Chapter 1 Forbidden Relationship

"Relax."

A man's hand softly brushed Joanna Peters' collarbone, gliding along her body's contours.

A faint moan escaped her.

Joanna nibbled her lip, her voice trembling. "Anthony, we're at the office..."

Pressed against the expansive floor-to-ceiling window, her face, now a shade of deep red, mirrored back at her.

She attempted to move away, but Anthony Dixon's hands, familiar with every curve, teased her sensitively.

Her delicate body shook with intensity.

The heat of the moment seemed to fuel his desire even more.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Despite the closed blinds, her anxiety spiked.

Only ten minutes remained until the morning meeting. Several senior executives were already gathered in the conference room, secretaries bustling about just outside.

"Where's Joanna?"

"She was just here. Maybe she went to check the equipment in the conference room? Let's go."

A lump formed in Joanna's throat, the fear of being discovered overwhelming her.

She clasped a hand over her mouth, fearful of letting any sound escape.

Yet, the man looming behind her was relentless, his teasing and tormenting nearly pushing her to the brink of crying out.

"Anthony, you've lost your mind..." she whispered, her voice trembling.

In the reflection of the glass, Anthony's robust upper body and his cold, emotionless eyes were apparent. He seemed to relish her combined arousal and panic.

"When you pleaded to be my lover, you must have known a day like this would come." Anthony smirked, straightening up.

Waves of humiliation and embarrassment crashed over her. Joanna's eyes brimmed with tears that she could no longer contain.

The tears traced paths down her delicate cheeks, falling into her mouth and tasting unbearably bitter.

Three years prior, the Peters family's business endeavors were systematically sabotaged, and her father, Henrik Peters, saw his shares steadily diluted. Consumed by corporate affairs, he suffered a stroke at the office of Peters Group, leaving him paralyzed to this day.

On the same day, her brother Kyson Peters was arrested. In a matter of three hours, evidence was gathered, a trial was conducted, and he entered a guilty plea. At the peak of his youth, he received a sixteen-year sentence.

From behind the stark visitation glass in prison, he had instructed Joanna, "Look after the Peters Group for Dad."

Their mother had died young, and their stepmother, Mabel Peters, a woman of scholarly lineage from a small town, possessed a gentle and refined air but knew nothing of running a business. When disaster struck the Peters family, all she could manage was to weep beside her husband's bed.

The Peters family was struggling to survive amid the onslaught from more dominant clans, clinging to their existence by a thread.

Joanna, only eighteen at that time, shouldered all their burdens.

She soothed her stepmother and then ventured alone to the Dixon Group.

Fueled by a few drinks for courage, Joanna approached Anthony with boldness. She perched on his lap, looped her arms around his neck, and ventured, "Anthony, are you looking for a woman?"

Anthony, preoccupied with analyzing the Peters Group's shares, gently removed her hand and asked with a sly grin, "Which woman are you referring to?"

Once the beloved jewel of the Peters family, Joanna was the epitome of purity and innocence.

Yet, on that day, she transformed into a figure of tantalizing allure. Tilting her head back, she planted a soft kiss on the corner of Anthony's mouth and whispered, "Me."

With a chuckle, Anthony brushed the lipstick from his lips with his fingertip and playfully prodded, "And then?"

"Take me," she implored.

Shedding her coat, Joanna revealed striking lace lingerie in black and red - her usual demureness replaced by a blend of shyness and seduction, rendering her utterly captivating.

Without a word, Anthony shut his documents.

His gaze fixed on Joanna with predatory intensity, as if ready to consume her whole.

That day, they had sex.

In a moment of passion, Joanna clung to his muscular frame and pleaded, "Anthony, help me."

That night, she forged a devilish alliance, sacrificing herself to salvage the Peters Group.

"Alright. Join my company as my secretary," he proposed.