I Accidentally Got Auctioned for a Date… My CEO Just Bid $5,000 to Keep Me
Chapter 3
Sophie didn’t answer immediately.
She had spent the weekend trying not to think about him.
It hadn’t worked.
Now he was sitting across from her.
Not as her boss.
Not exactly.
Her reporting line had changed.
Her performance reviews would go through another executive.
Her compensation would be reviewed independently.
Alexander had made sure there was no direct professional advantage or disadvantage connected to their relationship.
Sophie appreciated it.
But she was still nervous.
“Why me?”
Alexander smiled.
“Because you’re you.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is.”
He leaned back.
“You don’t care about my money.”
“I work for you.”
“You cared about the charity before you cared about the gala.”
She smiled.
“True.”
“You make people comfortable.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
He paused.
“And you make me forget I’m a CEO.”
She looked at him.
That was the sentence she had been waiting to hear.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“One more date.”
He smiled.
“Friday?”
“Friday.”
Their second date was quieter.
No auction.
No audience.
They walked through a public garden.
They talked.
Laughed.
Sophie learned Alexander loved old bookstores.
He learned she hated expensive restaurants.
She preferred diners.
He took her to one.
The food was terrible.
They laughed.
It felt normal.
That was the problem.
Normal was dangerous.
The more they spent time together, the more Sophie realized she liked him.
Not because he was rich.
Because he listened.
He remembered small details.
Her grandmother’s favorite flower.
Her fear of flying.
Her obsession with old mystery novels.
He noticed when she was tired.
He never pressured her.
The relationship grew.
But then someone leaked a photograph.
Alexander and Sophie walking through the garden.
The headline appeared:
CEO DATES EMPLOYEE HE WON AT CHARITY AUCTION
Sophie felt humiliated.
She wanted to quit.
Alexander refused to let her make a decision while emotional.
He asked her to wait.
She said:
“I don’t want people thinking I slept my way into my job.”
His face hardened.
“Nobody will say that.”
“People already are.”
“I’ll handle it.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“I don’t need you to fix everything.”
He looked at her.
“Then tell me what you need.”
She took a breath.
“Control.”
He nodded.
“Then take it.”
She asked to be transferred permanently into another division.
Alexander approved.
No special title.
No raise.
No advantage.
She moved.
The gossip slowly faded.
Their relationship became more private.
Stronger.
Then Sophie met Alexander’s mother.
She was warm.
She liked Sophie immediately.
“He’s different around you.”
Sophie smiled.
“I’ve noticed.”
His mother laughed.
“Good.”
She also revealed something unexpected.
Alexander hadn’t dated seriously in years.
After his father’s death, he had buried himself in work.
His mother worried he would spend his life alone.
Sophie began understanding him better.
The CEO wasn’t cold.
He was guarded.
One night, he told Sophie about the day his father died.
“I was twenty-seven.”
“He left me the company.”
“I thought I had to become him.”
She touched his hand.
“You don’t.”
“I know that now.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
He kissed her.
Their relationship became real.
But as their love grew, so did the stakes.
Alexander’s board wanted to recruit a new executive partner.
The leading candidate was a man named David Shaw.
David knew Sophie had been involved with Alexander.
He saw the relationship as leverage.
And he wanted it gone.
Because Sophie had discovered irregularities in one of his divisions.
She had not realized it yet.
But someone was about to target her career.
