The Billionaire's Bride

Chapter 3

Cassie had managed to hold back her tears for the rest of her evening duties, but now that she was alone in her room that adjoined that of Lady Dubois, she finally let the tears freely flow. She sobbed into her pillow, the grief from losing her mother consuming her. She wished she had been able to spend more time with her over the last few years, and she questioned whether or not she had been right to leave her alone for so long, even though this had been their only option for paying for the treatment.

It was well into the night when Cassie remembered that she needed to put some letters into the mail for Lady Dubois. They needed to go out first thing in the morning, and she didn't want to forget, so she wiped away her tears, and quickly stepped out of her room with the mail and took it downstairs to the front desk to be posted in the morning.

She had stepped onto the elevator and was taking it back up to her room when it stopped at another floor along the way. When the doors opened, she was nearly knocked down by Jack Carson. Everyone in the hotel knew who he was, as one of the top tech engineers in the world. She had seen him around the hotel the last few days, and he was the one that her employer had found out was getting married the next day.

Jack angrily rushed into the elevator, closely followed by a woman only wearing a sheet, who was screaming at him.

"Jack, wait!" she yelled at him. "I can explain."

Jack didn't respond and didn't even turn around to face her.

"This is your fault!" the woman continued as she had now reached the elevator and stopped the doors from closing with her hand. "I never would have been with him if you hadn't been so stubborn and wouldn't come with me."

"Go away" Jack said through gritted teeth, still not turning around to face the woman.

Cassie shrank as far into the corner as she could. She wanted nothing to do with this domestic fight unfolding in front of her.

"I'm not letting you go, get out of that elevator and come talk to me" she demanded.

"It's over" Jack said to her, finally turning around to face her. "Let go of the door" he commanded her, stepping right up to her, staring down at her, but without ever touching her.

Leslie cowered back, letting the door close between them, and the elevator began its climb upward toward Cassie's floor, the doors opening upon arrival.

Jack was still standing there, blocking the doorway when it opened.

"Excuse me" Cassie said softly, when he didn't move. "This is my floor."

Jack turned startled, seemingly unaware that she had even been in the elevator with him, and by the time he moved, the doors had already begun to close.

"I'm sorry" he said to her, as he put his arm out to stop the doors from closing fully, and then he placed his hand on them to keep them open as he stepped aside for Cassie to exit the elevator. "I didn't even know you were in here" he apologized. "I'm sorry you had to see that" he quickly followed up.

Cassie gave him a brief smile, and quickly stepped passed him and headed down the hallway to her room. Jack stood there watching her. He'd seen her around, with the Dubois woman, but he had no idea who she actually was. But what struck him was the absolute grief and sadness he saw in her eyes. It had captivated him. He had fallen prey to multiple sets of pouty and falsely upset eyes in his time, but he had never felt so helpless and discourage by the sadness he saw in the eyes of that stranger. He wanted to see her again, and hoped she would turn back to look at him before getting to her room, but she went around the corner and never did look back.

Jack finally let the door of the elevator close, and he leaned against the wall waiting until he reached his floor. He had several things he needed to do. He had a wedding to cancel, a partnership to give up and a humiliating return home ahead of him that he wasn't looking forward to. He stumbled his way to his room, beginning to feel the after-effects of the alcohol he had consumed, and he fell into bed, deciding not to think any more about dealing with the fallout of the evening, and instead wondered about the owner of the beautiful, dark and sad eyes.

Cassie let herself into her room, shaken by what she had just witnessed. It was obvious the man Jack was very drunk, and also pretty apparent that the woman had been sleeping with someone else. She felt bad for the man, but at the same time she wasn't surprised. The woman had been at the hotel for longer than she and Lady Dubois had been, and was hanging on the arm of every wealthy man who came. It came as no surprise to Cassie that the woman was the unfaithful sort, but she was glad that Jack had found out on his own, sooner rather than later.

Cassie quickly put the incident out of her mind, and once again relived the sadness she felt, and cried herself to sleep, knowing that she would have to compose herself in the morning, once again putting her duties ahead of her feelings. Her mother was gone, but she still owed a small fortune to Lady Dubois for the years of care for her mother, and she had every intention of dutifully working off that debt.

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