The CEO

Bond

WARNING: Physical, emotional and verbal abuse along with child rape. Please skip if you don't want to read it.
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Levi

"Huh, not bad Eren..." I had to admit I was impressed by his taste in restaurants, no pun intended. It wasn't too extravagant, just elegant in a simple way. Moreover only three people recognised me, judging by their stares.
We chose a table for two in the shadowest corner we could find. Eren ordered for both of us while I sat in silence, contemplating the words I was going to say.
Then it was just the two of us, staring directly at each other. I saw his pupils dilate slightly and he quickly looked down at his fingers. "Um...so you were saying?"
"I apologise in advance if I stumble on my words." I said as emotionlessly as possible. "Please understand that it will be difficult to tell you, as much as I want to."
"No hurry at all." He reached across the table and took my hand in his. It was warm. A pleasant change for my cold one.
Encouraged and slightly flustered, I took several deep breaths, my throat tightening in anticipation. Here goes nothing.

Levi's memories

I stare at the ceiling fan, my vision swimming as I continuously look at the fast rotating blades. Waves of nausea sweep over me as I listen to the screams coming from below.
"Levi?" My mother pokes her head in the door, her hair similar to mine falling over her shoulder. "Daddy wants to see you. We have guests again tonight, and he wants you to meet them."
"No, mom." I say throatily, but she doesn't listen and gives me a stern look to which I respond immediately and leap out of bed. I hurry past her and go down the stairs to the basement, my light feet barely making a sound.
The ear-splitting shrieks just grow louder as I approach the heavy black door and push it open with all the strength I can gather.
"Oh, Levi!" My dads slaps me on the back. I almost stumble forward, but I can't let him get to me. So I jog over to one of the stools and try not to look at the small, frail boy on the table.
"Good boy." My dad smiles at me warmly as he puts his hands on the table on either side of the boy and continue his strange actions.
I look at the child after mustering my courage and instantly regret it. He's just a few years younger than me, and he's looking at me like he's expecting me to save him. Tears are flooding out. I sit and watch, feeling something cold and numb inside my chest. Perhaps my heart has stopped beating. I would be very grateful if that were to be so.
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"Levi, you're so smart. Come to papa." My dad envelops me in a warm hug.
"Just like his parents." My mother chuckles from behind me.
"Shut your mouth, filthy whore." His voice is suddenly gruff in my ear. Fearing the worst, I untangle myself from him and run off to see Zoë and Erwin. They are the only people I can turn to when my father gets upset.

"It sucks not going to the police." Erwin pats my head, reading my report card's all A's. "It feels wrong, but your parents are so nice."
Zoë pulls my cheeks playfully. I slap her away, but smile all the same. I like coming to Erwin's house, it's quiet and has less people.
"They're both weird though." I put my chin in my hands. "Dad likes to call my mom things like 'slut' and 'bitch' and something like that. And he calls me a...fucker?"
"Sshhh!" Zoë puts a finger to her lips. "Those are bad words!"
"She's right." Erwin nods seriously. "You shouldn't say them so easily."
"Well, they do, at least. I don't get how my mom can manage the bank with everything going on."
"Oh, she's tough." Zoë smiles. "But when I talk to her, it feels like she's crazy about your dad. I wonder why?"
"I think couples are supposed to be." Erwin's eyebrows scrunch in thought. "But she's right again, Levi, she seems almost obsessed."
"Love is blind, yo." Zoë stretches her arms and lies down on the bedroom floor.
"Hey, watch your skirt, Miss Hanji." Erwin pokes her belly, and she pushes him away with her foot.
I watch those two, thinking.
Is this love?
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"I'm sorry, daddy." His nails rip down my thighs again, and I see beads of blood running down my skin.
"Levi, it's because I love you that I'm doing this." His voice is gentle.
My dad is smart. He only makes these marks in places that cannot be easily seen, and he makes sure to bandage them properly afterwards after putting rubbing alcohol on it. He says it's for his happiness, and if I refuse, he breaks down sobbing.
"Daddy has to work so hard he cannot sleep." He cries into my shirt. "Don't you love me? Don't you wish to see me happy? Let me do it and I'll love you forever."
I know he works a lot. Strange people come to our house but I'm not allowed to see them, so I catch a glimpse of them from a window when they quietly arrive. I have to be careful, though. One time mom caught me and slapped me hard. I won't make the same mistake twice, I think.
And I never do.
Dad has a very good reputation among normal people. He's the quiet researcher who also does police work sometimes , but I see the crying children in the basement and think otherwise.
He rarely goes out of the house. He tells the guests I'm allowed to meet with that he only owns the bank in name and is actually strongly into science, and if I open my mouth to say something I can feel my mother pinching me till I close it.
I love my mother. She's affectionate, and only gets mad if it has something to do with my father. She has no idea what 'work' he does but trusts him when he says that the muffled screams are just toddlers unwilling to get their shots.
"Wouldn't want to cause a ruckus with the neighbours here, hun." He says.
She loves him deeply, she says.
I don't agree.
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"Oh, Levi...do mommy a favour and get me some medicine from the shop. You know daddy is busy."
"I'm so sorry." I reply. "Can't the maid go? My finals are tomorrow and I have to focus really hard." I'm seventeen, and about to give one of the country's toughest exams.
"Don't you love me?" She wails. "You'll inherit the bank anyway. Daddy will see to it that you do. Why do you care about all these unnecessary studies?"
Because I want to escape, I think.
"I'll go. I love you." I say.
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"Sweetheart, don't leave!!" She screams, holding out her hand like I'll come running back to her. No way. The top university in the country has granted me a 100% scholarship. I don't need their money or social status. I want to leave.
"Fucker. Filthy animal." With every insult dad hits me on the head and the stomach. I cough and gag, but hold my ground as my suitcase falls to the floor. "I'm sorry. You've taken care of me all this time, and I'm very grateful. But please let me make my way in the world." I wince as my stomach throbs in pain.
"I knew it, child." Tears spill down on their faces as dad looks at me with all the world's suffering in his eyes. "We give you everything, and you betray us like this. I don't understand, but we're getting old. We can't fight anymore."
"Thank you for everything." I hug my parents who have become stiff statues. They have been strict, but they made me into a tough bastard who isn't afraid of anything.
Even if their minds are fucked up beyond repair.
Trying to erase the kids' images from my head, I get into my cab for the airport.
I am free.
It's a long way to the airport, so I plug in my earphones and blast our band's songs on my phone, closing my eyes. I hope we can continue our secret rehearsals in Mike's garage in the future, or a proper theatre. Inviting Erwin to perform is useless, he's tone deaf and more into academics anyway. We're good, but only a few of our friends know about us.
No Name.
My eyes snap open.
I forgot our tracks in my bedroom closet.
"Go back!!" I roar and the driver jumps. He turns around, cursing, and we race back to my house.
I forgot to put them on my checklist. They were always hidden, so I only remember about their presence when I think of singing, which doesn't happen much in my house.
After about fifteen minutes I jump out of the cab and bound up the steps to the front door. It's open, to my relief but at the same time unease. I don't bump into anyone as I run up the stairs and dash into my room.
And my entire world collapses around me.
I fall to my knees.
No no no no no no no no.
"She's tough." Zoë's voice echoes in my head.
Is she?
They why are they both lying in a pool of their own blood, identical deep gashes in their throats?
My father has a blade in his hand.
Their eyes are open, but they don't stare at me accusingly, for once.
I collect my tracks, my most imprtant possessions, and run away from the house forever.
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I wiped my mouth and gulped down a glass of water, then hesitantly looked up at Eren.
"Hey..."
His face flooded with tears, he trembled, clutching my hand so tightly I had wriggle it out of his surprisingly tight grip.
"Levi..." His voice was barely recognizable. I belt something break inside my chest as he broke down completely. I caught his hand and squeezed it so hard he yelped.
"Not now." I said harshly, pain erupting through me. "Cry at my house. Not here, where people know me."
"O-okay." He took in deep breaths and wiped his face with the handkerchief I handed to him. Somehow I didn't feel like giving him the restaurant's tissue paper.
He composed himself quickly and we got up after paying for our food, which I didn't realise I had already finished.
We drove to my house in dead silence. Our fingers were interlocked, but I took my hand away every now and then to change gears.
The moment I closed the main door of my bungalow he engulfed me in a bear hug, nuzzling his nose in my hair. With hesistant hands I wrapped my arms around him as his body shook with sobs.
"What happened to the kids?" He choked.
"I have no idea. He brought them from other countries. I guess he had a good hold over child kidnapping."
He cried harder into my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Eren." I stroked his back. "You can cry as much as you want. I don't really care what happens to me, but if people informed the media about me comforting my subordinate so intimately then it would've been troublesome for the both of us."
"It's fine, I understand." He tipped his head down to kiss my forehead. "Thank you, and...sorry. I'm sorry."
"Thank you. I'm sorry too." I replied softly.
He sat down on the couch while I got out some alcohol and poured it into the expensive glasses I never used.
"Champagne?" I handed one to him.
He sniffed and smiled. "Do you feel better? Like lighter?"
"I guess." I sat down next to him, our shoulders touching. "Do you?"
"Yeah, and now I maybe understand why you were so unsure about being involved romantically with someone so much younger than you."
"Maybe." I laced our fingers together, feeling weirdly bashful about intiating the action.
"Wow." He took a sip. "My parents are like angels next to yours."
"Hey, hey." I pressed a finger against his chest. "Don't you fucking compare our situations. Both aren't pretty. Leave it at that. And for the record..." I held his chin and lifted it up to meet our gazes. "My mom wasn't that bad of a person."
"Is that why you love the bank so much?" He asked.
"Maybe..." I muttered and got up to grab the tv remote. "Wanna watch something?"
"Oh, you have Netflix?" He noticed the word appearing on the screen in red.
"Yeah, but I never watched it. I bought it after we watched Inception at your place."
"Oh..." He turned red and looked down at his glass. "Really?"
"No, I'm lying." I rolled my eyes sarcastically. "What do you want to see?"
"Listen, do you have spare clothes? I'm kind of uncomfortable in these." He gestured at his formal clothing.
I raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I'll change and bring some clothes, but I think...never mind."
After a while I walked up to him dressed in my nightwear and holding a shirt and sweatpants. To my surprise he started unbuttoning his shirt right there in my living room, frowning in confusion at my flustered expression. I tried not to stare at his muscles as he tried on my shirt.
"Ah, damn..." It was too small. He struggled to get out of it, cursing. "It's tight!"
"What is?" I stared up at him through my lashes, running my fingers slowly over his thighs.
"The shirt, Levi! The shirt! Jeez!" He put a hand over his face, blushing madly. "Don't stir me up like that!"
"Well, I don't mind you being shirtless." He grabbed my waist and our bodies pressed together. "Unfortunately, I have one of Erwin's shirts here from the time we were rehearsing for No Name."
"Oh yeah, that place. The Rose Chamber, right? That explains the rose decorations on the outside."
"You know your French. That's admirable." I buried my face in his neck.
"It wasn't that difficult. But you're French, right? That's hot."
I looked up at him. "Uh?"
"It is." He smiled and bent down to lick the shell of my ear. "You're hot."
"Uh..." A shiver ran down my spine. I gave him a push.
"Hurry up and select a movie..."

We ended up watching cheesy romance for the rest of the night, but actually talked through most of it, leaning against each other. Eren annoyingly sniffed me from time to time, insisting that I smelled really good. It was irritating and embarrassing every time he did it. Even so, I couldn't help but get a whiff of his scent too.
He fell asleep sometime in the middle, his head resting on my shoulder. I felt his hair tickle my cheek as I leaned into him. Slowly, my eyes drooped down and I drifted off.
I woke up with a start in the dead of the night. My sudden movement disturbed Eren, who groaned in his sleep.
"Sorry." I whispered automatically and put my hand gently on his head. His soft breathing resumed soon. A sudden urge to do something engulfed me. I brushed my lips against his hair and whispered, "Eren, I like you."
"I like you too, Levi." His immediate reply startled me, but I calmed down after thinking that he was probably talking in his sleep.
Damn brat. I kissed his hair.
I never thought I'd find anyone like you in my life.