It was three in the morning and I was driving around New York pretending I was out clearing my head. It was just a fucking lie I told myself to pretend I knew what I was doing when it came to Hazel.
My phone rang just as I pulled up to the address Ivan had gotten me.
“Carter is in. The shipments will be arriving soon. I don’t know what you said to him but it worked. “
Of course, it fucking worked. I was the most powerful and dangerous man in New York. A lot of his actions were motivated by fear. I was unforgiving and everybody knew it. Carter was smart to accept my escorts, drinks, and deals.
“Be ready for him and be careful. “
“What did you do? Apologize? “
“I don’t apologize to anyone. He was happy with the girls you sent and drinks. All I had to do was stroke his ego by telling him he has the best ammo and product in the business. “
“Okay. Where are you? I thought you would want to see this shipment for yourself. It is the biggest one yet. Is there somewhere more important than this? “
Ivan was getting on my nerves.
“I told you to get off my case. The next time you ask me what I fucking do during my free time you will end up with a bullet between your eyes. “
“We both know you can’t kill me. “
“Don’t be so sure. “
I hung up on him and stared at Hazel’s building wondering if it was a good idea to show up that late at night. She was going to think I was stalking her. But if I played my cards right, I could get my plans for her rolling.
I left the car before I could second-guess myself and entered her building. It looked like shit. The structure looked so old it might have been built in the nineteenth century. There was graffiti and drawings on the walls where the paint was peeling.
The smell of pot, nicotine, and meth greeted me as I climbed up the stairs. It seemed like a building that had more drug addicts than sober people.
When I got to her floor, I saw a man with his hand on her arm in the corridor. She was trying to break the hold he had on her. The man was short, fat, and fucking ugly. I was going to cut his fucking arm off for touching Hazel.
I walked closer to hear what they were arguing about.
“Let me go!” Hazel yelled.
“Are you fucking with me, bitch? “ He yelled back.
The closer I got, the more I saw that his grip was harder than I had imagined. She was going to have a bruise there in the morning. And he was too fucking close to her.
“Please, I just need a few more days. “
“I don’t–”
“The lady doesn’t appreciate being touched like that. You’re hurting her. Let her go. “
My words were clear, sharp, and authoritative.
The man looked at me from head to toe. He was assessing me to see if I was a threat. With my hands in my pockets, I was calm as I waited for him to defy me. I was itching for a fight. Anything to distract me from Hazel.
“Who the fuck are you? “ He asked but he still didn’t let Hazel go. I avoided her gaze and
forced my eyes to remain fixated on him.
“Your hand is still on her arm. “
He assessed me some more before letting her go. Most people found me intimidating and he wasn’t an exception. He glared at Hazel who had been quiet the whole time and walked to me.
He was dirty up close and anyone with a nose could tell he didn't shower enough. He tried to step away from me but I blocked his way each time which made him stop looking at me questionately. I smiled and pointed at his chest near his heart.
“You have a stain on your shirt. You should take care of your clothes. We wouldn't want
them to be permanently stained red, would we? “
A smart man understood exactly what I was telling him.
“Tell her to pay her rent and I won’t have a problem with her. You look rich. You could pay
for her. “
“How much is it? “
I didn’t come to pay Hazel's rent but the man wasn’t decent.
“Six hundred.”
I took out a wad of cash and gave him the six hundred he wanted and he left. Hazel was rooted to her spot staring at me like she didn’t know what to do with me. She turned and unlocked her apartment door.
“What are you doing here this late? “ She asked as she ushered me into her apartment.
“Did he hurt you? “
“No. Answer my question. What are you doing here? “
I knew Hazel had lost everything but I didn’t think it was that bad. She lived in a shitty apartment. Her space was small. The paint on the wall was peeling off and her things barely fit in there.
There were cracks in the walls as well as the floors. There were leaks in the piping of the building judging from the sound of water dripping somewhere in her apartment.
She had done a good job of trying to make it look as appealing as possible. Her decorations littered the walls and every space she could use. However, it only did so much to mask that she lived in a place no human should.
I brought my eyes to her and closed the distance between us. I was so close to her, I could see the rapid rising and falling of her chest telling me that her heart was racing. Good. I still had an effect on her.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you. “
I brought my hand to her hair and tucked a strand behind her ear. The action made her breath hitch. She wanted me as much as I wanted her if not more. I was going to exploit that as much as I could.
“H-How did you find me? “ Came her small voice. It was almost inaudible.
“I have my ways. “
I dropped my hand and stepped away from her. Hazel wasn’t safe. She lived in a shitty neighborhood in an even shittier apartment with a douche of a landlord. How she had survived six months like that was a mystery.
“Are you okay? It's okay if the interaction with your landlord has affected you. You are
only human. “
The soft look on her face turned hard in seconds.
“I’m not the naive college girl you knew all those years ago. “
I leaned in to whisper in her ear and said, “Oh yeah? She looks the same to me. I wonder if everything else is the same or better. “
Her blush came from her neck all the way to her cheeks. I chuckled and changed the subject.
“How did the interview go? “ I asked.
I could tell she didn't know what to do now that I was in her space. She was too nervous around me but she tried to act like she wasn’t.
“I didn’t get the job. They changed their minds. They are no longer hiring. “
There was silence after that. We stood in the middle of her apartment staring at one another.
“You can’t pay my rent, Markos. I can handle myself. “
It didn’t look like she handled it earlier but I didn’t say that.
“What are you going to do about your unemployment status? “
“Keep looking–”
“Come work for me, Haze. I own a string of hotels and you can work for me in one of them. “
She stared at me suspiciously like she thought my deal was too good to be true.
“I don't want you to feel sorry for me and I don’t feel comfortable with you showing up to my apartment this late. “
She was more stubborn than I remembered. She was no longer easy to control or manipulate as she had been. Her parents had done a good job of capitalizing on her old self.
“I’m sorry. I couldn't get you off my mind. I had to see you. “ I said and hated that it was the fucking truth. “What do you say about working for me? “
“I don’t know…”
“This isn’t an act of pity. I am just helping an old friend. It's the only way I can have you as close as I can. “
“I googled you. “ She blurted, making me smirk. She had been thinking of me too. Good. “I found nothing on you. “
I walked closer to her and leaned into her ear, “My name is not something you will find in any magazine or online article. I hate attention hence why I am a silent businessman. “
The biggest fucking gangster in New York had no business appearing in a simple fucking G****e search.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t dress up nicely for Markos. He’d given me an address of where I would go so I could start my new job. Putting aside my pride and accepting his help was the hardest thing I had to do.Especially when I used to have everything handed to me.I was dressed in the nicest clothes I could find. I was in a short sundress and cute flats. I had on minimal makeup and my hair was free. I didn’t have a curler but I improvised with the items in my tiny apartment.I had to take three subways and walk through the busy streets of New York to the Upper East where his hotel was. I’d googled it but the name of the owner was not listed. I guess he must have been serious when he said he didn’t want his name on blogs.The hotel was modern, extravagant, and a sight for sore eyes. I was almost too embarrassed to walk in because of how bad I looked in comparison. The floors were white marble, too clean for my shoes that had just been from the Bronx.“Hello, I’m here to see M
It had been weeks since I saw Markos again. He was nowhere in the hotel premises in my first three weeks of work. I started to believe that he never came around that hotel. It was probably his least-visited hotel.Disappointment hit me in waves. It felt like I was back in college begging for his attention, begging for him to tell him what I did after ghosting me. I hated that I felt like crying.Knowing he knew I worked in his hotel and he didn’t come to see me hit hard. I wanted answers for our past mess and at the same time, I also wanted his attention. I would be lying if I said I didn’t still have feelings for him.“Hazel, you’ve been asked to clean the penthouse,” Derek stated as he passed by me.I was at the reception checking my book of chores. The penthouse suite hadn’t been slotted for me in the book. I started to think that maybe Derek had mistaken me for someone else.But I squished that thought when I remembered how much he hated me. He never treated other housekeepers the
I didn’t fuck that woman I was with. I couldn’t even remember her name. I’d brought her into my penthouse so I could make Hazel jealous and by the looks of it, it worked. We’d gone into my room and fooled around a little.Then I’d told her I had work to do and I would call her soon. I didn’t think she realized I didn’t have her number.I purposely ripped a condom out of its wrapper and put it on the ground for Hazel to see. I saw the hurt swirling in those pools of hazel. I wasn’t stupid enough to think she was hurt.Her pride was just bruised because I was with the kind of woman she would never be again. She would never be a rich woman again and she would not be worthy of my love or attention again.That was less than she deserved for what she and her family did to me. Did she realize I knew what she did to me?“You fucking hired her!” Ivan yelled as he stormed into my penthouse. It reminded me to remove his access. He was fucking annoying.He’d found me standing by my glass walls, o
It had been a month since I started working at Markos’ hotel; Peak Euphoria. It had been a month of witnessing Markos bring woman after woman into his penthouse. Coincidentally, it was always when I was cleaning.If I didn't find his flavor of the week, it was used thongs and condom wrappers. Still, I carried on pretending it didn't affect me. Like I didn't find myself constantly comparing myself to every woman he spent the night with. Like I didn’t spend long hours in the mirror hating my flaws and sinking myself into the bottomless pit of self-loathing and low self-esteem.I found myself wondering if the money was worth all the mental torture. It was hard watching the man you liked choose everyone else but you.It didn't help that each woman was better than the last–prettier, sexier, and richer.Markos was a whore.A whore I had yet to go over. A whore who stole my heart and refused to give it back. All these thoughts were subsequently pushed to the back of my mind when the bills c
Everything was taking a toll on me. The bills were just too many to pay and the money was not enough.My salary at the hotel was more than I was paid in my previous bartending and waitressing jobs combined but it still wasn’t enough.I was starting to get frustrated. When things got tough, like they were starting to get, I often thought about how everything with my family fell apart.I was paying for a mistake I didn’t make. At that moment, I hated my father for what he had done. He had single-handedly doomed my sister and me to a life of suffering.I wished I had been smart enough to work after college instead of allowing myself to be groomed by my mother to be a billionaire’s wife—a billionaire who left me when my father was exposed for money laundering and fraud.But even if I had worked, my mother’s parents—my grandparents—would have still blacklisted me from the job market like they were currently doing.I was on the subway on my way to work when my phone rang. My heart beat loud
I could tell she was absent-minded. She didn’t react like she normally did when I flaunted women in front of her. Previously, I could tell it bothered her but on that particular day, she decided not to care.Something must have been bothering her but I knew she wouldn’t tell me what it was. She must have hated my guts. It should not have bothered me as much as it did but I couldn’t stand the thought of her resenting me.‘How can you think like that when you’ve gone out of your way to make sure she resents you?’ The voice in the back of my head said.She had to hate me so I could hate her.The next day, I decided to be alone in the penthouse. It wasn’t like I was doing anything with those women I flashed her anyway. I hadn’t been able to think of another woman since she resurfaced in my life.She walked in with a purple bruise on her cheek, a busted lip, and a cut on the side of her head. Someone had beat her up. Did she have a boyfriend I didn’t know about?There were grazes on her ar
“What happened to you?!” Julia asked when she saw me.She was the only one who was good to me. The rest hated me because of the rumors Derek spilled. It was only recently that I had realized his beef with me was not personal.Ivan, the guy that was fighting with Markos had to be the one telling him to frustrate me because he hated me. I had a feeling it had to do with the things Markos had told him about me.What had he said that was so bad? I had always been a good partner and supported him despite my parents’ disapproval of him.“Don’t worry about me….” I said in response to Julia’s question. She may have been nice but I didn’t trust her. Life had taught me not to trust anyone.“How can I not when you look like that? It’s good to come clean about your problems so others can help you. Come on, you know I’m not asking out of malicious intent.”I decided to just tell her because I was going to borrow her phone anyway. I needed it because I had to make a few calls. How was I going to co
ViolaEverything in Nikolas' room smelled like him. It was a masculine woody scent with a hint of apples. I was ashamed to admit sometimes I closed my eyes and inhaled it in, savoring it.A whole month passed since I saw him. I didn't know where he was in New York or what he was doing there. He didn't talk to me or ask how I was doing.That was kind of understandable because I didn't own a phone.To say I was frustrated was an understatement. I was lucky that I hadn't seen Mother since my wedding day. If she found out my newlywed husband had gone to New York instead of staying with me, she would go crazy.She already commented about how I was fat. She would only push the narrative further."Hey, do you want to go out for coffee with me?" Aurora asked as she poked her head inside my room—Nikolas' room.I smiled and nodded, ecstatic about the idea. She and I had yet to spend time alone. The time she and I went shopping, Lucia, her mother, insisted on coming with us."Let me change and m