I ended up wearing a form-fitting white dress, but I ended up packing a set of more casual clothing for the painting lesson in the evening. The excitent I had for the lesson with Lucas was the only thing motivating to go to work.
By the ti I made it to the front doors, my driver was already waiting for .
"A late morning today, Second Miss?" he asked, trying his best to mask the dissatisfaction of having to wait on .
"Yes, I had a hard ti sleeping," I said flatly. I could never put my finger on exactly what caused this uncomfortable rift between and the driver, but it’s been more than once now that he’s displayed dissatisfaction.
I climbed into the car and sat silently as he drove to the company. Unlike the previous tis, I had no sense of excitent during the drive this morning. Instead, dread and other complex feelings surged through .
What will I say when I see Christian? Will he ask about Lucas? Will he ask where I was?
A part of wanted him to explain himself. To explain exactly what he ant when he said that he wanted to destroy my family. And most of all, to explain what he ant by never falling in love with a Moresi.
I wanted to hear him tell straight up what I was to him this whole ti. I wanted to know the truth.
The driver pulled up in front of Vittora Global and got out to open the door for .
"Second Miss. I’ve been told that you have another appointnt after work now, and that you will no longer be in need of my services in the evenings."
Oh? Did Lucas make arrangents for ?
I nodded, "Very well. Thank you."
-
The driver drove off, leaving at the front doors of the magnificent office building. Through the windows, I could see the usual hustle and bustle inside. Taking a final deep breath, I walked through the large double doors and over to the leftmost elevator.
My heart pounded in my chest, but not from joy or excitent. It felt more like walking into a battlefield.
Instead of walking into Christian’s office, like I usually did, I turned the corner and walked directly into mine.
The second I stepped inside, I was t with Christian’s piercing gaze. He was sitting behind my desk, in my chair, looking at with hints of concern and confusion. The dark circles under his eyes told he got even less sleep than I did last night.
Why does he look relieved to see ?
"You never showed up yesterday..." he said quietly. The exhaustion could be heard in his voice.
Anger flared up inside of .
"That’s what you think! I did show up, and good thing I did, else I would never have had a chance to know how you really felt!" I said, my voice getting increasingly louder.
He stood up from the chair and looked at with surprise.
"You showed up? What are you talking about? I waited for you for hours!"
"Yes, I showed up. I was so excited to see you that I showed up early. Just in ti to overhear your conversation with Zachary!"
His face paled, and for the first ti ever, I saw his hands tremble.
"No, Leslie! It isn’t like that!" he said, walking over to with hurried steps. "I swear, it’s not what you think."
I flared up again, "Then what is it, Christian? Tell !"
My lips trembled, and I could feel my eyes starting to water. "What was I to you? Just a detour? A distraction while you plotted your revenge against my family?"
He walked over and tried to put his hands on mine. "Leslie, there’s sothing I never told you. I just didn’t know how to."
I stepped away, not letting him touch . "Yeah, I can clearly see that!"
"Listen to , please! I know this is going to sound crazy, but your family’s business has been involved with human trafficking for years now!"
"Ha! Really, Christian? That’s your excuse? Human trafficking?! At least co up with sothing more realistic, like tax fraud!" I couldn’t believe my ears. Human trafficking was the excuse he ca up with.
My father certainly wasn’t the best man on this planet, but he sure as hell was not involved in any human trafficking.
"I understand it sounds crazy, that’s why I never told you before! I didn’t want to say anything until I found the evidence that I’ve been looking for," he said with urgency and pleading. "Please believe ."
I was starting to get tired. A part of really wished to hear the real reason, but sothing this ridiculous just made feel like he thought I was stupid.
"Then show this evidence. If you’re so desperate to convince of sothing so asinine, then at least try to prove it," I replied. There was no way I was simply going to believe that after all these years, my father had been involved in human trafficking.
Christian visibly stiffened. Panic and fear were written all over his face. I waited for him to present this evidence, but after a few monts, there still wasn’t any.
"Got it. You don’t need to explain yourself further," I said, turning around.
Christian quickly placed his hand on my shoulder, keeping from storming out of the room. "Leslie, please. I never wanted to hurt you."
This ti, his words were soft.
I turned my head and looked him dead in the eyes. "Well, it’s too late for that." I took a deep breath and held my gaze, looking deep into his eyes. "At least tell that I an sothing to you. Tell that you weren’t just using my body this whole ti?"
Tears finally started flowing down my face. "Christian, I loved you. You were my entire world. Do you know how much it hurts to feel used? To feel like everything we had was just so elaborate sche?"
"Leslie...I...." he looked back at , lost at what to say. Every mont of silence pierced through like a knife.
"You never loved , did you?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)