Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 95: Number

Chapter 95: Number

Derek’s latest assistant, number eighteen, had two left feet, and slippery fins for hands, that was the only way to explain it.

He had been in the office for just two days and had already broken Derek’s tea cup. He had broken an ugly sculpture that Derek had been meaning to get rid off( no harm there, Derek had actually been glad to see the ugly thing go down). Derek had also seen the man drop his own keys, a sandwich he was eating, a pen he was writing with, as well as a host of other things that he had seemed to have a good grip on.

As for the two left feet, Derek’s aching toes were living proof that not only could lightning strike the same place twice, a man could also have the same toe stepped on multiple times in a way that hurt in thw most painful way possible each time.

He had held his tongue and kept quiet even though each time he was stepped on, it felt like bones were breaking. Derek had also kept quiet when he watched the cleaning staff clean up the messes created whenever number eighteen broke something. And this time, he was not the one to fire a PA, it was Padma, the head od HR herself.

Somehow, Eighteen had managed to trip on his own feet, take down all the laptops on the table, destroy the mounted projector along the way, and spill orange juice on Padma’s white dress. The expensive one that she had waited months for after having it custom made and shipped from over seas.

"Out...get out! Get out! Get out! You are fired!" Padma screamed at the top of her lungs. From his spot on the floor, where he had ended after his tumble, Eighteen looked at Derek, and Derek just shrugged in a what can you do fashion. And really, what could he do, HR had spoken, he was tired of firing people all the time, it was nice to watch someone else do it for a change. While Padma tried to remove the stain with paper towels( no way it would work, the dress was ruined for good) Derek made his way out of the conference room, leaving the now former PA with her. As soon as the stained dress dried, she would be processing his paperwork. Derek would most definitely never be seeing number eighteen again, pity, he was at least hoping to get the man to break something of his uncle’s. Reaching his office, Derek sat down at his table, and his almost good mood plummeted when he looked down at his phone. It had been suspiciously silent lately.

Emily had called to tell him off, just that one time. Since then, there had been nothing but silence. No calls, no Emily storming through the hallways of Haven Group headquarters. Just silence, nothing but a silence so oppressive, Derek felt it like a physical weight upon his person.

She had not even sent an insult riddled text like he had been expecting. There was absolutely nothing from her side. Had she pushed him aside, written him off as a toxic ex boss and found something else to do with her life. Something that did not involve him at all.

It was painful to even think about, but Derek hoped that was the case. Not only had she called him just that one time. Ever since that call, all of the others that he used to get from the companies that she had applied to had stopped too.

Even in his own head, that sounded very stalker-ish, but Derek could not help himself. He had come to rely on those phone calls to determine how she was doing, and now it was all gone, and that worried him. And not just because it meant that he could no longer keep tabs on her indirectly.

But because he worried about what the silence meant.

Had she found a job somewhere else. A company willing to take her on, even though she was still legally considered an employee of Haven Group. But who would dare to undermine him like that? There were very few companies that were even close to being at the same level as Haven Group. And even then, for them to just hire Emily like that. It would be a declaration of war, one in which Haven was guaranteed to come out on top.

But there might also be another reason why Emily had not come back, why she did not call, not even to yell at him.

It was very possible that he had pushed too far. That he had overstepped so much she had given up on ever again finding employment. Her will to fight, to survive, to thrive, completely destroyed by him being underhanded. That she had resigned herself to poverty and suffering just for the peace of mind of knowing that he was not looming in the background like ghost with unfinished business. Always there to make sure that whatever she did, she could not escape his reach.

He had heard of that happening before.

People who had been manipulated in some way shutting down completely and no longer interacting with the outside world. Just thinking of Emily becoming a recluse because of him left a bitter taste in his mouth. It made him feel like a worthless piece of scum. So he tried not to dwell on that possibility.

But even when he tried not to dwell on it, it ate at him. Unlike most people who knew that they had done wrong, Derek could not even sleep for a few hours to give himself a break from his guilt.

He had night after long night, to think of all that he had done wrong. No matter how many laps he swam, the feeling never went away.

And even worse than the guilt, was the knowledge that given half the chance, he would still do it all over again and not change a single thing.