*Seraphine*
"You've lost all your rights to the company, Ms Seraphine, ever since Mister Lucian Cross became the new CEO of Axionix. Inc." My lawyer, Adrian Nocturne said wistfully, his eyes finding everything in my office but my face.
I clamped my shaky hands together just as my heart began to race erratically, but still managing to keep up with my farce of indifference, I leaned forward, "So what does this mean?"
"That you've lost the fight, Missus." He answered quickly—too quickly. "Pardon me, but I think you signed off Axionix. Inc. to him a little too rashly, and now, see… he breaks off your engagement but wishes to keep it, and there's nothing you can do because he now owns more than sixty percent of the company's shares."
What would your father think of you?!
I know he didn't say that out loud but from the way his lips curled downwards and his deep cerulean eyes found mine in that brooding but discouraging manner, I knew he thought so.
Heavens, I did too.
I had fucked up big time. Messed up my entire family's legacy and fortune just because of some stolen kisses under the moonlight, a fine dimpled face and a nine inch dick.
I sighed. "God, what have I done?"
"Nothing that you cannot handle," Adrian answered, his brows furrowing as he stared pointedly at the now abandoned cup of coffee in front of him. He hasn't been drinking. "…you could talk to Mister Lucian Cross. Try to iron things out with him. Get him to put you back on the board, or you could continue to fight… but I'll tell you this because I care about you, if you fight, it'll be a losing game."
Tears filled my eyes at his words but I stubbornly blinked them back. And while I knew that getting Lucian to put me back on the board would be as difficult as forgetting all the betrayal he had put me through, I also knew that fighting him was as good as fighting a brick wall.
This was pointless.
All of this.
Lucian Cross was my fiancé. And I use the term 'was' because we're now a thing of the past.
And do you want to know why?
Yes…? No…?
Well, it is because one day, about a month ago, he'd simply decided that we were no longer a good fit and that he no longer wanted to be with me.
Mind you, this was exactly six days after I signed off my father's— my— company to him, and which was also two weeks after I found the beautiful diamond ring in his trench coat's pocket.
I had blindly thought that the ring was for me. I was stupid enough to believe that he wanted nothing more than to tie the knot with me.
My bottom lip trembled as the tears I'd been fighting off finally spilled from my eyes and onto the table, and at that, Adrian dropped his gaze, his harsh voice suddenly softer as he said; "I could help you talk to him."
"He hasn't been listening…"
"I could ask your mother to have a word with him."
At that, I blanched. My eyes widened in surprise as I whipped my head up to meet his now very unsteady gaze. "My mother?"
"Yes, Eloise, your mother." He murmured, but I didn't miss the hint of something else under his voice. Something that sounded strangely like pride…? Guilt? Satisfaction?
"Eloise and Lucian are pretty close these days."
Again, I felt like I had just been thrown off a cliff. How did I never know about that?
How's that even possible?
I couldn't hide my surprise as I simply asked; "How?"
"How what?" Now, Adrian sounded snappy. His frown had returned, and the sneer, the one he always used in court, had resurfaced. He spat; "I don't understand what you mean?"
"How does Lucian and my mother know each other?"
"I don't know," he shrugged but something in the stiffness of his actions made me realize that he didn't just know what was happening. He was a part of it all. My heart fell. "All I know is that they're getting married pretty soon, and that he left you for her."
Betrayal slammed into me like a ton of bricks. The corners of my eyes burned with tears unshed. I swiftly rose to my feet, ignoring the coffee cup that had stumbled and fell, spilling black liquid across the table.
Adrian rose too, his large frame towering over me as he stared me down.
This was why I could never win the case in the first place.
Why I had lost so easily— too easily.
Why it felt like the entire world was against me…
Because my lawyer had been in on it too— for personal reasons. He'd never wanted me to win in the first place because he was probably one of those who believed that my mother should be the one leading the company, not me. Mind you, my parents are long divorced with a prenuptial agreement stating that she must leave with nothing since she cheated.
But here she was… getting all the wealth she has ever wanted by repeating the same cycle with father and daughter.
My eyes stung so badly, my body trembled uncontrollably but I forced myself to stand upright. And I forced myself to ask; "who else knows about this?"
Who else is aware of this betrayal?
I didn't know what I wanted him to say, but I never expected it to be what he said next. "Everyone." He drawled, peeling off the concerned mask that once adorned his face, and finally revealing the satisfaction he was deriving from my plight. "Your staff at the company. The members of the board. Your staff at home… me… everyone."
I'd been a fool. A spectacle. And while I paraded myself as the lady of the house, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before I had the rug pulled from under my feet.
My knees gave way, crashing to the floor. But at the time, it was not the pain in my bones that concerned me. It was the one in my chest, brewing like a thousand storms all at once.
It was the way my eyes burned like it had been exposed to acid.
—And the way… the way my heart ached as if shattered into a million tiny pieces.
I couldn't control the tears that streamed down my face, nor could I help the tremor that now ran down my spine.
The pain I felt was immense. But do you know what felt worse?
It wasn't the fact that everyone knew.
It wasn't the fact that I had been stupid and a complete idiot.
It was the mocking sound my door made as it was suddenly pushed open. And then a woman in her mid forties stepped forward, striding into the room like she owned the place.
She was clad in a purple sexy dress that hugged all her curves like a second skin and screamed of wealth. Her piercing blue eyes held a kind of coldness that I have never felt in a long time and my breath caught when she walked up to me, and with a smile so sinister it sent shivers down my spine, she drawled;
"Daughter."
My heart broke again. "Mother."