THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR

SOPHIE

Sophie's hands were trembling as she turned off the ignition and pulled out her keys from the keyhole. Her rosy lips were set in a very thin line as she unlocked the door to her red Maserati and alighted from it. She slammed the door loudly, turned around hotly, and continued her journey into the large building.

She was boiling.

This was the seventh time in two weeks. 

The seventh time she had to sit down at dinner or lunch and deal with some narcissistic and arrogant asshole boasting about his money and nothing else. She was tired, tired of listening to their incessant talks about how beautiful she was and hearing nothing but how they so badly wanted to take care of her.

Like she gave the impression that she wanted to be taken care of.

She hissed loudly as she walked into the lobby, barely sparing the receptionist a glance. She was so mad and it was so obvious in the way she walked and huffed, tossing her white beautiful hair over her shoulders with each step she took forward. It was no doubt a habit that had learned to live with.

The blaring sound of her ringing phone had her halting in her tracks just before the elevator arrived. The way her brows raised at the sound indicated that she was as irritated with the ringing tone of her phone as she was with her life. She reached into her black SV bag and took out her very expensive phone wrapped in a black shiny case. 

A hiss escaped her lips as she let her fingers swipe over the green icon on her phone's screen.

“Sophie,” her best friend was quick to call worriedly into the phone. The way her voice was so filled with concern had Sophie's stomach dipping further in agony.

“Sophie, can you hear me?” Joyce called again when she heard nothing once. The elevator arrived and Sophie stepped in before placing her ride to the last floor where her apartment was.

“Speak Joyce or hold your peace,” she hissed through gritted teeth, her brows snapping together. 

She wasn't mad at Joyce. No, she could never be mad at Joyce no matter what she did. Joyce just seemed to have caught her at a terrible time and they both knew it. She knew Joyce would understand when she came back to apologize later which was why she didn't try to caution her tone nor her voice when she spoke.

“If you have nothing to say, I'm going to hang up now.” She snapped, irritated with the silence that met her on the other end.

“Chill, babes. You don't have to be like that. I know you are upset—”

“Upset?” Sophie's tone was filled with disbelief as a child-like scoff escaped from her lips. “Upset you say?” She chuckled mirthlessly.

“Joyce, I am not upset. I'm FURIOUS! I'M FUCKING FURIOUS RIGHT NOW!” She snapped so loudly that she was sure her voice reverberated around the room and drifted off the doors but she didn't care.

“Okay,” Joyce breathed softly, not in the least surprised. Sophie was after all a slow poison, one that rarely got angry.

“Tell me what happened,” she demanded.

At the question, Sophie's mind was left to wonder about how her evening had gone. The man she had met at the restaurant on another unfortunate blind date, Falcon Iris, was nothing but egoistic and chauvinistic.

A degrading man who didn't think she deserved the position she held in her father's company. He was one of those people that thought of her and father's little girl and was hoping to tame her sharp tongue. So audacious was he that he had the guts to spill all of that to her at their first meeting.

As if that wasn't enough, the man wouldn't stop touching her like she was an object to be toyed with. His eyes held no emotions but lust for her beautiful body and she got angry. 

She couldn't contain it. Why couldn't men like him keep their bloody hands to themselves? When he had started to rub on her thighs even after she had cautioned him, she lost it and drowned him in a glass of wine.

That of course hadn't gone well on her end, having received a threatening call from her dad on her way back from the supposed date, threatening that if she didn't get married to one of those men soon, she would lose everything. 

That was enough to have her spiral out of control in anger. And maybe deep seeded hatred at the man.

“Fucking Falcon wouldn't stop touching me. He thinks I'm one of his playthings and he brutally told me to my face that I'm the CEO of the industry because my father handed it over to me on a silver platter. Can you fucking believe that?” She was enraged, her voice rising above normal.

“And your Dad, what did he say?” 

Sophie didn't miss the slight tremble in Joyce's voice. She as well as all of their other friends were all afraid of her Dad. An indication that she came from the devil. But Sophie didn't care. She didn't give two flying fucks about the man and still hasn't in a long time.

“Oh, the man threatened me, daring me not to go to the next one he has planned for me. I've had enough. I'm going nowhere!” She hissed.

“Sophie,” Joyce started calmly so as not to get on her already boiling nerves. “You know you don't have a choice.” 

“Fuck, I have a choice! I have a choice here, Joyce. I have a choice. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm going to be twenty-five soon, he needs to let me start making decisions for myself. He isn't allowed to run my life for me any longer. I'm tired. I'm done. He should go eat whatever he has planned.” I screamed, running a hand through my hair in frustration.

“You know it doesn't work that way, So—”

Once again, Joyce was cut short by Sophie's countering tone. 

“It has to work that way, I don't care. I'm done tolerating his bullshit. I've had enough of him already. He should go ahead and do his worst.” She was still screaming when the elevator stopped and opened.

“Don't try to stop me because I'm way past caring. And don't think I wouldn't go ahead with all I've said cause I will. I mean them this—”

Her words died in her throat as her body collided harshly with a hard brutal chest, causing her to stumble into him further. She could have sent them crashing to the floor with her loud reaction but a strong warm hand reached forward and wrapped itself around her waist to steady her, quietly.

Once it felt like she wasn't swaying anymore, Sophie took a step back to collect herself. Her eyes went wide at the blue-eyed man staring back at her with a cold nature exuding from him.

She knew who he was.

Her next-door neighbor moved into the apartment beside hers a month ago.

That made them the only two people staying at the top layer of the building.

It was at the tip of Sophie's mouth to thank him for saving her but when he looked away from her with a wary gaze, dismissively, anger rolled and this time, she couldn't hold her words.

“Step away from me, loser!” She hissed, picked up her bag which had fallen to the floor at their collision, and sidestepped him before strutting toward her door. 

She had barely gotten to her doorstep when she stopped at the sight of the large bouquet waiting for her by the doorstep. Sophie would have grinned if her blood didn't run cold at the sight of the familiar rose.

It was black roses.

Her shoulders went stiff for a few seconds and her nerves shook like never before. Sophie didn't think as she clutched her bag closer. She opened her mouth and let out a powerful scream that shook the whole building.