Chapter 3: Would you do the same for anyone else?

"No," Charlotte muttered, almost too low to hear. Liam wasn't the kind to notice little things. Charlotte was the only one who got any special treatment from him. He wouldn't bat an eye if anyone else had a cut or a burn. Just last night, Liam had practically begged Daniel for that burn cream, even throwing in the keys to a brand-new car to sweeten the deal. And now, that expensive cream was just sitting there, not being used. Of course, anyone would be annoyed by that. "You..." Daniel couldn't hide his mixed feelings of annoyance and concern. "Just watch your step, okay? You know how Liam gets, and you're the one who ends up having to deal with it." Charlotte pressed her lips together. After Liam left in a huff last night, she found out the cream wasn't some regular store-bought stuff. It was actually worth a ton more. She figured Liam was mad because she underpaid him, remembering him once saying, "Not everything has a price." But since he wrecked the cream, she wasn't about to use it or try paying him back, no matter how mad he got. Her phone buzzed just as she stepped outside. It was Maria, "Lottie, you've got to get out of there. Your dad's been picked up by those loan sharks, and they're heading to your work to find you and get their money!" Charlotte couldn't believe Robert was trying to dump his gambling debts on her. After waking up in Liam's bed that morning and getting home, she had warned Robert: Touch me again, and we're both going out the window. "Tell them they won't get a dime if they cause a scene at the company. No matter if Robert comes back missing an arm, a leg, or not at all, they won't get a single cent from me," she said with finality before ending the call. Hesitating for a moment, Charlotte mustered her courage and walked into the CEO's office. If he didn't get his money, that monster Robert would surely resort to his cruelest methods, and she'd be trapped. Get the money... and get out immediately. But would Liam really give her the money? She couldn't bear to look him in the eyes. "Mr. Parker, could you lend me four hundred thousand?" Liam reclined in his chair, his expression icy and detached. In a low voice, he asked, "Is money all you ever want to talk about?" Charlotte's lips remained sealed. "Fool," he muttered, his gaze piercing through her. "Why the sudden need for cash? Has Robert blown all his money again and turned to you? And if I refuse, who will you beg next?" Charlotte closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She didn't counter Liam's accusations. She had no right to argue. Her lips, bitten to a vivid red as if kissed by a drop of dew, held back words of protest. "Fool!" Liam cursed again, fixated on her lips, now glistening as though touched by morning frost. "Didn't I just give you half a million the other day? Has Robert gambled it all away already?" Charlotte, shrinking back, managed to say, "It's not for him. I... I want the money." Liam's stare was frosty. "You want money? Robert loses four hundred thousand, and you come asking me for exactly that amount. Do you think I'm a fool?" Confusion flickered in Charlotte's eyes. How did Liam know about Robert's four hundred thousand loss? Even she hadn't known. "It's for me. I want it, a lot of it," she said. Liam's eyes narrowed slightly. "I have plenty of money, but can you offer me what I want in return?" Charlotte stiffened for a moment, then walked over to stand in front of his desk. Her knees bent a few times as she wrestled with herself, finally convincing her legs to fold as she knelt before him. Liam's gaze deepened, a subtle shift in the air as he watched her submit. Charlotte's hands trembled as she reached out to unbuckle his belt. Her life had taken an unexpected detour because of Robert. Dropping out after middle school, she spent years behind the cash register at the local supermarket, scrimping and saving every penny to carve out a sliver of independence, eventually earning her degree through a night school program. With her modest educational credentials, the idea of amassing a small fortune was a distant dream – even four hundred thousand seemed like a star too far, let alone two million. That was until Liam entered the picture. The zipper, which should have slid down with ease, seemed bewitched in Charlotte's shaky grasp. Like a spell that refused to be broken, it remained defiantly in place. Liam's hand hung by his side, clenched into a slow fist, his eyes dark pools of enigma. "Do you really think this is what I want?" he murmured, his voice a low echo in the charged air. With her lips pressed into a thin line, Charlotte steeled her nerves and yanked the zipper down. But Liam's hand was swift, slapping hers away with a frigid rebuke, "This is a place of business, Miss Assistant, not a stage for your seductive plays." "I won't be parting with my money so easily. Keep trying," he declared, his words slicing through the air. Standing, her hand throbbing from his strike, Charlotte felt her pride and dignity trampled underfoot, ground into the carpet of his office like so much dust. "I'll... I'll go make some tea," she stammered, retreating in disarray. Liam watched her flee, his anger boiling to the point of shattering the glass in his grip, only to realize it was a gift from her. A cheap trinket from some supermarket's buy-one-get-one-free aisle. A self-deprecating chuckle escaped him as he set the cup down gently, hammering his chair in a petty display of frustration. —— Later that evening, Maria's voice crackled through the phone line, laden with desperation. "Lottie, please, for the love of your mother, save your father. If anything happens to him, how am I to live?" Charlotte's response was ice. "His fate is none of my concern. If you can't live without him, perhaps you should join him," she said, hanging up and staring blankly at the untouched meal before her, her heart a wasteland of sorrow. Maria was weak, favoring the brother, but she shielded Charlotte from Robert's drunken rages, always standing in front, taking the blows. Even bedridden, Maria would scrounge up hidden savings to buy her a burger, a small comfort against the storm. Despite her frustrations with Maria's frailty, Charlotte couldn't bring herself to abandon her. Four hundred thousand – if she could just get the money, she'd whisk Maria away the next day. But Liam didn't return by ten that evening. Bound by his rule of no private contact, Charlotte could only wait. At twenty-past one in the morning, the sound of the door awoke her. Liam entered, loosening his tie, his face unreadable. The sight of the simple home-cooked meal on the table seemed to mock him. "You really will do anything for money," he sneered. Charlotte sighed softly and approached to help him out of his jacket, her hands warm as they began to knead his shoulders tenderly. She coaxed him in a gentle voice, "You must be exhausted after such a long evening. I made your favorite soup. Won't you have some?" Liam's tense muscles relaxed under her touch, his voice softening for a rare moment. "Is money all you're after? You know I can give you so much more." Her fingers stiffened momentarily before she resumed her task nonchalantly. "Nothing else is needed." She only wanted the two million, and only after they had been intimate. It was a transaction, pure and simple. She feared that anything more might trap her in a web of unwanted feelings. Liam scoffed, suddenly enraged. In a swift motion, he pulled Charlotte against him and pinned her onto the shoe cabinet. Her stomach inches from the cold wood. She arched her back, her arms winding around his neck. "Cold," she whispered. "Is that so?" Liam's hands roamed under her skirt without pretense. "Then hold on to me." She moved rhythmically with his advances. "Daddy, Go slow." He liked the way she called him Daddy. His breath quickened, his grip tightening around her waist, drawing her in close. His eyes, darkened with desire, questioned. "So just 400 grand is all it takes to get you to do this? Would you do the same for anyone else, right?"