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“What are you going to offer me in exchange for helping you out?” The velvet-wrapped steel of his voice warns me that I was correct all along. There are always strings attached when Anton does anyone a favor.
“I’ll throw myself into work.”
He shakes his head at my proposal, rubbing his chin with one hand while he studies the ceiling as if the answers are written there. “No, that won’t do. That’s part of the original deal we made.”
He’s delusional if he thinks his demands were us making a deal.
“What do you want?” I ask, mentally preparing myself for whatever crazy request he makes.
His gaze focuses on me. “For you to owe me a favor. A favor I can cash in at any time, no questions asked.”
The insanity of having to give him anything to keep him from kneecapping my position - that I didn’t even want - within his company is shockingly twisted but expected.
Making a deal with Anton is like selling your soul to the devil.
The alternative is starting off here hated and feared, thus proving all his rants about me to anyone who’d listen.
“Fine.” I leave the room, well aware I’m going to regret this deal, possibly more than the last one.
Chapter Eight
Emma
I glance up at the door, expecting to see Clifton again.
Instead, Anton stands in the doorway with a serious expression on his face and my heart sinks from the knot in my gut to the tips of my toes.
What more devastation can he possibly unleash on me?
“Welcome back to the company,” he says simply without explaining this new development at all.
Struggling to trust him after he had turned on me so quickly, I try to figure him out. “Why?” I ask, certain that if the news is too good to be true, then it probably is.
“Clifton made a very compelling argument on your behalf.”
I feel my eyebrows race for my hairline. Of everything he could have said, I think that's the explanation I expected the least.
The arrogant, smug, handsome Clifton saved my job. Why? Is this some ploy to prove that he's better than me? Is he just hoping for the opportunity to torture me? Why would he do something nice like save my job?
There must be more to this than I can see right now. “Thank you,” I say, nothing if not polite.
“Don't let your emotions get the better of you again.” As Anton says the words, he turns and leaves, closing my office door behind him.
And I stand there, staring at the closed door, wondering what the heck just happened.
Why would Clifton save my job?
And how the heck did he get his dad to change his mind? I've never known Anton to change his mind once it's made up. What could Clifton possibly have said that convinced his dad to give me another chance?
The questions circle round and round my mind, leaving me dizzy and sick to my stomach. Amidst my confusion, there's also a sense of gratitude. Whatever his reasons may be, maybe Clifton isn't so bad after all.
I hear a slight metal on metal scrape at the door and walk over to see what’s going on. I’m met with a stranger sliding a metal nameplate into the holder on the door.
The nameplate reads Clifton and Emma.
Great. We're going to be sharing an office. My already difficult job at this firm is quickly becoming a nightmare. I'm grateful not to be fired, but I sense my rehire comes at a cost. One of those costs is sharing an office with the man who infuriates me, makes my life hell, and saved my job.
What an alarming situation.
