Impoverished and impressionable secretary falls for billionaire boss, thinking if he took her to bed, it meant he loved her.
But she knew better now.
I knew better now.
And God, I just wanted to get this over with. Just be done with the whole thing so I could finally remember how it was not to cry again.
Because the tears?
They hadn't stopped falling.
Just kept falling like they had always been falling, only I never saw them, never felt them until my whole world came crashing.
"I'm sorry, miss." The security guy sounded so miserable it was obvious he was wishing himself a million miles away. "I wasn't given any information about that. All I was told was I had to get rid—-" He stopped right away, but of course it was too late. Even so, his gaze darted towards me, as if hoping I had become deaf in the past ten seconds.
But I hadn't.
I had heard him loud and clear.
And I could never unhear it, no matter how hard we both wished I could.
"I'm sorry, miss." Poor man. He hadn't asked for any of this. He had come to work, thinking he was paid to do security, and yet all of a sudden, he had been thrust into the unwanted position of breaking my heart.
I forced myself to smile. "It's fine. I'm sure someone will contact me about it."
The man nodded eagerly. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Then I guess that's it." I took a step forward, and the man practically tripped on his own feet in his haste to get to the door. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. He just wanted to be done with this out-of-his-job-description-task.
But God.
Seeing him in such a hurry to make me leave—-
What was it with this day that everyone wanted to get rid of me?
Was it really bad, having someone like me around?
I wished I had the answers. But all I had was pain.
He left me.
The words played endlessly in my mind as I stepped inside the elevator.
He left me.
I thanked the security guy - J. Felipe, I finally remembered to check his name badge - for his assistance when we made it to the lobby.
He left me.
I walked ever so slowly. Almost as if I was giving someone every chance to hold me back. To tell me he had made the biggest mistake in his life. But nothing happened.
He left me.
I just kept walking. Didn't even think I had a place in mind to go to until I realized I had already reached the only place that would welcome me, no questions asked.
Keagan answered the door on the third ring of the doorbell, took one look at my face, and her own face crumpled as well.
She knew I was in love with Dmitry.
It was the only thing I felt safe and proper for her to know. And now—-
The fact that I didn't even have to say a word, and Keagan...
"Oh, Tahey." Keagan pulled me inside. "He left you?"
Oh God.
Hearing those very words from someone else—-
It was just too much.
And my knees gave out without warning.
"I d-don't even know w-why."
I crashed down.
"He just l-left me."
Weeping.
"Even k-knowing w-what it would do to me."
Broken.
"He still...left...m-me."
A NEW DAY BEGAN. AND another. And another. Keagan fussed over me without asking a single question. It was why she was good at her job, and why people like Dmitry those who built Strakh Inc. preferred working with her.
And the words—-
He left me.
They were still there. No longer as vicious, but more a dull throbbing pain, like an old injury you'd just have to learn to live with for the rest of your life.
He left me.
I obsessed over them even though I knew it was wrong. Tried to make sense of the unexplainable. Tried to find the smallest clue - God, any clue would do at this point - just so I could understand why.
Why?
Why?
Why?
I just needed to know. So I could move on. And I was desperate. So desperate that I swallowed my pride and tried to call him...only to find out that Dmitry had already blocked my number.
When Keagan learned what he had done, she had erupted like a volcano and told me in no certain terms that I'd be a fool if I continued to love an asshole like him. And of course, she was right. But...
I just had to know why.
Why?
Why?
Why?
So I swallowed my pride again. Called Sasha this time, but this turned out to be a mistake.
I'm sorry, Ms. Baskerville. I'm so goddamn sorry. If I had known he'd hurt you this way, I would never have encouraged your feelings for him.
Then tell me why, I begged him.
But on this, Sasha remained tight-lipped. I'm sorry. It's all I can say. It's all I have the right to say. I'm sorry, and I hope for your sake that you'll eventually be able to forget him and move on.
His words, God...his words made it so clear that he had never been in love.
Because if he had ever been in love, he would know.
I would never be able to forget Dmitry.
I could learn to stop loving him. I could learn to start hating him.
But to forget him?
Never.
Because that was just how love was, when it was at its most precious.
And it was this very love as well that made me unable to refuse a call when Keagan told me the next day that Thomas was on the phone, wanting to talk to me.
"Dad—-"
I didn't get a word in edgewise after this.
"Oh thank God."
Thomas started weeping then, and I couldn't help remembering the last time I heard him cry like this. It was when my mom died, and the memory made me forget my own pain.
"Daddy." It had been years since I last called him this. "What's wrong?"
"He told me he killed you," Thomas said hoarsely. "I didn't want to believe him, but the things he
