CHAPTER 2

LELLA

I walked through the gold-leafed lobby of the hotel, a place that used to feel like a second home but now felt like a cage. Every polished marble tile reminded me of him. Every staff member who nodded "Good morning, Boss" reminded me that I was working for a man who viewed me as a disposable "role."

Since yesterday, the hollow ache in my chest hasn't disappeared. It gets worse now that I'm walking inside his premises. He believed me when I said I was sick yesterday and I couldn't come to his birthday party. The asshole didn't even ask if I was okay.

I stop in front of the HR office door with a deep breath, wishing Conrad is not here. He used to hang out with Sofia Perkins, the HR head, because they are cousins on Conrad's mother's side.

I adjusted my dark sunglasses, hiding my eyes and masking the puffiness from a night spent staring at the ceiling. I clenched my hand at the strap of my bag, where inside was the velvet box containing that cursed watch and my resignation letter.

​I pushed open the glass door to the HR suite. Sofia looked up from her monitor and her smile faltered as soon as she saw my expression.

​"Lella? You’re early. I thought you and Conrad were celebrating his birthday all weekend?"

​"Things change," I calmly said as I slid the crisp white envelope across her desk.

​She opened it and her eyes widened as she skimmed the lines. "A resignation? Effective immediately? Lella, you’re the best manager this property has ever had. You’ve practically run this place while Conrad... well, you know how he is. Does he know about this?"

​"Not yet."

​"I can't process an 'immediate' for a department head without the owner's signature." She looked genuinely distressed. "Especially since, well, you two are... you're you. Does he even know you're here?"

I scoffed. So I still need to see him again. Can I take it? How much pain can I endure?

​"He’ll know now," my fingers tighten around the strap of my bag. “I only need his signature, right?”

​"Lella, is everything okay? If this is a lovers' quarrel, maybe take a personal day off instead of throwing away your career?"

​I looked at her, and for a second, the mask slipped. The betrayal burned behind my ribcage and the heat at the back of my neck started crawling. 

"It’s not a quarrel, Sofia. It’s a realization. He wants a 'stable, quiet' girl to keep his seat warm until his real life starts in Moscow? Well, he’s about to find out how loud the silence is when I’m gone." ​I picked up the envelope and some documents from her table. "I’ll get you that signature. Don't worry."

​I turned on my heel and headed back to the elevator. If only I had known this is how resignation works, I should have brought the letter last night and made him sign. I was just wasting time coming back to his two premises.

The drive back to his estate felt like a descent into a nightmare I’d already lived once. I didn't want to be here, but I refused to let him have any power over my future. I needed that signature to sever the final tie.

​I barely cleared the threshold of the foyer when the air turned cold.

His mother, Galina, and his sister, Catya, were perched on the velvet sofa like vultures. They come to New York once or twice a year. They had always looked at me as if I were a smudge of dirt on their expensive rugs, but today, their disdain was sharpened to a lethal edge.

​"Back so soon?" Catya sneered, swirling a glass of sparkling water. "I thought you’d be off crying in some gutter after last night. Or did you come to beg for another year of crumbs?"

She saw me crying. I bet she was laughing seeing me in that awful situation.

"I’m here to see Conrad. I need him to sign a document. Where is he?"

​Galina stood up. "You have no business here, little girl. You’ve served your purpose. Do you really think a manager from a 'working-class' background with a family that probably still counts pennies for bread could ever belong in our world? You used that pretty face to lure my son into a temporary distraction, but that’s all you are. A distraction."

My hands curled into fists.

​"I am a professional who has doubled the revenue of his hotel." My voice trembled despite my best efforts. "My family has more honor in their 'poor' home than you have in this entire mansion."

​Catya lunged forward with her eyes flashing with a cruel heat. "How dare you speak to us about honor? You’re a social climber who reached too high. Polina is better than you, bitch."

“And your wine doesn't deserve your foul mouth.”

“You ugly–”

“I'm still called pretty without makeup.” The corner of my lips lifted. “What about you?”

​Before I could blink, her harsh hand landed across my cheek, causing my head to snap to the side. I can feel my skin burning and the metallic taste of blood blooming in my mouth.

I didn't expect that, but I should have. With this brat, the argument always ends up with physical assault. 

​"Catya! Enough!"

His loud voice made them flinch. Conrad rushed down the stairs with a mask of shock and concern. He reached me in seconds and held my arm, dragging me out of his mother and sister’s sight. 

As soon as we were on the porch, he gently cupped my face. ​"Lella, are you okay?” he whispered.

His thumbs brushed over the place where his sister’s ring had nicked my skin. He looked devastated as his eyes searched mine with a tenderness that felt so real it made my stomach turn. 

"Are you alright? I am so sorry, they shouldn't have–"

​Tears pricked my eyes, spilling over despite my rage. It wasn't because I loved him. It was the suffocating weight of the lie. Yes, the slap hurt, but the way he was acting, the way he was still playing the role of the protective lover while planning his life with Polina in Moscow, was the ultimate cruelty.

​I looked at him as my vision blurred by salt and betrayal. He was holding me like I was precious, and for a split second, I wanted to believe it. But the words from yesterday were still cold in my bones.

​I wiped my tears and took the document from my bag and handed it to him.

“Sofia said you need to sign this contract immediately.”

“What contract?” 

“The collaboration project with Titan Motors. Everything is ready now and your signature is the only thing we needed.”

Conrad carefully reads the first pages of the document to make sure everything is perfect. But he only read the first few pages before he flipped the pages until the end and signed the papers without reading the last page. 

A smile crept on my lips. The last page is my resignation letter.

He gave it back to me and was about to kiss me, but I stepped back and acted busy putting the documents in my bag.

Suddenly, his phone rang. I saw his face light up when he looked at the screen. It's Polina.

“I heard she's coming back,” I calmly said.

His brows furrowed. “Who?”

“Polina.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, tomorrow. What's wrong with that?”

“Why didn't you tell me?” 

“What for? You two didn't know each other, so there's no reason to tell you. Also, why did you sound angry? I've told you many times that she's just a childhood friend. I treated her as my sister, nothing more than that.” 

This time, he sounded innocent.

At that moment, his phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw that the caller ID was Polina.

I scoffed. Every second with him made me vomit.

He attempted to hug me, but I stepped back again, causing him to frown. “I miss you, babe. Let’s have a date in my condo tonight," he said before he answered his phone and walked away from me.

Date? And that means cook for him, clean his room, do his laundry, goddammit it! I'm basically his maid, not a girlfriend.

He never took me out for two years. His reason? He needs to avoid the paparazzi and not put their name into a scandal.

So, I'm his scandal. Of course, I have to understand that because of how powerful and influential his family is. I'm really stupid.

My hands clenched as I glared at him, smiling while on the phone. He really grosses me out, now that I realize I meant nothing to him and for two years I made myself a fool.

Indeed, I’m really f*cking stupid.

I turned my back on him and didn't look back. I hope this will be the last time I'm seeing that douchebag.