CHAPTER ONE
VALENTINA
I feel like I’m starving, and he’s going to feed me. I don’t care what the consequences are, he’ll be mine until someone takes him from me. I want a piece of him that I can have forever. Half of him, half of me.
Running my hand over my stomach, I think about what it will be like to carry his child. If everything goes as planned, I’ll find out soon enough.
Checking my watch, I see that he should arrive home at any moment. Friday night is his guys’ night at Sarajevo Lounge. I always know where he’s at because I’ve got his password and access to his itinerary, and I always have it pulled up on my phone. It’s not my fault his dimwit secretary typed it in when I was standing behind her at her desk.
I thought just knowing where he was all the time based on his itinerary would be enough. I thought I could stop following him, but it didn’t work. Night after night I found myself tailing him after work to see where he was going. Not that he ever noticed.
I’ve been interning at his office for six months now, and I’m barely a blip on his radar. He consumes my every thought, and I don’t think he even knows my name. I remember the first time I met him; there was no way you could miss him. The man is huge, standing at six feet four, filling out his suit impressively. His dark brown hair looks midnight black in the right lighting, but what caught my attention were his crystal blue eyes. Sometimes I thought he could see through me with them, but if that was true I wouldn’t be here right now. He’d have seen me coming.
I got the internship at his investment company, Ware Holdings, doing various things around the office for the executives. As the days ticked by, I seemed to be scheduled on his agenda more than others—from taking notes in his meetings to running reports, or just going over his schedule with him during lunch.
I’d gotten to know him over the months, and my obsession only grew. I’d never felt this way about someone before, and it drove me crazy that he didn’t really notice me. When he did pay me attention, it was almost in a ‘kid sister’ way. I even tried to make him jealous once, because God knew I was green with it. I saw the women who threw themselves at him. I even saw him go on a few dates. A smile pulls across my lips when I think about how I sabotaged them.
I remember Cara, the woman who showed up at the office for a date one night, I ‘accidentally’ spilt a whole jug of coffee on her. I was sure I would get fired, but he just seemed blind to my slip, and canceled his date.
One night I followed him out with friends, and caught a woman all over him. I pretended to run into him, and I faked being sick so he’d take me home. I made sure no one could get near him if I could help it. He’s mine. I planned to tie him to me as much as I could, and make him love me.
When I told him about Jim from the mailroom asking me on a date, he said I should go and get out more. I think that hurt more than when I saw that woman hanging all over him at the bar. Needless to say I never went on my date with Jim. How could I? I belonged to Archer. Even if he didn’t want me. How could you love someone and try to be with someone else? It would feel like a betrayal.
Pulling my phone out, I check my tracker, and feel my heartbeat pick up. He’s in the building. I close my eyes and try to get my breathing under control. Every night when he comes home he has a glass of scotch, but it would be my luck that tonight he doesn’t. The man is double my size; I’m five feet four and slight. I have some hips and boobs, but I could never take down Archer without some help. The help I’m using tonight is in the form of a sleep aid I slipped into his scotch. I just need a little bit of help, just enough that when he finally passes out, he won’t feel me binding him to the bed. Then he’ll be mine. Well, until someone comes looking for him. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have since he always has security coming and going. He is, after all, one of the richest men in Chicago.
Hearing the door open, I put my hand over my mouth to cover my breathing, and I wait. Twenty minutes pass, but it feels like an eternity. I’ve been waiting for this moment for what feels like forever. He shuffles around for a minute, then I hear the mattress squeak, and I know he’s in the bed. Only a little longer until I have every part of Archer Ware.