What If He Actually Fired Me?

Cora’s POV

Those icy blue eyes locked intensely onto mine, slicing right through my pathetic defenses with a cold, angry, and unyielding stare. The grip of his long fingers on my chin demanded an answer to the terrifying question he had just whispered in the empty boardroom. I fidgeted helplessly in my seat. The physical weight of his gaze anchored me in place, suffocating the air out of my lungs. I could barely draw a steady breath.

I recognized that specific, hardened look. It was the lethal look of a man I had pushed far past his limit.

"Please do not fire me, Mr. Thorne." I blurted out the desperate plea before I could trap the words behind my teeth. My voice shook with embarrassing weakness. "I promise to do better. I swear I will not get distracted anymore."

Magnus removed his hand from my chin. His carved jaw clenched tight. The muscles in his thick neck flexed against the crisp, white collar of his custom dress shirt.

"I have heard that exact same line from you more times than I can count. Why the hell should I believe you this time?" He dismissed my panicked apologies with a flat, emotionless tone.

I gripped the smooth mahogany edge of the heavy table. "I swear on my late father's memory. I would never use his name lightly, sir."

He exhaled a slow, harsh breath. His towering, muscular frame radiated tense, restrained frustration as he stepped back from the table. He began to pace the length of the carpeted floor. Each stride was measured and dominant.

"People out in the real world would gladly bleed for the position you currently hold. They would sacrifice their pride and their sleep for a fraction of the opportunity you have in this building. Yet you sit in my executive meetings and treat this career like a trivial hobby." His deep voice commanded the silence of the massive room.

I opened my mouth to tell him I needed this job to survive, to plead for leniency, but the words died in my throat.

He stepped closer. He slammed his large hand against the polished wood of the desk.

The loud noise cracked like a gunshot, echoing off the glass walls. I physically jumped in my seat, a sudden gasp leaving my parted lips. My heart hammered against my ribs in a frantic rhythm born of genuine terror. A hot flush of shame washed over my skin. Even as I sat there fearing for my livelihood, my traitorous body still reacted to him in a deeply primal way. I could not control the rapid flutter in my belly.

He stood over the desk with his dress shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Thick veins corded along his forearms from the force of his brutal strike. Staring at the raw, restrained fury radiating from him was simultaneously terrifying and intoxicating.

Magnus searched my face. His icy blue eyes dragged over my flushed cheeks, clearly unconvinced by my pleas. He leaned down, bringing his face dangerously close to mine.

"I will only reconsider your employment on one condition. Tell me exactly why you were staring at me all through the meeting. What were you thinking about?" His voice dropped into a low, dangerous register.

My cheeks burned instantly. Blistering heat rushed down my neck and pooled tight in my chest. Vivid memories of my inappropriate fantasies shoved their way to the forefront of my mind, taking over my vision. I could see the imaginary scenario as clear as day. His harsh mouth crushing against my trembling lips. His tongue forcing entry and sliding past my teeth. His large, rough hands firmly gripping my waist, lifting me onto this very boardroom table. The phantom feeling of his heavy body pressing between my thighs made my breath catch.

I could not confess those filthy thoughts to my CEO. He would terminate me before I could even draw out the sentence.

"It was nothing. I was just thinking about work." I stammered, trying a desperate brush-off while staring at his chest.

Magnus moved with predatory speed. Before I could even blink, his strong fingers slid smoothly beneath my chin. He forced my gaze upward, locking my wide eyes back onto his. The skin-on-skin contact was shockingly warm. A sharp, electric jolt shot straight through my core, settling low and deep in my stomach. His touch felt far too intimate for a dynamic between a strict boss and his struggling assistant.

He leaned in close. The expensive scent of cedar and bergamot clouded my senses. His warm breath brushed lightly against my trembling lips as he spoke.

"Tell me what you were really thinking about, Cora." His murmured command sent fresh shivers down my spine.

Cornered and out of lies, I panicked.

"It is personal." I blurted the words out into the tiny space between our mouths.

A faint, knowing smirk curved his sculpted lips. The arrogant corporate mask cracked for a fraction of a second, revealing dark amusement.

"Is that so? Do you use company time to sit around and fantasize? Time that I pay for? Who were you dreaming about? Some little boyfriend who doesn't deserve you?" He mocked my confession.

My lungs burned. I struggled to pull air holding his intense focus.

"I do not have a boyfriend." I shakily managed to confess.

His thumb slowly grazed the soft skin of my chin. The deliberate, caressing motion contrasted sharply with the harsh angle of his rigid jaw. His intense gaze dropped from my eyes and lingered heavily on my parted lips.

"Somehow, I am not surprised." He noted in a dark, taunting murmur.

I shrank back into the leather chair. The casual observation stung my chest, triggering every insecurity I fought to keep hidden behind a professional facade.

"You should not say things like that." I whispered through tight lips.

His icy blue eyes flashed with a potent mix of blinding heat and rigid control. He maintained his firm grip on my chin, refusing to let me look away from him.

"If you do not want me prying, perhaps you shouldn't look at me the way you do during meetings. You look at me as if you want me to find out exactly what dirty thoughts you are hiding in your head." He fired back without missing a beat.

My breath caught in my throat. My mind blanked from the sheer force of his accusation.

"No. I don't look at you like that." I immediately stammered a frantic, breathless denial.

Suddenly, the stifling atmosphere inside the boardroom shifted. Magnus released my chin. He looked away, straightening to his full, towering height. His rugged features hardened back into an impenetrable mask of corporate authority. Every single trace of the lingering heat vanished in an instant. He became all business.

He walked around to the opposite side of the long seating arrangement. He grabbed a massively thick folder from his stack of materials and brought it back. He slid the towering pile of paper across the polished surface toward me.

"I will give you one final chance to prove your worth. You will be at my beck and call. This sheer mountain of reports is due first thing tomorrow morning." He stated with a flat, emotionless edge to his tone.

My blood ran cold as I touched the manila cover and scanned the dense, single-spaced pages sticking out from the edges. The sheer volume of paper felt like a cinder block. My stomach twisted into a tight, sick knot as I flipped to see endless lines of numerical data and market analysis.

"Mr. Thorne, this folder contains a full day's worth of reports. This is an impossible task for a single night." I murmured in horror.

Magnus raised a sharp, dark brow. He remained completely unimpressed by my obvious panic and distress over the workload.

"Are you saying you aren't capable of getting the work done?" He challenged me, his voice slicing through my hesitation.

He leaned back against the edge of the desk and crossed his massive arms over his powerful chest. He watched me struggle like a vicious predator cornering its weak prey without giving it a single avenue of escape.

"If you miss the nine a.m. deadline, simply firing you will be the easy part. Instead, you will face whatever consequences I decide to impose on you." He delivered his final, chilling condition.

The brutal threat hung heavy in the silent room, suffocating any remaining hope I clung to. The raw danger in his promise made the hairs on my arms stand up in pure terror. I had no other options. I needed this job to survive the month.

"Y-yes, sir." I stammered, lowering my eyes to my trembling lap.

Magnus gave a curt, final nod of dismissal. It was a silent, lethal gesture that officially ended the brutal interrogation. He turned his attention to his phone, entirely dismissing my existence from his orbit.

I grabbed the heavy folder with cold hands. My fingers shook violently against the thick cardboard as I pulled the monstrous assignment tightly to my chest. I pushed myself up from the leather desk chair. My knees felt weak, like they might give out and collapse at any second under the intense pressure bearing down on my shoulders. I focused on forcing one foot in front of the other. Somehow, I managed to turn my back on my ruthless boss and walk out the double doors, carrying a mountain of paperwork and the impossible weight of his final warning.