"But why would Anya do it?" I realized the answer as soon as I said it. "Of course, she would. She needs money for her mom's treatment."

Anya's mother was on life support from a severe car accident a few years ago. Anya was her only daughter and her husband was a useless alcoholic. The poor girl was left to fend for her mother and herself.

I almost didn't want to believe that Anya could be backstabbing me.

She was the assistant of the previous COO for a whole year. I had been a little afraid that she would hate me since her previous boss was fired because of a huge blunder he made. But after I met Anya, I realized I had nothing to worry about. She has always been so utterly sweet to me. She would give me random hugs and always bring me the best food from the cafeteria. Was that all a facade?

"So what do you want to do, Alena?" Elian asked, breaking in through my thoughts. "We can hand her to the police or I can finish her off—" The glare I shot at him made him speak no further.

"I may not have worked with Anya for that long, Elian, but I can't just do that to her. What will happen to her mom if we hand her to the police? She won't be able to pay her bills—"

"Well, she should have thought about that before messing with my company," he argued. "Soldiers in the military died because she leaked our data to the Blacklist gang, Alena. Those people tried to kill us as well. This is not a mistake that you can just overlook as her boss."

I exhaled a deep breath and leaned back on the couch, covering my eyes with my wrist. I wanted to argue back, but he was making valid points, and yet..."I don't want to do this to her."

"I know. But you are not doing anything wrong." Elian wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gently pulled me into his chest, caressing my hair with his other hand. "Ms. Aled knew what she was getting into when she signed up as their spy."

"I know, but still..." My heart wasn't agreeing with it. Anya couldn't be this evil. There had to be some deep reason if she was. I almost gasped as a thought occurred to me. I sat up straight and speculated, "What if the Blacklist gang is blackmailing Anya?"

"Their gang is dead now. Most members died, and the rest fled."

"But there could still be other members out there."

"Sure, there can be. But they would be powerless against us."

I pursed my lips and suggested, "Can you dig into it more and find out more about Anya? Until then, let's just let Anya be."

Elian shook his head in disagreement. "No, I can't let you be around someone dangerous like that."

I took a deep breath and explained, "She doesn't know that we know, Elian. If she wanted to harm me, she would have done so a long time ago. Her goal is to stay here and act as a spy. She wouldn't hurt me."

"What if she does?"

"Then what? I will d—"

"Don't." It was a simple word, but it was so sharp and resounding it made me freeze in between my talking. Because I could hear the seeping fear in it.

I... I might not have realized until now how badly my accident had affected Elian.

No one may have told me how severe my condition was after the accident, but judging from his reaction, I could guess it wasn't easy to get me back to life.

In order to lighten up the mood, I shot him a mischievous look and crooned, "Aww, does my sweet boss not want me to die?"

He glared at me. "Don't test me like that, Alena. You know, I hate it when you talk about dying."

"I don't know, Elian. I'm an amnesiac, remember?" I feigned.

"Well, now you know."

Okay. Bad decision. Definitely not something he wanted to hear a joke about.

I let out an exaggerating sigh and said, "Fine. I'm sorry. I will never talk about it again."

Our espressos were long finished, and it was getting time for me to start working, so there was no more reason to stick around.

I was about to get up when Elian mentioned, "By the way, I know that you said you love me yesterday, but I think you should still know that Kevin has a girlfriend. So if you ever change your mind about me, he's the last person you should go to. He's a douche."

He didn't—

Oh, God, Elian actually dug out dirt on Kevin so that I wouldn't go out with him.

I tried to maintain my serious expression and said, "I knew."

"Then, why the hell were you flirting with him?" Elian gave me a cryptic look. "Your preference hasn't changed over the years, has it?"

"It could have."

He narrowed his eyes on me, finally figuring out flirting with Kevin was a complete ploy to get a reaction out of him. "You were just messing with me, weren't you?"

"You figure it out yourself. I have to start working now. If you will excuse me now, Mr. Storm—" I stood up, and just then, he tugged at my wrist and pulled me back.

I let out a squeak and fell right into his lap, my hands instinctively grabbing onto his shoulders. My eyes were level to his now, our noses brushing against each other, and our chests flushed. His unstable breathing was the only thing I could hear.

His hands on my waist and thigh were sending scorching heat waves throughout my entire body; it felt so familiar yet I couldn't remember feeling like this in a very long time.

My throat became dry, and all I wanted was to crash my lips on his.

From the way he was licking his lips, he seemed to be mirroring my desire.

He was about to close the gap between our lips, but then I remembered what he said last night.

"No, stop," I uttered with great difficulty, and he immediately halted, driving his head farther back so that our heads were a good few inches back.

"God, you better not bring up Kevin again, or I swear I will kill one of us, either him or myself," he let out in frustration.

I almost wanted to laugh, but given that I was just as full of desire as him, I could understand where he was coming from.

"Remember what you said last night? You needed some time to think, and I'm willing to give you that. But I'm not the type to indulge in this sort of relationship," I motioned at the distance between us, or lack thereof, "with a guy whom I don't have an official relationship with." I had a feeling that if our lips had met, it wouldn't stop there. We would both crave more, and I would be late for the meeting that was in half an hour. "So I hope you understand."

Elian closed his eyes and chewed his bottom lips. He exhaled a deep breath and opened his eyes, forcing a tight-lipped smile to cover his disappointment. "You're right. Sorry."

I returned his smile and kissed his cheek lightly before getting up from his lap.

As I was leaving, I felt a little bad, so I turned around and said, "However, I'm the type who agrees to a date if nicely asked."

Elian grinned and looked up at me. "Well, then, would you like to go on a date this Sunday? Cross my heart—there will be tons of desserts."

"Damn, you ruined the minimum possibility of me rejecting you by promising desserts," I complained playfully, but then I let a full smile cover my face as I said, "Since there's going to be desserts, yes, of course, I will go on a date with you."