Her face was wet with tears, looking so pitiful, so fragile… like she was the victim in all this. My chest tightened so hard I thought I’d collapse. So this was it. This whole night… wasn’t for me. It was for her.
“Honey…” Shannon’s voice trembled. “I’m sorry. I should’ve just been happy you brought me out. But seeing you with her… seeing how gentle you were… it hurt so bad. I got overwhelmed and I couldn’t breathe… I just fell. I embarrassed you. Did I ruin everything for you and Miss McKellar?”
Felix didn’t even hesitate. “Of course not,” he said quietly. His hand came up, wiping her tears like they mattered. “I’m just worried about you. You don’t look okay. I’ll have someone take you back, get a specialist to check on you. You need to rest.”
“I don’t want anyone else,” she whispered, clinging to him tighter. “They can’t fix me. You can. You’re the only one who can. Don’t send me away please.”
Felix let out a low breath, something dark flickering in his eyes. “Yeah?” he murmured. “You really think I’m your cure?”
“Try me,” she said softly.
He chuckled under his breath, then pulled her in and kissed her.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Everything felt… wrong.
“Feeling better?” he asked against her lips.
“A little,” she whispered. “But not enough… I need more.”
Her hands moved over him, slow, teasing.
Felix groaned softly, his grip tightening. “Fuck! You acting up ‘cause you’re sick,” he muttered, voice rough, “or you just trying to mess with me right now?”
She laughed quietly, her breath brushing his ear. “Both.”
The next second, he pushed her back against the table, his control snapping just like that.
I flinched.
My vision blurred.
I remembered.
Four years ago. That same woman, naked on his desk, begging him. “Please… just once…”
And Felix didn’t even look at her. “Get this shit out of my office,” he had said coldly.
Then he covered my eyes, pulling me into him. “Don’t look,” he murmured. “It’s disgusting. I’ll only ever touch one woman. You.”
I believed him. God… I believed him.
And now… he was touching her like she was everything. Like she was the only one. There was no disgust in his eyes. Only… affection.
I couldn’t watch anymore. I turned and walked away, my legs shaking so badly I almost fell.
...
When Felix came back later, it was like nothing had happened. Like he didn’t just break me upstairs.
He held a box in his hand and walked straight to me, smiling slightly. “Danica,” he said, placing it in my hands, “this hotel… it’s yours now.”
I blinked. What?
“Transfer papers are inside,” he added casually. “Tonight happened here. Thought it deserved to belong to you.”
Billions. Just like that. Given to me like it was nothing.
People around us gasped quietly, their eyes full of envy. They thought I had everything. They had no idea.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her.
Shannon.
She walked down the stairs slowly, back in her uniform, mask covering her face again. No one would recognize her.
But I did.
Her hands were clenched tight at her sides. Even without seeing her face… I knew. She wasn’t happy.
…
A moment later, Shannon let go of him and went back to work like nothing happened. She started setting up the champagne tower, careful and slow, standing on her toes as she stacked the glasses from the top down. For a second, everything looked normal.
Then suddenly, she slipped. Or… that’s what it looked like. Her ankle twisted and she grabbed the tablecloth in panic, and the whole thing came crashing down. Glass shattered everywhere, sharp and loud, like something breaking beyond repair. Pieces flew toward both of us. People gasped.
Felix’s face changed instantly and he ran forward. Not to me. To her. He pulled Shannon into his arms, shielding her completely like she was something fragile, something worth protecting.
I had already stepped back, already avoided most of it. But then he slammed into me. Hard. My body lost balance and I fell straight to the ground. My head hit first. Everything went white for a second, then warm liquid started running down the side of my face. Blood. Glass shards cut into my skin, shallow at first, then deeper, burning like I was being sliced apart slowly. My whole body shook, pain spreading everywhere. I couldn’t even scream.
My vision blurred. And somehow… I smiled. So this was the truth. I used to think he loved us equally. Split in half. But if he had to choose… he already did.
When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. The lights were too bright. My head throbbed.
“Danica…” his voice was low, almost guilty. “I was trying to protect you. I just… I got confused. I was worried and grabbed the wrong person.”
Wrong person.
He kept kissing my hand over and over, like that would fix anything, like he could pour his feelings into something I couldn’t even feel. Because it wasn’t real.
I stared at him. Felt nothing. “Then what about the waitress?” I asked coldly.
I knew what I saw. That fall wasn’t an accident.
Felix paused for a second, then shrugged slightly. “She messed up. Careless. I already had her blacklisted. She won’t be working anywhere again.”
I blinked. Then I laughed. God… I laughed again. It hurt. It actually hurt to laugh, like cracks forming inside my chest, letting all the pain leak out. Shannon wasn’t even a waitress. So what kind of punishment was that? Like telling a bird it could never be a fish again. So stupid. So meaningless.
Felix saw me smiling and relaxed a little, like everything was fine again. After that, he stayed by my side, attentive, careful, perfect. He checked my IV himself, adjusted it like it mattered. He treated my wounds personally, his hands gentle, focused.
He peeled a lychee and held it to my lips. “Eat,” he said softly.
I did.
Then he held out his hand without a word, waiting for me to spit the seed into his palm like he always used to.
The nurses walking past looked at me with envy. Like I was lucky. If only they knew.
Then my phone rang. That same ringtone.
He froze for half a second. Then he stood up like nothing was wrong. “Danica, I’ve got something at the company,” he said calmly. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t wait up, alright?”
I nodded. Of course I did.
Only after he was gone… completely gone… did I turn on the receiver in the ring. And then I understood.
Shannon was in the hospital too. But not like me. He wasn’t checking her IV. Wasn’t treating her wounds. Because she didn’t have any. Just a minor scratch. Already healed.
Instead…
“Stay still,” his voice came through, lower, rougher. “You’re gonna make a mess.”
I froze. I didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to understand. But I couldn’t stop listening.
“Honey… if you keep me locked up like that, I’m gonna lose it,” Shannon’s voice trembled, soft and broken. “I can’t breathe in that place anymore. I feel like I’m dying slowly. Please, don’t send me back there. I want to go out. I want to be seen. I want to stand next to you even if it’s in front of her…”
My fingers tightened around the ring.
“I even want to be close to you like that… even if she’s there…”
I shut my eyes. I couldn’t listen anymore.
“Careful what you ask for,” Felix murmured, voice low and dangerous.
The sounds that followed, I didn’t need to understand them. I turned the switch off.
My hand was shaking. My chest felt hollow. Like there was nothing left inside me at all.
After everything settled down, Felix said that word again.
“Okay.”
Three days later, I was discharged.
