Bedded and DeceivedA Billionaire Revenge Romance Novel - Marian Tee Page 0,30

blank surface of my desk. So much noise that in the corner of my eye, I saw the security guy awkwardly avert his gaze from me, as if finding the sight of me too miserable to bear.

Can't say I blame him.

I was pathetic.

Should've known better than to trust someone who had hurt me over and over again without explaining why.

Should've known better than to love a man like Dmitry Adrianov.

But because I didn't know better—-

He left me.

I clumsily brushed the tears away with the back of my hand and turned to the security guy. "My things..." God. Just thinking about what I had to say already made me feel so damn small. "I have t-things in the apartment..." The security guy didn't seem to have a clue, and so I was forced to spell it out. "Mr. Adrianov..."

I saw him wince the moment he realized who I was talking about, and the poor guy could barely look at me now. Understandable. With those words, I might as well have carved the truth on my face.

Impoverished and impressionable secretary falls for billionaire boss, thinking if he took her to bed, it meant he loved her.

But she knew better now.

I knew better now.

And God, I just wanted to get this over with. Just be done with the whole thing so I could finally remember how it was not to cry again.

Because the tears?

They hadn't stopped falling.

Just kept falling like they had always been falling, only I never saw them, never felt them until my whole world came crashing.

"I'm sorry, miss." The security guy sounded so miserable it was obvious he was wishing himself a million miles away. "I wasn't given any information about that. All I was told was I had to get rid—-" He stopped right away, but of course it was too late. Even so, his gaze darted towards me, as if hoping I had become deaf in the past ten seconds.

But I hadn't.

I had heard him loud and clear.

And I could never unhear it, no matter how hard we both wished I could.

"I'm sorry, miss." Poor man. He hadn't asked for any of this. He had come to work, thinking he was paid to do security, and yet all of a sudden, he had been thrust into the unwanted position of breaking my heart.

I forced myself to smile. "It's fine. I'm sure someone will contact me about it."

The man nodded eagerly. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Then I guess that's it." I took a step forward, and the man practically tripped on his own feet in his haste to get to the door. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. He just wanted to be done with this out-of-his-job-description-task.

But God.

Seeing him in such a hurry to make me leave—-

What was it with this day that everyone wanted to get rid of me?

Was it really bad, having someone like me around?

I wished I had the answers. But all I had was pain.

He left me.

The words played endlessly in my mind as I stepped inside the elevator.

He left me.

I thanked the security guy - J. Felipe, I finally remembered to check his name badge - for his assistance when we made it to the lobby.

He left me.

I walked ever so slowly. Almost as if I was giving someone every chance to hold me back. To tell me he had made the biggest mistake in his life. But nothing happened.

He left me.

I just kept walking. Didn't even think I had a place in mind to go to until I realized I had already reached the only place that would welcome me, no questions asked.

Keagan answered the door on the third ring of the doorbell, took one look at my face, and her own face crumpled as well.

She knew I was in love with Dmitry.

It was the only thing I felt safe and proper for her to know. And now—-

The fact that I didn't even have to say a word, and Keagan...

"Oh, Tahey." Keagan pulled me inside. "He left you?"

Oh God.

Hearing those very words from someone else—-

It was just too much.

And my knees gave out without warning.

"I d-don't even know w-why."

I crashed down.

"He just l-left me."

Weeping.

"Even k-knowing w-what it would do to me."

Broken.

"He still...left...m-me."

A NEW DAY BEGAN. AND another. And another. Keagan fussed over me without asking a single question. It was why she was good at her job, and why people like Dmitry those who built Strakh Inc. preferred working with her.

And the words—-

He left me.

They were still there. No longer as vicious, but