Nobody will ever understand the physical pain that this man caused me, the emotional damage that still haunts me to this day. My stepfather hired me to be his secretary shortly after I graduated from college. Things were nice at first, he was sweet and made sure I felt comfortable around the office. But after working for him for around a year he began wanting more from me than just his secretary. Unfortunately for me, I said no. And he took what he wanted anyway. My mother knew about it the whole time, she actually walked in on him one day at the office.

But my mother ignored the fact that her husband had her sobbing daughter bent over a desk, and instead called me names I would rather not repeat. She blamed me and said I was leading him on, and wanted to take what she had. Apparently, since I was the one being raped week after week that I was the one who betrayed my mother.

Maxwell threatened me with unimaginable things if I told anyone, which is why my mother is the only one who knew. The only reason Talia knew was because she accidentally bumped into me wrong shortly after one day after work, and my first reaction was to grab a kitchen knife so she didn't touch me again. Talia knew me like the back of her hand, and obviously knew something was wrong.

She freaked out when I told her and ran out of my apartment at lightning speed to head to the police station. But after me begging and pleading with her not to tell, she finally gave in. Maxwell Preston was one of the most powerful men in New York, God only knew what he would do to us if we snitched on him.

I could never forgive these two horrible human beings for what they did to me, that was obvious by the heated scowl on my face. I would never understand what provoked my mother to betray her own child, and i would never understand what changed her so much in such a short amount of time. My father would roll over in his grave if he knew what happened between us.

And the thought of him made my eyes water. My amazing father who did everything for his family. I know he was looking down on me with sadness at the fact that he couldn't protect his little girl. He would be disappointed at the fact I never told Tommy, the man he raised to protect his little sister at all costs. I knew he was proud of the things I accomplished for myself. And I know he would be exceptionally happy at the fact that I defended myself against my mother. Hell, my dad would have treated her like the scum of the earth if he knew what she did, and I think that made it easier to hate her.

"Avery darling, I didn't know you would be here!" My mother exclaimed when she noticed me standing along the red carpet that led into the crowded hotel. Her outstretched claws were reaching for me, I glared at them and slapped them down the second they were inches from my face. "Mother, stop acting like nothing happened!" I shouted at her, getting frustrated that she was still pretending that she did nothing wrong. Maxwell just stood with his arm slung gently around her waist, a smirk across his face as he looked me up and down.

"I am your mother young lady!"

"Well I see no mother of mine. Just a selfish bitch" I spat at her, turning on my heel and walking in the direction of the hotel front doors. "And keep your dog on a leash" I added, glaring directly at Maxwell who was still eyeing me up and down. I finally looked away from the demented ken and Barbie, and walked inside to do my job. I was proud of myself for standing up to my mother that way, I never was one that was able to do that before.

The inside of the ballroom at the hotel was beautiful. Round tables with blood red table clothes were lined around the room with white rose center pieces in black tall oval vases. A small orchestra was playing a soft familiar piece by Bozet in the corner of the room, but the most magnificent thing about the room wasn't the beautiful gowns that the thin women were wearing or the delicious looking Hors d'oeuvres that were being served by waiters around the room. The most amazing thing was Cameron on the dance floor, with what looked like a ninety year old woman who was gushing up at him with a toothy grin.

I smiled brightly when I saw him smile gently down at her, while slowly spinning her around. A few other couples were slowly dancing around them, but Cameron was the only one I could look at. I finally had to look away and remember that I was actually here to work. Bradley was here to help me keep in line the young dozens of interns who were here representing the company. When I got to the other side of the room, half of them appeared to already be drunk while the others were making a fool of themselves.

I don't know how I was only about five years older them most of them, and all of them appeared to have the maturity of a sixteen year old. Two girls were dancing provocatively with each other, while several of the young men were watching clearly interested. Bradley was trying to get a drunk guy to the bathroom who looked like he was about to vomit all over the dark wooden floors. I couldn't believe these were the people representing this company tonight, only about two of them seemed to be generally sober. If the other companies knew these idiots came from James Enterprises, they would never invest with us.

I sighed before quickly springing into action to take care of these people. "Ok, all of you put your drinks down before I have security take you all home" I said loudly over the heavy chattering of all the inters. None of them seemed to listen to me, and most of the girls looked at me with disdain.

Cameron trusted me with a lot of power around the office, and often times had me spy on random people to let him know how they were doing on their work. But I never like to throw that in someones face, but if these interns didn't listen to me I may have to. "You are all embarrassing our company, so I suggest you two stop grinding on each other and the rest of you stop snorting tequila up your noses"I said looking around at the very confused drunken interns. Two guys slammed their glasses back on the bar before running for the bathroom with their hands over their mouths.

The event only started an hour ago, how are they all so drunk already? They were all obviously taking advantage of the open bar tonight.

After the bartender served an elderly couple who were glaring at the group of loud men beside them, I walked over to him. "Do not serve this group anything other than water, if I catch anything other than that in their hands my boss will have your job" I said pointing my finger in the direction of my interns who were swaying on their feet. The bartender nodded in understanding before grabbing several bottles of water and sliding them over to me.

I needed to sober them up quickly. We placed the interns at random tables with people from other companies, so they could learn the ins and outs and talk our company up in the process. But none of them would be able to do that if they weren't sober. I shoved the water into the hands of the first people i could find, but one of the girls ended up just shoving the bottle back into my hands.

I glared over at the young girl who only looked about nineteen. She had her golden hair in tendrils down her back and what appeared to be ten pounds of makeup on her already darkened face. "I don't think I need to listen to you" She sneered with a raised eyebrow. I glared right back and took a step forward not wanting to deal with her tonight. She was my job, and if she put my job in jeopardy I would push her in front of a taxi without a moments hesitation.

"Listen to me. I'm under instructions to make sure you don't embarrass the company. I have no problem dragging Mr.James over here and having him fire your ass if you don't comply" I said glaring into her blue eyes that were packed full of black eyeliner.

"Thought I told you to call me Cameron, Ms.Montgomery" I heard his sultry voice say from behind me. I turned around slowly to see him looking down at me with a tilted head and a glass full of champagne. The girl I was talking too's demeanour changed immediately, as she was now batting her eyelashes at Cameron who was only looking at me.

"A problem Avery?" Cameron asked me looking between me and the girl I was talking to.

"I don't know, is there?" I asked the girl with a raised eyebrow, as I held up the bottle of water in my hand. She growled a no at me before snatching the bottle out of my hand and walking over to some of the other interns making me shake my head. I couldn't help the chuckle that left my lips as she was now bitching about it with a couple other girls.

"I knew there was a feisty side to you" Cameron said to me as I turned around to finally look at him. I blushed at his comment and swayed on my feet. "I like it" He added with a smirk. I don't think I would ever get over how devilishly handsome this man looked right now. He had to be almost a foot taller than me, but he was so close I could see the glistening in his bright blue eyes.

"Is there something I can help you with Cameron?" I asked politely, having a hard time remembering I was his employee when he was so close I could smell his cologne.

Cameron nodded his head before placing his hand on the small of my back, leading me towards a half full table. "I'll have Bradley keep an eye on the interns for the rest of the night. I need you at my table, there's a client I'm trying to schmooze tonight".

I nodded my head, turning around to see Bradley wave at me before wrangling the interns into their assigned seating. "Sure, anything you need" I said smiling sweetly up at Cameron before he stopped in front of our table.

"I know I can always count on you" he whispered into my ear before pulling out a chair for me. A chill went down my spine as his lips were so close to my skin. And I suddenly could think of nothing else.

"Avery" His voice calling my name pulled me from my erotic daydream. He smiled gently to me before motioning to the chair he was holding out for me. I blushed and brushed my hair across my shoulder before finally sitting down and letting him scoot my chair in for me. Cameron took the seat to my left while I didn't recognize the man on my right.

"Ah, Ms.Montgomery. Pleasure to see you again" A cold voice said from across the table.

The client that Cameron was trying to schmooze was my stepfather. And the once chill that ran down my spine from the touch of his skin on mine was replaced with a hatred so cold, the devil himself would go running from me. There was no possible way this evening was going to go well. I was either going to lose Cameron this business, or lose my job. Either way, there was no possible way I was going to sit here and act like nothing happened all those years ago.