All Chapters of The Assistant’s Sinful Bargain: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

POV DEFNE The first thing I noticed was the blood on my blouse. It was not much, just a thin red stain near the collar where my lower lip had split, but against the white silk it looked obscene, impossible to hide. I pressed two fingers to my mouth, tasted iron, and kept walking across the underground parking lot of Sahenk Tower as if my legs were not trembling inside my cheap heels. My phone vibrated again in my hand. Unknown Number. I did not need to answer to know who it was. Berat had called twelve times since I left the accounting floor, and each time I ignored him, the messages became uglier. Pick up, Defne. Then: You don’t get to disappear from me. And the last one, the one that had made me leave the elevator on the wrong floor because my vision blurred for a second: I found out where you work late. The parking lot was almost empty at that hour, nothing but polished black cars, concrete pillars, and the cold fluorescent lights that made everything look sickly and expe

POV DEFNE I should have left the moment he said that. Any sane woman would have. Instead, I stayed frozen in the middle of Adem Sahenk’s kitchen with his fingers still resting beneath my chin and my heartbeat turning uneven for reasons that had nothing to do with fear anymore. That terrified me most. He released me slowly, almost as if he knew exactly how aware I had become of the warmth of his hand against my skin. Then he stepped back, putting distance between us with the same controlled precision he seemed to apply to everything else in his life. “Sit down,” he said. “I already am.” A faint shadow of amusement crossed his face before disappearing again. It was strange seeing traces of humanity on a man everyone treated like a machine built for power. In the office, executives lowered their voices when he walked by. Investors watched him the way people watched storms approaching the sea. Even his wife, from the few times I had seen them together at company events, behaved le

POV DEFNE Adem did not answer the call immediately. For several long seconds, he only watched the screen illuminate the marble counter while the phone continued vibrating between us. The sound seemed unnaturally loud inside the quiet penthouse, cutting through the tension that still lingered in the air after his hand had been against my face and his body had been close enough for me to feel the heat of him. Enise. I knew that name long before I ever saw her in person. Everyone in Istanbul’s corporate circles did. Enise Sahenk was elegant in the way old money often was, all polished restraint and perfectly measured smiles. At company events, she moved beside her husband like someone born understanding that appearances were more important than emotions. Beautiful. Untouchable. Controlled. Nothing like me standing barefoot on his marble floor with a split lip and bruises darkening beneath my sleeve. “You should answer,” I said quietly, mostly because I needed him to step away from m

POV DEFNEFor several seconds, I could not look away from the contract.The words blurred slightly beneath the warm kitchen lights while my heartbeat pounded hard enough to make me dizzy. I read the sentence again anyway, hoping I had misunderstood it the first time.Direct personal protection and supervision.It did not sound like legal language. It sounded intimate. Controlled. Dangerous in a way that had very little to do with debt collectors or financial risk.Slowly, I lifted my eyes toward Adem.“You cannot be serious.”The lawyer standing near the counter wisely remained silent, though I noticed the subtle tension in his posture. He looked like a man who had spent years witnessing morally questionable decisions while being paid too much to object to them.Adem closed the folder calmly. “Sit down, Defne.”“No.”The answer came out sharper than intended, but panic had already begun spreading through my chest. Until this moment, part of me had still believed there would be limits.

POV DEFNE My fingers tightened instinctively around the phone. For a second, I simply stared at the message while heat rushed into my face so quickly it became difficult to think clearly. The words themselves were calm, almost painfully polite compared to the ugliness of the anonymous messages from earlier, yet somehow they unsettled me far more. I know she’s with you. Not Who is she? Not Is it true? She already knew. Or believed she did. Slowly, I lifted my eyes toward Adem. “What am I supposed to do with this?” “Nothing.” He took the phone back from my hand and placed it on the counter with the same composure he seemed capable of maintaining under any circumstance. I could not understand how someone remained so calm while their marriage quietly threatened to unravel around them. “Your wife thinks you brought another woman home after midnight, and your response is nothing?” “My response is deciding whether this situation deserves my attention.” The answer stunned