When the door finally opened, it did so with such force that she wasn’t sure it stayed in its hinges. The slamming of them wiggled  her just the same, and adrenaline began to flow into her bloodstream in overwhelming doses. Lucas walked around her and, standing with his back to her, tossed some files on the table. It landed noisily, but Lucas still had his palms on the desk and was breathing so sharply that it was not only visible, by the moving of his shoulders, but audible. She didn’t even dare to utter a sound. Maybe a full minute passed before he turned to face her.

The angry look he gave her caught her off guard. She swallowed and waited. The longer he looked at her, the angrier he looked. Hands loosely lowered beside his body, he clenched them into fists.
„For the last time,“ he finally got out in an icy voice.
„Your-edu-ca-tio-nal back-ground!“

He chopped the syllables off sharply, barking outright. She ran her gaze from him to the desk and to the file. She thought for a second and tried:
„I’ve already…“ she began.

At that moment, he took one step towards her. He grabbed her blouse with both hands and ripped it into two pieces in a second. The buttons were still rolling noisily on the floor as he roughly tore the remnants of fabric from her shoulders. He released her hands from the chair, though tied together he left them. He kicked a light piece of furniture away and set Lucy facing his desk, which he leaned against again. He folded his arms and pierced her with a furious look, waiting.
She was beginning to understand that he was really sick. It wasn’t hard to guess what was probably in that file, but how much was there? She stared at him for just a second longer, giving up this fight, or at least this part of it:
„I’m an economics engineer at Charles University. Management of medium and large enterprises in an international environment.“

He looked into her eyes and remained silent. A second, two. Then he stood abruptly, walked around her and grabbed her waist from behind, upsetting her balance, and all he had to do was grab the edge of her skirt with his free hand and yank it down. He took no notice of her cries, only in her underwear, straightened her back to standing and stood in front of her. She exhaled defeatedly and finished:
„I also have an MBA and I’m currently taking exams for my PhD.“
He reached for her bra, to which she instinctively jerked and took a step back:
„I really don’t have anything else!“ She exclaimed defensively.

Which she immediately regretted, for the shadow of anger that flitted across his eyes could not be explained well. Very slowly he straightened, even more slowly he walked behind her back. With the full width of his palm, he cupped her neck under her chin, squeezed, and lifted her up so that she had to stand on tiptoe. He rested her back against him, pressed his lips to her ear, and whispered softly but firmly:
„One more time, do something I didn’t tell you to do. Don’t do something I want you to do one more time, or try to curse again. And I promise you’ll beg me for mercy. Do we understand each other?“
He guessed her nod before she had a chance to move even a millimeter in that grip. Slowly, he released her and waited for her to catch her footing. Then he clawed at her bra with both hands, and in a moment it, too, was falling to the floor. Lucia flailed, but managed not to take a step. By the time she recovered, Lucas was standing in front of her.
„What languages do you speak?“
„I speak…“ her voice skipped,“ … fluent in English, German, Russian, Spanish, and Polish. I’m a beginner in Hungarian,“ she licked her lips.
„Okay,“ he uttered almost contentedly. „What kind of car do you drive?“
„BMW 7.“
„Where did you get a car like that?“ he frowned.
„Borrowed. Registered to the company.“
„A borrowed Bavarian 7? Well, you must do an excellent blow job.“
He didn’t even want to hide the sarcasm, and he was trying to insult her at least as much as he was feeling right now.

Lucia was silent for a few seconds, thinking. She tried to hide the fact that her gaze had drifted to the file again and tried:
„I’m not sure how you want me to react to this.“
He retorted disgustedly, „No way.“
There was silence. Lucas ran a hand through his hair, stood idly for a moment, then sat back in his chair at his desk. He measured Lucia with a slow gaze from top to bottom and back again. She frowned a little, but didn’t move. He grinned mischievously.
„OK,“ he declared after a moment. „So the incompetent girl with the high school diploma has turned out to be a very bright woman with the highest possible education one can get here… You obviously have other pros on top of that I have no doubt…“
He made a point of staring at her naked breasts as he said these words. She averted her gaze, to which he responded immediately:
„Look at me!“
She rather obeyed.
„By the way,“ he began, grinning sarcastically again. „Are they real, or is that a sponsorship gift too?“
She took a deep breath and only after exhaling did she answer:
„I’m not sure how to respond to that either.“
She couldn’t hide the hostile and angry tone. He stood up and walked towards her, cutting her off:
„No way, too.“

He placed the palm of his left hand on her back so she couldn’t back away and ran the other roughly over her breasts. He stared brazenly straight into her eyes, unashamedly savoring everything she had in them-surprise, anger, helplessness. The rougher he treated her breasts, the more she held her breath. He knew it wasn’t arousal, it was just overwhelming rage. But that was what made him happy, and he pushed harder. She tried to move away, which he prevented with his hand on her back, and pressed her even closer to him.
„Lucas, that hurts!“ She exclaimed, jerking her bound hands for a moment.
„Great!“ He whispered sadistically when she stopped, but to her surprise he softened. He ran his gaze over her face, his hand still teasing her breast, though more gently now. She was almost startled when she realized he’d been staring at her lips for somehow a long time. At that moment, he realized it too:
„Ooh, that’s a tempting kiss. You’d even have a taste for it if you didn’t know all the things you’re putting into it.“
He let go of her so violently that she staggered.

„So, with these gifts of yours,“ he continued calmly, as if he were having a debate with a business partner at the table. „Why are you here? I mean, why are you making coffee all day and carrying papers for ridiculous money? Clearly you’ve got what it takes to be a manager, at the very least.“
„Um… I like my job,“ she replied vaguely. He frowned:
„I could understand you going to work because that bully of yours told you to. To keep you from bothering him all day, he’d whisk you away for five or six hours. Okay.“
He didn’t let her offended gasp disturb him. „But why the assistant?“
„Lucas, I don’t know how else to answer. I like this job. At least, I did until recently.“
She whispered the last sentence obviously more to herself than to him.

„Did someone order you to do a pronounced assistant?“ He straightened, arching his back wearily. She hadn’t expected his movement and flinched a little. He froze mid-move and looked at her in surprise. Then he frowned, straightened his back very slowly, and just as slowly ran his gaze over her entire body. Then once more and concluded:
„He’s not beating you. That would have been obvious. So you’re afraid I’ll do it? E-e, you’d have to make me very angry. And even that would just be so educational, on your ass.“
Lucy was less and less sure if she was more startled, surprised, or angered by his words. She couldn’t respond verbally, so she just stayed silent and listened.
Lucas walked over to her and gently released her bonds.
„It’s easy with me,“ he continued once Lucy was rubbing her chafed wrists. He placed his open palm on her cheek, then in her hair, stroking it:
„You will obey, and I won’t be mad at you. Hm?“
She would have snapped at him too, but at the moment when it began to seem like this crazy situation might finally be over, she didn’t want to indulge herself. So he continued:
„And if you happen to wonder if I plan to rape you…“
She jerked so violently that he pressed his hand in her hair tighter against her and lowered his voice:
„…so don’t. I really don’t need to get into a fight with a guy who lets his whore drive a car like that.“

Her pupils dilated, she raised her eyebrows, opened her mouth and gasped. But he considered his last word, so he let her go. He walked over to the closet, took out one of his shirts. He handed it to Lucy, who took a few more seconds to recover before reaching for her clothes.
„I don’t have a smaller one,“ he sounded almost apologetic, „you’ll have to roll up your sleeves. The skirt’s whole.“
Without another glance, he walked around her toward his desk and sat down. He took some papers from the table and began to read intently. She woke up relatively quickly. She slipped into his shirt and skirt and, buttoning the buttons, moved toward the door. She stopped in front of them, buttoned up, adjusted her sleeves and the very wide waistband of her shirt. Raising her head a little higher, she ran her hands up her skirt, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Only when she’d closed it behind her did Lucas set the papers down, hid his face helplessly in his hands, and set the whole lot of them on the desk with a thud.

…to be continued