His Lioness (Alan Rickman FF) ENGLISH VERSION

Chapter 26

When Saskia had calmed down a bit, she walked towards the four-poster bed and saw Gem stretched out on it. "What are you doing here? Did you get the room wrong?" she addressed the cat. But she just looked at her relaxed and didn't seem to intend to leave the room. "It's fine with me, you don't bother me," she continued talking to Gem and stroking her soft fur.

Finally, Saskia had time to look at the bathroom and when she opened the door into it, her breath caught, as it had so many times before in this house. Her eyes immediately fell on the huge whirlpool, which easily offered space for two people. The huge rain shower that was next to it became a minor matter. She could only assume that the shiny gold fittings were made of real gold, but she almost suspected it.

Saskia approached the shelf full of bath additives and various other things. She opened a few jars and tubes, one smelled better than the other. She would definitely take the time to soak in a bubble bath one day, after all she had to take advantage of having such a unique opportunity. But she was definitely too tired for today and chose the quicker route and went to shower.

When she went back to the room, Gem was still lying peacefully at the foot of the bed. Saskia crawled under the covers and turned off the light. For her it was completely new to sleep in such a huge and soft bed. With mixed feelings she thought about tomorrow's meeting at the company. For better or worse, she would have to travel the distance together with Lionel in the limousine.

She didn't know at all where she stood with him now and especially what she had done wrong. She simply couldn't calm down and thought back and forth. Until she had reconstructed the whole situation in her mind. It could only have been her question about the evening off, which had caused the whole dilemma. Nothing else had happened in that short conversation.

After the two had spoken nothing at all, Saskia could only guess when she would be ready the next morning. Better too early than too late, she thought to herself, and set her cell phone alarm.

Too tired to continue thinking unpleasant thoughts, she listened to Gem purring, this sound soothed her and slowly carried Sia to sleep.

Lionel now went to sleep as well, as Gem had disappeared completely into thin air, which was very unusual.

The next day, Saskia's alarm clock rang extra early so she could plan for all eventualities. She rummaged around in her suitcase, which she would have to put in the closet first, and picked out a white blouse, black pants, underwear, and other things.

When she came out of the bathroom and got dressed, she checked her appearance again in the large mirror. No matter how many times she could look into it, the sight did not get any better for her. Accordingly, demotivated, she turned away from it. She should probably finally start doing sports and not sit around so much, which her work unfortunately entailed.

Slowly she stepped out of her room so that she would not disturb anyone. Quietly, she walked out of the bedroom wing towards the dining hall. When she entered, it already smelled deliciously of various dishes. But Saskia didn't really have an appetite, she still had yesterday evening in her stomach.

But she could smell something of the good breakfast scent, at least that didn't have any calories yet. An employee came immediately, as the night before, with a selection of drinks. Saskia decided on the Earl Gray tea with a sip of milk and settled down in the same place as yesterday.

Lost in thought, she stirred her tea, although she could have drunk it long ago. Then Lionel came in the door.

"Good morning," she said quickly and immediately looked back into her cup. Saskia didn't dare to look at him any longer, because she didn't know where she was at all.

"Good morning," he grumbled more than he said it and sat down next to Saskia on his chair. Immediately he helped himself to the food in front of him and drank some tea as well. Lionel didn't really know how to react, somehow he found it all ridiculous. Maybe after the meeting in the company everything would calm down again. Under half lowered eyelids he watched Saskia as she sipped her tea but ate nothing. Maybe she wasn't feeling well either, but what did he care, he tried to tell himself.

After Lionel finished breakfast, he got up and told Saskia to follow him.

Mihai was already waiting in front of the main entrance with the Rolls-Royce and opened the door for Saskia. "Good morning Mihai, thank you!" she said to him kindly. Which put a smile on his face. Rarely he was greeted, mostly his boss was in a bad mood. So it was a nice change to see a friendly face.

Lionel picked up the newspaper as he did every day and leafed through the usual columns.

Saskia sat next to him, silently looking out the window. Today, for the first time, she would sit next to Lionel at the meeting; otherwise it had always been Evi. With mixed feelings, she thought about her colleagues, with all of whom she didn't really have much contact. Usually she always sat in the last corner, just so she would get lost in the crowd.

When they arrived in front of the Shahbandar Media Group building, they still hadn't really spoken to each other. Together they got out, Lionel holding the door open for her despite everything that had happened, which she really didn't expect. Briskly they went inside the building and took the elevator up.

Harry Deane had already prepared, as far as it was possible, everything to completely embarrass Saskia in front of everyone in today's meeting. He was already looking forward to her face beyond measure. He would make sure that he was not suspected and that everything looked like an interplay of unfortunate coincidences. He could just barely stifle his sardonic grin, it would be too conspicuous to appear in a good mood at the meeting.