Chapter 88 - Double-edged Sword

Desmond was speechless for a while, digesting the news that his family home was not as secure as he thought. There was a hacker who could retrieve a surveillance camera footage of the living room? More importantly, there was someone who knew what went down on that day?

He couldn't help wondering what else Zaria and her friend knew, but that was not his business for now. "Is there any way I can see it?"

She shook her head in response to his question, then immediately nodded. "You can, but it will be harder than it would have been if I showed it to you earlier. I knew Jaime would try to find me so I deleted it."

"Your phone stores deleted files for sixty days before they are permanently deleted." He pointed out. He was certain because he used a phone from the same brand.

"I know. I permanently deleted it from the [Deleted Files] folder as well."

"Okay…" He could only resign to his fate though he wondered whether he could retrieve it if he found a hacker.

"It's...Hard to retrieve it, but it's not impossible." She stated.

"Is this hacker friend who helped you get it Ryan?" He asked. Why else would it be hard?

"No." She took a step away from him in contemplation.

"Is it Ximena?" His next guess was the other person who didn't like him.

"It's not her either. It's a friend I met online." She confessed.

"You know about Internet friends, Zaria." He narrowed his eyes at her, his tone was full of disapproval.

She took a step away from him. "I do. But we have been friends for years. If he was going to do anything to me, he would have done it already."

"And you didn't meet him to know him better because?" He asked skeptically.

"At first, I didn't trust him so I was scared. But later I decided that it was alright to keep it online." She explained.

"I still don't trust him." Not just because he was a man, but because he thought of hackers as double-edged swords and didn't want any of them near his Zaria—of course, the fact that the hacker was a man made his eyebrows knit even deeper.

"Why don't we go somewhere more...secretive? It's hard to guess what might be in here." She looked around as she spoke.

"My house this evening?" He suggested, knowing that she probably wanted to talk about the content of the surveillance video.

"Okay." She agreed, then wondered why it felt like she had just gotten herself into a trap.

....

When she had finished work and was about to leave, an unwelcome guest made his way into her office.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Her brows furrowed as she looked at Liam.

"Thank you for helping Desmond out." He did not give her the chance to kick him out before he could state the reason for his visit.

Hearing his words, she let out a low snicker. "Don't think too much of yourself, Liam."

"Am I?" He wondered what she was talking about when she acted on his words.

Her lips were curled into a smile as she played with a pen in her hand. "I did it for Desmond. There isn't a woman who wouldn't do her best to help her man out, Mmh?"

"Your man, Zaria…"

She didn't wait for him to finish speaking as he was standing there and looking speechless. Dropping the pen into the pen holder, she kept the remaining files in her drawer and locked it, then took her bag. "He's so great. You have no idea. Will you stop trying to separate us?"

Liam who was already speechless, didn't let out a peep. He simply turned around and left.

...

"Shoot. What the fuck is wrong with me?" Zaria cursed as she left her office.

"What's wrong is that you're madly in love." A familiar scent wafted into her nose as a pair of hands wrapped around her from the back. "With me." The narcissistic man added.

"Shut up." She silenced him then wondered whether she had overheard their conversation.

He zipped his mouth and pressed the elevator button, then pulled her in as soon as it arrived. "I want you so badly."

"What the hell do you mean?" She chided as she looked up to meet his gaze.

"What I mean is, I want to make love to you." Came the man's unrestrained answer. "I want to pin you down on my bed and…"

"I know what you mean, dummy. You don't have to say it out aloud." She interrupted him, feeling embarrassed. Luckily, there was no one else in the elevator or she would have died from their piercing, judgemental stares.

The man shrugged in all innocence. "You asked me. I was only stating what I want to do to you."

She ignored him, but then noticed that his eyes were glued onto her. His seductive gaze made her hairs rise and when she peeked at him through the mirror, she almost couldn't stop herself from kissing him.

" Don't give me that look." She tried to maintain her rationality.

"Let's talk about this." He smiled and before she knew it, he was in front of her and pinning her against the wall. Her bag fell and she couldn't pick it up because he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her. His hands circled her neck and she bit her lower lip to stop a gasp.

"You're being invasive." She softly complained.

"You're hot and cold." He retorted, referring to how she would kiss him one moment and avoid his touch in the next. He almost couldn't keep up.

"This is an elevator."

He was not listening to her because his lips landed on hers, his hands snaking down her body to hold her waist. He kissed her as much as he had wanted to do all day, savoring her lips as his hand slid down her butt and held her thigh to bring it up his waist.

She heard a soft chime and her eyes flew open. She tried to push him off her but the man didn't budge.

"Desmond."

"Mmh?" He paused even though he didn't want to.

"We're on the ground floor." Her voice was like that of a mistress and her lover, caught pants down by the legitimate wife.

He turned to find that not only was the elevator open, but they were also being stared at by the employees who were gathering to watch the spectacle.

Disregarding her awkwardness, she picked her bag and straightened her skirt then walked out like nothing had happened.

"The CEO and Miss Williams were making out in the elevator?" She heard a secretary gasp in shock as she passed by the employees.

"Is that supposed to be something new?" Came another employee's retort.

…

Zaria entered her car, and Desmond thought that she was planning for then to go to his house in her car today. He entered and sat in the passenger seat, but she started driving without saying a word to him.

"Are you upset?" He asked for confirmation.

From her silence, he didn't need to ask a second time. "I'm sorry, I lost control of myself and…"

"Do you think I'm mad about that?" She interrupted him with a glare.

"Why are you upset, then?" He asked as gently as possible.

She stopped the car at a red light and glared at him. "You have the nerve to ask? "Is that supposed to be something new?" What does that mean?"

He didn't understand what she was talking about.

"Is it a normality for you to kiss and make out with your assistants?" She directly asked the man who she thought was feigning ignorance.

He finally understood that she was asking about one of the employee's comments. He cursed that employee in his heart for creating such a misunderstanding.

"No. I'm sure that's not what her words meant. They meant you. It's not the first time I'm kissing you in the office building."

"Don't try to weave your way around it." He sounded like a scumbag would, making excuses to get away with cheating.

He knew that it was hard to explain but he still tried. "I promise you. I have always drawn a line between work and personal matters. I'm sure she did not mean that I have done it in the past because I didn't do it."

"You expect me to believe you." She chuckled and resumed driving as the light flashed to green. Who would believe his words? If he had always drawn a fine line between work and personal matters, then what about all those times he flirted with her in the past? What about now? Wasn't she his assistant?

"No." He admitted when she saw her accusatory look.

"Yet you still explained yourself.?" She found him absurd.

"Because I know that once you calm down, you will do your magic and find out whether or not I've flirted around with my former assistants." Came his reply.