Seduced By My Billionaire Boss

Chapter 33: BEING HURT BY LOVE

As soon as Skylar stepped into The Thompson's Art Centre the next morning, she knew all was not well. Being greeted by Cynthia's hard glare as she gossiped with two young ladies who Skylar recognized as they both work in the legal department.

She walked closer to greet Cynthia while plastering a smile on her face" Hi! Cynthia, how are you? Good morning" Skylar said as she rested upon the table while turning to smile at the two ladies who moved away from her like she was some sort of pest with a contagious disease.

"So, as I was saying. Can you believe her? Who would ever think she was sleeping with the boss? It's no wonder she got the job. I've wondered how she managed to get the boss to accept her. I mean she didn't even qualify and the boss was so tired that night and sad that he couldn't find a worthy candidate"

Skylar heard Cynthia call to the ladies who were gazing up at her excited for the juiciest details she was dishing out to them and from the look on their faces they were dying to know more as she pretended that she couldn't see Skylar.

"Really? Tell me more, please"

Skylar turned to the lady that had spoken and couldn't believe that she had a lot of enemies in the workplace. She couldn't believe that they were shamelessly gossiping about her in her presence without being scared. And how did they get to know about her? As far as she knows, Vino and she had always been discreet about their affairs.

"Do you think the boss got tired of her and decided to dump her?" The second blond girl asked as they all kept straight faces but the other girl still glared at her from time to time. Skylar would guess that she was still annoyed with her seeing that the boss had picked her over her during the interview but that was such a long time___ How could she still hold grudges with her but Skylar could never understand how the human's mind works?

"Yes, and maybe because he had decided to settle down with the mother of his baby. I guess the boss won't be available for me to crush on___ She stole everything from me. I've been trying all these years to get the boss to notice me but he never did___ I wonder how she did it____ Such a whore she is!!"

Skylar couldn't hold it in any longer. She was tired of having them talk about her like she wasn't present in the room. She dropped her handbag on the floor which sounded like a loud stud on the floor causing every conversation in the room to pause as they all turned to glare at her.

"You all got a problem with me? Then face me, stop acting like a bunch of sick teenagers. This is an office, not a high school where you are supposed to bully the weakest among the students. Come on, we are all mature adults" Skylar screamed at them but that only served to infuriate them the more as they all started to speak at once.

"She's still got a mouth to speak"

"I can't believe she is so shameless"

"I hate her so much. I wish the boss would just fire her already since she isn't useful to him again"

"Enough!!" Skylar screamed up at them in annoyance as she turned to glare at Cynthia who had called the last words at her deliberately trying to provoke her but why?

"She is such a stupid girl to have fallen in love with a married man. What was she thinking? That he will leave the mother of his baby for her? Tsck___ such a naive lady"

"Can one be so stupid in this era when we all know that our boss is a playboy? He rarely has time for women. The only woman has seen lasting long with our boss is Camille___ She's stupid forever thinking that the boss could fall for her"

Skylar turned and walked down the hallway with her head bowed when she saw that they were ignoring her and hard bent on tarnishing her image, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that what she was trying to avoid had finally come back to haunt her and it's even worse right now because Vino is no longer on her side.

His words came flooding back to her as she sank into the steel floor of the elevator after punching in the code to her floor" You need to find another alternative to get home, Miss Evans. I can't have you in my car with me because you disgust me!!"

Skylar couldn't remember when she had turned from being Vino's favourite, the woman that kept him up at night, the woman that he loved to the woman who disgusted him...

Skylar stood and wiped her eyes to get rid of the tears as soon as she heard the elevator dinged signifying the entrance of another person. She wasn't mistaken as two security officers got into the elevator in front of her. They were talking and laughing but that all stopped as soon as they saw her. She watched as they both whispered among themselves but loudly for her to hear.

"Isn't she the same woman in the video?"

Skylar's interest was piqued as she strained her ears to listen more without appearing curious to them" Are you sure?" She heard the second man ask the first while he subtly glanced at her at the back where she was perched at the back clutching her bag tightly while pretending not to be listening in on them.

"Though we couldn't see her clearly since she was shielded by the boss's face but I could tell she is the woman" Skylar could see that they were discussing her but she couldn't understand what video they were talking about. Was there a video of her and Vino on the web? Not as far as she could remember, they had always been discreet even when going on dates, Vino had always avoided crowded places because he wanted to protect her from the hungry paparazzi which was why Skylar couldn't understand the video part of their accusation.

"Yes, man. She sure is. Damn, that elevator clip of the boss punishing her with his kisses was hot. I never knew the boss was into BDSM. He sure has the dominant trait in him" The second man replied with a smile on his face showing just how much he enjoyed the video and would like to watch more of it.

"And she is such a sweet submissive thing. I wish I could have a taste of her '' The first man replied with a smile on his face as Skylar watched with horror on her face as they both stepped out of the elevator laughing at her.

Skylar suddenly remembered the scene they were talking about. It was yesterday's scene of her in Vino's private lift. How did they get hold of that video? Did Vino intentionally kiss her on the lift because he wanted to get back at her but why?

Overcome with anger, Skylar walks off the elevator storming immediately into Vino's office. She needed to confront him. She can't have the whole office gossiping about her when she didn't do anything wrong.

She ignored his rules of always knocking before entering as she pulled the door open in anger "How dare you, Vino Thompson?" Skylar screamed in anger but paused as she immediately regretted her actions.

Staring at her from the end of the couch were Vino and Mr. Falcone whose face was a shade of white as he gasped at Skylar's outburst in dread. His eyes glance between Vino and Skylar in shock.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Falcone. It isn't what you're thinking" Skylar immediately apologized as the anger ebbed out of her in a go. She bowed her head in embarrassment "I will come to see you later, sir" She called to Vino and turned about to step out of the office.

Vino's glare hardened as he stood up and walked closer to Skylar whose head was still bowed about to step out of the room. He placed his hands on hers which were on the doorknob causing her to pull off her hands immediately.

"Miss Evans. What was the meaning of that, earlier? You came to the office late today and you were not being remorseful about that but instead, you had the guts to call your boss's name, who gave you that right?" Vino called angrily to her. He was so angry since arriving at the office to find out that she wasn't at work yet. He had been going crazy all morning thinking that she might be with Gian. Did she spend the night in his house?

"I'm sorry, sir. I was caught up in traffic and ______"

" Shut your mouth!" Vino screamed at her; he was tired of listening to her lame excuses. Does she think he was blind to her deeds? And to think that he once thought that she was different but alas no! They are all a bunch of backstabbing idiots. And she still had the guts to play innocent after everything...

"I'm tired of listening to your flimsy excuse. I told you yesterday that I won't tolerate any slacking from you. I would like to announce that your salary won't be complete for this month, Miss Evans. You can leave my office"

" But sir______"

" I said___Leave. My. Office. Right. Now!!" Vino screamed, causing Skylar to run out of the office with tears in her eyes as she slammed the door loudly in his face.

"Mr. Thompson, don't you think you were being too harsh with her?" Mr. Falcone called to Vino as soon as he had resumed his place opposite him.

"No, I don't think so, Mr. Falcone. Miss Evans is my employee and I have every right to discipline her when I find out she isn't working to my taste. She should be glad that I didn't fire her from my company" Vino replied as he loosen a button from his blazer and relaxed his head on the armrest.

"Are you sure? Cause that wasn't what I was seeing a few minutes ago" Mr. Falcone replied, raising his eyebrows at Vino who frowned and avoided his eyes.

" And what do you see, Mr. Falcone?" Vino asked as he sat up and glared at Mr. Falcone who smiled at him.

"I see a man who is about to burst in jealousy unless he speaks out. What's eating you up, son?" Mr. Falcone asked as he reached to clasp Vino's hands from across the table. Being his father's long-time friend had accrued him respect from Vino and he felt he could use that to help him through his hard times.

Everyone could see that Vino was in love with Miss Evans. He was even glad at first that finally, a woman was here to tame him from his stupid lifestyle but what had been going on with them? He hasn't seen Vino this angry before? What in God's name did Miss Evans do?

"Nothing. Now, if you would excuse me. I need to take care of something" Vino called to him, already striding to the door. He opened it and walked out without waiting for Mr. Falcone's response.

Vino took the elevator and relaxed on the back while he waited for it to carry him to the last floor where Skylar's office was. After his display of anger earlier, he couldn't help feeling guilty that he might have overstepped his boundary. This was a woman he had once loved and still loved. If only Gian wasn't there to separate them, he shouldn't have spoken to her that way. This wasn't between Skylar and him. This was between Gian and him and so Vino needed to apologize to Skylar and beg for her forgiveness.

With that resolution in mind, Vino stepped out of the elevator and confidently stepped into Skylar's office. He was surprised to find the office empty and clean as no one had been there. He turned and was about to leave while wondering where she could be when a voice stopped him.

"Vino!"

Vino turned with a smile as soon as he recognized the voice" Layla" Vino called to her and pulled her into his embrace.

"How are you? Hope you are catching up with work, right?" He called to her, causing Layla to giggle in excitement.

"I'm fine and work is good. What are you doing here?" Layla asked him as she turned to walk back into her office while Vino followed behind her.

"I'm here to see your boss, where is she?" Vino asked with all seriousness on his face, showing Layla that he was only seeing her for work-related purposes.

Layla smiled as she got his tactic and turned to look at him scoffing with a smile on her face "Whatever. She hasn't been here this morning" Layla replied, shrugging as she went back to her work while Vino ran out of the office in shock.

She wasn't in her office. Where could she have gone to? Vino wondered in his mind as he stepped into the elevator and punched in the number to the reception where he hoped to find Skylar.

Vino stepped into the reception and froze; right there in front of him was Skylar locked in an embrace with Gian while he comforted her. He grew annoyed and was about to go drag her away from him when Gian's words caused him to freeze in his tracks.

"Date me, Skylar. Please, I want you to be my girlfriend. I've loved you from the first time that I saw you looking so beautiful in that black dress" Gian asked as he went down on one knee gazing up into Skylar's shocked face...

" tcht___ I bought that gown for her" Vino mustered to himself with his hands folded across his chest as he turned to see most of his employees gathered around the office, gasping and whispering among themselves.

"But____"

"Please, Skylar. I promise to treat you right" Gian pleaded, silencing the protest on her lips. He couldn't bear it if she rejected him. He had gone all the way to ask her out.

Gian glared as soon as he saw Vino scoffing at him and rolling his eyes. He stood up and went to pull Skylar close, accepting her silence as an answer.

"Thank you for saying yes. You've made me the happiest man on earth" Gian replied with a broad smile on his face as he bent to peck her on the cheek.

"But___"

"Come, let's go. I can't wait to celebrate our first date" Gian called, already dragging a shocked Skylar out of the office into his waiting red Lamborghini. He opened the passenger's door for Skylar to get in before running over to the driver's side to take the wheel and pulled out of the office, taking the route to his home.

Vino stood shocked as he watched the drama unfold in front of his eyes. He can't believe that Skylar dared to say yes to Gian right in front of him. He was so pissed off, he turned to walk into the elevator but paused, and turned to take in his employees still standing there with shock on their faces.

"What are you doing? Everyone back to your duty!!" He barked angrily at them as they all scrambled back to their different offices while he took the elevator to his office.