CHAPTER 2 ~ PAIN

ALEXANDRA'S POV

I pushed the heavy wooden door open all the way. The bright light from the overhead fixture hit my eyes and illuminated every single corner of the large bedroom. I stood in the doorway with the pink bakery box pressed against my chest and the wet paper of the rose bouquet clutched tightly in my freezing hand.

David lay on his back in the center of the large mattress. The heavy white comforter was pushed entirely off the bed and bunched up on the hardwood floor. Straddling his hips was a tall, incredibly thin woman with long, bleached blonde hair. She leaned forward, resting her perfectly manicured hands flat against his chest. She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and laughed at his cruel comment about my body.

I recognized that loud, obnoxious laugh immediately. I recognized the sharp profile of her face, the expensive gold necklace resting against her collarbone, and the slender curve of her waist.

It was my older sister, Chloe.

I stopped moving and stared at them. I watched them move together under the blazing bright lights. David reached up and ran his hands down Chloe's narrow waist and over her completely flat stomach.

"I am so glad you finally agreed to come over here while she is working," David said, dragging his hands up her sides. "I am so tired of dealing with her. She is constantly whining about her insecurities and asking me for validation. I have to turn off every single lamp in this apartment just to get through an intimate evening with her. Touching her thick thighs honestly makes me lose my appetite."

Chloe arched her back and giggled loudly again. "You are terrible, David. She is my sister. But I completely agree with you. I told her to go to the gym with me months ago, but she just eats cupcakes and complains about her weight. I always knew you would get bored of her heavy body eventually. You deserve a woman who actually takes care of herself and looks good naked under the lights."

"I am looking at a perfect woman right now," David replied, pulling her down by her neck to kiss her.

My hands lost all their strength as my fingers went completely numb inside my wet wool coat. I released my grip on the heavy bouquet of red roses and let go of the thick pink string holding the bakery box together.

The heavy cardboard box hit the hardwood floor with a loud, wet thud. The lid popped open upon impact, and the two-tier vanilla buttercream cake smashed against the floorboards, splattering white frosting across the toes of my wet boots. The two dozen red roses hit the ground a second later, scattering red petals and green leaves over the crushed cake box.

The sudden noise echoed loudly in the quiet bedroom.

David gasped loudly and shoved Chloe off his lap. Chloe shrieked, scrambling backward across the mattress and pulling a white sheet up to cover her chest. They both turned their heads and stared directly at me standing in the open doorway.

For a beat, one solid, terrible beat, I couldn't move. Then something hot and ugly rose up inside me: humiliation braided with a slow, aching rupture I hadn't let myself name. I stepped forward onto the hardwood so that the flooding light caught the wetness at the sleeves of my coat. I didn't even think about the consequences. My hand flew out and I slapped Chloe across the face with the back of my fingers, hard enough that her head snapped to the side. Before she could make another sound I pivoted and, with the same trembling arm, struck David across the cheek as well.

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I forced the words out, each one breaking like thin ice.

“What the fuck is wrong you” Chloe shrieked like a banshee.

“I slapped you. Don't tell me you are blind” I said coldly.

“You lil bitch. What the fuck did I do to you” She looked at me with murderous intent.

"Because you laughed at me," I said, voice raw and small and louder than I felt. "Because you sit in my bed and call my body disgusting. Because you used my insecurity like proof I didn't deserve love. You made me…" my throat closed and a sob slipped free, "you made me believe I was nothing but a problem to be hidden. I brought you my whole messy heart today, and you trampled it for a joke."

My hands shook so hard the wet paper of the roses trembled. I tried to steady my voice, tried to hold the anger like armor, but it split and something softer leaked through the edges. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks and I didn't bother to wipe them away. I felt small and enormous at once, furious, humiliated, and utterly broken. The slap had been an ugly, useless punctuation to years of quiet hurt, and now the hurt finally had a voice.

David sat straight up, his red face from the slap turned completely pale, and his eyes widened in absolute shock. "Lexi. What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at the office analyzing data until eight o'clock tonight."

I looked down at the ruined vanilla cake on the floor. I looked back up at the man I had loved for two entire years, and then I looked at the sister I had trusted for my entire life.

"I asked my manager for an early dismissal from work," I said, my voice sounding flat and completely empty. "Today is our second anniversary, David. I bought an expensive custom cake and twenty-four red roses to surprise you. I thought we were going to spend a romantic evening together."

Chloe pushed her messy blonde hair out of her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. She did not look sorry at all. "Do not act so dramatic, Lexi. You had to know this relationship was not going to last forever. Look at him, and then look at yourself in a mirror. You wear baggy sweaters and oversized coats because you are embarrassed of your own fat body. You cannot blame a healthy man for wanting a thin, attractive woman."

I felt a sharp physical pain in my chest. I took a deep breath, trying to force oxygen into my lungs, but my throat felt tight and restricted.

"Lexi, listen to me right now," David commanded, holding his hands up in a placating gesture as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He reached down and picked up his discarded pants from the floor. "You need to calm down and let me explain this situation to you. We are rational adults, and we need to discuss this situation."

"You are fully naked in our bed with my older sister," I stated clearly, looking directly into his panicked eyes. "You told her that my thighs make you lose your appetite. You told her that you turn the lights off because you are disgusted by my heavy body. I heard every single word you said to her, David. You manipulated me into believing you were traditional, but you were actually just repulsed by my weight."

David pulled his pants on and took a slow step toward me. "You are overreacting, Lexi. You just surprised me. I was feeling lonely because you spend all your time working at Volkov Industries. Chloe just came over to talk to me about your schedule, and one thing led to another. It was a stupid mistake."

"You are a disgusting liar," I replied, taking a large step backward into the dark hallway. "You brought my sister into the bed we share on the exact day of our second anniversary. I am leaving this apartment, and I am never coming back here again."

I turned around immediately. I did not wait for his response. I walked quickly down the narrow hallway and entered the brightly lit living room. I bypassed the beige sofa and the coffee table, heading straight for the front door.

"Lexi, wait," David shouted loudly from the bedroom. I heard his heavy footsteps pounding against the hardwood floor as he ran down the hallway after me. "Do not walk out that door. You have nowhere else to go. Your name is not even on the lease agreement for this apartment."

I reached the front door and grabbed the cold brass handle. I yanked the heavy door open and stepped out into the carpeted corridor of the apartment building. I did not turn around to look at him. I walked quickly toward the emergency exit stairwell because the elevator was located too far down the hall.

I pushed the heavy metal door of the stairwell open and began rushing down the concrete steps. I gripped the cold metal railing tightly to keep my balance because my wet leather boots were slipping against the smooth stairs. I heard the stairwell door bang open on the fourth floor above me.

"You are making a massive mistake," David yelled down the dark stairwell, his loud voice echoing aggressively against the concrete walls. "You are a heavy, insecure woman with a boring personality. No other man is ever going to want you, Lexi. You will come crawling back to me by tomorrow morning when you realize how pathetic you truly are."

I ignored his cruel words and pushed myself to run faster down the remaining three flights of stairs. I reached the ground floor lobby, pushed past the glass entrance doors, and ran directly out into the freezing Chicago night.

The heavy rain instantly soaked my hair and my face as I walked rapidly down the flooded sidewalk, wrapping my wet wool coat tightly around my curved body to block out the harsh wind. I did not know where I was going, but I knew I needed to find a warm place to sit down before my freezing legs completely collapsed.

I walked for three long blocks through the pouring rain until I saw a bright neon sign glowing above a set of heavy wooden double doors. It was a high-end hotel bar. I grasped the brass handle and pulled the heavy door open, stepping out of the freezing rain and into the warm, dimly lit room.

The interior was incredibly quiet. Soft jazz music played from unseen speakers in the ceiling, and several wealthy-looking patrons sat in expensive leather booths around the perimeter of the large room.

I stood on the expensive woven rug near the entrance. I was completely drenched. Water dripped rapidly from the hem of my oversized wool coat and formed a large puddle on the floor around my wet leather boots. I began to shiver violently from the extreme cold. I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest and walked slowly toward an empty, dark leather booth located in the far corner of the room. I just wanted to sit down and process the devastating events that had just occurred in my apartment.

Before I could reach the empty table, a tall man wearing a crisp white bartender uniform stepped out from behind the polished wooden bar. He walked directly toward me with a deep scowl on his face and crossed his arms firmly over his chest. He looked me up and down, clearly disgusted by my wet, messy appearance.

"Excuse me, miss," the bartender said loudly, his sharp, angry voice interrupting the quiet jazz music. "This is an exclusive, five-star hotel lounge. We do not allow people to walk in off the street and drip dirty rainwater all over our expensive floors. You need to turn around and walk back out that door right now."

I stared at him with wide eyes. I opened my mouth to apologize, but my teeth were chattering too violently from the freezing cold to form a coherent sentence. I took a step backward toward the exit, feeling completely defeated and humiliated.

"The lady is sitting with me," a deep, terrifyingly calm male voice stated from the dark booth located directly behind the bartender. "And if you ever speak to my guest in that disrespectful tone of voice again, I will personally ensure you never work in this city for the rest of your life.”