Zea Lola awoke with a frown. Groaning in discomfort, she rolled over, and her hand landed on something warm.
Only then did she realize that a man was sleeping next to her.
With clenched teeth, she sat up and flipped on the nightstand light. Beside her, the man sighed deeply out of frustration.
The dim light from the lamp illuminated his bare back as well as the side of his face.
Zea crept to the closet, changed, and returned to the bed's edge, where she reached out to gently touch the man's back.
"Mr. Homer, it's already six in the morning. You have a meeting at seven-thirty."
The man swatted her hand away and growled hoarsely, "Go away!"
Zea, who had long since gotten used to his temper, got to her feet with an air of nonchalance.
Quietly, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. Without waking the man, she finished her food and left the house. She then took a cab to the company.
During the day, she worked as the chief secretary of Kent Homer, the CEO of the Homer Corporation. At night, she was his bed partner.
Zea arrived at the company and soon got everything ready. Her gaze remained icy as she waited for Kent outside the conference room. Everyone who walked by her spoke to her in a respectful and fawning tone.
Two minutes before the start of the meeting, the CEO's exclusive elevator chimed.
Zea breathed a sigh of relief but remained rooted in her spot.
Kent's towering stature of about 6.5 feet contributed to his authoritative demeanor and he always had a stone-cold facade that made him appear untouchable.
When compared to him, Zea's height of 5.5 feet suddenly seemed somewhat diminutive.
Kent ignored her completely, as though the man who had sex with her the night before was someone else entirely.
The meeting lasted for quite some time. Zea had to leave in the middle of it to go to the secretary's office and order breakfast for Kent.
She was scanning the menu when her fellow secretary, Zelda Grace, walked up to her and asked, "Zea, have you checked Mr. Homer's afternoon schedule?"
Zea looked at her with furrowed brows. "Is there something wrong?"
Zelda made a clicking noise with her tongue and murmured, "Later, Mr. Homer is scheduled to have dinner with Louis, the president of Sun Corporation."
It took a while for Zea to remember who Louis was.
Louis was well known for his tendency to sexually harass female employees. There was even one time when he drugged another company's secretary and forced her to sleep with him. Rumor had it that he also tried to harass Kent's aunt, Fawn Homer, before.
Kent always took one of his secretaries with him to business dinners. Because the others were reluctant to go with him, Zelda approached Zea to ask her about it.
"Don't worry. I don't think Mr. Homer will take any of us with him," Zea said nonchalantly.
As soon as she was done speaking, someone opened the door to the secretary's office. A colleague stuck her head in and looked around until her eyes landed on Zea.
"Zea, Mr. Homer wants to see you."
Zea promptly completed her order and left the secretary's office without changing her countenance.
She had been Kent's secretary for five years. Not long after she joined the company, they had sex in the lounge,
marking the beginning of their odd arrangement. She had dealt with several difficult clients over the past few years, but he had never asked her to engage in shady activity.
When Zea entered his office, Kent did not even look at her. He continued signing documents as he instructed, "Get ready. You're joining me for dinner tonight."
Zea froze.
When she still did not respond, Kent finally raised his head and looked at her with a frown."Zea?"
Zea snapped out of her reverie and finally replied, "Yes, sir."
Kent threw a folder at her and demanded, "How long have you been working for me?"
She did not know why he was asking that, but she nonetheless answered, "Five years."
"You've been working for me for a long time, so you should know your place by now. Do your job properly, will you?"
"Of course, sir."
Zea left the office with a straight face. Her hands were cold and trembling.
It seemed that Kent had gotten tired of her and was looking for an excuse to give her to another man.
She went back to the secretary's office, where she snacked on grapes all afternoon. Before the office hours ended, she stuffed a dagger in her bag.
If Louis drugged her, she would stab herself to wake up.
