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My fists balled up. “Because that’s what I always do?”
He shrugged. “It seems to be a pattern.” He must have seen me growing angrier because he added, “You are young. We all do at your age.”
Now I was seething. “So I’m fucking immature now?”
“Fuck- No,” he huffed, dragging his hand through his hair. “I just didn’t want you to think that there is something else going on.”
“Because there is!” I was starting to really lose it now. “People only lie to hide something, Alexander. You were hiding what you were doing with her.”
“Olivia, it isn’t like that,” he insisted. “Natalia would only meet with me one on one, and I was trying to secure a deal. It was just a business dinner, nothing else.”
“Is that why she had her hand on your chest?” I snapped back, unable to hold back my pain any longer. The weight of betrayal wrapped around me like a shroud as images of Natalia’s touch burned into my mind.
“Olivia, please, that was nothing!” Alexander’s voice rose in frustration. “There is no one else! It was all for the business, I swear!”
“Really?” I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief. “If you had just told me the truth from the beginning, I might have believed you, Alexander. But you lied to me once, and now I can’t trust anything you say.”
“Olivia,” he said, his voice a mix between a command and a plea as he reached out for me. His fingers brushed against my arm, but I recoiled from his touch as if scalded by a flame. His eyes, once a source of comfort and desire, now reflected the chasm that had grown between us.
“Get away from me,” I hissed, unable to bear his touch any longer. The bitter taste of betrayal lingered on my tongue, and the last shred of trust between us crumbled into dust.
“Talk to me, Olivia,” Alexander demanded, his voice roughened with frustration and raw emotion. But I couldn’t give him what he wanted; not this time.
I rolled over on the bed, my back to him, feeling the cool sheets against my flushed skin. The air in the room was charged with tension, heavy with the weight of our broken trust. My heart ached, an ever-present throbbing that matched the rhythm of my quickened breaths.
“Olivia,” he said again, softer this time, almost gentle. His hand brushed against my shoulder, his fingers trembling with the effort to make contact. But I couldn’t allow myself to be touched by him—not when every caress felt like a lie.
“Come on,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck, stirring the fine hairs there. “I’ve explained.”
“Explained?” I choked out, choking back the tears that threatened to spill over. “You lied. How do I know that you aren’t just lying now?”
“Damn it, Olivia!” He let out a frustrated growl, pulling his hand away from me as if burned by my words. “I told you there wouldn’t be anyone else! I am a man of my word, and it’s insulting you would think otherwise.”
“Insulting?” I echoed, my voice hollow and devoid of warmth. “Out of the two of us, you’re not the one who should be insulted. No one lied to you, went behind your back, and made you feel discarded.” I snorted. “You’re just embarrassed you got caught.”
“Olivia…” His voice was strained, the sound cutting through me like a knife. But still, I refused to look at him, refused to let him see the vulnerability that lay beneath my anger.
There was a long moment of silence, punctuated only by the ragged sound of our breathing. Finally, Alexander spoke again, his tone resigned. “Fine. If you won’t listen to me, then there’s nothing more I can say.”
And with that, he walked away, the sound of his retreating footsteps echoed in the empty space between us. As the door closed behind him, I finally allowed myself to break down, tears streaming down my face as I clutched at the cold sheets for any semblance of comfort. But no matter how tightly I held on, it was clear that whatever we had—whatever could have been—had slipped through my grasp like water through clenched fingers. And all that remained was the bitter taste of betrayal and the memory of what might have been.
Chapter Seventeen
Olivia
I stood in the middle of the bustling office, heavy with the weight of Alexander’s decision. The hum of conversation and clatter of keyboards did little to drown out the doubts that gnawed at me like a relentless tide, eroding away any semblance of confidence I once held.
“Hey, Olivia,” Max, the receptionist at the company we had been working with for a few days, greeted me with a warm smile as he passed by, but I barely managed a weak nod in response. My thoughts were consumed by Alexander and the uncertainty plaguing our relationship. Did we ever share a connection as deep as I thought? Or was it all just a beautiful illusion?
“Olivia, are you alright?” Natalie, who I had been working side by side with all week, asked, her eyes filled with concern. I forced a tight-lipped smile, my insides churning with an intensity that threatened to spill over.
“I’m fine,” I lied, “just a lot on my mind.” I didn’t want to burden anyone with my internal struggles. Besides, they had their own lives and problems to deal with.
And my secrets could have gotten me fired.
The growing insecurities within me intensified as I sat down at my desk, staring blankly at my computer screen. Was I nothing more than a fleeting distraction for Alexander, a temporary escape from the demands of his career? What if I hadn’t been enough to hold his interest, his passion?
“Olivia, can you get these reports to Alexander?” Michaela, their head of HR who had stepped in to help Eric, the CEO’s executive assistant who was on leave, handed me a stack of papers as she walked by.
