Chapter 1

As Julian Chapman's secretary, Stella Atkinson had to immediately respond to each of his requests, no matter how outrageous they were. That included sleeping with him. Even though they'd be having a meeting in less than an hour, Stella didn't hesitate to take off her skirt under Julian's burning gaze. Flames of lust had already engulfed him whole by then. As soon as he tugged off his tie, he began binding Stella's wrists together with it. Then, he pinned her down on his desk and got ready to screw her senseless. But Stella quickly flipped over before saying coolly, "I charge extra if you want to include BDSM." Julian was so close to sliding into her. It only took him a moment's hesitation before he agreed to Stella's request. "I'll throw in 50 thousand dollars. It'll be included in your salary," he rasped out. But Stella refused to cooperate at all. Obviously, she wasn't satisfied with the offered price. Despite the dissatisfaction welling in his heart, Julian's primal urges forced him to loosen his tongue. "100 thousand dollars." Stella finally spread her legs, giving Julian the chance to thrust into her eagerly. Despite having had sex on the desk, on the couch, and finally against the floor-to-ceiling window, Julian showed no signs of stopping. Her cheeks extremely flushed, Stella kept glancing at the wall clock from the corner of her eye. At the same time, she secretly did a countdown on the time that was left. When the time was up, she placed her hands on Julian's chest to resist his actions, which were getting rougher by the second. "The meeting's about to start. This meeting is extremely crucial because it concerns the chances of our company getting listed." As Julian panted heavily, he frowned at Stella's words. After using what little time was left to achieve his climax, he finally withdrew from Stella reluctantly. "Wait for my return." He didn't undo the tie binding Stella's wrists. In fact, he just left Stella lying on the couch while maintaining her current position. Soon, he left the office hurriedly after closing the door on her. Stella ached everywhere and felt completely drained. She managed to free herself by biting the knot out of the tie. With trembling legs, she slipped on her skirt. The atmosphere in the office was silent. Soon, Stella printed out the resignation letter that she had already prepared in advance before putting her signature on it. 100 thousand dollars… As long as she received this month's salary, she'd be able to clear the entire debt. That also meant she could leave Julian's side, too. Over the past three years, everyone viewed Stella as Julian's favorite side chick. The only reason why she couldn't marry into the Chapman family was due to her lowly social standing. But the truth was, they never loved each other at all. The only things tying them together were a pair of eyes and a contract. Julian's lover was his childhood sweetheart, Ariana Fairwood. Unfortunately, she could no longer get pregnant after surviving a car crash. Because of that, Julian's parents forbade them from dating each other. As for Stella, her fiancé, Ethan Lane, had been afflicted with a terminal illness a long time ago. He ended up passing away even after Stella racked up a huge debt trying to treat his illness. That day, the gangsters who were in charge of collecting the debt came knocking on Stella's door. They had forced her to sell her body in order to clear the debt. Julian was the one who had shown up at the critical juncture and chased the gangsters away. Right after that, he handed her a contract that would make her his private secretary. Upon reading the clause that claimed that Julian would pay her 50 thousand dollars every time he slept with her, Stella didn't hesitate to sign the contract right away. But when Julian was asked about why he'd give Stella this opportunity, he merely pointed at his own eyes. It turned out that he had received a corneal transplant from none other than Ethan. Whenever Stella was pinned beneath Julian's frame, he often loved forcing her to stare right into his eyes. The more she was tortured by her sense of morality and guilt, the more satisfied he became. Thankfully, Stella finally saved enough money to clear the debt once and for all. She'd be able to break off the contract and leave Julian's side. Soon, she got ready to continue working. Her initial plan was that she'd get Julian to sign her resignation letter after the meeting was over. But the next thing she knew, she saw Julian entering the office before rushing toward his desk. There, he pulled open a drawer and dug out an intricate-looking jewelry box. Then, he moved to leave the office. After snapping out of her trance, Stella quickly grabbed Julian by the arm. She questioned anxiously, "The meeting is still underway! Where are you heading to?" Julian's first instinct was to shake her hand off, but he stopped as soon as his gaze fell on Stella's beautiful face. "My parents finally agreed to let Aria and me continue seeing each other. I want to propose to her, so I've canceled the meeting." The moment Julian's parents gave him the green light, he was already this eager to propose to Ariana. Just how much did he love her? Stella knew very well that she was just a subordinate to Julian. She had no right to interfere with Julian's plans for Ariana. After all, Ariana was his actual lover. Since the meeting regarding the company's enlistment was canceled, Stella knew that she had a lot more work to deal with. She didn't mind that at all. All she wanted was to get away from Julian as soon as possible. "Mr. Chapman, I need you to sign a document—" Before Stella could finish speaking, Julian's phone rang abruptly. He glanced at the caller ID before picking up the video call. On the screen, Ariana could be seen wearing a set of thin silk pajamas. She purposely placed the camera right before her chest while speaking in a soft and cutesy tone. "Jules, didn't I tell you that I'll be waiting for you? I've been waiting for you for so long, but why aren't you here yet?" Ariana acted as though she had never spotted Stella, who stood right behind Julian. Instead, she began swaying her hips around seductively. Julian comforted Ariana in a gentle tone, telling her that he'd be there soon. After that, he ended the video call. "I can always trust the documents that you've dealt with. Just hand the document over, and I'll sign it." Stella handed her resignation letter over silently. As expected, Julian signed the letter without even scanning the details before rushing out of the office impatiently. The door was slammed shut loudly. Once again, the atmosphere in the office fell silent. A while later, Stella passed the resignation letter over to Peter Sanders, the HR manager. Since he knew what her actual relationship with Julian was like, he decided to ask cautiously, "Does Mr. Chapman know that you're leaving?" Stella replied coolly, "He's about to marry Ariana. Do you really think it's necessary for me to inform him of my resignation?" Peter understood the situation immediately. As expected, Julian had only taken Stella in as his mistress on a whim. She would never be able to get married to him, no matter what. Instead of asking more questions, Peter stamped the resignation letter. He made sure to drop Stella a reminder, though. "The offboarding process will last for seven days. Your resignation will be effective next Monday. You should focus on conducting the handover process properly during this timeframe." Stella nodded in response. After leaving the HR department eagerly, she started a video call with Anthony Lane, Ethan's younger brother. Soon, the video call went through. Anthony's face, which was extremely similar to Ethan's, popped up on Stella's phone screen. He let out a few light coughs while clutching his chest, though he made sure to force out a smile. "Stella, when are you going to visit me? Ethan's heart is throbbing in pain again…" Stella could feel her nose tingling with emotions. At the same time, her heart began throbbing as well when she saw how pained Anthony looked. Still, she smiled tenderly while comforting him, "Seven days. Just wait for another seven days, and I'll head over to look after you." Ethan and Anthony's mother, Roxanne Miller, had divorced their father. After that, she and Anthony formed a new family with a rich businessman. When Anthony got into a car crash, his heart ended up getting impaled by a steel pole. It so happened that Ethan was on the brink of death at that time, so he chose to donate his own heart to Anthony. At first, Roxanne intended to help Stella with the debt, but her husband was quick to stop her. After all, who in this world would spend that much money on someone who didn't share any blood relations and family ties with them? Stella didn't mind the refusal. In fact, she still kept in touch with Anthony all the time and asked about his well-being. But for some reason, Anthony's heart kept throbbing in pain these days. At night, he'd often dream of Stella, too. Since Ethan's heart continued to beat in Anthony's chest, Stella had the urge to stay by his side and take care of him.