Page 5 of Charmingly Obsessed
Fool.There isn’t another idiot like me on the planet. He humiliates me, ignores me for years, shows up looking like a disaster, locks me in, acts possessive, and a near-touch sends me spinning? Pathetic. Back then, three years ago, his cruelty had an audience. Now? Just him. Mykola Frez, the master of the head game. And me, his apparently favorite target.
Fury surges, overriding the confusion. I sidestep him abruptly, bumping my head against his solid shoulder in my haste. He’s so damn tall.
I reach the door and stand there, my back rigid, waiting. Let him unlock it. This charade is over.
His tanned hand, dusted with fine golden hairs, moves with agonizing slowness. He inserts the card into the slot. A long beep. The green light blinks.
He pauses, his hand hovering over the card, drawing out the moment.
Finally, the click of the lock releasing.
Freedom.
I don’t remember walking out, only the determined stride carrying me down the silent corridor. I slip on my trench coat automatically, fastening every button with jerky precision.
Smoothing the fabric, over and over, a useless, repetitive motion.
Then I push through the main glass doors, into the cool air. It hits my lungs, sharp and clean, forcing a gasp from my tight throat. Like surfacing after being held underwater for far too long. Or maybe just since Mykola Frez decided to reappear.
3
Chapter 3 Diana
Ifeel him before I see him.
It’s a prickle of awareness on the back of my neck, a sudden drop in temperature in the humid air of the underground parking garage.
My frantic search for a taxi stalls. My heart, already hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs from our locked-door confrontation, kicks into overdrive.
Slowly, I turn my head.
Mykola Frez is standing just inside the massive glass doors of the lobby, half-shrouded in shadow. But there’s no mistaking the sharp silhouette of his bespoke shirt or the coiled tension in his frame. He looks like a predator watching its prey.
I whip my head back toward the street, my breath catching in my throat.Ignore him. Just get a cab. Disappear.A gust of wind whips a strand of hair across my face, and I shove it back with a trembling hand.
“Diana! Thank God I caught you!”
I jump, a startled gasp tearing from my lips. Aisana’s cheerful face is suddenly right in front of mine, her brown eyes wide. For a terrifying second, I thought it was him.
“Aisana, hey.” I’m trying to sound normal. We were never close—just polite smiles and breakroom pleasantries.
She’s the office sunshine. Well, and I’m the permanent storm cloud. “Ice Queen.” “Iceberg.” “Untouchable.” Labels slapped on me since kindergarten, peeled off only to be reapplied in bolder fonts.
Late at night, tangled in my sheets like a poorly wrapped burrito, mourning my sister Anya – my anchor, my only confidante, – I wish all of them were right. I wish I was an iceberg, vast and unyielding, capable of sinking ships without feeling a thing.
But I’m not. I’m just… shy. Pathologically so. Not the cute, blushing kind. The paralyzing, silent, blank-stare kind. I need time to thaw, to let emotions surface slowly. Time is currency, and no one’s ever wanted to invest it in my particular brand of dysfunction. Except Anya. And now she’s gone.
“I heard the craziest rumor! David said you were staying, but then Karina said your resignation was back on. Is it true? Are you really leaving us?”
My gaze flickers unwillingly back towards the entrance. He hasn’t moved. He’s still watching. A lie forms on my lips, the one I fed him just minutes ago to escape that office.I’ll be back tomorrow.But looking at Aisana’s earnest face, I can’t do it. Besides, I need to believe it’s true. I need this to be the end.
I give a short, sharp nod. “Yeah. Today’s my last day.”
“No!” she gasps, genuinely crestfallen. “But why? We have to keep in touch! Let me just double-check I have your number.”
She pulls out her phone, and we go through the motions of confirming details. My entire being is thrumming with theurgent need to flee. I offer her a tight, forced smile and a mumbled goodbye.
“It was so great working with you, Diana!”
