Kyara didn’t know whether to laugh or cry the moment she heard that voice.Why oh why did her boss have to be the one to see her like this?
Lyrius had been on his way to his office when the light of the pantry caught his attention. And with the door slightly ajar, the next thing he had seen was a lock of sunset-red hair, and he had known right away who it was.
The way she was avoiding his gaze already had his jaw clenching. He had the strongest urge to just haul her into his arms and tell her that whoever it was that had hurt her—that person was done for.
That...was what he wanted to do.
But because he also knew that wasn’t something she would have welcomed, having been so careful all these years to stay loyal to the lucky boy she had been dating...
“Look at me, Kyara.”
Kyara couldn’t believe she was now fighting back tears, and all because of the tautness of her boss’s voice. This was usually the time she’d start chanting to herself about being loyal to Cyrus, but since all she could think of was how Cyrus was anythingbutloyal to her—
No, oh no, no no no.
She could feel her body starting to tremble as she watched her boss switch the stove off. She should probably thank him for saving her soup from being completely inedible, but all she could do right now was just fight...
She just had to keep fighting back tears, but it was just so, so hard, with her mind clouded by a confusing mix of hurt, guilt,and humiliation. She knew she had never cheated on Cyrus, but at the same time...
It wasn’t right at all, the way her heart was now hammering against her chest when she realized her boss was about to reach for her.
It just wasn’t right, with how the moment she tried taking a step back, it seemed like Mr. Havington had read her mind, with how swiftly his arm was around the waist, andno...oh no.
Did she even have the right to feel bad about Cyrus, with how her body was presently trembling for all the wrong reasons?
Lyrius drew a sharp breath at having Kyara in his arms for the first time. For three years, he had exercised the greatest care to respect her boundaries. Not because he didn’t think he could wear her defenses down...but because he knew she would never forgive herself if that ever happened, never mind if they both knew that what they had between them was inevitable from the start.
Kyara didn’t have to look up to know what her boss was thinking.
Tell me what’s wrong.
Let me protect you.
Who dare hurt you?
The fierceness of his gaze said it all without a single word, and that...that wasn’t right, too, was it? She had never experienced this kind of connection with Cyrus, but...
He’s just like them.
The thought came out from nowhere.
An insidious taunt about the past.
And it was enough.
The moment she remembered that it was her boss who was like all the other men her mother dated—
That it was Lyrius Havington, and not Cyrus, who was tall, dark, and handsome like them—
“I’m f-fine now, Mr. Havington.”
But his arm only tightened around her as she tried to step back, and Kyara started feeling uneasy—
“P-Please let me go.”
As well as desperate and panicky when her boss turned her down with a single word.
“No.”
