Marissa Mayer. https://www.snapchat.com/add/gentlemanboners
(Victory request for @deeperinmypower for winning my 400 followers countdown)
The first law of magic was one many initiates found deeply disappointing: you couldn’t do magic for yourself. Unless it was specifically requested by another person, any spell you tried would fizzle and fail.
Of course any fully fledged sorcerer worth their salt knew that was hardly any limitation at all. You just had to find people who weren’t quite specific enough in their requests.
Paul had gained a reputation as someone who removed… troublesome individuals. Not killing them–never killing them, he had rules–but simply making them no longer a problem for whoever they were troubling. Of course in this day and age nobody believes in magic; Paul’s (very, very wealthy) clients simply assumed he was good at either finding or manufacturing evidence of wrongdoing, scandalous behavior, that sort of thing.
And when a beautiful woman–or any woman, really–becomes CEO of a powerful company, there are always people who find that inherently troublesome. For the better part of four years, certain shareholders in Yahoo had tried quietly to oust Marissa, but there seemed no way to do so without exposing themselves to scrutiny they’d rather avoid.
Then they heard about Paul. Quietly they contacted him. Quietly and through several shell corporations and offshore accounts, a sum of money containing quite a few zeroes changed hands. Quietly they made clear to him what they wanted: “Create a scandal,” they said. “Force her to step down.”
Paul did exactly what they asked. The laws of magic required that much.
He just didn’t do what they wanted.
—
Marissa smiled at Paul as he broke their kiss. She couldn’t believe she was doing this out on the balcony overlooking the HQ courtyard, where literally anyone could see. Her husband had already left with the children; his lawyers would have a field day with this. The press would have even more of one.
She didn’t care. Paul made her happy. Being with him made her happy. Loving him made her happier. Pleasing him made her happiest.
“The paperwork is already signed,” she told him. “The board’ll challenge it, but everything’s aboveboard. By tomorrow, you’ll be running everything.”
“Control of $35 billion company,” he said. “Quite the extravagant present, my dear.”
She threw her arms around his neck, melting against him as his hands fell to her hips. “I love you,” she said simply. “I’ve never fallen this fast or this hard for anyone. I want you to have everything of mine. You own my heart, my soul, my body–I promise you that I will always give you anything you want, do anything you want. I’m completely under your spell.”
“That you are,” Paul agreed. “That you are.”