Wolfe’s coat over my shoulders. My stomach dropped. “Who took that?” I whispered. Jules was already scanning. “Can’t tell. It’s blowing up though. People are reposting it everywhere. Someone’s pushing it hard.” I didn’t have to guess. Sloan. ***** The office door slammed behind me. Wolfe looked up from his desk, jaw already clenched. “You saw it?” I asked. He nodded. “I’m handling it.” “How?” He stood, walking toward me with that lethal calm. “The Board had already called an emergency session. I’ll get ahead of it.” Panic twisted in my gut. “They’re going to fire you.”
“Not unless they can prove anything.” “There’s a picture, Sebastian.” He stopped short. The sound of his name—his real name—from my lips made him falter. Then, softer: “I won’t let them touch you.” I swallowed. “I don’t care about me.” He stepped forward, cupping my face. “You should.” And that’s when I realized… he meant it. This wasn’t just a game to him anymore. That terrified me more than anything. ****** Later that night, Jules met me in the library. “We had a problem,”
she said, sliding into the chair beside me. “Just one?” I muttered. She pushed her phone toward me again. “This one’s bigger.” It was a video. Grainy, but clear. A shot of me, tied and blindfolded. Moaning. Collared. In Wolfe’s Red Room. My knees buckled before I even hit play. “Where did this come from?” I asked. “No one knows. But it’s spreading. Fast.” My pulse spiked. My skin turned ice cold.
“It was recorded without permission. That’s illegal, right?” “Aria…” Jules hesitated. “Someone wanted this out there. Bad.” Then it clicked— Only one name came to mind. Not Sloan. Not even Ivy. Dr. Elliot Graves. ****** I marched to Wolfe’s office the next morning. How could he have just left me alone after all that had happened? Did he just forget about me? No, we had more than just s*x; I felt more than that toward him. We needed to sort this out soon. The door was locked. “Locked,” I wondered. He never lock this door. Why had he locked it now? Or was it just closed? I checked again.
Not just closed—locked. He was already in damage control mode. I pressed my palm to the wood. “You don’t get to shut me out,” I whispered. I didn’t know if he could hear me. But part of me hoped he didn’t. Because if he opened that door, I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from breaking. I leaned my ear to the door to see if I could hear any sounds coming from inside. “Yes Sebastian.. I’m almost there.” I gasped as I was pushed back slightly by an unknown force. Did I just hear wrong?
Or was my ear playing tricks on me? I leaned back again. “Ohh yes, harder …baby harder” It was a woman’s voice. What?! Then it clicked— I remembered he had given me a spare key to his office so I could always have access to our secret letters regardless of if he was around or not . I ran my hands through my purse; I couldn’t find the key. Found it.
The key fell from my hand due to my trembling hands. The fear and betrayal sunk down through my body. Lump. Dump. Lump. Dump. I could hear my own heartbeat loudly, like it was racing against Usain Bolt. I opened the door, and to my surprise, I couldn’t believe the scene in front of me. Oh no. “JULES!” I yelled