Cheating Myself

20

Emily's POV

It's been two weeks since the night I spent with Daniel and he has been nothing but a gentleman to me. He got back working from home and sometimes he took me to work from the office in the club. We were really hitting it off. Spending work hours together and evenings with him and Tony was like a little twisted family. Daniel told me he was an orphan but he didn't want to dig deeper into that. He also adopted a girl named Alyson a couple of years ago when he was visiting one of Chicago's system houses for kids. She is 15 now and she studies in London. She was like his little sister and he loved her very much. It was her picture that I saw on his office table the night I met him. She enchanted him from first sight. I couldn't believe it. The cold ruthless businessman totally whipped by a little girl. My heart melted every time he would tell me stories about Alyson. I saw a very different side of him and I was starting to warm up to him really quickly. My mind was screaming "you've fallen for him" but my rational side cut it off every time. Sometimes I think I am bipolar for fuck sake.

But last two days something seemed really strange about him. Every time I approached him he avoided my gaze. I even tried and lured him into the night in my room but he froze and then said something about club and staff and that he needed to go.

It was Friday and he had to go to this party-ball where he needed to sign up for yet another contract and it was killing me that he never invited me with him. Of course, I understood that I was still like no one and our relationship floated in between working and getting to know each other.

I was sitting in my chair sorting some documents when Tony almost broke the door entering the office.

"Party time office worms!" he slammed his huge butt on the couch looking between us. "Hey, Cinderella, why are you still wearing your chore clothes?" he smirked.

"Emily is not going. This is a serious deal. We need to sign that damn contract tonight." Daniel's cold voice echoed through my head. He didn't even look at me.

"Oh, come on man. The signing will take like what, half an hour? And I think Cinderella over here would love all the ball fuss, right pumpkin?" Tony looked at me winking. "Why am I getting the feeling that you just don't want her to meet the evil queen?" he averted his look back to Daniel with a wicked smile.

Evil queen? I know that he was an orphan, so it's not his mother Tony's talking about. So that leaves us with the only answer – another princess that was warming his sheets somewhere in the past. Or maybe not in the past considering he still skips some nights at the mansion.

"It's okay Tony. Clearly, Daniel doesn't want the working class to lower his company's name." I gave Daniel the sweetest smile and moved back to work, bitterness filling my heart.

"Hey, if you're going with evil queen I can be Prince Charming for our pumpkin here for the night," Tony asked. "I'm sure we can manage to have some good fun with her, ha? With all the booze and dancing. I can show her my moves" Tony was blabbing as usual.

"No! She is not going! End of discussion." Daniel stood up and stormed out of the office giving me the last evil look.

"What's his problem?" I asked shocked Tony.

"No idea Princess. I think he's just back to his moody self as always," he answered standing from the couch. "Okay, let's get you home" he stretched his hand to me.

"Fine, but I need to stop by the grocery store. I'm in the mood for lasagna tonight" I answered.

"Holy shit! Now I also want to stay home!" Tony hugged my shoulders kissing my forehead and lead me out of the office.

It was our routine like brother and sister. The big bulky Tony softened to me.

When we arrived home Daniel was nowhere to be seen. Tony took all the groceries to the kitchen and went to get ready for the stupid ball thing. I was so frustrated. I know I had no right but I really thought that our night meant something. And yet another understatement Emily. I took the bottle of vine and poured a full glass for myself.

I was in the middle of the third glass when Tony appeared in the kitchen.

"Looking good, misted Bond" I teased him.

Tony gave me a twirl and made a funny superhero pose in the end.

"All for the ladies" he smirked. "Are you sure you want to cook tonight? You can just cozy up in the living room with ice cream and some film," he gave me a sympathetic look.

"No, I'm not going to do a pity party just because Daniel is a dick," I said drowning the rest of my vine. "He can do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. I don't give a fuck" I barked at Tony finishing the remains of the vine straight from the bottle.

"Yeah, I can see that. You're totally cool" Tony said moving closer to me. "Look. I don't know what happened between you two but Daniel said something about not deserving you. I think he is conflicted and trying to figure this all out." he patted my back.

"Figure out? What? We haven't even slept together and he was the one who told me he will always be there for me! So don't give me this bullshit Tony! He just doesn't want to deal with me. I bet he regrets he even took me in." I slammed the empty bottle on the counter and stormed to my bedroom shutting the door with Hulk's power.

Stupid Emily! Do you really think someone could like you? Do you really think someone could care about you? I was pacing my room like a fucking Olympics athlete. Why in the world did I think this will be different? There's no one in this world who I can trust.

I stopped near the closet and looked at all my stuff. The checks I received for the month of working with Daniel were huge. I could hide for a half of year with this amount of money. I took a suitcase and started packing. I took only things that were mine or clothes that I bought myself. I ran down the hall to Daniels's office and unlocked it. He told me the password to his safe last week when he needed some documents when he was out. I opened the safe and started to look through all the documents finding the ones I need so much. And there they were, lying in a separate red folder. Apartment certificate with my name on it and all the legal papers I needed. I quickly took them and moved to my bedroom to take my stuff.

There was no fucking way I will move there soon but I had to have some safe spot.

I moved down the hall memorizing every corner of the mansion. I stood by the door to Daniels's room inhaling deep breaths. My trembling hand went to the knob and with one motion it was opened. My eyes fall on the big king-sized bed and a wooden closet at the far end. I took my time looking around. The walls were light grey with crispy-white curtains hiding the windows. There was a tie on the bad and a phycology book. I sat on the silky sheets looking around. Such mixed feelings flooded my heart. I exited his room but not before skimming in his wardrobe and stealing one of his button-up shirts. It was a bold move but I didn't care. I stopped near the kitchen and froze. Am I really doing this? I moved to the kitchen aisle where all the ingredients for lasagna were laying. This will be my last meal for the guys. I started working on the dish. I always made it from scratch so it took a while but it was totally worth it.

I finished in two hours and it was already 10 PM. I took lasagna from the oven, covered it with foil, and left it on the counter with a small piece of paper that said "Enjoy. Hope you won't return to junk food now without my control".

The taxi was already waiting for me. I entered the car and said the only address that was in my mind. Of course, I am not stupid so I told the driver the address that was a couple of miles away so that no one could trail me back there. The place where I could forget about everything and vanish for now. The cabin on the lake was not a good idea this time of the year but I had no other options.