Seoha's POV
I look at the door behind me as it swings shut on cue and on it, the logo reads Mountain Atelier.
I look at the man at the CEO table, and the name reads clearly, CEO Kang Taesan.
No…
"Welcome, take a seat" he says calmy, he has on a pair of frameless round glasses on and I shake my head, I'm not doing this, I'm not staying in a room alone with him…not when he already humiliated me too many times.
"Take a seat, Shin Seoha" he says, his voice is still at the same level, but his eyes are suddenly colder behind the glasses and fingers are interlocked.
My legs move on their own and I take my seat in front of him, reminded of the gun at my back on the bed and the gun on my side in the car.
Who exactly is this alpha? What is he doing in M. Atelier, my dream fashion company?
He leans back in his seat and looks at me like he's assessing me, just like he had done at the hotel, just like he had done in the car.
This time, the air of playfulness…if it was ever there, is gone, leaving me with an icy man with broad shoulders and tensed jaw.
"Come home with me" he says.
"I don't want to" I respond immediately and he turns his seat around to look outside the window, "do you think I'm asking?" he asks and turns his head to look at me.
I hold his eye for a few seconds before dropping my gaze, the air in the spacious feels colder than it should, the alpha's position lets me see the scar running from his sharp jaw, down his throat and into his collar.
My breath catches in my throat, 'what happened to him?' my omega asks and I shake my head.
"I don't care if you're asking, I did my due diligence, I apologized to you, I-"
"My daughter is still crying thinking you are her…daddy" Taesan says the word with disgust and my back straightens at the mention of the sweet child.
Her scent is registered with my omega, the way her little nose pressed into my neck, the way she held on to me like I mattered…even I miss her.
"I- I don't know what to say" I confess.
"That is why you will be coming home with me, you will let Sooin see you, and you will scent her if she wants and you will be there just as she wants" he says, listing the thing I don't want to do.
"You want me to…lie?" I whisper and he turns his seat away from me, keeping his eyes on the ceiling, "I want you to fucking play the part" he says cooly.
"I can't do that"
"You owe me, Shin Seoha…did my offering make you forget or did my staying silent confuse you?" he growls, deep and dominant.
I grab the arms of my seat hard enough that I feel the leather squeak under the pressure, my debt, he will hang it over my head, won't he?
"Please…I will pay it back" I say tiredly and he turns around, that's when I see the cane between his legs, it has a black body with a gold tiger at the head.
He laughs and hits the cane onto the floor.
"How?" he asks and I open and when close my mouth a number of times without answer, he gets up from the seat and comes around the desk between us.
"I am going to get a job" I whisper the last part of the word as he takes off the jacket of his suit and my eyes go wide, "I will employ you" he says, rolling up his sleeves, one after the other, unveiling his scarred and veiny forearms.
I gulp as he comes closer.
"I-"
"I will employ you, and you will pay off your debt" he says and places his hand on the chair, right next to my head, my legs shut as soon as he leans in…his scent.
I smell the mint of his toothpaste, the storminess of his rain scent, the strength encoded in his mountainlike build and the smoke.
He pushes my seat backwards until my back hits the door and that when I smell it clearly, rut?
"I will think about it" I whisper again, throat closing up as he pins my chair against the door with his hand, he's not touching me, but still, I feel the heat of him.
"You become my bodyguard, you stay by me, little thief…you're fast, aren't you?" he asks, eyes dropping from my eyes to my lips and I nod.
No. I want to say no.
"You will do what I say, you will earn your freedom" he says and I feel a chill run through my body with the word, earn my freedom? When did I sell myself?
"And you will come home to me and Sooin, you will play your part, make sure she never cries again" he growls this part, and I hear the sound of claws breaking in through the leather behind me.
"I…I can't lie to her" I manage to say.
"And I can't stand to see her cry, omega, one of us has to submit" he says and his eyes flash red, a clear and inaudible, 'it won't be me'.
The 'one of us' is me.
"I will think about it" I say again and he lets out a breath that fans my face, I will leave for now and go to another part of the city, then I'll say no.
"You have ten seconds" he says and I whine, what is with this man and time?
"One"
My body slacks into the seat and I look around the room in panic, I can't do this, I can't possibly do this.
'Three' my omega counts for me.
"Even if you refuse omega, you're still mine, you still owe me a fucking black card debt" he says and adds, "seven"
Any choice I make now can either make me or break me and I have just three seconds to decide.
What did I ever do wrong?