Chapter 5

“Is that a bruise?”

Michelle came back to her senses, and looked at the man in front of her.

Even though there was a fiasco that happened in the apartment last night, she still forced herself to go to work as she didn’t want her co-workers, including the CEO, to have a bad impression of her.

She tried to cover the bruise on the corner of her lips by using a makeup, but it seemed like she failed to do it perfectly.

Ethan looked at her in an intense manner. “Where did you get that?”

She covered the bruise using the back of her palm. “This is nothing, Sir.” Then she put the summary report he needed on his desk. “Here’s the report that you asked me to submit. Please let me know if there are revisions I need to do.”

“Did someone hurt you?”

Michelle breathed in heavily. She didn’t want to recall what happened last night, yet her boss was making her remember the horrible event she wanted to forget.

“No, Sir. Please, don’t mind me,” she told firmly. “Is there anything else you need me to do?”

She looked him in the eyes, and for a brief moment, she felt as if she got lost in them. But then she looked away as he gazed at her as if he was reading her thoughts.

“I need a coffee,” he said and handed down a credit card on the desk. “Hot Cafe Latte.”

Michelle gave him a nod and took the credit card before leaving his office. The company was only a few blocks from the closest coffee shop, which gave her a breath of fresh air.

She felt helpless. With a new debt her father passed under her responsibility, she couldn’t function well. She was just eighteen when she had to work at the club to pay off his first debt. It was very traumatic. Just when she thought she could finally move forward, he brought her another storm to deal with.

When she returned to the building with Ethan's coffee, she noticed a man causing a scene at the front desk. At first, she thought she was just hallucinating, but the man’s figure and unruly voice stiffened her. It was her father!

A surge of panic went through her when their eyes met.

“There she is! That’s my daughter!”

As her father stormed towards her, she felt her heart being hammered.

“D-Dad, what are you doing here?” Her body started to tremble when her old man, looking enraged, threw her a deadly glare.

“Where’s the fucking money, Mich?!” he shrieked.

“Dad, please do not do this here. I’m at work…” she pleaded, severely panicking at this point.

The employees’ attentions were drawn to them, but her father didn’t feel bothered; didn’t feel ashamed at all. Instead, he continued questioning her.

“Michelle, don’t anger me more. Where is the money I am asking? Give it to me now!" he demanded loudly.

“I-I told you to give me two days, Dad!”

“No! They will kill me if I don't pay them now! Do you want me to die?! Do you want to be fatherless?!”

“For Heaven’s sake, I didn’t ask you to borrow money from them!”

Michelle's emotions, especially anger, erupted at that moment. She cried and yelled. She hoped her father would see his mistake and apologize, but he didn't. Instead, his eyes smoldered and his face reddened.

“You bitch, how dare you shout at me that way?!”He raised his hand, and Michelle could only shut her eyes and wait for him to slap her so hard.

But it didn’t happen…

She opened her eyes and saw that a hand had stopped her father from hurting her. Her eyes widened as she saw her boss, Ethan Steinfield.

"Who are you? Why are you harassing her?" His deep and cruel voice sent shivers down her spine. His eyes showed fury, and all she could do was gasp.

Silence engulfed the whole place.

For the very first time in her life, Michelle was overwhelmed with both terror and anxiety. Who wouldn’t? Before her eyes was the sight of her father and her boss, both enraged as they gazed at each other.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Her father's question to her boss brought her back to reality. She tried to calm him by holding his other arm, but he shoved her again.

“Don’t touch me, you worthless bitch!”

“Dad, please… don’t make this hard for me!”

“Then give me what I want! It’s pretty simple!”

“It’s not that simple, Dad! I don’t have the means—” she gasped with pain, and couldn’t finish her words.

She felt so damn low.

“Can you please calm down, Sir? I don’t tolerate such behavior in my company," Ethan intervened. His voice sounded more like a warning.

“This girl is my daughter, and I can scold her whenever and wherever I want!” The old man tried to get his hand off of Ethan’s grip, but to no avail. “Let me go!”

Michelle froze. Seeing her father's crowd-pleasing fiasco, she wanted to vanish. She was completely ashamed, and could no longer control her emotions. She did nothing as she watched her father tarnish her reputation.

Meanwhile, Ethan called the security and, in an instance, two big men appeared on the scene and held her father in both arms.

“Bring him to the conference room,” Ethan commanded.

Michelle’s father shouted at the top of his lungs when the two security guards dragged him somewhere. She sucked in a deep breath; her lower lip, her hands and knees, were all trembling in fear and embarrassment. Worst of all, her boss witnessed it: her misery. That part of her that she didn’t want anyone to see had been unravelled before his eyes.

“Are you alright?”

She only lowered her head, ashamed to even look at him.

“Compose yourself, Ms. Finley. Come with me.” She heard him say before he followed his men wherever they brought her father.

The crowd whispered and made insulting remarks, embarrassing her. She sighed, wiped her tears, and started to walk after her boss.

She entered the conference room where they took her father. She couldn't hear any outside noise in the large, soundproof room. When the security guards left, Ethan held her shoulder, which caught her attention. She looked at him, frowning.

“How much did your father owe?” he asked in his cold voice.

Her mouth dropped. “I... I am not entirely sure but—”

“It’s a huge amount which that bitch can’t afford,” her father answered in grim.

Anger went through Michelle’s veins. She worked as a stripper for four years to help her father pay off his debt. Still, he found her worthless?

“Why are you so cruel, Dad?!” she shouted, releasing the unsaid emotions she had kept for the last four years. “After all I sacrificed to help you pay your debts, is this how you’re going to repay me? I fucking sold myself to the devil and I am still worthless?”

Michelle’s father was furious. He was about to hit her again, but Ethan stopped him.

“One wrong move and I will call the police,” he said warily.

“You worthless bitch!”

“Damn it,” Michelle whispered, frustrated.

“Let me take care of this,” Ethan said when he looked at her.

Michelle didn’t know it sounded like a promise to her ears. He then gestured her to settle on the seat on the other corner of the long table. Meanwhile, he and her father sat down on the other side of the room.

She couldn’t hear their conversation given that they were talking far away from her.

However, at some point, she hoped for the best.

Admittedly, Ethan’s words soothed her and no doubt reached her heart. It was the first time someone stood up and helped her, aside from Megan. For the record, he didn’t judge her, instead helped her sort things out. She felt saved. Michelle thought one that Ethan was just like those perverted men she dealt with at the club.

But no, he was completely different.

The feeling that a man was trying to help her made her stomach twitch, not in a negative way, but in a strange manner she wasn’t familiar with.

On the other hand, Ethan questioned the old man, who didn’t feel any remorse after humiliating his own daughter. He clicked his tongue and began questioning him.

“So, how much do you really owe?”

“Why are you even asking? Are you going to donate some?” The old man sarcastically asked.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “You have to tell me while you’re still at my mercy.”

“And who do you think you are?” The old man gritted his teeth.

“I can be your greatest enemy, Sir.” He smiled dangerously as he leaned his back against the backrest of the chair. “Now, answer me. How much do you owe?”

Michelle’s father frowned. “A hundred thousand dollars.”

“I can’t believe you humiliated her for that cheap amount,” Ethan remarked wryly. “I can take care of it, but I need something in return...”

“What deal do you mean?”

Ethan smiled and began discussing a certain deal to Michelle’s father, not wanting to fail with his plan.

Michelle noticed that her father had become more relaxed while discussing something with her boss. She could see him smiling widely and nodding his head as if they had come to some sort of agreement.

“I wonder what they are talking about,” she said to herself.

Minutes passed, and both of them rose from their seats. That was the cue she’d been waiting for. She stood up and walked near them to find out how their conversation went.

“What a great deal. You can have her. Oh, here she is...”

Michelle’s father grinned from ear to ear when she stood in front of them.

“What’s going on?” she asked, glancing between them.

Her father laughed. “Ask your man here, Mich. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

He patted Ethan’s shoulder and gave him one meaningful look. Michelle’s curiosity was piqued when her father left the room. She then turned to Ethan.

“What did he tell you?”

Ethan arched his brow. “I agreed to pay off his debt, but it comes with a deal.”

Michelle’s forehead creased. She didn’t ask him to pay off his debt. The viciousness could be seen through his eyes that she felt intrigue.

“A deal?” she asked.

He nodded in response, a devilish smirk curled in his lips.

“Consider yourself sold, Ms. Finley. Your father agreed that I’ll pay off his debt, but in return, you will have to marry me.”