Twenty-one and ready to take on the world, orphan Lizzie Gold didn't expect her chance encounter with a stranger to lead to a damnable task - to take down a rising business tycoon.
Ryan Pierce - her viciously handsome target and her new boss - might...
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L I Z Z I E 33 | tainted
I trudge my way down the stairs with my heels in one hand and my phone and the Plan B in the other. The stares of the three servants I pass by burn my back. The whispers of gossip are already churning inside their heads, determining where to put me in terms of their narration.
Am I a gold digger who tried to trick Ryan Pierce? Or am I just an innocent woman who fell into the trap of webs spun by two billionaire brothers?
If they ask me, I would rather claim to be the former because the latter is the truth and the truth hurts.
My tears are unending, relentless sobs escaping in hiccups since the moment I stepped out of Ryan's room. He didn't ask me to get out, not at all. All he did was turn away from me and his body language said the rest.
He hates me. I made the only man who ever wanted me hate me.
Is this how my life is supposed to be? Forever alone? I don't have a family, don't have a permanent home I could come to. My life is a mess, a shattered portrait of dreams crushed under someone's feet. I long to know what I was before all this. Or is this what I was always meant to be? Where was I when God was distributing happiness?
Dad said that God loved all his children equally. What a fucking liar he was...
I wish I were a narcissist.
I can't stop my tears, no matter how much my throat stings, and how much I try to keep a straight face. My mask is gone; without it, I am just Lizzie Gold — the girl who has nothing and no one to her name. Even my name isn't mine. My Dad tore my real name from me, replacing it with a name that he thought would suit me better. Worse of all, he didn't even tell me what that name was that he took from me.
I hate being vulnerable and more than that, I hate being vulnerable because of my own faults. I dug my own grave. Who am I to blame anyone?
A flash of black collides with me, making me tumble down the last step. I hold on to whoever is in front of me as the objects in my hands clatter to the floor. The one who holds me spins me, keeping me standing while our chests press together.
I blink profusely as I look up at my savior, a man in a three-piece suit I have already seen once tonight. The familiarity of his face brings a welcoming smile to my face even in that daze.
"Lizzie, you okay?" Ryan asks, his grip on me becoming possessive as he brushes his knuckles over my cheekbone.
His touch is feathery light as concern warms his blue eyes.
He followed me. I guess I was wrong in assuming that he wanted me to leave. Why would he follow me otherwise? Did he have a change of heart?
"Ryan..." I say his name for the umpteenth time tonight and find his facial features contort to showcase a frown.
I raise a hand to touch his cheek, the handsome face staring back at me being everything from my dreams. His lips part when my palm greets his skin, a hooded look appearing in his eyes. I lean forward just to feel his hot breath against my lips, to know whether he is real or am I dreaming.
