I felt like a bitch as I looked at him. He grabbed the golden pen on his desk and started making notes on the page.
“Hu—, Mr. St-John, I—” I started to apologize.
“I need you to get through the files in there.” He pointed toward the conference table in his office, not even bothering to look up from his task. “You will need to get out every financial report and do a spreadsheet of them by region and department.”
I looked at the small pile of red and green folders and nodded.
He glanced up from under his glasses. “Today, Ms. Byrnes. I need thosetoday.”
“That won’t be a problem.” I walked to the table and grabbed the folders, somehow surprised by the reasonableness of his request. I expected punishment of epic proportions but this was just a normal task.
“Where are you going?” he asked just as I started to walk out of his office.
“Taking the folders to do what you asked,” I replied, confused.
He pointed to the cart with five big cardboard boxes. “You need all the files…. all six hundred of them.”
Six hundred? I opened my mouth and closed it again.
“It will take me forever!” I explained.
“Well, you better get started then,” he replied with a smirk that made me want to punch him in the face.
Don’t break, Ava,I comforted myself.Don’t take the bait, don’t give him what he wants.
I placed the folders I was holding on the cart and started to wheel it out of the office.
“Tonight, Ms. Byrnes,” he added again just as I passed the door.
“Your wish is my command,” I replied sarcastically and let the door close behind me just as he started to laugh.
Conceited asshole!
Chapter 11
Ava
Thenexttendaysworking with Hugo were a real trial. Despite dealing with his execrable attitude and unreasonable demands with a straight face, I couldn’t help but feel both exhausted and a little defeated, wondering how long I would actually be able to deal with all of it before snapping.
He was so serene about it all, like it was his standard behavior, but I had learned during my micro lunch breaks and little amount of socialization when Hugo was off-site that whilst he led mostly by fear and was known to be an asshole to most, he was laying it extra thick on me.
I was not sure what his goal was… Well, no, that was a lie. I knew he wanted me to break, to punish me for something while torturing his little brother at the same time, like the sick bastard he was. I just didn’t understand the purpose.
He was the heir to everything in the St-John’s estate, he was the golden boy, and I had seen that night that Ethan was nothing more than a disappointment to his father in the way he’d looked at them. I was also the one fully living with the consequences of the mistake I'd made. I was the one who was going to give birth to a child who would probably be the spitting image of that man—yes, I would probably be that lucky.
I started to wonder if he was just a sick man getting off on the power he had over people. I could bet that the more he could assert it, the more his victims had to yield, and the harder his dick probably got.
You should know,the lustful little voice reminded me as I replayed that night in my head and how much I had enjoyed submitting to his strong hands and domineering words.
I sighed as I removed one of my shoes in the back of the Uber and massaged my aching foot. It was not fun anymore, and his attitude was only bringing pain and hurt into my life.
My dark mood brightened almost immediately as I saw Ethan waiting for me in front of my building, carrying bags from Luigi’s.
“I can almost smell the food from here,” I said to him as I exited the car. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a date.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I got there, he turned out to be extremely boring, and then I got the alert that you were getting into an Uber.”
“Creepy,” I joked as we took the creaky old stairs to my first-floor flat.