CHAPTER 1

Lily’s POV

“Will you come tomorrow too?” Shawna said as we alighted from the taxi. 

“No. I can't,” I responded, adjusting the straps of my bag.

She grabbed my hand then shook it. “Please, it would be fun.” 

“You know I would love to come,” I said, “but Dorian is taking me on a vacation tomorrow. I can't miss it.” 

“Ohh that's true.” 

She let go of my hands, then exhaled as she took another look at the well-lit mansion that stood behind us. 

“You are really lucky, Lily,” she rested her hands on her waists, “to be dating such a rich man.” 

I smiled gently then opened my arms for a hug. She grabbed my body. 

“Enjoy yourself babe,” she said. 

“You know I will,” I responded. 

“You will tell me all about it when you come back, okay?” She said as she got back into the taxi. 

The humming sound of the taxi faded away into the night before I turned back toward the mansion. 

Dorian would be waiting, probably angry about why I came late. I pressed the button at the door and gladly waited for him to open it just like he always did. I was surprised though that it was Kara, his housemaid, who responded. 

“Good evening Lily,” she said. 

“Evening Kara,” I responded as the door closed behind me. 

“Where is he?” I asked. 

She took a moment to reply. 

“He is upstairs,” Kara said, glancing toward the staircase. 

“Thanks.”

As I began to climb up the staircase, I felt Kara’s hand gripped my right arm. She pulled me slightly and I looked back. 

“What?”

“He asked not to be disturbed.”

Kara’s eyes blinked repeatedly, and her grip drew tighter. My heart pounded. What is going on? 

Kara's demeanor was different. She always carries this big smile anytime I come here, but tonight was completely different. 

“Is he in a business meeting?” I asked. 

Her silence made me blink repeatedly. She is used to answering questions before I even ask them. I forced my arm from her grip then continued climbing upstairs. 

Dorian’s room was empty. So I decided to check his home office. 

He wasn't there either, but on his minimal white desk, a Vanilla orchid lay. Beside that, I saw a white decorated envelope. I removed the pin then brought out a card to my view. 

Happy Anniversary dear. One year with you has been the best of my life. 

My heart melted as I pressed the card on my chest. I picked the flower and raised it to my nose. It had a warm, creamy smell. 

Beside the flowers, I spotted a bottle of Romanée-Conti. Dorian's special wine that he only opens on special occasions. There were also two half empty glasses and a bowl of ice. 

There was a faint lip gloss mark on the rim of one of the glasses. I picked it up for closer observation. Whose could this be? Did he invite someone over? 

I was about to leave the room when a red fabric material beneath the base of the door caught my sight. 

I picked it up. It was a G-string undies. It wasn't mine. My eyes widened immediately as I dropped it back on the floor. 

No. This can't be what I'm thinking. It has to belong to Kara somehow. She does the laundry. She may have dropped it while picking up dresses, but no one sleeps there. Kara doesn't wear these kinds of undies. Her salary can not cover a La Perla product. 

Maybe it belonged to Clara, Dorian’s younger sister who had a habit of putting things everywhere? But she went back to Milan three weeks ago. 

Beside the undies, there was a crop top too.

I bolted into the corridor. The sound of my high heels clicking the wooden floor engulfed the silence as I began to open every door I saw. 

“Dorian!”

“Dorian!”

“Dorian!”

Each scream was louder than the previous one. 

I opened the last room that was at the end of the corridor. 

Dorian was inside. He grabbed my two arms then pushed me back. 

A lady lay under a blanket on the bed. She wasn't just any lady, she was Bella Jamie, the daughter of one of the richest men in the city.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dorian shouted.

Bella sat up on the bed, “Dorian, baby, who is that?” Her tiny voice hit my ears. 

“It's no one,” Dorian responded, letting go of my hands. 

No one? My mind was void of any response as I walked slowly toward the middle of the room.

My fingers let go of the straps of my bag as if they had their own minds. Dorian's promises rushed back to my mind while still trying to grasp what was going on. 

“I have been meaning to tell you for a while now,” Dorian said. 

He took a long drag of the cigarette in his fingers. 

“Tell me what?” I said with a shaky voice. 

He let out the smoke toward Bella. “That we can no longer be together.” 

“You are breaking up with me?” I said, tears already lining my eyelids. 

Dorian reached for the glass of wine on the nightstand. “I'm not breaking up with you. I broke up with you a long time ago. You were just too blind to see it.” 

The statement weakened my knees. They gave up and hit the floor. Tears dropped uncontrollably from my eyes. My body shook, and my cry took over the room.

“Then why the anniversary card?” I said, sniffling, my voice breaking with each word. 

“If I meant nothing, why did you get the flowers?” 

He said nothing.

“Was it just a lie?”

Tears continued to roll down my cheeks. 

Bella giggled, “oh girl why are you crying like a baby?” 

She eased the blanket of her body then got down from the bed. She moved close to me before crouching just a few inches away. 

She traced the base of my chin with her right fingers before pulling my face up so I could look straight into her eyes. 

“Look at those glassy brown eyes,” she said. 

Through blurred vision I could see her still giggling slowly. 

She suddenly let go of my chin. “Do you expect him to be with someone like you forever?” 

My tears froze instantly. Someone like me? A sudden hatred clouded my mind and my brows drew closer. 

Bella stood up and my eyes followed her. She was shamelessly naked. Her pink nipples were full. She had blonde hair that ended just beneath her butt. Her skin was spotless. She had a pink love tattoo on her stomach that extended towards her vagina.

I only knew Bella from a distance. She only trended on social media for the wrong things. She is said to be rude. Super rude to everyone beneath her in the social class. No one can be more beautiful or more intelligent than her, especially if they come from a poor background.

“Know your place, girl,” she said, walking towards Dorian, who leaned naked on a wall the whole time like he controlled everything. 

Bella removed the cigarette from Dorian’s mouth then dropped it in the ashtray. She held his c*ck gently and stroked it while she traced his abs with her other hand. 

Dorian moaned lightly. “Good girl.”

She continued tracing his abs. “How can a man so rich and powerful be with someone like you?”

“Dorian is mine now,” she said before locking her lips with his. 

The sight of them kissing made my heart throb harder. For two years I have devoted my life to this man. I have satisfied him in every way possible. Yet this is how he repaid me. A humiliating break up. 

I felt this was the end of the world for me. My punishment for reaching higher than my league. Maybe Bella was right. Dorian was the son of the richest man in the country and a potential heir to his family business, while I came from a family that sat at the bottom of the social ladder.

I swallowed hard, then stood up to leave, but before I got to the doorway, Bella hissed and I stopped.

“Don't forget your bag,” she said. 

I turned back to see her already stretching the bag toward me. I grabbed the straps, but she refused to let go.

I pulled but she didn’t let go. 

“Stay away from him,” she said before she finally let me have the bag. 

“And Lily?” Dorian's voice sounded behind me. 

I turned back, wiping tears off my cheeks. 

Change your mind Dorian. Defend me against this b*tch. I begged in my mind with shaky fingers.

“Don't bother to resume work tomorrow,” he said, pulling Bella closer to himself. 

“You are fired.”