Chapter 8
CYRUS.
Her ex-boyfriend was the first thing she saw when she stepped out of the elevator. One look at him, and her blood went cold. She knew right away that he had been waiting for her to clock out, intending to cause trouble.
When Cyrus took a step toward her, Kyara took a step back without meaning to, and her shoulder blade hit the wall of the elevator bank behind her.
Don’t let him know you’re scared!
She forced herself to stand still even though her heart was already hammering against her chest. There was just something so worryingly off about him—
“Why are you avoiding my calls?”
“—”
“Don’t even think of lying to me.” Cyrus’s voice dropped to the low careful pitch he used when he was actually angry, the one she had only ever heard him use on waitstaff. “I’ve been calling you since yesterday. I’ve been texting you since yesterday. And not one reply. Not one.”
Kyara couldn’t understand where he was getting the audacity to act like she was the one who wronged him when, in truth, he was—
“Tell me the truth,” Cyrus snarled. “You have someone else, don’t you?”
She could only stare at him, still unable to believe how he had the gall to...to make it seem like she was the one at fault, and that—
“I knew it!”
Why was he sneering at her like that, and what was he saying he knew—
“You really think I wouldn’t know when you’re taking that long to answer?” Cyrus’s face had turned into something...small. She had never seen it turn that way before, but then...he had also never looked at her so viciously before. “You’ve been cheating on me, haven’t you?”
Had she...had she actually heard him right?
The injustice of it slammed into her all at once, all the breath gone out of her chest in one go, because he had been the one cheating on her for months, not the other way around.
Cyrus’s blood was boiling, and the longer he stared at Kyara with her still trying to play the innocent victim—the more he was convinced he had it right. There was no damn way a loser like Kyara would break up with him just like that unless...
Think, man, think!
She didn’t have a lot of friends, but if he thought about it hard enough, he should come up with a name or two. The guy had to be around her all the time. Someone who was likely working at the same company like...
The Executioner!
Cyrus’s fingers curled into fists against his sides.
She had always been such a fucking party pooper every time he’d call her old boss names.
She was never fun like the other girls, and.
..and...she was so damn stupid she didn’t even see that the old man was exactly that.
All the fucking fun and joy in a place went out of the window whenever Havington was around.
Cyrus didn’t even know why his father hadn’t fired the guy, despite all the times Cyrus had complained about him.
He had heard all about the rumors, too, of course. That his father had something on Havington, and that was why the latter’s billions couldn’t be of help to him. What would it feel like, Cyrus found himself thinking, to destroy a billionaire?
Kyara’s stomach started twisting itself in knots with all the expressions she saw flitting over Cyrus’s face. Even though he had yet to say a word, she could already tell that her ex-boyfriend was planning something bad—
“You’ll regret this, Kyara.”
And his threat simply confirmed it.
“I’ll make both of you regret it, and I’m going to enjoy every fucking second making you and Havington pay.”
Cyrus had already started walking toward the revolving door when Kyara got over her shock, and the truth of his words hit her for real.
“Cyrus, wait—”
Why...how...
“Wait!”
Kyara broke into a run, her only thought to stop Cyrus from leaving. She had to let him know that whatever it was he was thinking—he was wrong. Absolutely wrong.
“Cyrus, please stop!”
Her boss had nothing to do with their breakup—
Her throat locked in panic as Cyrus went through the revolving door, and she pushed through after him, the cold hitting her face hard. Cyrus was walking so, so fast. It was almost as if he really wanted to see how desperate she was to catch up to him—
“Cyrus, it’s not what you think, please just listen to me—”
He didn’t even look back. He got inside his car, and even though she knew he saw her reaching for the handle—
He didn’t care at all, and Kyara barely managed to stumble back a step so her hand wouldn’t get caught.
No. No. No.
All she could do was stand there on the sidewalk in the cold without her coat, watching the tail lights merge into traffic as her heart dropped to her stomach.
What...what had she done?
She just stood there for a long, long time, shock making her unaware that for some time now, she and Cyrus had their own audience.
And it was none other than Lyrius.
His limousine had just pulled out of the basement ramp when he saw her.
Kyara, looking heartbroken and desperate, as she ran after her ex-boyfriend like her life depended on it.
He saw it all happen.
The girl he loved, chasing the boy she desired.