My Billionaire Boss Dared Me to Say No, So I Locked the Door novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: On His Knees
At dawn the lake was white with mist, and Bartek knelt at the foot of the bed with his hands flat on his thighs.
He had been awake since two.
He had washed his face in the cold water of the downstairs bathroom and dressed in yesterday's shirt.
The whole way up the stairs he had practiced the first sentence.
It had not survived the climb.
"Mr. Ekeberg," he said.
The man in the bed opened his eyes at once.
He lay on his side with the gray linen pushed to his hip and his black hair rumpled on the pillow.
His face was unguarded, and for a moment he looked younger than thirty-seven.
"Wrobel," he said. "Why are you on the floor?"
"I have to tell you something."
Ingmar sat up.
He did it slowly, the sheet falling away from his chest.
His eyes moved over Bartek's kneeling shape, the shirt, the hands, the bowed head.
"I am listening," he said.
"I took money."
The room was quiet.
"Your aunt's lawyer found me before I started. He said Hedvig Ekeberg wanted a record of anything between you and a subordinate. In writing, or on a recording." Bartek's voice scraped. "Thirty thousand up front. Fifty more if I deliver. I took it. I wired most of it to the people who are hounding me for my father's hospital bills, so I can't give it back."
Ingmar said nothing.
"I took it before I ever met you. I thought you were a monster, and everyone said you were, and I needed the money." He swallowed. "Then I got to know you. And now I'm sitting in your house, lying to you, and she texted last night, and I deleted it."
"Is that all?" Ingmar asked.
"I never sent her anything. Not a word. I swear to you."
"Look at me."
Bartek lifted his head.
The pale eyes were fixed on him, flat and level, and the face had gone as still as it ever was in the office.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Billionaire Boss Dared Me to Say No, So I Locked the Door are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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