Chapter 1

"When fiery secretary Amanda uncovers her CEO’s cruel past, their war ignites. Forced into his world of power plays and fake marriages, she battles his control while exposing his closest ally’s betrayal. In a dangerous game where attraction collides with revenge, survival demands tearing off every mask."

AMANDA'S POV

Looking at my reflection in the mirror I practiced my resume as I had to say it aloud in my interview. I tucked my baby blonde hair-strands behind my ears which rested on my forehead.

I slapped myself with the entirety of paper which held all details about me, including my extra-curricular and academic status.

"Focus Amanda, FOCUS!" I looked straight in my hazel colored eyes.

After hair wash, I used the hairdryer against my hair as I had no time to let them dry naturally, I was already running short of time. I preferred less usage of a hairdryer as I read an article over the internet that frequent usage of such kind of appliances causes hair to fall as a result of making them extremely weak.

I decided to keep my look simple and decent, use less makeup, and keep things natural. I didn't want to showcase myself as a plastic hoe on the very first day of work.

"Aren't you late Ammie?" I could hear the voice coming towards me in a climaxed manner, increasing from low to high pitched, gradually. Of course, it was Mommy giving me a tardy reminder. Like other moms, my mom has this habit of increasing half hour of the usual time for example if the clock stroke 6, she'll shout "Baby, wake up it's 6:30!". I was familiar with this habit of hers so I resorted back to the original time by deducting 30 minutes from it.

One of my reasons to get paid after getting this job was to be a helping hand to Mom and provide her monetary support resulting in the deduction of her mental stress.

Mom's brown hair was tied in a messy bun, accompanying a loose, floral, knee-length dress which happened to be a bit too loose; that two women of the same body shape could fit in it! She carried bread and butter in one hand whilst her other hand was occupying a banana milkshake.

"Mom, did my friends call you?", I questioned, thinking about Gina and Francis as I stuffed all the bread into my mouth at once and sipped the milkshake hurriedly to digest the pieces of bread. Mom watched me with cornered eyes and I knew that now I was going to be roasted.

"I have no idea, not since they dropped you home from college", mom answered whilst putting all the necessary documents and belongings of mine in my hand-bag which I had to carry along with me as she was aware of my clumsy and irresponsible behavior.

"So I'm basically surrounded with two assholes who aren't even interested in wishing me luck? I hate them so much", I expected a small wish from them as it's a natural tendency of humans to expect from the people they love. I've been with these two best friends of mine ever since I joined the school.

Mom left the room after hugging me since she had her office hours and had waited long enough wishing me luck and counseling me.

I tied my blonde hair into a high ponytail which complimented my checkered blue shirt and black jeans. I decided to complete my professional look with a pair of black peep-toes which was just an inch high. To be very honest, I wasn't used to balancing myself with extremely high heels. I always wondered how girls in my school balanced themselves like a pro whilst wearing those heels.

I hurriedly took my bag considering that my interview was fixed for 9 AM and it was already 8 AM at my place. I instantly planted my sunglasses in my hand and rushed towards the main door of my house. It did not take much of my time, as my house was not that big. I and my sister's room were upstairs accompanied by the storeroom and mom's room was right next to the kitchen.

I locked the entrance of my door and assured that I did it right after cross-checking it. I then turned around and marched towards the way my office was. Suddenly my eyes were locked as someone placed their hands tightly over mine, the vision ahead of me blurred surrounded by complete darkness. Darkness was something I have been afraid of ever since I was young of an age. Not that I was scared of ghosts but as a child whenever I did something wrong, dad locked me in the bathroom turning off the lights and even prevented mom to contact me.

I tried unlocking the hands which held a firm grip on my eyes. I somehow successfully unlocked them and when I turned behind I saw two human figures. A boy and a girl stood by.

"Do I know you both?" I questioned them after hitting them playfully and acting all unknown.

"Of course. Yes", Gina giggled. I knew she was making up for it.

"How can you forget me? I'm your first love, baby", Francis leaned towards me and kissed my cheek. I pushed him away. Francis had a really amazing sense of humor. He sometimes flirted so hard and so natural with Gina and me that on occasions we genuinely believed he was really into us. Every word which escaped his mouth was sugar-coated with love, he was habitual to flirting with people of any age, what only mattered was they should be of the opposite gender.

"I hate you both so much, you guys knew that today is such an important day to me but you people didn't even remember it" words fall out naturally from my mouth.

"I know that you were given a reminder about today by my mom", I walked away from them.

They hugged me from behind, together. I hugged them as well because I knew I needed them and their moral support, plus I just simply cannot go ignoring or not talking to them for more than a few hours.

"All the best, remember we love you."

"I love you both too", I smiled and waved a final goodbye, hugging them again.

"Whenever your heartbeats fasten, think about kissing my ass", I could hear Francis's voice from behind. I turned around, stuck my tongue out towards his face, and then continued walking towards the bus-stop.

The weather was really good. The bus arrived after about 10 minutes. Good thing, I did not have to wait very long for it. I reached the office 20 minutes later, meaning it was now 08:50 AM- that meant I was early.

I walked towards the receptionist to check in and record my presence.

"Hello there, I'm here for an interview since I've been shortlisted for the post of the secretary." I raised my eyebrows then continued, "Myself being Amanda Waters, can you confirm and permit me to move towards the Cabin of the interviewer, Joseph Henri, please?", I said with a broad, fake smile. Mom always told me that smiling has a great effect. Well, it did here.

"Okay Madam, please allow me to check.", she said with a smile back.

I waited for a few minutes, lowered my head, and started playing with my phone. Tipping and tapping over pictures in my gallery was my favorite way to pass time.

"Miss Waters"

I raised my head, "Yes Madam ", I answered quickly.

"Due to Mr. Joseph's illness, he won't be able to take your interview but since we're in urgent need of a secretary's post in this office, this interview cannot be further delayed, Mr. Reynolds would be interviewing you himself", she paused for a while and then went on, "Good luck on that, Sweetie".

My eyes widened and all I could do at that moment was cover my mouth which had already formed an 'O'.

'Kiss My Ass'-Francis's words echoed in my ears which made my stress level plummet from 100 to 99.

Firstly: I was not prepared for the interview in the slightest, and secondly; I overheard people talking about their boss, aka the CEO, aka Mr. Aaron Reynolds. Let's just hope that it did not prove out to be some excruciating pleasure.

"Do hurry Miss Waters. Be careful with the choice of words you use, Good luck"

I thanked the receptionist for being so pleasant and humble with me. I turned and made my way towards the elevator. The office was huge, highly maintained, and systematic. People looked so dedicated towards their work, plus the building and its content looked sort of scary and intimidating. I didn't know why but I could sense fear in the air which moved around in the premises.

There was a long queue for the elevator. No more than the weight of '4 persons' was permissible to be in such a huge elevator. I had yet to be (if even) admitted into this office and I already despised the systems. I did not want to take the stairs as it left the very possible chance of me sweating and therefore smelling awful. One word- EW. That would ultimately be the worst I could ask for today.

I finally reached the 7th floor and hurried towards the most gigantic room/cabin of this entire building.

"Focus Amanda", I patted my right arm with my left hand encouraging myself whilst knocking at the door.

"Come in", it was a deep yet, seductive voice.

I turned the doorknob, stood there, then preceded into the room, after making myself presentable.

There was a large man with dark brown hair, and weirdly enough, a very intimidating back. Yes... back. I could only see his back as he was busy attending a call, staring out the window, at the tall buildings.

He then ended the call. He ever so slowly and gradually turned towards me. A part of me was so excited to meet him whereas the other part was tensed too.

When he completely turned to face me, my heart almost plummeted to the ground before regaining its original position. His dark blue eyes caught mine.

My mind blanked out for a while until I shouted "YOU!"

"Oh, my God, It's you?!"

"Yes, It's me Miss ", he thought for a while and continued "Miss, whatever".