Beneath the Table

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For seven years, I was billionaire Sebastian Scott's dirty little secret in Washington D.C.

By day, I was his sharp, capable secretary. By night, I was his on-call playthingalways available, always giving him whatever he wanted.

I thought seven years of devotion would earn me a public commitment. Then the new intern walked into his office and changed everything.

I was forced to hide beneath his darkened desk, listening as he laughed softly for another woman just above me: "Scarlett Blake? She's nothing but a convenient outlet. How could she ever compare to you?"

In that moment, seven years of foolish hope shattered into pieces. I crawled out from under him, wiped the corners of my mouth, and walked straight into the arms of another powerful man in Washington.

Later, Sebastian cornered me with bloodshot eyesdesperate, begging me to come back. I just smirked and tilted his chin up with my finger. "Mr. Scott, I'm done playing lapdog."

Sebastian Scott's office was on the top floor, with panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the bustling D.C. business district.

Right now, the blinds were shut tight.

He had me pinned hard against the cold glass, my legs forced apart, my black pencil skirt bunched up around my waist.

"Mr. Scott... mmm... we're still at work..."

I bit my lower lip, trying to hold back the broken sounds rising from my throat.

Sebastian pressed against me from behind, his scorching breath fanning over the curve of my neck. His large hands gripped my waist hard, fingers digging in like a punishment every thrust sending tremors through my entire body.

"What's wrong with being at the office?" His low, husky voice carried a thread of cruel amusement. His teeth grazed my earlobe. "Wasn't Miss Blake just begging me for more last night? Why are you playing innocent now?"

"Don't someone might hear us"

My whole body had gone soft as water. All I could do was grip the window frame and hold on. Seven years. I knew every inch of him every temperature, every rhythm. All it took was one look, and every wall I had would come crashing down. I'd become his willingly, a toy he could use however he pleased.

Then, without warning, the door handle clicked.

"Mr. Scott? Are you in there?"

The voice drifting in from the hallway was soft and breathy Sarah Anne, the new intern.

I froze instantly. Even my breathing stopped.

Sebastian paused too. But instead of pulling back, he drove forward once more deliberate, unhurried and only after he heard my sharp gasp did he leisurely zip up his slacks.

"Get under there."

His voice was cold and flat. He gestured toward the space beneath the large mahogany desk.

I clenched my jaw and yanked my skirt back down. Then I got on my hands and knees and crawled into the cramped dark space like a rat scurrying out of the light.

I had barely tucked myself in when the door swung open.

"Mr. Scott, why didn't you answer when I knocked?" Sarah walked in on her stilettos, hips swaying. She had on a silk blouse today with a deep plunging neckline. Her perfume flooded the room instantly, smothering the warm, intimate scent of us that had still been hanging in the air.

Sebastian leaned back in his chair, long legs crossed casually.

My face was inches from the hem of his slacks. I could still smell the warmth on him the scent that was mine.

"What is it?" Sebastian's voice had returned to its usual cool, detached calm. You'd never have guessed that less than a minute ago, he'd been losing himself in me.

"I can't make sense of this proposal," Sarah said, rounding the desk. She leaned against the back of his chair, her chest brushing against his shoulder whether by accident or not. "Miss Blake is always so cold. I'd never dare ask her. Could you please teach me, Mr. Scott?"

As she spoke, Sarah's pen slipped from her fingers with a soft clatter and rolled straight under the desk.

"Oops my pen."

She let out a little gasp and started to crouch down to reach underneath.

My heart shot into my throat. I pressed both hands over my mouth, cold sweat soaking through my back. If she spotted me disheveled, tucked between Sebastian's legs every shred of dignity I'd held onto for seven years would become a joke.

Just as Sarah's face was about to peer underneath, Sebastian's hand shot out and hooked around her waist, pulling her straight into his lap.

"It's just a pen." He let out a quiet laugh, and his voice carried a rare, indulgent softness. "Is it really worth getting yourself?"

Sarah slid onto his lap, her voice coy and playful. "Mr. Scott, you're so naughty. But... Scarlett always looks so uptight, dressing like some frumpy nun. Doesn't staring at her all day kill your mood? Not like me I know exactly how to make a man happy..."

Under the desk, I drove my nails into my palm until I drew blood.

I held my breath, desperately hoping Sebastian would say something in my defense. Even just one sentence even just "she's good at her job."

But there was nothing.

A low, lazy laugh drifted down from above.

One of his hands toyed with Sarah's hair on the desktop. The other rested on my head beneath the desk idle and absentminded like he was patting a cheap little pet.

"Scarlett?" Sebastian's voice was casual, almost bored. But it cut like a blade dipped in poison, driving straight into my chest. "She's nothing. Just a convenient outlet I keep around to use. Lies there like a dead fish nowhere near as fun as you."

"Oh, stop it, Mr. Scott~ I'll be waiting for you at the Hilton tonight..."

Their flirtatious voices tangled together above my head.

I crouched in the darkness beneath the desk as tears fell silently onto the cold floor.

Seven years.

Seven years I had stood by his side from the day he was nothing but an illegitimate son with nothing to his name, clawing his way up, all the way to the moment he secured his seat as CEO of The Scott Group. I had fended off the grabby hands of drunk men at his business dinners. I had stayed up countless nights writing proposal after proposal. And in more moments than I could count, I had humiliated myself to satisfy his every twisted desire.

I thought I was something special to him.

Turns out, I was just "a convenient outlet he kept around."

In that moment, my heart died. Not with shattering, unbearable pain just a slow, nauseating wave of disgust rising in my chest.

I listened as Sebastian sent Sarah away.

The moment the door clicked shut, he nudged my shoulder with the tip of his shoe.

"Come out. Let's finish." He leaned back in his chair, reaching for his zipper, looking down at me like he was doing me a favor.

I slowly crawled out from under the desk. But I didn't kneel between his legs the way I always had.

I stood up straight. I smoothed my tangled hair. I peeled off my torn stockings and dropped them into the trash can beside me.

"Mr. Scott, I've got my period. I'm not up for it today."

I looked at him. My eyes were calmer than they had ever been.

Sebastian frowned, visibly annoyed by the refusal something that had never happened before. "Scarlett. Stop playing games. Get over here."

"No."

I picked up the documents from the desk and turned toward the door. "Don't you have the Hilton tonight? Save your energy."

With Sebastian staring after me in stunned silence, I pushed the door open and walked out without looking back.

That was the first time in seven years I had refused him.

At eight o'clock that evening, I returned to the apartment I shared with Sebastian.

The open-plan penthouse in the heart of the city I had decorated it myself, piece by piece.

The sofa was Italian luxury, chosen for his taste. The rug was the softest wool I could find, picked deliberately because he liked doing things in the living room. Even the double bathtub in the bathroom had been custom-ordered to match his preferences.

Every inch of this apartment was a reminder of how low I had let myself sink.

I walked into the bedroom and pulled out the suitcase I hadn't touched in years.

I opened the wardrobe. Inside, it was almost entirely his row after row of expensive suits. What belonged to me amounted to a few dull work outfits, and a drawer full of lingerie I'd bought to please him scraps of fabric that barely covered anything.

I let out a cold laugh and swept every piece of it into a trash bag.

God, it was disgusting.

I took only my everyday clothes, my laptop, and my documents.

When I was done, the suitcase was barely half full.

Seven years. And I had nothing left to show for it.

I left the apartment key on the dining table. Next to it sat the pumpkin soup I had made for him the night before completely cold now.

I was about to push the door open and leave when my phone buzzed.

A SnapChat message from Sebastian.

"What's your problem? Get back here. I want you now."

Even through the screen, I could picture him perfectly tie pulled loose, staring me down like he owned me.

He was so used to me being available whenever he called. So used to me coming running the moment he so much as crooked a finger like a dog in heat desperate to get to him.

I stared at the screen for three seconds.

Then I typed back: "Go find Sarah if you need it that bad. I'm done."

I hit send, then blocked him and deleted him all in one smooth motion.

Dragging my suitcase out of the apartment building, I felt the early autumn night breeze cool against my skin. But my mind had never been clearer.

My phone rang. It was my best friend, Kate Hamilton.

"Scarlett, you actually moved out of Sebastian's place?" Kate shrieked. "You finally woke up! I always said that jerk didn't deserve you!"

"Yeah. Wide awake." I stood under a streetlight, watching the traffic stream past. "Kate, you mentioned The Hale Group is looking for a Chief Strategy Officer is that position still open?"

"The Hale Group? Nathan Hale's company?!" Kate sucked in a sharp breath. "The position's open, but Nathan is Sebastian's worst enemy. If you go work for The Hale Group, Sebastian will lose his mind."

"Whether he loses his mind is not my problem." I flagged down a cab. "Get me an introduction. I'm going in for the interview tomorrow."

"Done! I've been waiting for you to absolutely crush it!"

The next morning, I put on a full face of makeup, slipped into a fitted wine-red French trench coat, stepped into three-inch heels, and walked into The Scott Group's HR department right on time.

For seven years, I'd stuck to blacks, whites, and grays to fit Sebastian's preference for keeping a low profile.

Today, I was going back to being myself.

HR Director Amy's eyes nearly popped out of her head the moment she saw me.

"Scarlett Miss Blake? Today you're..."

"Amy, this is my resignation letter." I slid the white envelope across the desk. My voice was clipped and final.

Amy jumped to her feet. "Resignation?! Scarlett, are you joking? You're Mr. Scott's right hand if you leave, what will Mr. Scott"

"I already send him by email." I brushed a curl back and gave him a slow, effortless smile. "I've given the required one month's notice, but I have seven years of unused paid time off. Once I finish the handover today, I'm done."

Amy wiped the sweat from her forehead and couldn't bring herself to take the envelope.

Less than five minutes later, the intercom from the executive office rang down to HR.

"Tell Scarlett to get her ass to my office." Sebastian's voice crackled through the speakerphone, barely containing his fury.

I walked to the CEO's office at my own pace, heels clicking, and pushed open the door.

Sebastian sat behind the massive desk, tie half-undone, eyes shot through with red. Looked like last night with Sarah had been a long one.

When I walked in, his gaze landed on my wine-red trench coat and red lips and stayed there for a full five seconds. His Adam's apple moved he couldn't stop it.

But he covered it quickly, trading the flash of surprise for a mocking smirk.

"You dress like that to hand in a resignation? Scarlett, your little 'playing hard to get' routine is embarrassingly transparent."

He crumpled the resignation letter into a ball and tossed it cleanly into the trash.

"You blocked me last night, now you're in here with a resignation letter." He stood and walked over until he was right in front of me, staring down at me. He reached out to lift my chin with his fingers. "All because I said a few nice things about Sarah yesterday? Are you really that jealous?"

"Come over tonight." He lowered his voice, all suggestion and entitlement. "I'll make it up to you."

I turned my head away in disgust, stepping out of his reach.

"Mr. Scott, you've misread this." I took a step back, putting space between us. "This is a real resignation. You already have the handover checklist in your inbox."

Sebastian's hand froze in the air. His expression went cold.

"Scarlett, don't push your luck. Walk out of The Scott Group, and tell me who in Washington is going to hire you?"

"That's not your concern, Mr. Scott." I held his gaze without flinching. "Please sign. I'm on a tight schedule."

Sebastian stared at me, searching my face for any trace of spite, or regret, or reluctance.

There was nothing there but impatience.

He let out a short, cold laugh. "Fine. Great. You want to get out of here? Then go. I want to see how long you last without me."

He strode back to the desk, signed his name with a sharp stroke, and flung the documents at me.

"Go do your handover with Sarah. That ten-billion-dollar project in the south it's hers now."

I caught the papers without flinching.

"No problem."

That afternoon, the handover took place right in the middle of the open office, in front of everyone.

Sarah sat beside my desk in a tight bodycon skirt, flipping through the City South project files I'd put together, her expression dripping with disdain.

"Miss Blake, don't you think these files are a little... much?" Sarah whined in that saccharine voice of hers, her eyes sliding smugly to the coworkers around us. "There's so much data here. Who's actually going to read all of this?"

Every single person in the office had their ears perked up, soaking in every word.

Everyone knew the City South project was my ace in the hole three months of sleepless nights and a bleeding ulcer just to close that deal. And now, with one word from Sebastian, it was being handed over to Sarah, who had barely been here five minutes.

This was a flat-out humiliation.

But inside, I felt nothing.

"Everything's in these files. I've marked the key negotiating limits in red," I said, pointing to one of the pages. "Mr. Lane is a cunning old fox he doesn't care about surface-level profits. What he really cares about is equity dilution down the line. When you sit down with him, do not budge on giving up more than five percent equity. Not even close."

Sarah rolled her eyes and cut me off. "Okay, okay, I get it. Mr. Scott already told me once I walk in there, Mr. Lane will play ball. Your whole rigid negotiating style is completely outdated."

I looked at her all overconfidence and zero self-awareness and decided she wasn't worth another single word.

"The USB drive has all the recordings and backups. The password is The Scott Group's founding date. Handover's done. I'm out."

I grabbed my bag and turned to leave.

That's when Sarah let out a sharp cry.

"Wait Miss Blake, this spreadsheet you gave me is wrong! Mr. Lane just called. He said our quote shows no sincerity and he's pulling out of the deal!"

Sarah shot to her feet, eyes instantly welling up with tears. She stared at me with that wounded look. "Miss Blake, I know you're jealous that Mr. Scott gave this project to me but you can't just mess with the numbers to set me up!"

That outburst was enough to drag Sebastian out of his office.

"What's going on?" He strode over, brow furrowed.

Sarah lunged toward him and grabbed his sleeve. "Mr. Scott, the bottom-line price sheet Miss Blake gave me is wrong, and Mr. Lane is furious"

Sebastian's cold, sharp gaze locked onto me.

"Scarlett, there's a limit to throwing a tantrum. You think you can play games with a billion-dollar deal just because you're upset?"

He didn't ask a single question. He just convicted me on the spot.

I looked at this man I had loved for seven years, and suddenly found the whole thing almost funny.

I walked forward, snatched the spreadsheet straight out of Sarah's hands, and held it up.

"Mr. Scott, I suggest you open your eyes and actually look at this. The bottom-line price on this sheet is the version you personally agreed to at that business dinner last week the concession you made to impress Sarah, right in front of Mr. Lane. I warned you at the time that price would blow through the company's profit floor. You told me to shut up."

My voice rang out clear and sharp across the entire office.

The whole room sucked in a breath.

Sebastian's face went ashen. His eyes flickered.

I didn't give him the chance to speak. I slammed the spreadsheet straight into Sarah's face.

"If you don't have the brains for this, don't embarrass yourself in public. The City South project is a disaster waiting to happen. Since you two filthy lovebirds are so fond of it, it's all yours enjoy."

I reached up, unclipped my badge, and tossed it into the trash can beside me.

"Sebastian, we're even. Seven years of my life wasted on you."

In the dead silence that fell over the entire office, I walked out of The Scott Group on my heels, head held high.

Behind me, Sebastian's voice erupted in a furious roar.

"Scarlett! You walk out that door today, don't ever think about coming back!"

I didn't even turn around. I just flipped him off.