CHAPTER FOUR

Bree stood from the table abruptly, clearing it of the plates they'd used to eat as she did.

Her mind was caught in the offer he'd just made her.

He's a stranger yes, but she been the one to open up to him and now he was offering her a way to the revenge she deserved.

She could have easily agreed to his terms and conditions but she needed time to think this through and decide it's what she wanted.

If she was doing this, it means  she'd have to get used to him whose name she still didn't know and she'd also have to get used to his potty mouth and searing bluntness.

It didn't help that she'll also have to learn enough control to keep her hands to herself and her thoughts out of the drain around him.

He'd been very clear and precise on the 'no strings attached' point and if she was going to keep to that, she'd have to not get involved with him at all.

Well fuckedy fuck-ery', isn't that just peachy.

"You asked how you got here...."

She heard from behind her, just as she started for the kitchen.

His deep voice stopped in her tracks, velvety and sweet.

She turned to look at him, not sure what she was expecting to see.

He already had his eyes on her, the expression in their deep blueness, too deep for her to decipher.

They looked at her like they could strip her down to nothing and have a stare deep into her soul and she wasn't sure that was a feeling she liked.

She waited for him to continue, praying she didn't do something stupid last night.

"You begged me to take you with me to wherever I was going....."

There was a pause, a deafening silence threatening to engulf her before he continued.

"You didn't want to have to see either of them again. And hey, if you stay till the end, you get two million dollars from me"

That info had been so out of nowhere but she could take a close guess at why he'd told her that.

How cold of his royal ass-ness to throw her pathetic situation in her face just to get her doing his bidding and playing by his pipe.

And it was worse that she was falling for it because it was the only way out of her mess.

Maybe he'd seen the doubt and questions in her eyes or the uncertain quiver of her lips that always gave her away.

Either way, he'd seen it somehow and he'd played his hook card with that reminder.

If only he knew that he didn't have to.

He had her already at the point where he'd mentioned revenge. Because if there's any credit to her name, it'd be that she always gives back in twice the measure she receives.

And yeah, she keeps her words too.

She turned away from him, continuing back to the kitchen without saying anything in response to him, wondering if this in its entirety was the right thing to do.

He got on her nerves and probably thought of her as his temporal amusement but he was also offering her a way out of her mess that was Cole.

And an A-game revenge plan that only he knew the details of.

If only there was another way out.

Time passed and the day went in a blur.

She called in sick at work because there was no way in hell she was going in to the office looking like she barely survived a zombie apocalypse.

She needed to get herself together before she drags her ass into the gossip hot spot that's her office.

She had no intention of letting Cole and his cheating episodes ruin anything for her or put her life on a pause.

Her phone rang about the time she was done in the room she'd slept in, dressing it and getting her stuffs.

The caller ID display showed it was Nemy, the brunette who occupies the cubicle next to hers at the office.

The lively brunette was the only one she was remotely close with in all of her colleagues.

She had the energy of a fired bullet and cared about everyone, maybe a little too much.

She slid a finger across her screen to accept the call.

"Hey girl," Her chirpy voice carried from the other end of the line.

"Heard from Tracy, the secretary, that you ain't coming in to the home base today, that true?"

The vibe in her voice as she asked the question made her smile.

She was yet to understand why she called their office "home base" though.

And of course, Tracey and her loud mouth would let everyone at the office know of her absence, with a little or more twist to the info, before anyone actually missed her.

She was tempted to ask exactly what it was that Tracey had said but she realized she didn't give two piece of flying shit.

If only there was someone else to call for that.

"Yeah. Maybe tommorow."

"You don't have to worry, girl, I'm holding the storm here, not that you asked, of course."

There was that laugh that was particularly Nemy's.

At least somethings didn't change yet, this was like some anchor that she needed at the moment.

Something to assure her that it'd get better and everything will be back to normal, only better.

"Everything okay with you though?"

That concern was familiar too.

"I'm fine, Nems. I'll tell you all of it when I'm back."

"Woah, is Brianna Mathews actually offering to talk to me about something serious? I'm so holding you to that Bree."

For the first time since everything, she actually laughed.

That hadn't come out the way she'd intended for it to but she wasn't taking it back.

It felt good having someone to talk to, she was just realizing that now.

"Yes I did."

"I just hope you are okay, babe. Call me if you need me."

She said in a serious tone.

"Hopefully I'll hear my phone ring in all the chaos brewing here and come to your rescue. Come back soon."

She finished in her usual Nemy tone, before the line went dead.

Without pausing to think about it, Bree took her stuffs and left the room.

She needed out, needed fresh air that didn't reek of insulting riches and an asshole owner or betrayal.

He was no where in sight when she reappeared downstairs and she was thankful to God for the small mercy.

She'll do well without him or his attitude right now.

Without pausing or waiting a heart beat, she high tailed it out the door and out the gates of his mansion which, thankfully, was without the bodyguards that guarded his kind of people and house in the movies she's watched.

She'll come back later when she had that fresh air and have decided what she wanted to do.

For now, she was out of here.