Chapter Five

Xena Remington

When I walked out of Axel Lancaster’s office yesterday, I realized how safe and respected I feel around him.

But at the same time, a terrible realisation is hitting me that I have been putting on the back burner for the longest time. I don't think I am capable of anything. I don’t think I am very intelligent either. I used to be very different before I met Jerold.

Years of brushing my opinion off, laughing every time I make a mistake, and calling me stupid every time I didn’t understand something. It was never this obvious before. I don’t even remember when it all began. He has slowly but surely broken my self-esteem and left me feeling like an incompetent piece of shit.

Last night was the first time, I directly went to sleep before Jerold could start an argument with me about how I made him feel disrespected during the meeting.

I hear footsteps approaching the small dining table where I was eating my breakfast and drinking some coffee, “This isn’t what I eat on Tuesdays.” I hear Jerold’s voice booming voice making me look up.

“We were out of eggs so I made you a sandwich,” I say as I go back to eating my own sandwich.

“You had one job.” I hear him mutter angrily under his breath, which makes my blood boil.

“You can start making your own breakfast if it’s such a huge deal for you, maybe for starters you can even try buying the eggs or something in the house with your own money. Also, I had ‘one job’? The nerve you have of saying something like that to me when you haven’t made a single contribution ever in this house.”

“Xena I swear to god-“ he starts angrily but I cut him off.

“I am leaving. I have to meet Axel Lancaster first thing this morning.”

“W-what why? Again? What’s going on?” I look at him and his anger was now replaced with nervousness.

“I don’t know. He asked me to visit his office.” I shrug it off as I pack my necessary files.

“Xena, he is bad news.”

“I am aware. But I still have to go. I can’t say no to him.”

“What does he want from you?” Jerold says, almost to himself.

“Maybe he has a thing for me.” I joke to lighten the mood.

“No, he likes beautiful women. Models. You saw Natalie Scott. How beautiful is she? He wouldn’t glance at a woman like you once.” Jerold says without missing a beat, making my face fall.

I never thought I had a chance with Axel Lancaster but hearing my boyfriend talk about me like that stings.

“He actually does like me but I shot him down because I am in a committed relationship.” Lies spurt out of my mouth as I let my anger get the best of me.

“Really?” he says as he laughs, “Please don’t hold back on my account. Now, I want to see it happen.” He says, making me roll my eyes.

I could smack him across his pouty potato face right now.

“I am not going to cheat.”

“Aww, sweetheart. That’s adorable. But Axel won’t spare you a glance even if you gave him a million dollars to do so.”

Ouch.

“Trust me. I have seen all the women that he has dated till now. It will cause your mouth to fall open and hit the ground. Come on now. We are getting late. But seriously, I actually would love to see Axel Lancaster ‘hitting on you’. I think that can only happen if all the hot women in the world die.”

……............

As soon as I reach the office, I remember we have our company’s annual party today and I am going to spend the rest of the getting things ready for the same.

This party is the only time all the employees get a glimpse of the Lancaster brothers.

I never ever got to see Axel as I was always busy, running some errand during the party while he would literally be there for just fifteen minutes for press pictures and leave immediately.

Today, I had to just call the luxury hotel to confirm everything is perfect for the party tonight, check if the accountants have cleared the payments and-

“Hello XENA!” I look up to see Zara standing there with two coffees in her hand, “I thought you’d need this considering you have a lot of work to do today.”

“I love you so much,” I exclaim as I take the coffee from her hand and take a sip.

This is heaven.

“So what’s up?” Zara says as she leans on my desk and starts going through the papers on my desk. It's her habit and I didn’t really mind.

I looked at her for a second, contemplating if I should tell her everything concerning Axel's offer but decide against it. I don’t have the time to get into all that right now so I settled with just telling her about the argument I had with Jerold this morning.

“OMG. I never thought this day would come. You stood up for yourself. I can’t begin to explain how proud I am. At this pace, you’ll end up breaking- wait a minute…” She said and I knew she had caught on to something. Zara is very smart but some would argue that she just thinks too much, so she is bound to be right at some point.

“Why did you speak up today out of all days? Why does Axel want to meet you today? Why did you guys argue about Axel so much? I know for a fact something happened. I need to know.” She insisted, making me smile a little.

“I will tell you later. But I have this huge party I need to take care of tonight” I say as I flip through the numbers I have to call.

“Omg! Dude Listen. How about you dress up sexy today and flirt a little with Axel Lancaster? That will put Jerold in his place.”

“Zara, it’s nice to see that you think I can get Axel Lancaster’s attention but I can’t. Jerold is right but he shouldn’t have said that to my face. He is my boyfriend, he is supposed to be-”

“No, he is wrong and you are an idiot. You can get Axel Lancaster if you want to. He will look at you, trust me. Wear that white little dress we bought. It’s so cute and it gives you the perfect amount of cleavage.” She says, making me giggle.

“Fine. Maybe I’ll dress up a little this time.”

God, she is truly my enabler.

“Yayyyyy.” Zara cheers making me smile. She always brightens up my day.

“Uh-oh, Xena, I don’t want you to freak out.” She says as she picks up the list of people I have to call, “Why isn’t Axel Lancaster ticked off here? It was due a month ago.”

OH NO OH NO OH NO

“Xena, calm down.” She says as she looks at my horrified face.

“I had to send his assistant an invitation a month ago. He won’t come now and I can’t have this party without him. Zara, kill me now. Right now! Do it! Wait, let me g****e painless ways to die.”

“How did you forget?”

“The interns were supposed to send out the invitation and I asked them to not send one to Axel because I didn’t want them to make any mistakes so I thought I’ll do it and then I completely forgot.”

“It’s alright, just go to him and talk to him directly.”

“Are you completely out of your mind?”

“No. Shut up and go. There is no other option.” She says as she comes towards me and opens my hair, “You can’t cancel, it will cost the company so much. You know the amount of paparazzi that shows up at this party just to get a glance of Axel.” She tells me making me nod my head, as she continues fixing my hair.

“Hey, come on.” I protest as she tries to pull my shirt down a little.

“You have to make him want to come. I read it in this month’s cosmopolitan, it was right under the article about 7 ways to get rid of strawberry legs. Now go.” She orders making me groan as I stand up and walk out of my office towards the devil.

27th floor

“Hi, I have an appointment with Mr Lancaster.” I lie through my teeth, hoping I can just meet him without a hiccup. I have too much work on my plate today to waste my time anywhere.

“He has no appointments today.” Mrs Peters brushes me off without even looking up at me.

“No, he does. Please ask him. I am Xena Remington.” I urge her as I cross my fingers. She was the typical old lady, who takes crap from no one. I aspire to become like her one day. She looks at my desperate face for a second before picking up the receiver to make a call.

“Okay, you can go in,” she says bringing me out of a trance.

YESSSS!! Thank you, God!!!

I knock on the door before walking in to see Axel sitting at his desk, typing away on his laptop. I think I stood there for two minutes before realising that he doesn’t know that I am here and probably didn’t hear my knock.

So I just walk in and sit on the chair in front of him, making him finally look up.

I bite my lip a little out of nervousness, knowing that I am very attracted to this man, sitting in front of me and being his personal advisor is the worst idea in the world.

“I didn’t think you’d make your decision so quickly.”

“I need a favour.", We say at the same time which amused him and surprised me.

“I don’t give out favours and didn’t your mom tell you anything about taking favours from the mob?” he asks making me gulp.

“Please don’t get angry. Do you remember the annual company party you attend every year? Again, please don’t get angry, the one where the paparazzi come just to take your pictures because you are known to not make a lot of public appearances.”

“Yes.”

“I forgot to invite you. Please, don’t be angry. It’s today. Please, please come. I will get into a lot of trouble if you don’t. The party is held for you and it would be crazy if you don’t show up.” I breathe out, still panicking, hating how there were literally no expressions on his strikingly handsome face.

“So the party is held for ME?”

“Yes.”

“And you forgot to invite ME?”

“That is correct,” I say as I hold my hands close to my chest and I see his gaze snap down to my chest for a second before looking up at me intensely. For some reason, I squeeze my thighs together as I feel some pressure building up in my core.

What’s happening?

“This is very unprofessional Xena. But I will do you this favour.”

“Oh god! Thank you so much.” I say gratefully as I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly get up and walk out of his office before he changes his mind.

“But you owe me. Remember that.” I freeze near the door as I hear his words