Chapter 177/I Forgot My Place

Chapter 177: 177/I Forgot My Place

Chapter 177

Stephanie’s point of view

I lifted my chin, trying desperately to mask the panic clawing up my throat. "Alexander... he will absolutely notice my sudden, prolonged absence from the mansion. He is going to demand to know exactly where the hell I’ve been all these hours."

He dragged a light breath from his cigar, a toxic, sinister smile spreading across his lips like pure venom. He delivered his next words in a calm, quiet tone that hit me like a lethal blast of lead. "I highly doubt his ass will ever notice your absence... otherwise, he would have already noticed that you are out here fucking cheating on him."

The brutal words hit me like a downpour of liquid fire, stripping away whatever armor I had left. I pressed my trembling palms into the leather cushions in absolute agony and helplessness, a strangled scream ripping from my throat as my eyes flooded with tears. "What the fuck do you want from me, Mr. Vincent?! Why do you keep getting high off torturing me in this pathetic, humiliating way?! What the hell do you want from me to finally leave me alone?!"

He shrugged his massive shoulders with absolute, icy indifference, as if my screaming meant absolutely nothing to him. He calmly flicked the cigar ash into the tray, his voice dead. "This is absolutely nothing yet, Miss Miller... this is merely the opening sequence of our game."

Gathering whatever remaining fragments of courage were left in my shattered soul, I looked directly into the depths of his cruel eyes, my voice thick with bitterness and regret. "Is all of this sick, twisted revenge seriously because I slapped your face in the office that day?! Is this entire nightmare over a solitary slap?!"

He locked his blue eyes onto mine like twin blades, his entire expression turning dangerously rigid as a low, terrifying hiss left his lips. "You crossed the line and fucked with the absolute wrong person in this world, Miss Miller... and now, you will carry the full goddamn weight of the consequences."

"Did your brilliant mind ever stop to ask why the hell I slapped you?!" I screamed, my nerves entirely shot, completely collapsing under the weight of it all. "Did you even bother to think about the reason?!"

"I didn’t pull a single stunt that could ever justify your hand touching my face," he shot back, his tone dry, solid, and entirely unmovable.

In that exact microsecond, pure terror flooded my soul and froze my limbs. Yet, a reckless, suicidal, and fatal streak of adrenaline took over my tongue, dragging me straight into the abyss. I hurled the words out, my voice booming through the room. "Because you are a heartless, cruel bastard!"

The entire space went dead silent. The atmosphere turned completely lethal.

His blue eyes widened in absolute, shattering shock at my sheer audacity. The smoke slowly drifted away from his face as he set his cigar down with agonizing slowness, his powerful fingers rock-solid. He pushed his towering, massive frame up from the sofa, his terrifying physical dominance filling the room.

He began advancing toward me with slow, weighted, calculated strides like a black panther stretching its muscles, locking its gaze onto a helpless prey before tearing it apart without a shred of mercy.

"I think you’ve entirely forgotten your place, Miss Miller," he murmured dangerously.

I pressed my back violently against the frame of the armchair, absolute terror seizing my chest as a wave of instant regret washed through me. "You... you’re the one who forgot your place and your goddamn boundaries, Mr. Vincent!" I stammered, my voice shaking violently. "You forgot that you are strictly my boss at the company... you are not a god to interrogate me like this and control my life and my every breath!"

He didn’t pause for a single fraction of a second. He kept advancing with a dangerous, icy detachment until he was towering completely over my head like a mountain. Then, he leaned his massive, broad frame down, his dark shadow entirely swallowing my face. The oxygen in the room instantly vanished, leaving the air suffocating and tight.

I swallowed hard, absolute terror locking my jaw as I interlocked my fingers, my nerves entirely shattered. With his hot breath fanning across my skin, I choked out, "What... what the hell are you doing?!"

He tilted his head, closing the distance between us until his skin was a fraction of an inch from mine, his deep, gravelly voice vibrating powerfully from the depths of his exposed chest. "What am I doing?!"

I tried to push him back with my panicked gaze, my voice cracking into a weak, suffocating plea. "Get away from me... please, just get the hell away!"

His eyes narrowed into a dark, highly dangerous challenge. "And why the hell should I get away?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I choked out, entirely helpless against his mass. "Move... you’re my boss!"

A cruel, freezing, and deeply mocking smile spread across his lips. His hot, heavy breath brushed boldly against my skin, violently shaking my entire existence as he whispered, "I completely forgot my place, didn’t I? And now I want to remember it... didn’t your own tongue just tell me to do exactly that, Miss Miller?"

Shock completely paralyzed my entire body as I watched his piercing blue eyes devour my features from a dangerously close distance, stealing every single drop of oxygen left in my chest. I desperately tried to press my head back further, but the hard leather of the armchair blocked me completely. I was utterly trapped beneath him, his massive arms slamming down onto both sides of the seat like an iron fence, cutting off any chance of escape.

A stray cold droplet from his damp hair fell straight onto my neck, sending a violent, electric jolt through my trembling frame. I ground my teeth together, forcing my cracked voice to sound as steady as possible. "Mr. Vincent... back off, this is enough. You are completely crossing the line!"

He didn’t budge a single solitary inch.

Instead, he dropped his head lower until his hot, heavy breath scorched the skin of my cheek with a cruel intensity. That same dark, dizzying smile spread across his lips, and he drawled in a slow, gravelly baritone, "Am I not a heartless bastard, Miss Miller?" He mocked me softly, before leaning in until his lips brushed my ear, whispering with lethal intent, "Do you want to see exactly how cruel a bastard I can be?"