Chapter Three

Anne felt all kinds of emotions at once. She was standing face to face with the man who'd single handedly ruined her life in one day and had never turned back. He had left her pregnant, humiliated, alone, while he enjoyed his perfect life.

She'd had to quit school indefinitely in order to take care of the kids, his kids. He hadn't shown interest even after she'd sent him dozens of messages, emails and calls he never responded to. She'd received nothing following her parent's death, only news that all her father's property had been willed to some mystery brother she hadn't known she had. Her mother had been too depressed to even notice or complain.

Now she was standing face to face with the man she hated most in the world but she didn't know what to do, how to translate her feelings into words.

She thought of him everyday. The hurtful things she'd say to him whenever she'd meet him, how terrible she'd make him feel just like he'd done to her. She'd always imagined she'd be extremely wealthier than him and would flaunt her money and her kids before him, leaving him dumbfounded and begging.

But right then, she was the one who was dumbfounded. He was calm, with crossed arms, cool as ever. He was the one living in a mansion, the CEO of the same company he'd used to taunt her years ago.

There was no money to flaunt at him. Even if by some stroke of luck he'd imagined she was wealthy, the way she'd been quick to change her mind immediately he proposed sending a tip was a dead giveaway.

She stood there tongue-tied, feeling like the world had been unfair to her. She'd suffered for years and was still suffering, while he'd directly and indirectly inflicted unimaginable pain on her but was living comfortably and well within his means.

There was nothing she could do anyway. People like him didn't learn their lesson and apologize, that only happened in the movies. They inflicted more pain and never had to face the consequences because of all the money and power they had. The more she stood there, the more leverage he got over her.

He didn't look the least bit perturbed. He sat comfortably, looking even more handsome than he'd been five years ago, staring at her like she was a lunatic. She couldn't believe she was still attracted to him.

He wasn't worth her time, she told herself. She thought of the one thousand dollars. She began to leave before she humiliated herself any further. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

Suddenly, she felt his hand on hers, holding her tight so she was unable to move to the door. Her breath hitched in her throat as she stared up at him. He looked tired, but god was she still moved by him. His sandy blond hair glistened in the light and his blue eyes stared right back at her with an emotion she couldn't read.

Her attraction quickly turned into fear as she really weighed her options. He was way taller and with his perfect body which he obviously worked out at the gym, he was bigger than her. Anything could happen.

"I…I thought you said you couldn't walk." She stuttered.

"Come, sit down." He said, leading her to the couch and leaving no room for refusal.

His voice was calm and soothing, so uncharacteristic for the oppressor she'd painted in her mind.

He stared at her for a moment longer than necessary, before swiftly moving into the house, leaving her scared but frozen on the couch.

***

His outwardly calm demeanor was the absolute contrast to the storm he felt inside. Anne had awakened something in him which he couldn't explain, but liked.

She'd looked furious and ready to attack him when she first came in, but he hadn't expected her to suddenly look…terrified of him?

He didn't believe she had any reason to be scared of him. Angry, yes but her fear didn't make any sense.

He'd messed up big time in the past. When he'd been a coward being tossed around by his father. He'd sheepishly followed the will of his father, sending her away just after she'd fully given herself to him. He'd gone further to purge her from his life like the trash his father had said she was, blocking her everywhere. His sisters had not been any different. They'd told him stories of how loose she was, sleeping with the entire football team and he'd wondered why they'd lied. He'd literally been the one to break her virginity.

Right now, he wanted to make it up to her. He didn't know why he even cared. He'd done worse things to people before and after her. He had no respect whatsoever for women as they were only ever after one thing-money, without having to actually work for it. Even his sisters who were born into money never wanted to do anything. They were living off their trust funds until they both got married to wealthy men.

But something about her softened him. She'd gone on to open up her own bakery apparently, something he knew she was truly so good at. He'd seen her low ratings online with confusion. She probably didn't have the proper funding. Maybe if he helped her revolutionize it, the guilt he felt would dissolve.

He went into his room and drew up a cheque of twenty million dollars. He wasn't afraid she would leave. Something told her she'd still be there when he came out.

He was right. He watched her for a little while from an angle she couldn't see him. She looked uncomfortable, looking around at the furniture like they could attack at any moment.

Even though she'd lost much weight, she still looked just as beautiful to him. She looked like she'd been through a lot, with bags under her eyes and the hollow in her cheeks.

He remembered how much he had to pretend to ignore her each time he had been around her, until she had come over for the holidays and he just couldn't anymore.

He handed over the check he'd drawn up, standing before her. He watched her eyes double in size and her hand reach out to cover her mouth when she saw the amount of money.

She stood up and locked eyes with him as she tore the cheque into several pieces.

"I'm not for sale." She said, the anger evident in her eyes.

***

Anne chastised herself the entire way to the bakery, for rejecting the money that could have changed her and her son's lives forever. She would probably never get twenty million dollars ever again, but she knew she'd done the right thing. If Asher thought he could undo everything he'd caused her with some figures on paper, then he was completely wrong.

The interior of the bakery looked just as depressing as she felt. The tables and chairs were dusty from lack of customers and air conditioning and there was a stain on the floor that had been there for days. The kitchen was extremely dirty from her hurried baking that morning. Now she wished she'd never taken that order.

She began to clean everything, in a bid to prevent herself from thinking about her issues. She was dusting the furniture when she heard the doorbelll chime.

Looking up, she saw two young girls, probably teenagers, coming up to her. They chattered amongst each other as they came forward and she hastily finished up and ran into the kitchen to put on her apron and look presentable. She really hadn't expected anyone today.

"Hi, beautiful ladies, how can I help you?" She said from the counter, smiling as hard as she could.

The ladies didn't answer her. Whatever they were talking about was definitely more important and interesting than her. She wouldn't complain, she'd wait until they were ready. After all, they were probably her only customers. She just hoped they hadn't just come in to ask for directions or something.

"There's nothing on your rack. No display or anything. Like, how do we know what we want?" One of them said, condescendingly.

"Oh, so sorry about that. We're currently short on staff so we're just sorting everything out. But there are some blueberry cupcakes in the rack inside. I could bring those out."

"Why do you keep saying 'we'. You're the only one here." The other girl said and Anne bit her tongue to keep from saying anything.

She went in and brought out the cupcakes which she had saved luckily in a warmer. There were about a dozen, and even though she'd planned to give them to Damien and Danny, selling them off and having the money would probably be a better option.

She put out the cupcakes on the counter and the girls looked impressed.

"So how many would you like. A dozen, half a dozen?"

She hoped they didn't ask for anything more than a dozen on the spot. This was all she had.

"A dozen will do, thank you very much."

"That will be forty dollars." She said, packing them into a box.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" One of the girls said.

She stopped. "That's how I've always sold them."

"Well," the same girl continued, "with your low reviews and how pitiful this place looks, it's obvious business isn't booming. You're even lucky we stopped by in the first place. How about we cut the price in half. Let's say twenty dollars."

Anne stared at them for minutes without saying anything. She couldn't believe her ears. Was this what she'd been reduced to? They'd asked for half off. Half!

This was probably what they did. Search online for stores with the lowest ratings and bully their staff into giving them cheap stuff.

"Get the fuck out of my store." She said in a low voice.

The girls began to laugh.

"Hey ma'am, we're doing you a favour. Have you seen your ratings? This place is a pig sty. You're lucky we haven't reported you to the health inspector."

"Get out, right now!" She thundered and the girls stopped laughing. How dare they call her ma'am. She was twenty three, probably not even up to five years older than them.

"No wonder no one ever comes here. Your attitude stinks just as much as your excuse of a bakery."

As Anne watched the girls walk out, her anger slowly dissolved into shame. So this was her life now, she thought, her lips quivering.

No. She would never cry for them. The weak Anne was gone and a new resilient one had replaced her.