ENTHRALLED BY YOU

A Fictional Romance Novel About Friendship, Love, Family and Dark Secrets

Book 1 of The Knox Trilogy

by

Obianuju Jane Ebubeoha

Copyright ©2021

Enthralled by You

Book 1 of The Knox Trilogy

edited and published by author

Obianuju Jane Ebubeoha

Electronic book publication May 2021

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without the written permission of the author.

Warning: All unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the internet or any other means electronic or print without the authors permission.

Author's Contact: 08070440542

Email: missjdiaries@gmail.com

YouTube: O.J Ebubeoha

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to lovers, individuals building friendships and meaningful relationships and all families.

Also, to all who search for love, are healing and opening up their hearts to love again, this book is dedicated to you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing this book was only possible by the grace of the almighty, and the zeal to put my piece out there.

To my ever-supportive family and friends, I really want to appreciate your advice and motivation throughout the course of writing this book.

To my brother Kingsley Ebubeoha, thank you for your emotional support.

Special thanks to Mr. Franklin and Mr. Justine for your moral support during the course of writing this book.

EPIGRAPH

To all my readers,

Thank you very much for reading this piece.

PREFACE

To the petals of beauty in my life…

Love is beautiful and comes in magical ways we do not expect. It is embedded in the underlying actions we take that endear our hearts to each other.

The mind may be unwilling but the heart knows what it wants, and it aches until perfectly blended with the one it truly seeks.

Love is fully embedded in our friendships, relationships and families, which makes them nonfunctional without it.

Home is where the heart is… The heart abides where Love resides.

“Miss Jane”

A NEW DAY

Good morning sir, rang out in a chorus of singsong voices, as people scrambled to clear the path and adjust themselves in their seats as he entered the corporate office building, with long graceful strides like a runway model, and a heartwarming smile that had all the other employees feeling more at ease with his entrance.

He was wearing a dark gray suit that was tailor-made to fit his entire body, and hugged him in all the right places showing off his muscular build, broad shoulders and confident gait.

He waved, and answered every one of their greetings as he strode purposefully towards his office, made fit for a king.

Technically he was a king, more specifically, the CEO of Knox Enterprises, one of the biggest guru's in the business world, a titan in the field, and known for getting whatever he wanted in the boardroom and otherwise.

My mouth hung loose as always, drooling like a love sick puppy staring at her favorite toy, which happened all the time especially when the CEO, who is my boss, decides to grace his employees with his presence, instead of taking the private elevators to his office floor.

Such moments made me forget I was a grown ass woman.

The sight of Mr. Williams turned Lisa’s heart to mush, like teenager in high school, with a bad crush on the football captain.

Oh Shit! Get a grip Lisa, danger zone right there, approaching unfriendly territory, my inner mind screamed. At the same moment, the intercom buzzed.

The voice on the other end of the intercom was like music to my ears. His melodious voice boomed out of the speaker, “Hey Lisa, you there?”, Mr. Williams asked.

“Yes Mr. Williams, I am right here, good morning sir”, I replied over the line.

“I didn’t catch sight of you when I walked by few minutes ago?”, he asked.

Shit!, “sorry sir, coffee run”, Lisa replied.

“Oh !! Okay, I need you in my office in five minutes with my schedule for the day, meetings and travel plans if any’, Mr. Williams said, his voice clear and precise.

“Already prepared it sir, will have it on your desk in less than a minute; on my way now”, Lisa replied, pulling her chair back to get up.

“Okay Lisa”, he said and clicked off.

She steadied herself as always, like she had done for the past seven years of working as the personal assistant to Mr. Williams.

Amazing how much time had passed, and she had built a special bond with these people around her, and this place she had come to love.

This place felt like home to her, and she has been treated like family from the first day she received her letter of appointment to work here, except for the HOD of the marketing department, who seemed to have a vendetta again her.

Lisa had stopped allowing herself to be affected by the cold stares and unfriendly attitude of the lady in marketing. She paid no heed to the competition, and focused on getting her work done.

Lisa slid out of her seat, and smooth her hands over her skirt, making sure there was nothing out of the ordinary as always. She gathered her files and folders, heading in the opposition direction toward the office that knocked her breath away, and had her in awe every time she stepped in.

The CEO’s office was magnificent, and it’s effect on her senses never changed. She knocked softly on the bronze mahogany doors before gently opening the door and stepping in.

Mr. Williams was sipping his morning coffee, his front facing the window; light steam fanned his face, which escaped from the plastic cup he was holding, from his favorite coffee shop.

His back was turned to Lisa, giving her a rare view of him without his suit on, the outline of his body on display. Her eyes feasted on the perfectly sculptured lines of his shoulders bulging out from underneath his crisp white shirt, which highlighted his dark tanned skin.

His shirt was skillfully tucked into the gray pants that hugged his firm ass beautifully.

He cleared his throat sharply, noting Lisa’s dopey eyed stare at his biceps. Lisa scrambled to compose herself, spots of red filled her cheeks instantly, like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Well, I can see you still check me out thoroughly, even after seven years of working with me”, he said.

“You can't blame a girl for feasting her eyes on delicious chocolate cake when she sees one”, Lisa replied.

He laughed, obviously enjoying the banter, “hope you like what you see?”, Mr. Williams asked her.

Lisa smiled fully as she replied, “Hell yes I do. Never gets old”.

It would sound absurd, but they bantered like this, every day from the first week she started working as his personal assistant.

Initially, Lisa had thought he was going to hit on her, and was very prepared to refuse him; not just because company's policy said so, but because he was way out of my league.

Although he was the kind of man every woman dreamed of, only the selected few actually have him.

He finally put her at ease when he said she was his first employee to actually look embarrassed after been caught staring at him openly, because past employees always took his response the wrong way, and tried to claw their way into his bed, and heart which eventually got them fired.

He also pointed out that, the fact she was embarrassed meant he was safe around her as she wouldn’t try such.

Ever since, it then became a regular routine whenever they met to discuss his schedules for the day, and plans for the week. They would keep going back and forth with the repartee like old college friends.

The sound of his phone ringing, dragged Lisa out of her thoughts. She immediately began laying out folders on his table as he attended to his caller.

“Your flight for next week to Abuja has been canceled because the conference with other stakeholders was moved farther towards the end of the month”, Lisa said as he clicked shut his phone.

“Really, when did that happen? And why am I just been told about it, was actually looking forward to that conference”, Mr. Williams said.

“So sorry sir”, Lisa replied, “you were actually in a meeting all through yesterday till late in the evening; I got the mail before the close of work but didn't want to interrupt your meeting with the new clients, so I held off telling you about it”, she said.

“Okay Lisa, thank you for that”, Mr. Williams said. “So, what's on my schedule for today?”, he asked, and Lisa read out all the plans, meetings, and briefings he would be having for the day.

Also, she continued, “Franca called yesterday to let you know she be would coming to your house tonight”, Lisa said. “She said you haven't been picking up her calls or returning them, so she decided to leave a message at the office for you”, Lisa told him.

She sensed his mood swing before she looked up to meet his already hardened eyes as the last piece of information, she just relayed sank in.

His body was tensed up and taut, he had a death grip on his desk as his jaw ticked, and his lips thinned, which had her a little scared, and worried she might have said the wrong thing.

“I didn't pick or return her calls for a reason”, he bellowed out, which had Lisa cringing inwardly at the harsh tone he just used.

“She has no right to call the office, and quite frankly I must have underestimated her insane need to reach out to me”, he said, but Lisa was quite lost, and short of words.

He looked up, saw Lisa’s scared expression, and softened his gaze as he said, “don't worry Lisa, its not your fault, that woman would do anything to get me to talk to her”, he said, I would handle her myself, and Lisa just nodded.

“If that was all, I would like to settle in for the day’s work. It’s going to be another long day”, he said, and Lisa just nodded again, still unable to speak, and short of words.

Lisa turned to leave but he called out, “Hey Lisa, make sure to remind me when it’s lunch time; I could get pretty consumed by work, and forget to get lunch”, Mr. Williams said.

“Okay sir”, Lisa replied.

She turned around and walked out of his office.