Chapter 7 Paper bomb

The incessant buzzing of my phone woke me up before it was time to get up. Groaning, I reached for it blindly, bumping into the alarm clock and my keys before I reached my phone.

Picking it up, I wish I never did.

What the fuck is 32 missed calls? All in two hours? It's too damn early for this! Before I could check the literal hundreds of texts he sent, Another call came in. If you didn't know him, you'd think he was obsessed with me.

"Good morning, Mr. Hugo. I think it's still too early for work and if you have anything to say, it can wait till I get to the office."

"Wow, you still have the mouth to talk, is it?! Despite the mess you caused, you can still talk to me like that?!" Matching his energy would do nothing but frustrate me and messing up my circadian rhythm for him wasn't worth it.

I calmly continued communication with him. "Okay, sir. Can you tell me what I did?"

"You almost fucking killed me." His spiteful voice booms from the other end, almost deafening my ear drums. What? Now, I'm convinced this man has lost his damn mind.

As much as I would've loved to put him deeper than 6 feet under for the rest of his miserable life, he's, he deserves to be buried alive, I don't have the strength or the resources to do so.

Why else would I be his damn secretary?

"Sir, can you please explain to me why I would try to kill you?"

"Because you..."

Ah, the sweet sound of silence.

If I got him to admit he was intentionally being a big bitch to me, we would find ourselves in such an awkward situation, wouldn't we? "Stop trying to distract me from the fact that you let that bitch leave paper bombs on my desk?!"

"Paper bombs? How do you even know they're paper bombs?"

"Stop asking me stupid questions and get down here!" He hung up and I sighed. Looking at the clock, it was already time to get up.

I really didn't want to add cursing Rowan and his entire generation to my morning routine but it's becoming so fucking hard, so fucking hard. The door of the bathroom opened and Violet poked her head in, smiling.

"I thought I heard some noise. Isn't it a bit too early?"

"I have to get to work because a whiny overgrown baby called me so I'm stalling as much as I can. Sleep well?" Violet smiled.

She had been having trouble sleeping and I could tell from the bags under her eyes that she had also cried. I hugged her, running my hand through her hair.

"Should I pick up some cake for you?" "Nah, I'm trying to watch my calorie intake."

"Got it. So, just military food then?" She rolled her eyes at my joke and left me to get ready for work. I barely had time to put on eyeliner before he called again. I very narrowly debated quitting before I remembered the entire reason I was doing this. I practiced my business smile in the mirror by the door and left. I could almost hear his scream from downstairs. The police were called and everyone was watching Rowan Hugo throw a tantrum. The officers I passed all looked extremely exhausted, the same face I had on after a full day of work. Well, at least they could feel my pain. Getting to my office, I saw the police commissioner standing beside Rowan. His hair was a mess and his eyes were a little more bloodshot than normal. He looked like he sustained some scratches but none damaged his face. Pity.

"Good morning, Mr. Hugo."

"How the hell is it a good morning?! I almost died!"

"Should I count you lucky then? It's a relief you didn't die. It would've been such a waste, right?" He clamped his jaw shut and turned to the police commissioner. The man sighed, visibly wishing to be anywhere else but right there.

"Miss Hanan, you are Mr. Hugo's Secretary, right? May I ask you some questions?" I glanced briefly at Rowan's distressed look and smiled.

"Sure." After a few hours, the police finally left with the paper bombs. By some miracle, Rowan was still alive and was back to work. I dreaded entering his office all morning and just waited till after lunch to enter his office to give him the documents he needed to authorize by hand.

"Mr. Hugo, these are the documents you need to authorize by ha..."

"How much did she offer you?" Rowan growled, shunning whatever I was saying and his eyes were now flaming red.

"No, you must hold a grudge, right? Is that why you wanted to kill me?" The look on Rowan's face describes a roaring lion seeking to devour and fuck, this angry version of his shook my whole being with dread but keeping my pride in check, I muffled

"Excuse me?"

"You must've plotted something with that bitch, trying to get rid of me. Now, let me just tell you, if you think it would be that easy to get rid of me, then you are sorely mistaken. If you think you've had a hard time here, then I can promise it would only become worse. You can go ahead and quit now if you can't bear it."

"Mr. Hugo, I bear no ill will against you..." Wow, I really impress myself with the ability to bullshit on the spot. "Bullshit!" His fist met the table and With the force of it, I am pretty sure his fingers must be imprinted there. He sprung to his feet and rounded the table so he would be in front of me now.

"I've seen the looks you give me when you think I'm not looking." I felt my heart suddenly churn and began beating faster. Did he know? What did he know? What did I do to make him suspicious? Does he perhaps...no, Rowan Hugo isn't that smart. Is he?

We were too close that our nose was nearly touching so I have to step back but he starts stepping forward while I kept stepping back till my back landed against a wall giving him free pass to cage me between his arms.

"I don't know what kind of fake confidence you have but I am Rowan Hugo and I won't go down easily, you hear that, bitch?!" I gulped and for the first time since I met Rowan, I avoided eye contact with him cause his gaze was surging through me like a newly forged sword from the medieval era.

"And the next time you take your sweet time to come when I call you to come, you won't have a job again. You hear that?!" His last statement almost got me deaf.

"Yes, Sir." I nodded, feeling my feet wobbling. He pulled away from me And stormed back to his office chair. He grudgingly signed the documents, stamping them.

What just happened? was I fucking scared of Rowan? No, I wasn't.

my body just happened to have betrayed me. I can never be scared of this scumbag. I eyed the stamp on his table.

Just a single object had the power to stand in as an identity.

That single object had even more value than Rowan Hugo.

If she was really smart, she would've stolen that instead of trying to plant a paper bomb in his office to frame me.

"Maybe you're actually stupid. Why are you still stalling in my office? Or do you think you can seduce me and try to kill me like that bitch?" "I will get going now, sir." I could feel his stare boring holes into the back of my head as I walked away.

Thankfully, there was no other reason to enter his office and I made it to the end of the day. The day was incredibly stressful, even more so than other days. There were so many phone calls that Rowan refused to answer and there were some from some women offering comfort.

Like that's what he would accept after another woman tried to kill him. Then there were the rumors.

"Did you hear? Someone tried to assassinate Rowan Hugo this morning."

"Yeah! They said it was some ex of his that planted paper bombs and tried to frame the Secretary since she's the only one that can carry documents into his office."

"You mean the new girl? She can't be the one. She's so quiet and she's kind, helping us communicate with the beast directly."

"And how could one blame the ex when Rowan is more promiscuous than a whore. Can he even pin down which one of his exes is trying to kill him?" They laughed, their attention half on their desktop. I chuckled to myself, knocking on the door to get their attention.

They jumped, turning like it was a ghost at the door. I smiled obliviously, walking past them to the chief's office. I dropped the authorized documents and walked out like I hadn't heard anything. "Did you think she heard anything?"

"No, she was close to the door and we were whispering."

"Whispering?! Your voice could be heard from the other floors. You should be glad that Rowan Hugo isn't coming out of his office today!" I laughed, their voices fading away as I turned the corner.

Almost a few minutes after I got back to my desk, the door to Rowan's office opened and I stood up. He had a perpetual scowl etched on his face and his hair was so rough, showing he had run his hand through it multiple times.

"Do you need anything, Mr. Hugo?" He looked at me up and down, his gaze lingering on my feet. A smaller portion of my sneakers was showing and I immediately tucked them into my desk.

"Miss Hanan, are you intentionally ignoring the dress code?" He asked, folding his arms.

"No, sir. It's just when you called me to hurry this morning, I didn't have the time to grab my heels so I wore something more comfortable instead. It won't happen again."

"Miss Hanan, you must think I'm very generous, don't you? You have skirted so many rules today and apparently, you don't have any regard for your boss's life. It's almost like you're begging to get fired, am I correct?"

"No, Sir."

"I'll make this plain for you," he started, leaning down to my eye level. "If this repeats itself, I would not hesitate to drop you like deadweight which I'm sure you know you are already. Have a wonderful evening, miss Hanan," he rose, walking away.

Bastard.