The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tʜɪʀᴛʏ﹣Tᴡᴏ ❊

I rested my head against the cool metal of the refrigerator and yawned. My entire body felt weak and heavy, as if I hadn't slept in a week. My body felt disgusting from the amount I had cleaned and a hot bath sounded amazing. But dinner had only begun and I was waiting for the tray to give Enzo and his two guests their food.

Sophia scratched at my back absentmindedly, talking about how excited she was for Enzo and me. She said something about noticing the change in him. I had yet to see it. But maybe that was because I was tired enough to fall asleep against the refrigerator. At that moment, it sounded somewhat nice.

"The food is ready." Sophia pulled me off of the fridge and set a tray in my hands while she grabbed a pitcher of water.

I needed coffee. Bad. Either that or fifteen hours of sleep. I was leaning towards fifteen hours of sleep then coffee. Too bad Enzo made us wake up at the asscrack of dawn to serve him breakfast at an ungodly hour. Who in their right mind ate breakfast that early? It doesn't matter if he worked or not. He could always serve his own breakfast.

I found myself getting annoyed as I walked into the dining room, pinning him with a glare. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he turned questioning eyes to the girl beside me. She only shrugged one shoulder.

I set their food down as Sophia walked around, refilling waters. She took the tray from me before disappearing into the kitchen for a few seconds.

And not only did he make me wake up at five o'clock every damn morning to serve him breakfast, but he also showered wrong too. Or...right? I didn't know. For some reason, it just irked me that he looked like that when showering. No one looks beautiful with soap in their hair. No one looks breathtaking washing their hair.

My eyes narrowed further.

"Am I forgetting something?" Enzo's voice was soft, but his question was directed at me.

"No." I bit the inside of my cheek. "I'm just thinking of all the things you do that piss me off."

Sophia tilted her head in the same way Enzo did.

The guy who choked on his water earlier turned to glance back at me. And by the look on his face, he wasn't used to people talking to Enzo that way. Which made sense, if his job description was any indication. Maybe he didn't allow his employees to speak like that towards him. But then again, the other guy straight up told him to have sex with me.

"What do I do that pisses you off?" Enzo was trying not to smile. He may fear that his employees would have a heart attack. The torturer just doesn't smile.

I ticked them off on my fingers. "You have us wake up at the asscrack of dawn like it's normal. No one normal wakes up at five. And then the way you shower."

Both of the guests were looking at me, their eyes wide. But their reactions had nothing on Sophia's, who was staring at me in both horror and excitement. I didn't know how she managed the two reactions, but damn it she did.

His smile came slowly. "What is wrong with the way I shower, Eva?"

I glared at him more intensely, which made his smile grow further. He knew how he showered. I had told him, hadn't I? No, I guess I didn't. But still. He should know. I got the sudden urge to buy him a mirror so that he could watch himself shower. The image made my glare soften, but only slightly.

But then the image changed to both of us in that shower, and being able to see him from all angles at one time, and my face reddened quicker than I could mutter a curse. I glanced away from his smirk, as if he knew exactly what it was I was thinking. Of course, he probably did. Brainwashing and all that. Maybe he could read minds, too.

They ate in relative silence, only asking questions to one another that wouldn't raise suspicion about the job. From what I could tell, Sophia still had no idea what Enzo did for a living, nor did she have any clue that I knew. And it would stay that way. She only had a few more months to live in his house before she didn't have to be there anymore. I knew I could keep it a secret for that long.

Once dinner was done, Sophia and I made quick work of grabbing their dirty plates and turning them over to the kitchen. The chefs gave us our food and we ate while watching them clean, just like we normally did. She and I usually never went into the dining room after Enzo's dinner, instead keeping to ourselves in the kitchen with the chefs.

"You look like you're about to pass out," Sophia said after she swallowed the last mouthful of food.

I chewed the last bits of my food slowly. "I need a shower and a good night's rest."

"I'll take care of the dishes." She set her empty bowl down and reached for mine. "Go shower."

It was early, but at that point, I didn't mind. I went to my room, not even bothering to cover up my yawn. It would feel good to shower and curl up in my bed to get more sleep than usual. I smiled with anticipation. Never in my life had I believed that I would be happy to go to sleep so early. But in the end, I deserved it. And, well...needed it.

I stepped inside my room, shut my door, turned on my lights, and froze in place.

There was a man sitting on my bed, his head lowered to show off his tousled brown hair. His elbows rested on his knees and his long pianist fingers were entwined together in front of him. A familiar scent radiated through the air and I didn't have to think long to place what it was and where I knew it from. The cologne was Kenneth Cole. And I had only known one person in my life who wore that.

He sat absolutely motionless and silent and I wondered if he knew I was there or if he was just pretending not to have noticed me.

Then he raised his head and his light blue eyes met with mine, making me catch my breath. My entire body went numb as I looked into the eyes of the man I used to love.

''Vince," I whispered his name. I couldn't bring myself to say anything else. Just his name made my body seize up. I didn't know if I wanted to cry or laugh hysterically.

Even after five years, he still looked the same. Same natural tan skin, same full lips, same unique blue eyes...the same Vince. The same man who kissed my scars and told me I was beautiful for years until ultimately changing into the man who turned his back on me.

But the one sitting in front of me at that moment looked different, somehow. Detached. Uncaring. Kind of like he didn't even know who I was. And maybe that's what hurt me the worst. It wasn't the fact that he showed up after five years. It was the fact that he looked at me like I was a stranger to him.

"Hello, Eva," Vince said, his familiar deep voice causing me to flinch back slightly. "Long time no see."