Chapter 15

Rayne maintained his polite, charming smile all till he had left the luxurious office of Ms. Kane.

When he was safely outside in the corridor with Sasha and the door had closed, he let out a long, tired sigh.

"I'm so glad that went well, Sash!"

Sasha nodded, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Rayne, that was amazing! I felt so comfortable with her!"

Rayne groaned as he stretched, his left hand still holding on to his notepad, "She was very nice but I couldn't help but be on edge the entire time."

"Really?" Sasha enquired, pushing her dark hair back from her forehead, "I wasn't on edge at all. It seemed so easy to converse in there."

Rayne shot her a glare, cracking his neck as he did, "You can't help but butt heads with that scary guy, can you?"

His cousin looked up in surprise, "What? Who?"

A moment later, she nodded quickly, "Oh, you mean Mr. Slader? Oh, he's not too bad either, Rayne! I like him now!"

The male rolled his eyes, "I hope so. Honestly, whether you do or not, can you please pleeeease just be polite? Try and be professional for me, will you?"

Sasha turned away adamantly, "Hmph, fine. We should call Leah and check up on her."

Rayne relaxed as he put his hands on Sasha's shoulders and gently led her away from the door leading to the heiress' office.

"Yes, you should do that."

Sasha let her cousin push her away as she opened her pink phone to call Leah.

"H-Hello?"

"Hey, Lee, it's me! W- You okay? You sound kind of strained."

Rayne looked down at his cousin's concerned face.

What could be wrong?

--

Leah froze in the elevator, her body refusing to move forward.

From the hallway ahead, she could hear his voice.

It was Tim. He was talking to someone, tone clear and without hesitation, mirthful even.

There wasn't an echo of sorrow in his voice, not even a little tinge of sadness.

Leah's gaze dropped to the high black heels she wore.

In the morning, Leah had struggled to wake up. She had struggled to find motivation to live the day. She had almost crumbled minutes ago in the elevator.

All of this over their two year relationship that had held so much emotion to her.

She had cried over this man and gone numb over him.

There had been roses at her front door from him and she had ignored them with the last of her strength and run downstairs to get to her car.

Every action and word from him had such power over her.

Then why was it, her eyes were prickling with hot tears, why was it that she had never been the same to him?

Leah's eyes grew steely as she stepped out of the elevator.

The doors closed behind her, and she looked to her left in the direction of the voices.

There were two males in the long, dim corridor and one of them was her ex-boyfriend.

He was almost unrecognizable with an easy smile on his face and expression off-guard, and Leah took a calming breath.

She wasn't sure what he was doing here but it didn't matter to her. She was here for a reason that didn't concern him, and she realized how grateful she really was for it.

"Frank?"

The two men looked over and Leah saw a shock seep into Tim's face.

The other man moved forward quickly, "That would be me, yes. I received a call from the Lobby. You must be the lady I will be escorting to see Ms. Kane?"

Leah tore her eyes away from Tim's face and focused on the man in front of her who was smiling and holding out a hand.

"That would be me, yes," she shook his hand firmly.

"Alright, follow me, ma'am. We have a separate elevator leading up to her floor."

"Alright, thank you," Leah followed the man, thankful that he was leading her away from where Tim stood, his jaw open and eyes wide as he stared at her.

The blond turned around and hurried after Frank, thankful that she hadn't burst out crying or said anything silly.

"L-Leah!"

Leah was shocked to hear Tim's voice yell after her. Frank stopped as well and the two turned around.

Tim's shock was slowly fading as he took two steps towards her.

"Leah, what are you doing here? I sent flowers- I couldn't speak so I-"

Leah turned to Frank quickly, a nervous tremble in her words, "May we just carry on, Frank?"

Her sure voice snapped Frank out of his concentration on Tim, "I- Well, of course but-"

"You know how important a meeting with Ms. Kane is, I don't want to miss it."

Frank nodded hurriedly, "Of course."

He shot Tim one last glance before turning around and walking away.

Leah swallowed and followed him quickly.

A wave of guilt was washing over her, and tears were pricking her eyes again.

Her resolve was weakening thinking of the look on his face when he'd called out her name. Was she making a mistake? Maybe this was all a misunderstanding somehow. Tim hadn't admitted to doing anything wrong.

He'd dumped her though.

The thought stung her body.

Why had he done that? Especially when she'd been s confused and hurt? Why had he dumped her so suddenly and offered roses the next day? What did that mean?

"Leah, please listen."

Her ears were so attuned to his voice despite her walking away and every voice in her mind wanted her to stop and turn around and look at him.

"Leah, I can explain everything. I'm so sorry, darling."

'Darling'.

"Won't you let me-"

Leah turned her head around as she walked to glance back at him when she saw it.

The sight that chilled her immediately and silenced all the thoughts that begged her to listen to Tim's voice.

The sexy redhead from the night before had appeared by Tim's side from a room and Tim has stopped speaking completely.

All of his attention has shifted to her.

Leah's phone rang.