Once His Nightmare, Now His Employee

He thought he had his life figured out until the boy he buried in the past walked back in. Dorian Keene was once the golden boy of high school-famous, feared, and cruel. And Caspian Vale? Just the quiet nerd with a birthmark... and a target on his back. But beneath Dorian's bullying lay a truth he couldn't face: he was terrified of how much he wanted the boy he was supposed to hate. Years later, Dorian's world is in shambles. Penniless, grieving, and sick, he lands a miracle job working under a Tech Mogul who turns out to be none other than Caspian. Only this Caspian is powerful, untouchable... and very much engaged to a woman. Dorian tries to keep his distance. Caspian, for all appearances, is straight. But fate has a twisted sense of humor, and buried sparks are reignited-this time under the harsh light of adulthood, secrets, and slow-blooming desire neither man can afford. As Dorian's hidden illness grows deadlier, and Caspian's mask begins to crack, a single kiss will force them to ask: Can a man who thought he was straight handle the truth of who he's always been... before it's too late?

Chapters

Chapter 3

DORIAN's POV

My chances of getting the job were shrinking with every rushed step I took through the towering gates of Vale Enterprise. I paused for a second to check my watch-and instantly regretted it.

Who the hell shows up late to an interview for a job that sounds too good to be true?

Apparently, me. Of course, me.

My palms were already clammy just thinking about it, each step closer to the front desk another inch closer to a no.

No company wants to hire someone who can't even be punctual. And just to make matters worse? My resume didn't exactly scream "CFO material."

"I'm here for the interview. The Chief Financial Officer position. I think..." I added the last part in a hushed mutter, hoping the receptionist wouldn't catch how uncertain I sounded.

She gave me a tight smile and started tapping away at the landline in front of her.

"Well, Mr. Keene. You're late. I assume you already know that." Her voice had a bite to it, and I curled my fingers into fists inside my pockets, scrambling for something-anything-to say.

"I mean, yeah, I know... but I have a solid explanation. Traffic was a nightmare, and then, right outside the building, someone splashed mud all over me. I had to run home to change. I couldn't just show up smelling like..."

She cut me off by turning her attention completely to the call she was making. Not even a blink in my direction.

"Please," I added, desperate. "I know this looks bad, but... surely there's some room for..."

She slammed the receiver down with a sharp clack, rolling her eyes before meeting my gaze.

"Third floor. Hall six. You're already late, so I suggest you stop wasting more time. And between us? Even our janitor talks less than you do."

Her voice faded out as I bolted for the elevator.

Third floor. Hall six.

Or was it the sixth floor? Hall three?

My mind scrambled for clarity, the receptionist's voice looping in my head like a scratched record. I swallowed hard and settled on the third floor, hall six.

That sounded right... right?

I punched the button and pulled out my phone, skimming through the notes Ronan had helped me prep last night. Every word, every possible question, drilled into me by that beautiful man's midnight lectures.

And talking of Vale Enterprise, the building smelled like money, power, and anxiety-all things I didn't bring with me.

The elevator dinged open and I stepped out, adjusting my tie and slicking back the stubborn curl in my hair. My palms were already a mess, so I wiped them discreetly on my pants.

Gross, yeah. But necessary.

I reached Hall six, took a deep breath, and twisted the handle open with a small creak.

All eyes turned to me the second I stepped in.

A long table with a group of stern-looking people. A dimly lit projector flickering across serious faces. And there was silence so sharp that it cut through me.

"Who are you?" Asked the man at the end of the table, his voice was like steel wrapped in silk.

My mouth went dry. My brain fogged.

"I... I'm Dorian. And a little confused," I muttered.

There were murmurs. Two security guys began making their way toward me.

'How did I get here?'

I tried to rewind the moment, piece together the steps-but it was like someone had scrubbed the memory clean.

"Dorian Keene? Applying for the CFO role?" The man asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes," I answered carefully, holding my file tighter, trying to seem composed when I absolutely wasn't. "I was told my interview was here."

"This is Hall three, Mr. Keene. Your interview is in Hall six."

My heart dropped.

And that's when it hit me-this wasn't the interview room.

I blinked at the plaque on the wall beside me.

Hall three.

Shit.

I barely held back the loud curse building in my throat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I said, backing out quickly as the tension in the room crackled like static.

Get it together, Dorian.

I made it to the real Hall six this time, hesitating only slightly before opening the door.

Inside was a woman seated at a desk, her expression unreadable. "Mr. Keene?" She asked. I nodded, forcing a breath out. "You're late," she said bluntly.

I opened my mouth to explain but promptly shut it. I had already done enough damage for one morning.

"Let's begin," she said, flipping open a folder as the door behind me creaked open.

And then he walked in.

A man in every possible sense of the word.

Tall-easily 6'5. Blue eyes that could freeze time. Broad shoulders. Lips that looked like they belonged in a sin.

"Mr. Keene," he said, his voice smooth and commanding. "You can consider me the second interviewer."

He extended a hand. I took it immediately, my smile automatic, my thoughts not so much.

His voice rang in my ears like déjà vu. Familiar. Too familiar.

Was he... the same man from the other hall? Or am I losing it?

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" I asked, my brows furrowed slightly.

He smiled, and the damn room lit up.

"Highly unlikely," he said, that calm tone not giving anything away. "But not totally impossible."

One look at those eyes again and-God help me-I already knew I would be completely ruined for the rest of this interview.

I remembered the time I went for my first interview. I once saw a Blue-Eyed man too and I stared into his eyes till the end of the job interview.

And if you ask me what led to me not being able to get the job?

The interviewer had seen me staring at him and that threw me out even though I knew from the start that my chance of getting the job was very slim.

Now, would I repeat the same?

Continue to next part

My mate, Theron, was a powerful Alpha, and I, a scentless Omega, was his greatest prize. But beneath his adoring facade was a terrifying, possessive monster, revealed when he dragged me home and forced me into our bed after I was late to his challenge match. His golden eyes burned with chilling control, and he whispered a threat that turned my blood to ice. I'd been stuck on a forest road, my truck dead, racing to reach his challenge match. His mate bond panic had already frayed my nerves, but nothing prepared me for his rage. He'd publicly broken his opponent's shoulder, then stalked directly to me, ignoring the crowd. He marked my lateness with chilling precision, before dragging me away to our rooms for "punishment." Later, as he tried to force a ceremonial marking pendant on me, he promised, "If you will not accept my mark willingly, then I will wait for your Heat. I will fuck you until your body begs for it, and my wolf will hold you down while I bite." My gaze fell on his open journal, filled with frantic, scrawled words: "SHE IS MINE. PUNISH. CLAIM. MARK HER. BREED HER. MAKE HER UNDERSTAND SHE IS MINE. MINE. MINE." The man I loved, my only protection, was a captor in disguise, his devotion a gilded cage. Every gentle touch, every soft word, now felt like a brand of ownership, a tightening leash. The terrifying truth of his pathological obsession finally hit me. A fragile plan formed in the space between heartbeats: I would de-escalate, redefine, and survive, no matter the cost, before his possessive madness consumed me entirely.

Horror Romance Werewolf

9.1

His Orchestrated Love, My Shattered Life

9.1

After a brutal assault cost me my fiancé, my childhood friend swooped in to save me. He married me, cherished me, and I fell in love with the perfect life he built. I thought I had finally found my happy ending. Then, pregnant with our child, I overheard him confessing to my half-sister. He had orchestrated the entire assault. He married me just to stay close to her. In the hospital, she staged an attack, claiming I tried to kill her and her unborn baby. My husband shoved me against the wall, roaring at me as he rushed to her side. "I'll kill you for this!" As I lay bleeding on the cold floor, losing my own child, not a single person looked back. I was just a necessary casualty in his game. But I had recorded her gloating confession. I faked my death and fled to my billionaire mother. He would find out the truth, and I would be the ghost that haunted him to his grave.

Horror Modern Romance

8.0

Marrying The Enemy: My Ex's Worst Nightmare

8.0

I spent ten years as the ward of Kason Oneal, the ruthless Underboss of the city's most dangerous crime family. He saved me when I was a child, raised me, and made me believe I was his queen. But the moment his ex-girlfriend, Dalia, returned, the illusion shattered. Kason demanded I return the jade pendant—the one he had hand-carved for my sixteenth birthday—just so he could hang it around Dalia's neck. To him, I was suddenly nothing more than a placeholder who had kept his bed warm. The cruelty didn't stop there. He stood by and watched as Dalia shredded my clothes with scissors, laughing at my tears. When I collapsed on the floor in agony from acute appendicitis, Kason didn't call an ambulance. Instead, he dragged me to a shady clinic, accusing me of faking a pregnancy to trap him. He ordered the doctor to "terminate it" while I was dying of sepsis on the table. He called me trash. He called me property. He stripped away every ounce of dignity I had left, all to please a woman who was lying to his face. I realized then that the hero who saved me when I was ten was dead. I was done begging for scraps of affection from a monster. Trembling, I walked to the phone and dialed the number of the one man Kason feared most—his sworn enemy, Hadley Payne. "Tell him yes," I whispered into the receiver. "I accept the arrangement. I will marry him." Kason thought he could break me. Instead, he was about to watch his "property" become the Queen of the rival family.

Horror Modern Romance

7.4

Reborn From Ashes: The King's Ruthless Queen

7.4

The house was a living inferno, the heat devouring the air in my lungs as I clutched my five-year-old daughter to my chest. Emily was dead weight, her skin already cooling even as the room turned into a furnace of orange and black. Through the stinging smoke, I saw my husband, Kenney, crawling toward the door with a wet handkerchief pressed to his face. He didn't look back at the crib, and he didn't call my name; he was simply leaving us to burn. I lunged forward and grabbed his ankle, my nightgown catching fire, but he didn't reach down to save me. He recoiled in horror at the sight of my burning hair and our dead child, kicking me back with a panicked shriek. "Let go!" he shrieked. I died as a massive, flaming timber snapped from the ceiling and crushed us both into silence. I couldn't believe that the man I loved would leave his family to die just to save his own skin, but the rage I felt was colder than the death that followed. But then the burning stopped instantly, replaced by a cold so sharp it made my teeth ache. I gasped, jerking upright in my bed to find the velvet duvet cool under my palms and the nursery quiet, with Emily still breathing softly in her crib. I had returned to the winter morning two years before the fire, the exact day Kenney finalized the deal to sell me to the King for a promotion. As Kenney stepped into the room with a practiced mask of concern, I realized I was no longer the victim of this story. "A nightmare, my love?" he asked, reaching out to touch my shoulder. I flinched away, my eyes burning with a hatred he couldn't yet understand. Tonight was the Winter Masquerade, the night he planned to offer me to the King as a prize, but this time, I was going to turn his social ladder into a gallows.

Fantasy Horror Romance

8.6

Rejected by my cursed mate

8.6

Daria, an orphaned omega, thought finding her mate would save her and give her everything she had ever dreamed of... Until he rejected her, humiliating her before the entire pack. But after one night of unexpected passion, she falls pregnant with his child. Ecstatic, she believes fate has given her another chance, only to learn he wants nothing more than an heir to cure his curse. Heartbroken and betrayed, Daria flees. Years later, she returns, armed with more than she could ever think to achieve. Now, she must choose: let their bond mend what was broken, or let her anger destroy everything he holds dear.

Fantasy Horror Romance

8.1

The Captain's Runaway Genius In Disguise

8.1

I was just a cleaner making fifteen dollars an hour, scrubbing floors to hide from a past that haunted me. But when I walked into a billionaire's pristine penthouse, the suffocating visions hit me again. I saw a woman brutally murdered in a room that had been bleached spotless. I called 911, and that brought the one man I had spent three years running from right to my door: NYPD Captain Kelvin O'Brien. The patrol cops wanted to lock me up because I found the hidden blood too fast. To avoid a psych ward, I had to pretend my horrific supernatural visions were just brilliant deductive logic. I had to physically endure the phantom sensation of the victim's throat being crushed and poison burning her stomach. All while Kelvin cornered me, demanding to know why I abandoned him and my title as the department's greatest asset, "The Oracle." I didn't want to look at dead bodies anymore. I didn't want to feel their agonizing deaths. Why couldn't they just let me disappear? But when the victim's wealthy husband walked into the precinct with a smug smile, ready to get away with murder, I couldn't stand it. I forced myself to relive the victim's dying moments, guiding Kelvin to cut open her decomposed stomach to find the diamond ring she had swallowed. "We have your blood inside her stomach." His perfect alibi was shattered. But when we found an underground syndicate token hidden in his wallet, I knew my quiet life was over.

Billionaire Horror Modern Mystery

Once His Nightmare, Now His Employee

Chapter 3

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