Chapter 1

Lexi

Beads of sweat were pooling at the small of my back, my hands were clammy, and I'd already fumbled my coffee mug three times. If I kept this up, my sleazy boss was going to figure out I'd seen something in seconds. That would be bad, like majorly bad because I was sitting on a bomb that could land him in some really hot water.

Considering the UAR didn't do prison, bringing this evidence to the police would see him executed. The PR was that prisons were inhumane and offenders did not deserve a second chance. I didn't even know if I wanted that on my conscience, reporting his crime was like killing him, I didn't want that. But sitting on that info was as bad as turning him in, even if it was just white-collar crime…

Wiping my palms along my pencil skirt, I tried to focus on the planner open on my viewscreen. Appointments, that's what I should be focused on. Mr. Alberade had asked me to clear his schedule for tomorrow. Shirk on that task and he would really know something was wrong; I had never failed him before.

The man was a glorified accountant, a financial adviser, but that didn't mean he didn't think the world of himself and demanded the highest quality of his employees. In my two years at his firm, I'd seen dozens of people get fired after they incited his legendary temper. I'd avoided it so far, but if there was one thing that would set him off… this was definitely it.

I wished I had never miss-clicked on my computer and accessed server files that were none of my business. I wished my moral compass hadn't impulsively led me to make copies of said files, proving that Mr. Alberade had embezzled millions of credits from this particular client. Now I had to go to the police, but the police were hardly my friend. What if Alberade leaned on them just right and I went down for his crime, instead? No, better I just throw these papers in the damn shredder and be done with it.

Right as that thought was finalized in my head the door to my boss' office swung open and he stalked out with a huge frown on his face. At over six feet tall, my boss was not a small man, but as he'd hit middle age, he'd gone soft and fleshy around his middle. He was still formidable, a former boxer who'd discovered he had an aptitude for numbers more than he had for cracking heads. At only five-two myself, I always felt tiny and just a tad scared in his presence.

"What did you do, Lexi?" he hollered, his cheeks already growing red, a sign his temper was riding him hard. I cowered in my seat but then quickly leaped up and straightened my shoulders, Mr. Alberade hated any sign of weakness, but he respected a hint of defiance if you toed that line very carefully. There were no ass-kissers in his office, and that had made being his assistant a better work environment than my last job.

"Sir?" I said, feigning innocence since I knew damn well what he was talking about. I forced my palms to rest easily at my sides, even a hint of fear now and he'd pounce like a cougar. Alberade was not above using some physical intimidation if he was mad enough. Point in case, he stalked closer and planted his fists on my desk to lean in, looming over my much smaller frame, even though I was standing up.

"Don't play stupid with me, you little bitch! You know what you did! What? Thought you could blackmail me? Thought you could demand a raise?!" Spittle flew from his mouth as he spoke, landing on my forehead and cheeks. I saw how he tracked the disgusting droplets with his eyes; it turned him on to see it.

I'd already been a ball of nerves but now my body went cold. I had a feeling I knew where this was headed, and when he grabbed me by the hair and yanked me onto the desk, it wasn't a surprise. It hurt, it was terrifying, but I wasn't shocked. "Please! I don't know what you are talking about! Sir… Just let me go!" I struggled against his grip, trying to pull his hand from my hair with both of mine. Tears sprung to my eyes from the sharp pulling, but I clenched my teeth and resolved to look up at him with that defiance.

He backhanded me across the face so hard that I saw stars, the taste of metallic blood filling my mouth, and strands of hair yanked free in his grip. Okay, fuck that. I knew I was in the fight for my life now, knew from the way he looked at me as he started manhandling my body across my desk. Pencils, stationary, and my com device clattering carelessly to the floor.

His hand was on my hip, yanking on my leg, and the narrow gray pencil skirt I wore tore at the hemline as he forced my legs apart. I clawed him across the face, aiming for his eyes, a scream ripping from my throat that I knew nobody would hear. Alberade grinned like a maniac above me, his palm pinning my thigh to the desk. "You're going to get what you deserve, and then you are going to shut up. Nobody betrays me, Lexi. Nobody!"

The gleaming buckle on his belt clicked free with an obnoxiously loud sound, my breathing ragged as I fought beneath him. I knew my day was going south fast, but this? I hadn't expected this. I should have just run off when I had those files in my hand, but it was too late for what-ifs. Too late for much of anything. After he was done with me, he'd grab that laser pistol he kept in his desk drawer, and then he'd kill me.

I kicked him in the thigh, then slugged him across his jaw, but that just made him laugh. And then he was wedged between my legs and I screamed again, thrashing against his grip. A sizzling noise, the smell of bacon filling the air, and then my boss slumped forward across my body. Collapsing like a sack of sand onto me, and very clearly dead if the singed hole in the back of his head was any indication.

Eyes huge, I lifted them from my boss's dead shape, pinning me down to the desk, to stare at the stranger standing just behind him. Shimmering, bronzed skin, bright azure eyes, and a rakish mop of golden hair. The pointed elf ears and slight grin made me think of Puck or some other fae creature but he was neither. An alien Terafin male, dressed in a sharp business suit with a golden tie.

From his hands dangled a laser pistol but he was just casually holding that, angled at the floor. "You okay there, pretty face?" he quipped. "How about I help you lose some dead weight?"