I’d been sitting in the lobby of Apex Entertainnt for four hours.
My back ached from sitting for long hours on the stiff leather chair. My stomach growled occasionally, reminding I’ve had nothing to eat all day. It felt like years had passed since I went to the hospital and got the news that my mother had passed.
But it had only been a few hours.
The receptionist had made it clear that I couldn’t see Hansel.
"I’m sorry, ma’am, but for you to see Mr Ward, you need an appointnt."
"Of course I know that, but I’m telling you he’ll want to see ."
"I’m sure he will," she gave a condescending smile. "But company policy is clear. No appointnt, no eting."
"Can you at least call him? Tell him Naya Rivers is here?"
She looked up and down with derision, probably taking in my wrinkled clothes, ssy hair and my duffel bag. I’m sure the na ’Rivers’ must have rung a bell in her head, but of course, I didn’t look like a ’Rivers’. I was a poor excuse for my family.
"Mr Ward is a very busy man," she finally stated. "And I can’t interrupt him for every person who walks in off the street."
"I think you’re mistaken..." I started to say, but trailed off when I saw the look in her eyes.
No matter how much I try to explain to her, I would not change her mind. I know they couldn’t legally throw out.
"Fine," I said, flashing her a smile. "I’ll wait."
"You can’t—"
"I’ll wait in the lobby." I sat down on one of the fancy leather chairs. "Right here. Until he cos out."
The receptionist’s mouth opened and closed several tis; I could see she was conflicted about calling security.
But technically, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was only sitting and waiting.
She couldn’t force to leave.
So, that is how I ended up wasting four hours of my ti waiting for Hansel, my eyes trained on the elevator, watching every person who stepped out and hoping that one of them would be him.
The receptionist kept glaring at from her desk. She’d already told three tis that I couldn’t see Mr Ward without an appointnt. He was a very busy man, so I should leave and call to schedule sothing.
But I had no phone. No money to use a pay phone again—I’d tried that already, spent my last few dollars on a call that went straight to voicemail.
I had nothing except the duffel bag at my feet and the clothes on my back.
I’d left the hospital in a daze and found a public restroom. Changed into the only clean clothes I had left, a simple black shirt and jeans. Washed my face and tried to make myself look presentable.
And ca here.
Because I had nowhere else to go.
Caleb’s apartnt had been our ho, and I’d walked out with nothing but what I could carry. I had no family either; my father didn’t count as that anymore. I also had no friends. I’d lost touch with everyone while I was working three jobs to support Caleb.
So, it was just and my duffel bag.
My stomach growled again, louder than the last ti, and a few heads turned in my direction. I lowered my gaze in embarrassnt.
The clock on the wall said 4:47 PM.
How much longer could I wait? What if he didn’t co out today? What if he’d already left through so back exit?
As if on cue, the elevator dinged, the door opened, and there he was. Hansel Ward, in all of his glory, with a black suit fitted perfectly to his fra. He was talking to Mina, the woman from his penthouse, this morning, and they were laughing about sothing.
I grabbed my duffel bag, jumped to my feet and ran towards him.
"Hansel!" I called out.
He didn’t hear or pretended not to. He just kept walking toward the main entrance.
"Mr Ward, please wait!" I called out to him again, trying to reach him when a burly figure blocked my path, shoving backwards.
"Ma’am, you need to step back."
"I need to talk to Hansel for a mont; he knows ," I insisted, trying to push past the guard.
Hansel must have heard all the commotion and turned as our gaze t. For a second, he just stared at , without a reaction on his face, then he gave a slight nod to the guard who let go.
I exhaled shakily and tried to fix the worst of the wrinkles on my clothes while painfully aware that the entire lobby was staring at now.
Mina’s smile had disappeared, and if looks could truly kill, I’d have died at this mont because she wasn’t trying to hide her hatred.
"I tried calling earlier with a payphone," I started, taking a step towards him. "But you didn’t pick up."
"What do you want?" he asked coldly.
"I—" I glanced around, noticing the lobby had gone quiet. Though everyone seed to be working, I knew their ears were strained toward us. "Can we talk sowhere private?"
"Why?"
"I lost my mom." The words ca out before I could stop them. "Apparently, she died three days ago."
His expression didn’t change. Not even a flicker of sympathy.
"Did you co here hoping for sympathy? If so, it’s a lost cause. If you have nothing better to say—"
"I do!" I interrupted him. "But I can’t talk with everyone listening. I just need to speak to you in private."
His jaw tightened, and he was going to refuse, so I quickly added. "Please, I won’t waste your ti."
He stared at for a long mont and then nodded at Mina. "Go ahead. I’ll catch up."
Mina’s face went hard. "Mr Ward, rember you have a eting at 5:30 with the foreign rep from Greenville—"
"I know." He didn’t look at her. "This won’t take long."
Mina’s eyes flashed to , burning with intense hatred, before she turned and bowed curtly to Hansel.
"Of course, Mr Ward," then walked away.
As soon as she left, Hansel turned on his heels, throwing a "Follow " behind his shoulders.
He led to a conference room on the ground floor and ushered in. As soon as the door closed, he turned to face .
"You have five minutes."
I set my duffel bag down and took a deep breath.
"I need a place to stay," the words ca out in a rush. "Just for tonight or maybe a few days, until I figure things out."
It would have been better if I had told Hansel I was an alien, because he would have believed more.
"Are you insane?" He scoffed.
"I lost my apartnt when I broke up with Caleb, and I have nowhere else to go—"
"And you think I would let you stay with ?" he laughed. "Is the grief from losing your mother making you delusional?"
My eyes misted with tears at the insult, but I blinked hard, trying to keep the tears back.
Don’t cry. I told myself. Don’t you dare cry in front of him.
But my mother was dead, and I had nothing. This man—this cold, heartless man was my only hope.
A tear slipped down my cheek, and I swiped at it quickly, but I couldn’t help it as more rolled down my cheeks.
"For fuck’s sake!" Hansel groaned, "I can’t deal with this, Naya. A crying female trying to blackmail ."
"I’m not—"
"Why on earth do you think I would give you a roof over your head?"
"Because—" I scrambled for words. "Because we had sex."
The room fell into silence at my claim. Hansel kept staring at blankly before his lips curved into a smirk.
"Wait!" his voice dropped into a husk. "Is that what’s giving you the guts to make outrageous demands?" he moved closer, closing the space between us and forcing to tilt my head back to et his gaze. " You think we fucked? Let be very clear, Ms Rivers. We did not have sex."
Heat flooded my face. "But I woke up in your bed naked and—"
"You went unconscious from drinking the drink you tried to poison with. You were unconscious for three days. Did you really think I would sleep with an unconscious woman? What kind of man do you think I am?"
My ears were burning bright red as I hung my head, feeling ashad. "I just thought—"
"You’re not worthy to be fucked by , Naya Rivers," He enunciated each word, jerking my jaw to et his eyes. "I love my won with flesh here and there. What do you want to eat? Bones?"
I jerked out of his hold, taking a step backwards. "Right. Noted. I was just... joking," I said laly, forcing a half-hearted laugh.
"I knew you were going to waste my ti." He sighed and pulled out his wallet.
He peeled off several bills, more than I’d seen in months and dropped the bills on the conference table, eting my gaze again.
"I’m not charity, and I don’t care what happens to you either. But out of respect for your deceased mother, Stephanie Rivers, who was a great actress, take this and leave."
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