Zaria woke up to a phone call from Desmond, and when she answered it, the man croaked into her ears. "Zaria, are you awake? It's urgent."

"What happened?" The sleep cleared off her eyes as she sat up and asked.

"I want to get to the office earlier today, but I can't decide what to wear."

She was speechless for a moment. Seriously, this man must have switched his tactics of torturing her and decided to do so by driving her insane? In what way was that her business? Besides, who the heck calls their employees at 3.40 am? Was this boss a sadist?

She held back the urge to curse at him and hang up. "Sir, I'm your executive assistant, not your stylist. Did you dial the wrong contact number?"

"My stylist's name is not Zaria." He said in all confidence. "So, what should I wear?"

"A suit." She said through gritted teeth.

Still, the man was unsatisfied. "I have too many of those to choose from.

"Then wear the emperor's new robe for all I care! I'm going back to sleep." She yelled, frustrated about having been woken up for such a trivial matter.

The man sounded like he was having a thrill messing with her. He let out a low laugh. "What's the emperor's new robe?" He pretended to realize what she meant and sounded amused. "Ah, that. Naughty little fox, are you asking me to wear nothing? If you want me to wear that to the office, it's impossible…"

She so badly wanted to hang up but didn't dare to. The man continued in his deep, seductive voice, "But if you want me to wear my birthday suit to your room, I can consider it."

She sighed and shoved her phone to the space beside her, using his voice as a lullaby to lull her back to sleep.

….

By the time Zaria got to the office, she was almost late. She hurriedly prepared the required documents for Desmond's meeting.

Just as she settled down, she received a call from Liam and went over to his office.

The man was busy, so he cut the chase. "My assistant took the day off to handle an emergency. Could I trouble you to get me a cup of coffee?"

"No problem." It only took a few minutes, so Zaria brought it to him. Seeing how busy and frustrated he was, she spoke up. "There are a few interns in the company, some of whom have almost nothing to do. Do you need me to arrange for one of them to help you out today?"

He looked up like he had seen a savior. "Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, Zaria."

She was baffled by his response. Did he always do everything himself if his assistant was absent? Why did that sound absurd?

As if thinking of something, the man spoke up again. "Zaria, I need you to do me a favor."

"What do you need?" She asked, jolting from her thoughts.

"Help me send a message to someone." He stated, then slid a card to her. "Make the call in five minutes."

Her eyes widened in shock at the content. "The Fort family? Why can't you do it yourself? You do know that I'll be in trouble if Desmond finds out, right?"

"I'm really busy." He lied guiltily. Realizing that she had seen through him, he pinched his eyebrows. "Look. Just make the call, okay? Please."

He was her superior, and he was not asking her to do anything against the law, so there was no reason for her to say no. She could only nod. "Right away."

"I'm sorry, Zaria." He mumbled when the door gently closed behind her. He didn't know why he was doing this either. All he knew was that he couldn't stand the thought of what would happen if she got too close to Desmond.

…

Zaria slumped into her chair and inwardly lamented about how difficult this task was. On her screen was the information she had just gathered about the man she needed to call.

Jaime Fort—Desmond's brother.

She didn't know the exact details, thanks to the secrecy of the Fort Family, but she knew that the relationship between the brothers was worse than that of mortal enemies.