I just want to have a talk with whoever invented the alarm, the most painful torture device ever.
I hit the off button on my phone and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. Just 5 more minutes and then I'll get up.
Just as I was about to doze off, I woke myself up and forced myself out of bed. I knew if I went back to sleep, it wouldn't be for 5 more minutes, it would be for 5 more hours.
I had meetings all day today all across town. Some at my office, some at investors office, some at my lawyers office. It was a busy day today.
After I had showered and did my make up for the day. I changed into a pair of cute taupe pants with a matching blazer, and a white bodysuit underneath. I paired the outfit with some white heels.
I finished just in time for me to leave the house and beat the traffic.
Liz stopped me before I could leave the house.
"Aren't you going to grab breakfast?" Liz asked me.
"I can't today. I'm running late Liz."
"I don't care. You're going to get sick and it's not healthy. You've lost so much weight lately." She scolded.
"It's okay. I'm gonna grab some coffee along the way."
"No. That's not food. Stay here and I'll be right back."
She ran off into the direction of the kitchen while I waited impatiently for her to come back. I checked the time on my wrist watch, 7:45. My first meeting is at 8:30. I still have time.
Liz came running back with a granola bar, a banana, and a smoothie.
"Don't forget to finish everything." She instructed me.
"Thank you. I love you." I planted a kiss on her cheeks as I rushed out the door be into my car.
"Don't forget to bring back the tumblr!" She yelled after me.
"I won't!" I yelled back.
I got to my office with just 5 minutes to spare.
My assistant was up and ready the moment she saw me walk in.
"The folders are all laid out in the conference room, coffees are being made right now, Dylan and Francesca are already waiting for you."
"Thanks Janice."
I straightened out my hair, took a big gulp of water, and tried to catch my breath. I literally ran into the office earlier , hoping to not be late.
I walked into the conference room and shook hands with Dylan and Francesca.
"Long time no see Charlotte." Francesca spoke up.
Francesca is not someone I'd call my friend. It's like a keep your friends close, but your enemies closer kind of thing.
"I know. We have to catch up sometimes." I smiled.
"How have you been? I heard you got married into the Grey family." Dylan commented.
"I did yea. Everything's going great." I smiled at the thought of Alex.
"Really?" Dylan asked as if he was surprised.
In fact, both of the looks on their faces made me kind of confused.
"Yea... Is um something wrong?" I furrowed my brows.
"No um. We just saw an article saying your marriage was on the rocks, but you know how tabloids can be... they're all fabrications." Dylan chuckled.
I was not informed of this article they were talking about.
"Right." I said trying to brush off the topic.
"So let's get to work." I pulled out some paperwork and we got to discussing about the project.
My phone kept buzzing throughout the meeting which was getting kind of disrupting.
I flipped my phone over to try and look at it discreetly and saw that I had 5 missed calls from Alex, 6 from Alicia, 4 from Ashley, and 2 from Trisha.
But the text from my PR manager was the most alarming: Call me back right now.
If there's anything I've learned from being in this world, it's if your PR manager has something urgent to say, then there's a massive problem.
"I'm so sorry. I really need to take this phone call. It's urgent."
"No worries! We need to take a break anyways." Francesca said.
I thanked them and hurried into my office.
"Linda wants you to call her asap." Janice said when she saw me.
"I know. I'm calling her right now."
On the 2nd ring, Janice picked up immediately.
"What's going on?" I asked confused. "I have missed calls from almost everybody."
"I'm guessing you haven't seen the latest news yet?" I could hear the panick in her voice.
"No..."
"It's bad. We're going to have to do a lot of damage control with this one. I'm calling a meeting with everyone soon."
"What slow down. What in the world are you talking about." I asked even more confused and scared right now.
"Check your email."
I turned on my computer and found the email that Linda just sent me and when I clicked on the link, I felt my whole world just stop.
The first thing I saw on that article was a picture of Alex and a familiar looking girl walking out of a club together.
"What is this." I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes.
"Did you read it yet?"
I didn't respond to her. I scrolled down to see what the article was saying.
25 year old Alexander Grey was spotted leaving a club in New York City with 21 year old actress. Insiders commented that the two looked really cozy and intimate with one another. Another commented that the two were inseparable the whole time. The 25 year old billionaire arrived at the club with some friends, but left with the young actress hours after his friends had already left.
"This had to be a lie. I'm sure this is just one big misunderstanding."
"Are you sure? So this is just an old picture right?" Linda sounded relief.
"No... He's been in New York for a business trip..."
"He what!" Linda exclaimed. "My goodness. It's like he really wants to destroy this marriage." She sighed.
Destroy this marriage? My stomach churned at the thought that he was with another woman who wasn't me. Just when I thought things were going good for us again. What the hell was he thinking. Was everything we've had this past few months just a lie?
"Linda, I'm gonna have to call you back."
"Sweetie are you okay?" She asked, concern lacing her voice.
"Yea." My voice cracked.
I hung up the phone and put my head down on desk. How many times was I going to let my heart get played? How many times was I going to let myself get hurt?
Now is not the time to be all depressed. I put on a brave face and walked back into the conference room to finish the meeting. I'd deal with my own problems later.
Another hour passed and the meeting was over. In the beginning I wasn't able to concentrate at all. My mind kept going back to Alex and the picture of the girl kept popping into my head.
I didn't want to talk to him right now. I don't know what I would say to him or what I would do so I just let all his calls go straight to voicemail. He would be home in a few days anyways.
My next meeting was across town at my lawyers office.
As I was getting out of my car, reporters appeared out of nowhere, snapping their cameras at me.
"Charlotte! What was your reaction when you found out your husband was cheating on you?"
"Charlotte Charlotte can we get a smile?"
"Will you guys be getting a divorce?"
More questions along those lines were yelled at me as they continued to snap my pictures. I kept my head down and tried to block them out. My anxiety kicked in, but they were 10 times worse as I was all by myself now.
Luckily, the security guard of the firm came out and helped me get in safely.
"Lottie." My lawyer, Spencer wrapped me up in a hug when he saw me.
"Hey." I sighed as I sat in one of the chairs.
"Next time, guess we're gonna have to be filing divorce papers instead of talking business huh?" He joked, but I didn't find it funny.
"Too soon." I forced a laugh, hoping to make him not feel awkward and I guess it work.
We went over some contracts that I had drawn up for future business deals. Blah blah blah. I was trying to just get this over with. My head was starting to hurt.
You know that feeling you get when you know everyone's watching you and talking about you? Yea well that's me right now as I'm walking out of this office. The whispers and the stares just felt more and more loud as I made my way towards the exit. It wasn't until I was finally out of the building that I felt like I could breathe again.
The paparazzis were still roaming around. They wanted a story and intel on the failing marriage of a billionaire couple was going to bring in a big paycheck. Disgusting.
"No comment." I said through gritted teeth's at a reporter who was all in my face. "Have some decency."
I got into my car and slammed the door shut out of anger. I pulled out of the parking lot and continued on with my other meetings for the day.
It wasn't until 8 PM when I got home. It was a long day and I was exhausted. I was doing what I did best, which was burying myself in extensive amounts of work to forget about whatever it was I was avoiding. Right now all I wanted was my bed.
I went upstairs and stopped in front of the door that led to Alex's room. The room that we've been sharing together. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in there tonight.
Instead, I went over to my old room. That felt more right. I walked in ready to collapse on my bed, but what was waiting for me in there made my knees go weak.
"Alex." His name escaped from my lips.
"Lottie."
"What are you doing here." He wasn't supposed to be home for a few more days.
"We need to talk. You haven't answered any of my phone calls." He tried to grab my hand, but I yanked it away.
"You should have just stayed there." I crossed my arms.
"It's not what it looks like. I swear." He stood up and tried to take a step closer to me, but I took a step back.
"Then please tell me because I don't understand why. I thought- I thought we were doing good. Was I wrong for thinking that we were going to give this a chance? I really lov-" I stopped myself before I could say it, but it was too late. He had already knew what I was going to say.
"Charlotte. Nothing happened between me and her. Her name is Nadine and she is just a friend. I promise to you."
"You guys didn't look like friends. Sure didn't act like friends either."
"You have to trust me baby."
"Don't call me that." I snapped.
"Lottie. Please. You know how the media is." He begged.
"Yes. And I also know you, so don't ask me why I don't believe you when you've brought around hundreds of girls through this house before."
He looked like he had been just slapped across the face.
"I love you."
I snapped my eyes up to him. He had actually said it.
"Don't do that." My voice was barely above a whisper.
He took a step closer to me. "I love you." He said again.
"Stop saying it." A tear slipped down my face.
I couldn't handle it. Why did he keep saying it if he didn't mean it.
"Charlotte." He put his arms around my waist and pulled my closer to him despite me struggling to fight back. "I love you." He pulled me into a complete hug and I let him. I rested my face against his shoulder and began to sob uncontrollably.
I don't understand how Alex could make me feel all these emotions all at one time. Sadness, hurt, anger, and also dare I say love.
"I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever." Alex whispered into my ear as he stroked my hair.
"But you did." I said back.
He pulled away from me and sat me down.
"Let me explain." He said.
Before I could say anything he continued on. "She's just a friend. Not even a friend really. I only met her that day. People said we were getting intimate which is completely false. Everything was one sided. She was the one making moves on me despite me telling her that I was already married."
"And then?" I urged him on.
"She was completely drunk. Like shit faced and I felt bad leaving her there alone with all her other drunk friends. None of them could take care of themesleves. My friends didn't leave early. They just walked out first to get the car. The picture of me holding her hand was just me helping her out. That's it."
I stared at him for a while, trying to process everything. I didn't know if I believed him considering his track record.
"I see them." He sighed. "Stop it."
"See what?" I cocked my head to the side.
"I see your walls coming back up. Don't do this Lottie. I know you've been hurt before, but I'm not Declan."
"It's so hard Alex. Everytime we go out you have girls drooling over you. Or when I see you being photographed with other women it's hard for me to think that it's anything, but innocent." I sighed.
"Don't you trust me?"
"You don't exactly have the best track record." I looked at him.
"That's not fair. All those times were when we weren't together yet." He defended himself and he wasn't wrong.
"Why is it whenever we're good, something makes us take a step back."
He ran his fingers through his hair frustrated. "But this isn't a step back."
"Maybe we're taking things too fast."
"No we're not. We're fine. We just have some shit we gotta figure out." Alex said. He pulled me so I was closer to him. "We are fine."
I shook my head at him. "Then why isn't this easier?" I choked.
"Who the fuck wants easy?"