Chapter 1 The Deal

• ELIZA.
• “I can’t do that, sir… it’s not… it doesn’t work for me.”
• “I don’t remember saying this was optional. We have a deal, Miss. Vale. This is part of that deal.”
• “But I have a lude here! I can’t just up and leave it!” I exclaim.
• “Don’t be dramatic,” Lincoln, my boss and CEO of Grey Enterprises retorts in that oh so dry manner of his, the kind that grates on your nerves. “It is just for a week. I am done having this discussion. Also, you can have the day off to prepare for it. That will be all.”
• This is unbelievable.
• I know we have a deal.
• I know it is not something I can easily get out of, but this, dropping my lude to follow you halfway across the world on such short notice… it can't be fair.
• This is all Nick’s fault.
• My twin brother.
• As I walk out of his office I can't help but think back to the situation that led to this mess.
• Me and my brother… Well, we are orphans.
• By choice.
• Our parents were the deadbeat kind that will abandon you to your devices but still want to take you for everything you are worth.
• My brother had left them the second we turned eighteen.
• I mean it, the very second.
• We had stood by the window hand in hand as we watched the clock strike twelve, and once it was a new day, we had escaped through the window and never looked back.
• Not even once.
• With the little money I had managed to save up, I had enrolled part time in a community college while working, while Nick had gone to do something more hands on by working in.mechanics shop.
• For a few years everything went well.
• We had a steady, -low but steady- income, our plans were moving in, and I managed to land a job at Grey Enterprises as a part time secretary.
• Everything changed when Lincoln, my boss, noticed me.
• Up till now, I still don't know what it is about me that caught his attention but because of that, I had gone from the bottom of the food chain to being his personal assistant to the envy of a lot of people in the company, cough, cough, women.
• And also my brother.
• I don't know.
• Maybe it was because I was moving faster ahead and he tried to keep up, maybe he resented my success while he still remained a mechanic, I don't know but he changed.
• Started coming home late.
• Hung out with the wrong crowds.
• Always picking fights with me and looking down on my colleagues.
• And my boss.
• Oh he hates Lincoln with a passion and I still don't understand why.
• Anyway, one day, I had told him that I would be arriving late because of a dinner meeting I had to attend with Lincoln.
• Innocent enough right?
• Wrong.
• See, Lincoln had a habit of dropping me off whenever work ran a little too late and he repeated the same process again.
• Except this time, we were ambushed.
• They had not managed to do any damage thanks to Lincoln's defense skills but he still got hit in the head and had to be taken into the hospital.
• It was later on I had found out the link between the ambush and my brother but it was already too late.
• The cops were on their trail.
• I was terrified. Lost.
• He was my only family, the one that we had gone through thick and thin together, I couldn't just let him be arrested.
• So I had gone to Lincoln, heart in my mouth, confessing all I knew and begging him to please spare my brother.
• He had agreed readily enough.
• But with a price.
• In addition to being his personal assistant, I will also be his lover, and must be ready to do his bidding at all times.
• The proposal shocked me.
• Never, not once did I think he saw me that way, and I would have been flattered if he wasn't using my brother's freedom as the bargain chip.
• What was I to do?
• I agreed.
• And so, here we are, secretary by day, lover by night.
• Except it didn't stay that watt for long.
• Lincoln is… insatiable.
• He would me in the middle of the day, while working and the moment I crossed the threshold of his office I would be in his arms
• There is no place in his office he has not had me.
• The walls, the carpets, his desk, his chairs, everywhere and in every position.
• I was like his very own personal toy and the worst part is I liked it.
• I liked the way he held me, pulled at me, like IA wasn't some breakable toy
• But as a full blooded woman.
• He gave pleasure and expected it back in turn.
• Sometimes, he would call me to his office while having an online meeting, and point down at his fly and my whole body would zing in pleasure.
• Pleasure at taking him into my mouth and pushing him to insanity while he maintained that cold facade for his meeting.
• It was like a game.
• See how far I could drive him crazy.
• But he was the one who always won.
• I can't resist him.
• And now, now I am to follow him all the way to Turkey for what he calls a business merger
• I am not bothered about the meeting, my problem is… this thing between us has never left the states.
• What happens when we are over there and we do not have the luxury to return to our own personal space.
• We will be with each other, twenty four seven, what if everything changes.
• How long can I hold on like this?
• “Hello? Earth to Eliza?”
• I come out of my reminiscing to see Ric, one of my colleagues leaning over me, eyes worried.
• “Hi, Ric,” I greet as I unconsciously lean away from him. “How are you doing?”
• “Good. Are you okay?” he asks, his eyes still showing concern.
• “Yeah, yeah. I am good, just… preoccupied.”
• “Anything I can help with?” he asks with a charming smile.
• “Not really. Mr. Grey just informed me that I will be accompanying him to Turkey for the business merger,” I explain.
• “Wow. Lucky you. What is the issue?”
• I heave a sigh at the question.
• How do I even begin to explain?
• “Yeah, it is great but … I don't know. It is just quite… impromptu.”
• “Welcome to the world of business. You need to be quick on your feet.”
• “Thanks Ric.”
• “So, are you done for the day? Do you want to grab a drink?”
• Before I could answer, I hear Lincoln's door click close and I catch him walking out of the office.
• From the look he gave me, I could tell that he had heard the question.
• “Mr. Bates,”he begins. “I wasn't aware you were done with the Maximilian project.”
• “Oh I am not sir.”
• “Then why are you here preventing my PA from doing her job?”
• “Oh, I wasn't… it is the end of …”
• At the deadpan look on Lincoln's face, he straightens up from my desk.
• “My apologies, sir. I will… I will leave now.”
• With a resigned but expected twinge I watch as he leaves, as well as Lincoln who doesn't even spare me a glance.
• Again, how is this my life?