Forbidden Deception (Deception)

3

“I t’s my first day, you know. So I’m a little nervous.” I let out a small laugh, watching Danyi closely.

She’s a beautiful Korean woman who will be working under me in my new position and is my second direct form of communication within the Gustav Industrials after Rafael himself. She has high cheekbones and strong, arresting eyes. Her hair is up in two half ponytails today, and she wears high-waisted trousers, a white dress shirt tucked into the pants with the sleeves folded neatly, and black pointed Louboutin heels.

She looks like Ambrose, who screams boss bitch energy.

Even though she doesn’t talk much, I have this pull to be her friend. She feels like Ambrose, and that gives me a sense of comfort and home.

While the city feels like a prison that deprived me of a normal life, needing that closure from the experience of my youth is what pulled me towards this city once more, an unavoidable magnetic force I can’t ignore. The past few years have been filled with mindlessly surviving while searching for my purpose. It didn’t occur to me that maybe my nightmares are anchored to my past.

“Is Mr Gustav quite strict? I want to know if I need to filter my mouth. I’m a little chatty and don’t want to offend him.”

She strides away, grumbling something I don’t catch.

I chase her, my heels clicking loudly. My brown wide-legged trousers match hers, though my white dress shirt isn’t tucked in, and I’ve layered it with a tight brown corset with a slanted cut at the top. I put effort into my outfit today; good impressions and all that.

“Will he mind?” I ask again, huffing and frowning.

She walks so fast. The building also just had to be so many stories high that wearing heels here might prove to be difficult. At least in Remo’s building, the employees didn’t send me up and down in fear of my brother, but that won’t be the case here.

“Running in heels is a little hard—” I screech to a stop when she abruptly turns around and pins me with her stare.

Okay. Time to get serious.

My eyes flick behind her, taking in the gold-plated name on the door, and I straighten.

I clear my throat.

“You’ll have to find out for yourself. You are the fifth assistant this month.”

My mouth drops open, and she marches away.

Fifth? Are you serious?

Remo didn’t tell me that. I thought I was the only one who got the position. It means I need to impress Mr Gustav and keep this job longer than any of my predecessors.

I knock on the door, my heart in my throat. I can do this.

I chuckle nervously.

No, I can’t. But if I don’t, Remo will prove his point and will say ‘I told you so’ like the cocky shit he is.

“Come in,” a deep voice rumbles from behind the door.

I take a deep breath and walk in, ready to meet the man whose life I will be barging into.

As soon as I turn around after shutting the door, my eyes widen a fraction. The office is unlike any I have seen in London. Everyone there loves glass windows and grey, minimalist decor, but this office is exactly what my office would look like if I had one.

Two dark oak bookshelves line the far wall, the middle plane empty except for a clock. Before them is a desk with black legs. Accents of brown are set all around the office. There is a brown leather sofa to my right, just behind the door, with a table in front of it. To my left is a tall potted tree that touches the ceiling.

The man of the hour is looking outside at the streets below through the tall wide window on the left of the office, right next to his desk.

It’s so beautiful.

Reluctant admiration for Mr Gustav grows within me.

The building is situated in the middle of the city of Edinburgh. It has black windows and is made of glass, similar to the office buildings be in London, so the interior decor is a surprise, but clearly this man has taste.

Exceptional taste.

“Mr Gustav?” I call out, leaning my head towards him tentatively.

He’s tall. Like super tall, possibly even around six foot three. Biting my lip, I move closer to the desk, trying to see more than his side profile. It’s dark and grey outside, as usual with UK’s weather, so that isn’t helping much with illuminating him.

I wait another second, and as if finally noticing my presence, he turns towards me.

The moment he does, my breath gets caught in my throat and I almost choke.

Tall, dark, and fucking handsome.

With the sharp lines and stark angles of his face, Rafael Gustav looks like a businessman straight out of Forbes, and you know what? He might even be on there. Rafael is all masculine beauty. Handsome doesn’t even begin to describe him. He wears a beautifully tailored brown suit and polished designer shoes. Rafael’s hair is slicked back, and each step he takes is precise, confident, and assured. Then I notice that he has premature grey streaks in his hair.

I have never seen a man with grey streaks in his hair and thought he was good looking, but Mr Rafael Gustav has proven me wrong.

My cheeks heat, then I blink to snap myself out of it.

“Venezia Campbell.” I shoot out my hand with a smile.

Rafael’s eyes are brown, deep and absolutely stunning.

Does this man have any flaws in his appearance? Like at all?

His eyes drop to my hand, but he doesn’t shake it. I drop it awkwardly while he walks around his desk and sits.

He nods at the chair before the desk, and I carefully lower myself into it.

Then he looks.

Rafael doesn’t get into business. He doesn’t tell me anything. Doesn’t even open his mouth. He just watches me.

His intense, unwavering gaze feels uncomfortable, like he is waiting for me to spill my darkest secrets to him just so he can toy with me and ruin my life. Rafael currently looks like the definition of destruction. The intensity with which he is looking at me with makes my skin crawl, an unpleasant feeling gnawing deep in my stomach. I don’t dare to move.

“Why have you applied for this role, Ms Campbell?” He leans back in his chair and rests his ankle on his knee.

I clear my throat. “I wanted to experience working—”

He tuts, and I snap my mouth shut.

“None of that. What is your goal here? Are you struggling financially? Do you want a boost in your career? Need a good reference? Want to work with Gustav Industry?” His nonchalant tone is deceiving. Like he’s making me think I am safe to share my personal struggles but just that one glimpse of his predatory look, a look that promises chaos, it would keep me from uttering anything at al.

“I asked a question.” His voice vibrates through the office, punching me in the gut, and yet the ring of authority in his words leaves a trail of goosebumps on my body.

“Oh, it’s because I wanted more experience under my belt. Money and financial difficulty have nothing to do with it.”

“If I told you to walk out the door right now and never look back, would you do it?” A small smirk plays on his lips.

What exactly is he implying?

“No. I went through multiple rounds of interviews and got the job due to my hard work and previous experience, and I won’t let such a good opportunity slip from my hands.”

I feel a little breathless under his attention, and he hasn’t looked away, not once.

Rafael Gustav is more than a decade older than me, ruthless in his industry, and certainly very problematic within his social circle. Of course, he won’t be a walk in the park to work with. He is carefully constructing his questions, pushing me to mess up. His words a false sense of security.

Jutting my chin out, I take a deep breath. “You can put me through trials yourself and see if I fit. If I don’t, I will take leave myself.”

Rafael leans forward, his brows lifting just a tiny fraction. I know about his history of leaving many of his employees in tears, and Remo’s warnings ring loudly in my mind.

What am I doing?

“I will give you a month to prove yourself, Miss Campbell.” He flicks a hand out to me, effectively dismissing me.

The way he talks, moves his hands, and looks at me has me mesmerised.

But his silent personality speaks volumes about his destructive thoughts that Remo told me about. He will lure me in, push me under the water making me gasp for air, make me beg and humiliate myself and then he will pull me out just to do it all over again. All for his ugly need of entertainment. It steers me away from his handsome face. For someone in his prime, with sharp, strong features and neatly tamed hair, Rafael’s beauty is wasted with his personality.

“You are good to go.”

I blink.

What?

“Go…?” I blink a couple of more times.

“You are here to work? Yes?” He raises a single brow.

My mouth opens and closes like a damn fish. What am I doing? Embarrassing myself already?

“Right, of course! What else am I here for? I’ll be right out.” I rise from my chair and turn to the door, but then I pause and look back at Rafael.

“Mr Gustav?”

He doesn’t look up from his phone.

“When is lunch?”

His head snaps up, and he narrows his eyes at me like I just asked for his first-born child.

“Lunch? Are you already hungry this early in the day, Miss Campbell?” His voice is harsh.

“What? No of course not! I was only asking so I know your schedule. I haven’t been informed of it yet, so I wanted to know how it works.”

Rafael raises both his brows with a quiet ‘huh’, then nods once.

“Worry about keeping your job in Gustav Industries.”

Well, fuck him. Fisting my hands, I hold in my insults and force myself to walk out.

I finally settle into my office and move the desk around so it is on the right-hand wall and the clear window wall isn’t behind me. I leave the rest of the office the way it is.

I get to work and finish my tasks within the first two hours.

And now I’m bored, so I take a stroll on the floor and discover that no one is actually here. There is nothing except two brown leather sofas lining the wall. There is a glass wall on either side of me, while the elevator and stairs are in front of me. There are a couple of pictures above the sofas on the wall. Walking closer, I realise the pictures are of buildings. The writing on the bottom left surprises me. It’s Gustav Industries’s biggest projects.

One of the pictures is of a dark manor that stretches across possibly an acre of land. It’s taken on a snowy day, the intricate architecture and stone walls giving it a rustic yet modern look. With three pointed roofs and two that expand on each side. It also has many balconies, a lake in front of the manor, three chimneys, and a wide arched window placed in the middle tower.

The other is a more modern home, with three distinctive towers, all glass, black walls, a massive chimney on the right tower, and a grey gravel driveway with a small garage situated on the bottom of the left tower.

It seems Mr Boss here takes pride in his work and loves showing it off.

The thought makes me smile.

Many of the architecture designs have a common theme, and its Gustav Industries’s signature style. I’ve looked up their work and have fallen in love with the dark modern touch of their buildings, many of which are custom built and are enormous.

Shaking myself out of it, I head back to my office, only to stop short when I notice Rafael leaning on his desk with both hands on the table. He’s looking at a model of a building, a pen in hand while he analyses it, and I can’t help but watch him.

Regardless of how good looking you are, Mr Boss, you are going to lose part of your portfolio. You have posed a serious danger to my brother.

I swallow and keep walking towards my office. Opening my phone as soon as I am inside, I drop Remo a quick email to let him know that my first day is going well and that another update will take longer than a week.

Lunchtime finally rolls around, and I rush downstairs on my tiptoes—damn these heels—to find Danyi. When I see her, I wave at her with a smile, but she walks past me without sparing me a glance.

I release a breath, my eyes flitting around to spot a couple of people murmuring while discreetly pointing at me. What? Have they never seen a new person around?

What if Rafael had something to do with it? Just from the look in his eyes during our first meeting, I know he is set on making my job a bit harder than it is and he could have done this easily. What is his goal? What does he want from me?

I buy a tuna sandwich and sit at the far end next to an empty wall and table. I eat my lunch while keeping an eye out for Rafael, but I don’t see him.

I am the last person to leave the lunch hall, and I still don’t see him.

Where the hell is he?

My tasks include an introductory course and small safety and hazard course, and I finish them fast. The rest of the time, I am bored out of my mind, and I can’t bother Rafael as I did with my brother.

I’m sitting in my second meeting of the day, and something feels off. The meeting is going south, and I can see the hesitance on the board members’ faces.

The moment Rafael starts explaining the slides instead of using the notes I wrote for him, I realise that he didn’t read my email about this evening’s meeting.

The meeting ends, and everyone leaves, but Rafael stays standing to the side, papers in his hand and eyes on the floor to ceiling window to his right.

The door clicks shut after the last person, and I finally get up and walk towards him. His jaw tics, and the crinkle of the papers getting scrunched in his hands fills into the room.

Taking a deep breath, I let a small assuring smile decorate my face and softly grasp the papers in his hand.

I don’t know Rafael well enough to know exactly how hard he is on himself, but I know anyone in his place would berate themselve over not being prepared enough.

“You did amazing.” My voice softly travels around us.

Rafael snaps his head up at me. His brows pinch, and I just take the papers out of his hand, then walk to the door.

“You didn’t assign me fifteen minutes before this meeting to prepare or even read over the notes. Do better as an assistant.” He breezes past me, his shoulder knocking against mine.

I swallow.

“I won’t hesitate to get rid of you.” His hard parting words hit me deeply.

I shut my eyes, trying to be patient. No one would feel great after a mess of a meeting. Instead of focusing on his words, I try to talk to some people in the company that are still working about Rafael’s files, but I know that is far-fetched and they probably have no idea. He wouldn’t share the location of files kept for blackmail with his employees.

With Rafael at a meeting on the third floor, I am upstairs in his office spying, trying to find something. I open his unlocked computer and try to speed through his files. I click on every folder my eyes fall on, and yet nothing shows up. My heart races, but I try to power through.

I click on ones shared with his brothers and still nothing. Sweat breaks out on my back. It will look so suspicions if Rafael finds me in his office like this. His meeting is short, but I have to take this opportunity to look through everything.

A soft rhythmic thump of shoes echoes outside, and I jump up.

I power off the computer just as it was before as the steps draw closer, then dart away from the desk the moment the handle moves.

My foot catches on something on the floor, and I fall just as the door opens.

“Ahh!” I scream at my knees getting scraped on the carpet.

I hiss when I sit up, my knees burning from how hard they hit the wooden floor. A dark shadow falls over me, and I look up. Rafael stands there, his mouth pulled to the side and eyes narrowed on me.

“I just … tripped.” I move my hands around with an awkward laugh.

“Move aside.”

My mouth drops open. He doesn’t even bother to help me up!

“One second.” I literally help myself up and move aside for his highness to walk past me towards his desk.

“Get on with your work and wear shoes that don’t make you trip. Don’t embarrass me with your clumsiness.”

This fucker.

Rafael’s dismissive behaviour continues the next day, and the day after, and the one after. He hasn’t looked me in the eyes for any second longer, hasn’t reached out or talked to me except for email and I only saw glimpses of him. These few days are a blur of nothing.

I am waiting outside with an umbrella for my driver when a black Rolls Royce drives by, spraying dirty water all over me. I stumble back, barely saving myself from falling on my ass.

“Hey! Watch how you drive, you arsehole!” I shout.

As soon as my black Mercedes stops in front of me, I get into the back seat.

“Leo, this man will be the death of me! He is even worse than my brother. My brother looks like a saint next to Rafael. He doesn’t utter more than a couple of words at a time, and I have to force the answers out of him about what I need to know. Why do all men love being grumpy, as if it’s their whole personality? Do they not know that it’s literally so off-putting and annoying as hell?” I huff.

But… the car isn’t moving.

“Leo? Let’s go, please. I am tired. I want to soak in a hot bath and relax…” My words die when my eyes catch familiar ones in the rearview mirror.

I shut my eyes.

No. This can’t be happening.

“Leo? When did you change your eye colour?” I mutter, hoping and praying this is a dream. Please. I can’t do this.

“Please tell me I am dreaming. I must be dreaming, right?” I laugh, but it stops short when I crack my eyes open and find Rafael’s dark auburn eyes looking right back at me through the mirror.

“Mr Gustav? Nice seeing you here.” I awkwardly laugh.

“Funny, because I swear I recognise you from somewhere…” he deadpans.

“Ah… that? Don’t think so at all.” I wave a dismissive hand, then before he can open his mouth to say anything, or worse, fire me, I bolt from the car.

I hurry straight to the garage where I suddenly remember Leo told me he would leave my car. I try not to scream and hold it in until I am in my car. As soon as my door is shut, my hands cover my mouth, I shut my eyes, and I scream, shaking my head.

I can’t be seen with a driver. No personal assistant is rich enough to have her own personal driver.

How could I forget?

How in the world will I face Rafael in the morning?

Can the earth just swallow me now?

I have done my due time. I’m ready to go.

I bang my head against the steering wheel, dying of mortification.

My cheeks burn hotter than coils on fire, my heart drumming inside of me.

I know my notice of termination will meet me tomorrow.