Chapter 2:The sting of shame

I stared at myself in the elevator  mirror like I  didn't  recognise the girl staring  back. My brown skin was usually smooth, clear and unapologetically  mine. But now it was covered in red blotches. Not just any marks, but his marks. His mouth  had left them on my neck, my collarbone… My chest . They were everywhere.  Loud, messy whispers  of a night I didn't  remember  agreeing to. My  fingers trembled  as I pulled the collar of  my cloth higher, trying to hide the evidence of  what i couldn't  remember or didn't  want to remember.  My mouth tasted like cotton and  regret.I  felt so irritated  by  my  skin.

Shame  is a suffocating  thing. It creeps in  through  your pores and settles heavy in your lungs. I  couldn't  breathe, and was deeply confused . How did I end up in that room?. I  pulled my jacket tighter around  me, like it could  erase what had already  been done. 

What if someone saw me like this?

God, I'd  be ruined. 

The hotel had strict policies about staff conduct. I could  already hear the gossip- Rosy, the good girl, caught sneaking out of a room at dawn with hickeys painting her like a crime scene.

And if I lost this job…I'd  have  nowhere  to go. 

Back to my step aunt's  house?

No. I  couldn't  survive that again.

The  elevator  dinged and I stepped into the Lobby with my head down. My heart was  pounding  so much that i was sure someone could  hear it. I  walked fast, trying to  blend in with  the  morning shift crowd.

But then I  heard her voice.

Sweet . Fake. Acidic.

“Is that Rosy?”

My stomach flipped .

Please, God,Not today.

I kept walking as fast as possible. 

“Rosy!” She called again, much louder this time.I  turned slowly and regretfully. And there she was Precious (The senior floor supervisor. Queen of pettiest insults. Master of pretending she cared when she  actually  wanted to destroy you. She was wearing a full makeup kit like  it was a fashion show at 6am, her lips twisted into a smirk that made  my skin crawl. 

“What are you doing here so early?” She asked, her voice sneaky and poisonous.

“I'm  in a hurry”, I said gently 

She stepped  closer, her heels clicking  like warning shots against the floor. “Hurry? Why? You didn't  complete  your night shift  yesterday, were you? Or did you accidentally  forget to leave ... .someone's  room?”.

I  said nothing. Silence  was safer  than anything I could say. She leaned in closer and whispered,” I saw you coming out from one of the hotel room. I mean… not to judge but you are not even trying to hide the evidence. 

My fingers held  my jacket tighter.

“I  could have sworn that you were the same girl giving a long speech about morality last week in the break room”, She said, flipping her curls like she was on a run away.  “Now here you are, walking around  with bite marks like a stray cat”.I  looked deeply into her eyes, getting angrier. “ You are not even on duty. What are you doing here?”

“Donald got drunk last night”, She said proudly.”I  stayed behind to take care of  him. My fiance, remember?”

Donald. Executive  director of the hotel. Arrogant.  Vain . Unreachable. And precious liked to remind  everyone that he was hers. She smirked wider, eyes dancing  with something  dark. “Unlike  you . Still pretending you're  single. Please. The hickeys  tell a different  story”. Before I could  react, She reached forward  and removed the jacket  off my shoulder.  “No-!” I screamed, but it was too late. The air  hit  my skin just as the whispers started. “Is that—”

“Oh my God…she's  covered  in them!”

“Wait…did she sleep with a guest?”

“Which one?”

“Maybe the manager?”

My breath  came in short, it was as if I should  just disappear. All eyes were on me. I turned to run. But before I could  take a step, something stopped me. 

A hand.

Warm, heavy, resting on my shoulder .

And then …..a shawl. Draped over me like a soft shield.I  turned slowly and there he was .

The man from the room. From the night. From the hazy, painful blur that still made my heart scared and my stomach turn. 

He was dressed in all black and he looked  calm. “She was with me,” he said gently.

And  the entire lobby was silent and  shocked. 

My heart dropped. “What are you doing?” I  whispered, My voice  barely  audible. He didn't even look at me. “Let's  go”. He began walking like he owned  the world. Like nothing  anyone else said mattered. People were still  shocked to the extent that they could  not move an inch. A car crashed into the compound  in slow motion. He stopped in front of  one of the  men by the entrance. “Mr Timothy”, hesaid.”Handle it”. A man in a suit  stepped  forward, pulling out some kind of badge. “Legal Representatives of the johnson family”he announced coldly. “Any device found to contain photos  or footage of this  woman will be seized. Legal action will be taken. Do not test us”.

My mouth went speechless.  Did he say Johnson? As in the Johnson's? As in the  billionaire dynasty? I  blinked.  No. It couldn't  be. Precious  stumbled backward, white as chalk. “Wait…wait, what?”. She pulled out her phone, her hands shaking. “Hello? Something’s gone wrong. I  told you Rosy was going to Room 5005. The manager's  room. Why was she in 508?”

I felt my knees weaken . 

Room 508.

The wrong  room.

She'd  planned this.

She wanted to set me up.

Her legs began shaking mysteriously.  Her plan to ruin me had backfired. 

She had tried to destroy me  out of spite, jealous of her innocence, and my  refusal to participate in her Friday-night escort scheme. But instead of sending me  into scandal, she had accidentally placed me  in the arms of a man powerful enough to end all of them.

 

“Get in the van—all of you!” Timothy’s voice thundered.

 

He began tying their hands.

 

One by one, the staff who had mocked me were rounded up and taken away—while I went upstairs with the stranger  as he dragged  me by  his arm.

But the mystery of the man who saved me  still lingered.

 

Who was he really?