THE PENDING OFFER

"This is genuinely unbelievable! If I become your mistress, then what? You don't even know me!" Zoe said.

"You should've thought about it twice before sexually harassing me at the club!"

"We both know that was a mistake," Zoe continued to argue.

"No one is going to believe that! Girl molests a young billionaire at the club! Billionaire arrests young girl for sexually harassing him at the club because she is owing to several debts and needs a job. There are several ways the headline could go, but none of these hungry journalists will pick your story of mistakenly touching my dick over mine!"

"And if I chose to release these documents as blackmail?"

"Blackmail?" Henry asked, sounding incredulous. 

"Zoe, don't kid yourself. The documents are legal, and I'm not breaking any law. People will praise me for doing it the right way. Besides, do you think you can turn the table around? Fine, take your salary and hire a lawyer but make sure he is damn good because I'll bring the older man you stole from to testify about your hoeish behavior!"

Zoe gasped! Did he call her a hoe? And besides, how the hell did he know about the older man? She wondered. She sat down and tossed the document on the table. Mr. Henry had a contemptuous smirk on his face.

"I know what this is about," Zoe said calmly.

Henry arched his eyebrow at her and said, "Do you? Do tell me what this is about then."

"You want me to apologize," Zoe said, and Henry erupted with laughter.

"Your transgressions are way beyond that now," he replied. "Read the document."

Zoe had always wanted to become an adult to qualify for many things. Ever since she turned eighteen, she relished the fact could get into clubs; she could drink anything at the bar. 

Now Zoe realized with a profound feeling of regret the cons of being an adult. She qualified for being a billionaire's mistress or jail, as it would seem to be her fate now. Slowly, she began reading the tenets of the contract.

Article clause 1. Party A (Zoe James), age: 19. agrees to be my mistress… When she got down to the middle, she saw the real implication of consenting to this contract. Party B (Henry Arthur) can have sex with Party A (Zoe James) whenever and wherever he chooses. She cringed from just reading it. The last part held momentous promises. Party B (Henry Arthur) would pay Party A monthly, a sum that was so mouthwatering to ignore if she agreed to be his mistress.

"Give me time to decide," Zoe said finally. She rose, and Henry's jaw dropped. He didn't think she would leave without signing the document right away.

"The clock is ticking," Henry said. "And your job and possibly your whole life is hanging in the balance. I looked into your loans, and you can call it an invasion of privacy since you like to quote laws, but I'll defend my action as part of company policy. It's part of our law to vet our staff periodically. You owe quite several of these loan companies. I wonder what you did with all that money; maybe you were squandering them on drugs. Tell me, are you a druggie?"

Zoe slammed the door hard, and Henry's laughter seemed so cynical. He wondered why he was so cruel. Cruelty was in his DNA, and anyone who knew him knew that. Though, his family didn't exhibit the same amount of cruelty.

Zoe dragged her feet slowly as she returned to her office. She shunned everyone who attempted to ask her what was wrong. She clutched the documents, too, as if holding them any lighter would reveal their content.

"Talk to me," said Andre, one of the staffers working with Maga tech company for quite some time.

"Leave me alone," Zoe said, and she shrugged. After a while, she returned her gaze to Zoe and decided not to leave her alone.

"Come on; you've been acting all strange since you started working here, but today is the worst!" Andre remarked. "What went on in the Vice President's office?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Zoe said tersely.

"Okay, fine, if you need someone to talk about anything work-related or otherwise, you can count on me to listen without prejudice."

Andre seemed lovely; he had deep caring blue eyes that equally shone with intelligence behind a pair of thin lens glasses. However, Zoe wasn't ready to discuss anything with anyone aside from Emily, her best friend.

Zoe is a computer genius. She fell right back in love with her job when the team assembled themselves at the lab. Zoe made sure she locked the documents in her drawer and took the key along.  

As a computer genius, she shared her time between working at an office and a lab. The time the engineers spent in the lab was spent working on small mechanical parts that were components of the most challenging computer they were creating. 

In contrast, the time spent in the office was spent working on research and planning their respective projects. Andre was the head of the department. He wasn't so old, nor was He young. Andre looked thirty but could be more.

At the close of work, Zoe returned to the office to grab the document. She was relieved that Henry had left the office. She waited in the parking lot for Emily and wondered why she wasn't already there to pick her up.

"Hey, do you need a lift?" Said Andre from behind.

"No, my ride is almost here," she said, assuming it was true. She hadn't even confirmed Emily's location or what was keeping her.

"Alright, take care!" Andre said. "Zoe, your performance at the lab today was genuinely astonishing. We've spent weeks getting that projected hacks on sites without being hacked, and you finally found a way. I'm proud of you!"

Zoe scoffed but said, "Thanks."

She realized she was valuable to the company. As Andre made his way to the car, she wondered if she could use her value to the company to leverage Henry's proposal, but her mind warned her not to overestimate her sense of importance. The company had been making huge waves long before she came to work with them.

Emily seemed to arrive no later than after Andre's car disappeared from Zoe's sight. Zoe saw her brother in the front seat and realized why Emily was late. She swore silently.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Emily said. She gestured with her head to Zoe's brother.

"What did you get detained for this time?" Zoe said as she got into the back seat.

"I called the Chem teacher an ass hole!" he replied, and Zoe smacked his head. "Ouch! He's behaving like one."

"I know, but next time, don't voice it out! Now, you made Emily wait till you served your detention."

"I've already apologized to her," Leo said. "How's the new job?"

"It's fun," Zoe said. Emily kept driving in silence, but she listened to both of them.

"How's the science fair project coming along?"

"It sucks; I got paired with Davina!"

"Davina is the girl who uses a wheelchair, right?"

"Exactly!"

"You said she is the most intelligent in your class, so I don't see why it sucks!"

Leo sank lower in his seat and said, "She has a crush on me, but she isn't beautiful. I wanted to be paired with Ashley."

"Nobody is ugly, Leo! Stop whining about what girl you got paired with and focus on winning the science fair competition. Besides, isn't Ashley the girl you described as rude and hostile? The same girl who wouldn't bat an eyelid in your direction."

Leo felt ashamed that her sister would bare out his secret in front of Emily. He felt like disappearing from the car.

"Take this piece of advice," Emily said. "Focus on the project you were given; you'll be surprised what you can achieve with your partner if you put your feelings aside. You need to agree, irrespective of what you feel, to succeed. Two can't work together unless they do what?"

"Agree," Leo muttered, making Zoe and Emily smile. Speaking of agreeing, Zoe and her boss were not agreeing right now, but she loved her work so much. She knew to keep her job, she would have to sign her boss's contract eventually.

They had just gotten to Emily's home, where they resided.

"Leo, go on inside! I need to speak with Emily alone for a second!" Zoe said, and Leo gave her a thumbs up.

"Bad news?" Emily said.

"It's the worst nightmare!" Zoe replied, handing Emily the documents. Emily's eyes ran to and fro at the papers, and she chuckled.

"This guy is a sick fuck! You are only nineteen!" Emily said.

"In his defense, he said I'm of legal age, so even if I report this, he wouldn't be breaking any law."

"What do you want to do?" What did you tell him?"

"I asked for more time, but he clarified that the offer is limited! My job hangs in the balance, technically, I could get thrown in jail, and Leo's academic life depends on my answer."

“I never believed in karma, my friend, but right here, this is Karma fucking you upright in your ass!” Emily giggles.

“What the-” 

“Just saying,” Emily cut her off.