CHAPTER TWO: THE OFFER I NEVER SAW COMING

(Elena’s Pov )

"$150,000, Miss Hart. That's the cost " the doctor had said. "I'm sorry, but we can’t proceed without a deposit."

$150,000.

I didn’t even have close to $15,000.

My hands trembled as I tried to focus on the pile of reports on my desk. But all I saw was my dying father on the hospital bed, hoping that his daughter would find a means to give him a new heart in the nick of time.

"Elena!" My head shot up from my desk to look at the wide eyed and frantic Lana that was holding up her phone and waving it like it was a flag. Her ponytail was a mess, her lipstick smudged and I knew instantly that she had just finished making out with someone and in the employee break room and was in the middle of cleaning up when she got whatever information she did that made her run out like that. "You're not gonna like this!"

"What now?" I asked already apprehensive. It’s been bad news after bad news since yesterday and I wasn’t sure if I could take any more.

"Look, the board just made an announcement." Her phone was shoved in my face so that the online bulletin board was in view.

"What?” I sat up abruptly, my heart slamming against my chest as I read the heading. "The project lead promotion?"

"Yes! The project we just concluded... the company's revamp. It's everywhere! And guess what?"

My throat tightened. "What is it this time?"

"It was awarded to Elliot." Not believing what she said, I ran my eyes across the article to confirm for myself. It can’t be true. There was no way they gave Eliot that promotion when all he did was show up to the campaign late and hungover with his briefs sticking out from his pants zipper.

"But...that's not possible. I came up with the ideas, the designs, the proposal—those were all mine!” I could sense the discomfort of the other cubicle occupants around us as well as hear their whispers that passed from one person to another.

"I'm aware." Lana’s voice softened. "There’s not one person in this company that isn't aware. But word is, Xavier made the final call."

I froze. My stomach did that painful twist again. Xavier. Of course it was him.

The same man who tore me apart and tossed me a nondisclosure agreement, and asked me to be his side chick.

He'd promised me that promotion. Regardless of whether we were dating or not, I deserved that spot and he had no right to toss aside my hard work like it was nothing just because of his petty emotions towards me.

"I'll make sure your efforts are recognised, Elena.” His exact words.

Now, all I could hear was his cold voice saying I took it personally.

I grabbed my phone, anger boiling inside me like a pot of chicken broth. "I'm not going to let this slide."

"Elena—hold on!" Lana called out to me but I was already halfway out the door.

I strode down the hallway, my heels clicking like gunfire. My chest ached —not just from betrayal, but from the memory of Xavier’s promises. Eight months. Eight damn months of believing in him.

By the time I got to the executive floor, my blood was pounding hot in my veins. His office door was ajar. I entered without knocking.

"Xavier!" I stopped dead in my tracks, my confidence melting away, when I came face to face with that man. The one from yesterday. The same one from two years ago.

For a brief moment they were cold and angry, but when he turned to face me, his eyes softened up and a sly grin coated his lips.

“Well, hello again. Are you gonna run away from me this time as well?”

My throat was dry all of a sudden. There was no reason for me to be nervous like this especially since I didn’t do anything wrong, but just like two years ago when we first met, he made me feel anxious. Like a storm was brewing somewhere and I had no idea the direction in which it was coming from.

“Do you two know each other?” Xavier’s question brought me out of my reverie.

“No.”

“Yes.”

There was a pause as Xavier looked from me to him, a frown on his face.

“You’ve taken to denying me now, I see. Running away isn’t cutting it anymore?” He starred to approach me, his steps cool and calculated, each echo aligning with my heartbeat.

“God you’ve gotten more beautiful.” He peered at me, a strange look on his face. I couldn’t tell if it was reverence or quiet fascination or both. “It’ll be great if your genes are replicated more.”

I frowned at his words but before I could ask what he meant by that, Xavier spoke up.

“Alaric, if you have nothing left to say I suggest you leave now.”

Alaric stood still, contemplating if he should humor Xavier and leave or completely disregard his command. He decided on the former.

“See you later, cuz. Bye Elena.” His charming smile left me feeling a bit dazed and all I could think of was that he remembered my name.

"Elena." Xavier’s voice brought me back and I remembered what I was doing there in the first place. I was pissed and I needed to show it.

"You awarded my promotion to Elliot."

"Your promotion?” he asked in mock astonishment.

“You promised you'd reward my hard work. You said —"

He interrupted with a sigh. "This company has a rule and that rule is hierarchy, Elena. You know that I can't skip your team lead, he's your senior."

I gave out a weak laugh. "Hierarchy? You mean politics. You mean your favorite little corporate games."

"Ele, please, " he said rubbing his temples. "Don't keep making this difficult."

“You did this as a way to punish me for not signing that NDA right?”

“Funny how you think I’ll make such an important decision for the company based on an insignificant reason as that. Decisions for who gets to be promoted next doesn’t just happen overnight, Elena. I thought you knew better than that.”

And that’s when it hit me. He never wanted to give me the promotion in the first place.

All this time we were together and he encouraged me to keep working hard, that I’d be the next to climb up the corporate ladder, he was just messing with me, using me to make great deals for his company. The last project that I conducted, he told me to do it because he knew I’d do a great job, and after everything went well he decided to betray me and give it to someone else. Oh, Xavier! How could I not have seen that you were this despicable?

He straightened. The perfect picture of indifference. "You knew whatever we had wasn't going to last. It was just for fun, but—"

"Fun?” I all but snapped. “You mean I was a plaything?" My voice cracked. "Eight months and it was all fun to you?"

He didn't respond immediately. Instead, he slid a familiar folder across the table to me. "Get this signed."

I scoffed I disbelief as tears stung my eyes.

"You either sign it or risk termination. I'm sorry but I have to follow the company's policy.”

“You mean your dad’s orders? When are you ever going to grow a pair and stop dotting in his evert word like a little kid?”

Something flashed in his eyes as he glared at me.

“Careful now, Elena. I don’t love you enough to not retaliate at your words. You know how much I hate it when people talk to like they’re looking down on me.”

I wanted to say something Benadryl back in response. I wanted to hurt his pride and make him lose his shit like he was doing to me. But I didn’t. I just bit down on my lip and willed myself to not cry.

“Get this signed before the end of today or consider yourself no longer an employee.”

That was his way of dismissing me.

"You'll regret this, Xavier," I said as I grabbed the folder and stormed out of his office. My eyes burned, my chest felt heavy, but I refused to let anyone see me cry.

I didn’t stop walking until the elevator doors opened and I was inside it. When the doors slid open, I marched out with as much anger in me as earlier until I was over by the railing on the rooftop, looking over the city below me.

"God, I hated him so much," I muttered, then louder, "I hate you, Xavier!" The words echoed in the open sky, it felt good.

"You'll rot in hell Xavier," I said. It echoed again. Almost freeing. “I hope you’ll continue to know the taste of your dad’s boots so much so that your new wife wouldn’t be able to kiss to properly cause of how pungent it is.” And then I screamed until my lungs started to ache and my throat became scratchy.

“If Xavier was a king and we were in the old days, you’d have been Ese for saying all those things about him.”

I spun around abruptly almost knocking myself down at the sound of his voice.

Alaric stood a few feet away in all his handsome-devil glory, eyes dark, piercing and a little amused, lips curled in a knowing smirk.

"What are you doing here?" I said, wiping my tears quickly.

“Same thing as you. Cursing your boss.”

I didn’t say anything in response to that so we just ended up standing there staring at each for a while. It was uncomfortable being there, but I didn’t want him to know that he had an effect on me. I couldn’t lose even if I wanted to look away.

I couldn’t take the heat anymore. I needed to get out of there.

“Well, I better get going then.” As I made to move, he stood in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

“You have a bad habit of running away, Elena. Isn’t abandoning me at the altar not enough for you?”

I wanted to ramble on in my defence, but when I saw the teasing smile he was giving me, o sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Can you stop making it sound like we were actually getting married? Someone might get the wrong idea if they heard you.”

“I had a suit and boutonnière and you had your dress and everything. There was an audience and a camera. You can say what you want but you can’t deny it was a wedding ceremony.”

“It was a photo shoot for a wedding catalogue and the only reason why we were chosen was cause the initial bride and groom couldn’t make it on time and our friends just so happened to be the people organizing the shoot. You’re still very much a stranger.”

“Which wouldn’t have remained so if you hadn’t run off in the middle of it.”

I didn’t leave because I wanted to. I had a gotten a call that my dad was in the ER because of his heart condition. There was no way I was going to stay behind playing pretend bride for a complete stranger when my family needed me. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell him any of that. He didn’t need to know.

His gaze became intense and I started to feel uncomfortable again.

“Can you stop staring at me like that?” I said lowly. Even back then when Jules asked me to help her out with the shoot and I was brought in as the bride, he looked at me the same way that me sweat. That look as if I was being probed and examined under a microscope.

“You know, I have thought about this for a very, very long time. Since the day I first saw you, really.”

I didn’t know what he was taking about and frankly I didn’t want to know. Everything about him screamed enigma and I hated enigmas. They made life unnecessarily complicated.

“I’d like to make you an offer, Elena.” He moved closer to me, so close we were almost breathing the same air. I should have moved back or left entirely, but there was something about his gaze that made my feet act like they were glued to the floors. For some reason I felt like the offer he was going to make me was bold, daring and down right insane, but it was going to change my life forever. I wanted to hear it. I wanted to know the offer.

“Be the mother of my child. Marry me and I’ll give you the money you need for your father’s heart surgery.”