All Chapters of Valerio's Secretary: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

46 Chapters

Chapter Eleven: The Warning.

Zara's POVThe morning light feels annoying.I barely slept after getting home from the office. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt Valerio’s body pressing me against the elevator wall, his breath on my lips, the hard evidence of how much he wanted me. My skin still tingles where his thumb had traced under my breast, and my mind keeps replaying the way he’d shoved himself away, as if touching me physically hurt him.By six-thirty, I’m already dressed and kissing Liam’s forehead as he eats breakfast. He looks up at me with those big eyes that are so much like his father’s.“Mommy, you look tired,” he says, syrup dripping down his chin.I force a smile and wipe his face. “Mommy had a long night at the big building. But I’ll be home earlier tonight, okay?”He nods, but I see the doubt flicker across his little face. Three years old and he’s already learning that Mommy’s promises sometimes get swallowed by work. The guilt sits heavily in my chest as I drive to Cruz Holdings.The executive

Chapter Twelve: The Digging

Valerio’s POVShe’s under my skin, and I hate it.I lean back in my leather chair, staring through the glass wall at Zara Matthews as she works at her desk. The executive floor has emptied out hours ago, but she’s still here. Head bent over the latest files I’ve thrown at her, fingers moving with that maddening precision that makes my blood run hot. After interrupting her with Marcus in the records room, I can’t shake the image of her standing there, looking guilty and determined at the same time. I lean back in my chair, rubbing the scar on my temple. The headaches have been getting worse since she arrived, and fragments keep surfacing — a woman’s laugh, soft hands on my face, the taste of vanilla and sin.I open the encrypted folder I’ve started building, notes on Zara Matthews. Her references are so perfect, her background clean, and the way she looks at me…like she knows secrets about my own life that I don’t.Late night in this office. A lady on her knees in front of me, looking

Chapter Thirteen: The Unraveling

Zara’s POVThe apartment is silent when I finally get home. Liam is fast asleep, one small arm wrapped around his stuffed wolf. I stand in his doorway for a long time, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest, guilt twisting like a knife in my gut. Another night, I have missed putting him to bed. Another night, Valerio had kept me at the office until I was running on fumes and memories I can’t afford to drown in.I kiss his forehead softly and whisper, “Mommy’s sorry, baby. I’m trying to fix this for us.”Mrs. Rivera has already gone home, making the living room feel too empty. I pour myself a glass of water and sit at the small kitchen table, pulling out the encrypted USB from my bag. My hands still tremble slightly from the night’s events.Valerio’s touch lingers on my skin. The way his fingers had brushed my neck, the heat of his body behind me as we reviewed documents. The raw need in his voice when he asked why everything felt familiar.I plug the USB into my laptop and con

Chapter Fourteen: The Break Room

Valerio's POV The break room smells of burnt coffee and cheap pastries. I don’t usually come down here. Executives have their own lounge on the top floor, but something pulls me today, or someone. I push open the door and stop at once.Zara stands near the counter, a paper cup in her hand, talking to Ryan from Marketing. The bastard is leaning too close, one arm braced on the counter beside her, flashing that easy, practiced smile he uses on every woman in the building.“…so if you’re free this weekend, there’s this great little Italian place downtown. Best tiramisu in the city. I could show you around after work sometime?”Zara gives him a polite smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “That’s kind of you, but I—”“She’s not,” I cut in, my voice sharp enough to slice through the room.Both of them turn, Ryan straightens instantly, the smile dropping from his face like I’ve slapped it off. Zara’s eyes widen, a flash of surprise mixed with anger.“Mr. Cruz,” Ryan stammers. “I was just—”

Chapter 15: The Basement

Zara’s POVMy legs are still unsteady when I return to my desk after the break room incident. Valerio’s touch burns on my hip, my waist, the sensitive skin below my ear. I can still feel the hard press of his body against mine, the raw hunger in his voice when he told me this wasn’t finished.I sit down and stare at my screen, my heart racing.This is spiraling way too fast. Every day, Valerio pushes harder, and every night, the tension between us grows thicker. I need to focus. The investigation can’t wait.While Valerio is in a closed-door strategy meeting, I slip away again. This time, I go to the old IT storage room on the basement level, a place most employees didn’t even know existed. Luca gave me a temporary access code weeks ago with one warning: Don’t get caught.The room is dimly lit and dusty. Old servers hum in the corner. I sit at the single terminal and start digging deeper into the fragments I have collected.Project Sentinel files.More pieces emerge. Emails between s

Chapter Sixteen: The First Kiss

Zara’s POVThe morning feels like I’m walking through fog.I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt Valerio’s body pressing me against his office door, his hard thigh between my legs, his rough whisper demanding truth I couldn’t give him. My lips still tingle from where they had almost met his, and my skin remembers every place he had touched.Liam notices my mood during breakfast, and he pushes his cereal around the bowl, looks up at me with those big, worried eyes.“Mommy sad?” he asks softly.I force a bright smile and kiss the top of his head. “Mommy’s just tired, baby. But everything is going to be okay. I promise.”He nods, but I see the doubt.I drop him off at Mrs. Rivera’s with an extra-long hug and drive to Cruz Holdings with a heavy heart. Today is day six. Only six days, and I already feel like I am drowning in Valerio Cruz.The executive floor is buzzing when I arrive, and Valerio is already in his office, pacing behind the glass like a caged lion. His eyes loc

Chapter Seventeen: The Threshold

Zara's POV The elevator ride down feels endless, and my lips still burn from the kiss. My hands won’t stop trembling as I clutch my bag tighter against my chest. I can still taste him: coffee, whiskey, and that intensity that has always been his way. Three years of distance did nothing to dull it all.I step out into the cool night air of the parking garage and lean against my car for a moment, trying to steady myself. This is getting too dangerous; the kiss is going to crack something open between us. By the time I get home, it’s almost ten. Liam is still awake, sitting on the couch in his pajamas with Mrs. Rivera, reading him a story. The moment he sees me, his whole face lights up.“Mommy!”He runs into my arms, and I hold him tight, breathing in the familiar scent of baby shampoo and crayons. Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them away.“Hey, little man,” I whisper, kissing his curls. “Did you have a good day?”He nods against my shoulder. “I drew you and the tall building where

Chapter Eighteen: The Cracks

Zara’s POVMorning light filters through the thin curtains of my apartment, but it does nothing to ease the heaviness in my chest. I stand in the kitchen, coffee cup warm in my hands, staring at nothing while Liam eats his breakfast at the small table. He is humming happily, drawing another picture of the tall glass building with crayons scattered around him. Every few seconds, he glances up at me, like he can sense something is wrong.“Mommy, you okay?” he asks, tilting his head in that innocent way that always breaks me a little more.I force a smile and ruffle his curls. “I’m okay, baby. Just thinking about work.”He nods solemnly and goes back to his drawing, adding a little stick figure next to the building. “This is you, and maybe my daddy is inside.”The words hit like a quiet punch, and I turn away quickly, pretending to wash a dish so he can’t see my face. How much longer can I keep doing this? Hiding him from Valerio while Valerio pushes closer every single day? The kiss fro

Chapter Nineteen: The Confession

Zara’s POVThe weight of the day presses on my shoulders as I step into the dimly lit stairwell on the nineteenth floor. My conversation with Valerio earlier keeps replaying in my head, the way his forehead had rested against mine, the raw honesty in his voice when he said he wasn’t going anywhere. Every word chips away at the walls I have spent three years building, and I am running out of strength to hold them up.I need to talk to Luca, actually talk to him before I go mad, not the careful, coded conversations we usually have in hallways or emergency exits. I send him a quick text from my burner app and wait on the landing between floors, heart hammering.He appears ten minutes later, moving quietly down the stairs as if he belongs in the shadows. His face is tense, eyes scanning the area before settling on me.“You look like you’re about to break,” he says without greeting. “What happened?”I lean against the concrete wall, arms wrapped around myself, the cool surface grounding me

Chapter Twenty: The Photograph

Valerio’s POVThe office felt too quiet after Zara left. Her presence still lingers everywhere; at her desk, in the air, in the way the chair was slightly pushed back like she had left in a hurry. I sit down in her seat, leaning back, trying to make sense of the storm raging inside my head.These few days have been different. The almost-kiss in my office, the way she had looked at me when I pressed her against the door, and the way she had whispered that some doors should stay closed. Every interaction with her left me more unsettled than the last.I open the bottom drawer of her desk absentmindedly, not really expecting to find anything, and to my surprise, it’s not locked today. My fingers brush against something tucked deep in the back corner, behind a false panel I haven’t noticed before. I pull it out.A photograph.It is old, the edges worn soft from handling too much. In it, I was smiling…really smiling, in a way that feels foreign on my face now; with my arm around a woman. Sh

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