Alec walked into the office, a scowl on his face. He didn’t look at me or greet me as he made his way over to his desk.

“Is…there anything you want me to specifically do today?” I finally had to ask, as I had run out of work to do the last few days of him not talking to me.

“I have some clients that owe me money.” He finally spoke after a few moments. Alec walked over to my desk, placing a sheet of paper down. “Remind them, anyway necessary, that they need to pay up. I suppose the one good thing about you is you keep your payments consistent.” Alec spoke darkly, as he talked.

“I really don’t want to push them like that, Alec.” I spoke quietly. “But I’ll figure it out, okay?”

I started through the list. Most people sounded scared when I reminded them. From what I know, Alec has some men who will track people down and convince them to pay their debt off in a timely manner.

“Hello?” This time it was the voice of a woman, unlike most of the other people I had called previously. I explained to her who I was and why I was calling. “I can't pay.” She stated firmly.

“I understand, Marnie-”

“Marnie?” Alec spoke up. “That bitch owes me for months' payments. Tell her my men will come after her if she doesn’t pay this month.”

“I understand, ma’am, but you’re going to be in danger if you don’t pay.” I tried to reason with her.

“Is this some good guy, bad guy bullshit?” She sounded pissed after I mentioned the danger.

“No, ma’am. I’m just here to remind you about your payment.” I jotted her number down, hoping to call and reason with her on my lunch break. I was hoping I could convince her to pay before she got hurt by Alec’s men. I finished the conversation with her before standing up and walking over to Alec.

“You can’t just threaten people like that, Alec. You can’t just send hitmen after people who don’t pay you. You’re not the mafia.”

“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do, little girl.” He glared at me darkly.

“I don’t want to work here anymore.” I spoke quietly.

“You didn’t seem to mind until your new boyfriend was found out.” He raised an eyebrow. “What changed, Mae?” He asked mockingly.

“I don’t like doing bad things, and you’re bad news.” I took a step back from his desk, but he grabbed onto my arm as he stood up. He pulled me around and backed me against the wall, trapping me between his body.

“Have you forgotten that you owe me?” He snarled.

“Money.” I meekly spoke, looking up at him in fear.

He grabbed me by my shirt collar. “Just because you have your little boyfriend now doesn’t mean you can pretend that you didn’t like getting fucked. You’re nothing more than my whore.” He spat the last words out. I looked up at him, tears welling up. “Now, be a good little girl and do what you’re here for.” He cooed as he leaned in to kiss me.

I turned my head to the side and tried to slip out of his grasp, but he was holding on too tightly. “Please let go of me.”

“Oh, come on now, you know you want it. All those times you were being fucked in this office, you never had a complaint before.” He grinned down at me.

“I’m not saying I had a complaint, but I’m now asking you to just let go of me.” I looked up at him with teary eyes. “Please just let me get back to work and we can pretend this didn’t happen.”

He shoved me against the wall before spinning around. “You’re worthless anyways.” He grabbed his jacket off the chair and walked to the door pausing before stepping out and slamming the door behind him.

I wiped my tears away after telling Richard about my day, about everything Alec had said and done. Richard had his arm wrapped around me and was rubbing my arm gently.

“Mae, why don’t you let me pay off your debt?” He asked softly.

“No, Richard. I don’t want you to do that. I need to work for something for myself. Even if my boss is shit.”

“He sexually harassed you, Mae. You shouldn’t just force yourself to deal with it.”

“I know, but I just…” I trailed off, looking away sadly. “I feel like this is something I have to do.”

“Think about it, Mae. Please. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll think on it.”

“Did you call the lady back?” He changed the topic.

“I did. She told me she’s a single mother who had to get the debt to pay for medical bills for her son.” I grew sad again, thinking about it.

“If you won’t let me help you, will you let me help her at least?”

“What?” I looked up at him in surprise. “You’d do that?”

“Of course.” He nodded. “No one deserves to be threatened like that and I can help her.”

“I--I’ll call her back then.” I stood up to go grab my phone.

Richard and I had gone and seen the woman to give her the money for the debt. We ended up having dinner with her and her three kids. She broke down in tears once we gave her the money, freeing her from her debt. I don’t think I’ve ever felt better in my life, even if it wasn’t my money I was giving her.

“Are you alright, Mae?” Richard asked softly, walking out of the bathroom. He crawled into the bed next to me. “You’ve had a hard day.”

“I think so.” I nodded. “I’m scared to go to work tomorrow. I’m scared he’s going to do something worse.”

“Mae, have you thought about what I said? About leaving.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m going to tell him tomorrow I quit.”

“Good. I’m glad. He’s shown he’s not a safe person to be around.”

“He has. Between today and attacking you, god only knows what else he’s willing to do.”

“Come here, Mae.” Richard held his arms out to me. I crawled over to him and hugged onto him tightly as we lay down in the bed.

“I’ve never felt better than when I’m with you, Richard.”

He smiled, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.

I pushed the office door open, worried about what I would have to deal with today, telling him I quit. I looked over; my eyes widened to see my desk missing. Seems he had beat me to the punch.

“You’re fucking done here, Mae.” I looked over to see a furious Alec standing behind his desk. “I found out what your little boyfriend did, paying off her debt. You’re really fleecing him, aren't you? At least with me, I knew you were in it for the sex and not my money.”

“I’m not in it for anyone’s money.” I scowled. “I love Richard.”

“You surely weren’t saying that when I had you bent over.”

“Can you just not?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I get it. You’re just being an asshole because you’re hurt, but you don’t have to keep referring to just having sex.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “Just make sure you get your boyfriend to pay your debts, or I’ll have to send my men after you.”

“I will.” I looked away from him. “Sorry things went this way, Alec. I hope you the best.” I turned away and left the room.