceiling. The walls around her spinning. Since laying down in bed. Emily had not moved a single muscle, but she was sweating like a marathon runner on a hot day. She closed her eyes and she was no longer staring up at her bedroom ceiling. Instead, she was in a garden, and there was an apple tree. The fruit ripe, heavy and hanging low. Bright red, and tempting, Eat me, eat me, they seemed to say.

She reached out her hand, but she never even got to touch the apples. Something dragged her back, and Emily found herself staring at her mother’s worried face. "Drink this," She said, and a glass was placed against her lips. Emily had barely finished swallowing the strange concoction before she was gone again. She found herself standing in the same garden. This time, the coffin was gone and the tree had only one apple left.

"Stay away from my son," A voice hissed and Emily could only stare, when she spotted the source. A snake, scales a shimmering silver, like the dress that Cassandra Haven had worn the night Emily met her.

It was as long as it was wide, its coils obscuring the tree trunk from view. Its head nudged against the lone apple, in an almost affectionate way. But when it turned its dead eyes to Emily, there was no love there. Only fangs and a pitch-black mouth to see.

A clear promise of a painful death if she dared get any closer.

But all Emily wanted was a touch, just a simple touch, had she not earned that. Despite the snake’s warning. She reached for the apple, the branches swaying, bringing it closer to her.

For a few wonderful seconds she actually got to hold it. The apples glow lighting her up.

And as she held it, Emily realized something. It was alive. Thrumming gently in her hands. Something beautiful. Something rare.

And that was all that she got to think of the apple before the snake was suddenly there.

Body wound tight, ready to strike, and strike it did. Emily did not feel the fangs pierce her skin, but when the venom shot up her veins, she most definitely felt that. Her screams shattered the garden.

And it gave way to the four walls of her bedroom, her mother’s worried face coming into focus. The woman wringing a wet cloth and wiping it over Emily’s overheated brow. Mom, she breathed, and her mother smiled down at her. " It’s all right.

It’s just a fever. You can make it through this," she said. This time when Emily went under, there was no snake with its forbidden fruit, and there was no garden, only darkness. And in that darkness, Emily swung for what felt like countless millennia.

But the darkness was not scary at all. Especially after the voices came.

"What are you doing here?" Her mother’s voice cut through the dark, and despite the stern tone, Emily felt herself relax.

"Please, Mrs Molson..." Oh, Derek was somewhere in the darkness too. Emily wanted to call out to him, but she was too tired to do so. But just knowing that he was there made her heart sing. Settling deeper into the darkness, Emily let their voices wash over her.

She fell asleep, and the next time she woke up, the fever was gone. But so too was her memory of hearing Derek and her mom talking.