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 34 | true soulmate
"Where have you been? I have been waiting—" Tia halts on her words when I turn to face her after locking the front door.
Her eyes skate over my appearance — top to bottom — taking in the crazy mess I am. I can already feel her regretting lending me her favorite gown because I ended up crinkling it. Not to mention, my hair is now undone, my arms and legs ache and my face is black with mascara stains dripping down. I am staring at her, purse in one hand while the other is just limp by my side.
She is the complete opposite of me with her hair wet from her bath and dressed in a bathrobe.
"What happened?" she asks, taking a careful step towards me as if she is afraid I might explode if put under too much pressure.
Remorse frames her face, a pitiful look that I am happy to have directed at me for the first time in my life. After the encounter with Reece, I am left drained, to the mercy of my brain which is cooking up bad chemistry. If I don't have pity, I could die just with the feeling of being this alone.
"I...I am a bad person, Tia," I hiccup embarrassingly, still a little drunk and dizzy from the turn of events that led me here. "I messed up. I messed up badly."
Tia's face takes a sorrowful expression like she understands me without me even explaining what went wrong.
"Was it Ryan?" she inquires, a bitter tone seeping into her voice as her eyes narrow. "Did he do something to you? Tell me! I'll kill him if he hurt you."
She is closer now, big eyes warm upon my face. The fact that she could never assume the worst of me aches me. I am a horrible person. I should have shared the truth with her; if I had, she probably would have given me a better solution. I betrayed my friendship with her in some way too and now she is here, being concerned for me.
"No...he didn't. It was all me. Tia...I broke his heart," I confess, more tears finding their way down my cheeks.
She staggers for a second, blinking at me in bewilderment. I bow my head down, feeling small under her confused gaze. I have disappointed her. I fucking disappoint everyone who dares to love me. I guess I disappointed my biological parents too in some way and that's why they left me an orphan.
"Oh, Lizzie..." she coos after a while, stepping to engulf me in a hug so tight and sudden that it knocks the air out of my lungs.
I am motionless as she pats my back gently, squeezing me such that I can no longer feel the loneliness that had been echoing in my hollow bones.
"It's okay..." I hear her voice, faint near my ear but still there, adding to her homely embrace. "I mess up a lot too. You'll be just fine."
Fine
That word. It holds more meaning than it ever did at this moment. I reach for it like a child reaching for the stars, hope teetering on the edge of my fingers as I raise my hands behind her back, circling my arms around her petite frame to return that hug, needing it more than I need a bath and a fresh pair of clothes.
