CASSANDRA'S POV
I hear the elevator bell ding, indicating that I had made it to the fifty-sixth floor, causing my eyes to shoot open. I hate elevators. The small space combined with the number of people that always tried to cram inside. Luckily for me, I was going to the top floor and this was a private elevator, so no people and no cramming.
Taking a deep breath, I step out once the doors part open, walking out of the elevator and making my way down the wide hallway. The floor to ceiling windows that made up the walls have the most incredible view of the city that I've always called home, New York City, and more specifically, the borough of Manhattan. From tall buildings to the surrounding waters, the view engulfs me as I make my way down the hall, unable to keep myself from admiring the immaculate views.
It is dead silent apart from the sound of my heels clicking against the marbled floor. I make my way over to the large conference room, pushing the door open using the handle, and stepping inside. I am greeted by two angry men, both of whom snap their heads to look at me as soon as I open the door.
"Cassandra, fucking finally. Did you bring it?" my brother asks, straightening from where he is leaning against the large conference table, holding his hand out to me before turning away and looking at my father as if to resume his conversation without paying me any additional attention. How very typical of him.
I sigh softly as I reach into my bag, grabbing the manila folder that I had picked up from his apartment and stuffing it into his hand, trying not to show how irritated I am.
"I can't believe you made me come all this way for this. You could've asked any one of your assistants, Zac," I kindly remind him, earning a stern look from my father, the one and only Blake Rhodes. He's the CEO of Rhodes Enterprises and as I like to call him, a jackass.
Don't get me wrong. I am completely okay with doing them favors. But with the combined lack of interest and appreciation from either of them? These little favors that I seem to be doing regularly are getting to be a bit much, even for myself, and I'm the most patient person ever.
"Confidentiality," Zachary shrugs as he snatches the file from my hand without even glancing my way again, and tosses the file down on the table before opening it, back in conversation with my father.
I wait a moment before realizing that neither of them care about my presence any longer. With a sigh, I walk over to the other side of the enormous table, taking a seat in one of the chairs. As soon as I sit down, placing my bag on the table top, both of them look at me again, as if I was committing a crime.
"What?" I question, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. But, I already know the answer to the question. They probably don't want me here. 'A pretty girl like you shouldn't be here,' is what my father would say, which is ridiculous, considering that he was the one who had pushed me so hard to go to university and study as if I was the one who was going to take over this company, when in reality, it's going to be Zac.
Things weren't always this way. I have always been the one who is better at this stuff, and everyone has always known that. Zac would consistently slack off throughout college, and even for a few years after that. From parties to hooking up with girls, and disappearing for a few weeks at a time. It was the norm, until his twenty-sixth birthday and things somehow took a turn overnight.
As soon as Zac said he was ready to do this, my father completely forgot that I had spent years becoming the ideal candidate for the role of CEO and quickly turned to Zac. I had been groomed to fill the seat for years, and all of that work was now in the gutter. Instead, my father had other plans for me.
"Don't you have to get ready for the charity gala? Might I remind you, this is an extremely important event for you?" my father raises his eyebrow at me, as if he is posing a question when what he truly means is 'go home, get ready, and don't fuck this up.'
I bite down on my lip to keep myself from saying something that I knew would only come back to bite me in the ass. My eyes flicker from my father to Zac, who quickly looks away from me and back at the papers in front of him. Things have clearly changed between us. It's so so obvious that Zac has gone from being the one defending me to the one always agreeing with our father.
In the last six months, since he decided that he wanted what I had worked so hard for, our relationship had changed for the worse. He was once one of my best friends, yet here we are, barely speaking of half of the things that we used to.
"Right, how could I forget?" I let out a forced smile, shaking my head as if I was the delirious one. Getting up from the chair, I grab my bag and quickly walk out of there, trying to hold back the fury and sadness that quickly fills my heart, but I refuse to make a scene of this.
"Dad, seriously? We talked about this. You can't talk to her like that," I faintly hear Zac mutter to my father right before the door closes shut. I feel my hand tightening around the strap of my shoulder bag, faintly smiling to myself as I'm glad to hear that Zac can still have my back at times, but even then, I know that things aren't the same.
How could they ever be? Our lives aren't what they were before, and there is no way of changing that.
- - -
I stare at my reflection, pursing my lips together and gently running my finger over my plump bottom lip to thin out the clear gloss that I had just applied.
"Is he here yet?" the gorgeous blonde next to me asked as she washed her hands. Camara was much taller than me, standing at 5'7", plus the heels that she had chosen to wear tonight. Her long blonde waves fell over her shoulders and cascaded down her back, covering some of her back that was exposed from the red open-back ballgown she opted for tonight. The complete opposite of me, yet she was my best friend.
"I don't think so. You know how he is, always late," I shrugged a bit, washing my own hands to get rid of the lip gloss that stickied my fingertip, grabbing a paper towel to dry them before I ran my fingers down my silky emerald green ballgown. I turned to check my appearance in the full-body mirror beside me. My skin was a light tan, which complimented the dress perfectly, the slit on one leg of the dress exposing my smooth leg, making me look much taller than I was at only 5"2'. I always wore heels, and tonight was no exception, as I paired the dress with some black jimmy choos.
"Let's go find our table?" Camara asked, gaining a nod from me before I followed her out of the restroom. We made our way through the large open hallway, which was filled with numerous people that were partaking in drinking and conversation before the night ahead.
"We should be towards the front," I express over the loud noise of chatter and background music, following close behind Camara as we walk through some large double doors that were propped open, into the enormous banquet hall where the dinner and dancing portion of the evening would take place.
We make our way through the room, trying to avoid as many people as possible, neither of us in the mood to make conversation with the people here tonight, mostly business men and women, and their significant others or plus ones. I could recognize many of these faces, having attended this charity gala twice a year since I was just a little girl.
"This one," Camara pipes as we approach a table that is close to the dance floor, which is a large space in the middle of the entire room. As soon as Camara finds her seat, she sits down, leaving me to walk around the huge, round table to find my own. My eyes flicker over all the names as I make my way around, and just as soon as I see it, I'm stumbling backwards after running into someone.
Everything happened so fast, but it felt like minutes were passing. As I stumbled back, all of my weight was pushed back onto my heels, causing me to nearly fall backwards onto my ass. My lips parted as I let out a soft gasp, shocked, as my hand grasped the back of a chair to try and stop my fall. I closed my eyes, but instead of falling straight on my ass and embarrassing the shit out of myself to hundreds of people, I felt two large hands grab my waist roughly, keeping me up and pulling me towards them. My eyes flickered open, my hands suddenly on his chest as I kept myself from slamming straight into him as he pulled me to him to keep me from falling. As I looked up, my eyes came into contact with his hazel ones.
"Oh gosh, I am so sorry," I let out, my heart pounding in my chest. The beautiful man smiled at me, and I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks in embarrassment. I couldn't help but notice some of his features, from his gorgeous styled brown hair to his sharp jaw line. I could hear Camara clear her throat, reminding me of where I was. I straighten up in his arms, dropping my hands from his chest as I looked away from him.
"You're fine...it's fine, don't worry about it," he responds, his deep voice taking me back slightly as he lets go of me. Wow, good looking, strong, and sexy? I couldn't help but shyly smile to myself as I tucked a strand of my dark brown hair behind my ear.
"Thanks...for catching me," I say with a small laugh, shaking my head as I think of what just happened, looking up at him to see that his eyes haven't left me.
He gives me a nod as a 'you're welcome,' before straightening his tall stance. I bit down on my lip, hard, as I noticed he was dressed impeccably in a black suit and tie, paired with loafers. But, in reality, I was also noticing the way his strong muscles and fit figure were evident even through his clothing. He straightened his stance, holding his hand out to me.
"Asa. Asa Rivers. It's nice to meet you," he flashes a smile at me, which makes my heart beat even faster. I hesitate for not even a second before shaking his large hand with my much smaller one. It was strong, but his skin was soft and gentle, which took me my surprise.
"Cassandra...Rhodes. It's nice to meet you too," I say, returning his smile, noticing how his eyebrow raises when I tell him my last name.
"You're Blake's daughter?" he asks, almost with a laugh, which causes my eyebrows to furrow in confusion. Was he teasing me? I was taken back, not only by the fact that he knew my father, probably well given that they were on a first name basis, but he had some nerve to laugh at me about it.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way. He's mentioned that he had a daughter, I just wasn't expecting you to be so beautiful," he voices, having seen my puzzled look. Asa then smiles, shaking his head at me a bit.
My cheeks feel hot, and just as I was about to respond, I'm interrupted by an arm wrapping around my waist, to which my attention diverts to the man who has now appeared next to me. His lips brush my cheek, and he whispers a soft hello in my ear. My eyes flicker back to meet Asa's, but only to see that he's now focused on the person next to me.
"Good evening. Caden Stiles," Caden sticks his hand out, his fingers pressing into me as he tightens his grip on my waist. I clench my jaw, my teeth pressing against each other hard as I hold back on ripping his hand off of me.
"Asa Rivers. Nice to meet you after all this time," Asa doesn't flinch, but rather smiles as he takes Caden's hand. I can't help but notice that Caden's grip on me loosens as he realizes who Asa is, and his expression relaxes.
"I hope my girlfriend here wasn't bothering you," Caden remarks, and I scowl, narrowing my eyes up at him which he completely ignores. He's kidding right? My eyes flicker to meet Asa's, which lock on my own for a brief second as he is also taken back way in which Caden just spoke of me, but his expression doesn't falter.
"Of course not. I was just introducing myself," Asa retorts gently. I could tell that although he didn't like Caden's attitude, he clearly wasn't going to say anything or act any differently, nor did I expect him to. It's not like we were friends, and I could handle it myself if I really wanted to, but I knew that I wouldn't hear the end of it if I said something to Caden right now.
As if right on cue, the announcer steps up to the stage, asking all of us to take our seats. I quickly take mine, pulling myself out of Caden's grip. This was going to be a long night, considering I was sandwiched between Zac and Caden, with Asa sitting straight across from me, his eyes locked to mine, and Camara seated right besides him, giving me a playing smirk.