As Alice walked down the vast hall of the Thompson &Co empire with her heels clicking against the polished floor, she felt the motion of her heart beat reduce till it came to a still. Her chest felt so tight. Everything still didn't seem real to her.
She had just dropped a bomb on him. The truth about her baby. The truth that he was about to become a dad, but his reaction was far from what she expected. Confusion, guilt, and maybe even a flicker of longing. But above all, there was fear. Fear of what would happen to their lives if they decided to give into the longing they felt for each other.
But still, there she was moving away from everything like nothing mattered anymore.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, she took it out from her purse and answered.
"Alice, it's Finn." His voice was calm but firm, like it always was. "David wants you to come over."
Her breath stopped for a while and for a moment she considered cussing out to Finn and hanging up . Which would mean, Walking away for good, letting him marry Daisy and live his perfect billionaire life. And then she'll try to work out something with her own life. Maybe she could go back to school, maybe... but the thought of that child, their child, growing up without a father tore at her.
"Tell him I don't want to see him, Finn," Alice said, her voice trembling but steady. "We don't need him in our lives. I'll figure this out."
There was a pause for a while . "I think you need to hear him out, Alice," Finn's voice softened, "more than you think you need to."
She hung up without saying anything . She stood there in the elevator, her thumb moving around the exit button confused. Her body screamed for her to turn around, to face him — to let herself have what she had always wanted. But that's not who she was. She was strong. She could do this on her own.
The elevator had reached the top floor and with no second thoughts, she stepped out, walking down the hallway towards the penthouse. It was like her soul didn't want it but her body blatantly betrayed her and kept on going.
The door opened up before she could even knock.
David stood there, his broad frame leaning by the door, his sharp eyes looking at her from head to toe as if she were the only thing in the world.
"Step aside," she said, the bitterness in her voice relaying how annoyed she was at being there at that moment.
David didn't step aside, didn't move at all. "I don't think you want to walk away, Alice," he said, his voice rough, almost pleading. He leaned in just slightly, just as much as she could get his strong yet mesmerizing cologne and just as much as he could admire her gaze . "And I can't do it anymore. I can't act like I don't want you. You don't understand how much you really mean to me."
Her breath hitched, her resolve crumbling with each passing second.
"Alice, I've been thinking about you since we met. You're all I need .I can't get rid of the look you had in yours when you yearn for me. I can't pretend you're just some... mistake."
She could feel the intense stare in his gaze, she could feel her heart betray her with its very loud heartbeats.
"You think you're the only person who has something to protect or to lose because of this baby?" she asked , letting the tear that had been hanging in her eye for a while now escape and roll down her cheek. "I'm not some girl you'd use to escape reality. I'm not one of your–"
But before she could finish, he let out his hand from his pocket and raised it to her face to wipe the tear that had rolled down. They felt the air between them hit up and thicken up , charged with every feeling they hadn't been able to say aloud until now.
"You don't have to run," he whispered, his lips so close to hers that she could feel the warmth of his breath. "You think I'm scared of the responsibility ? No. I'm scared of losing you."
Her body was betraying her, feeling comfortable in his arms despite everything that was going through her head . This was David Thompson, the man who had everything and nothing all at once. The man who could ruin her — and yet, all she wanted was to let him.
"I hate you— I really do….," she breathed out, her voice barely a whisper, her body fighting to stay calm and not let out the signals to crave for him.
David went closer to her with his lips, slightly brushing them against hers, a brush of a kiss that left her wanting more. "No, you don't. You don't hate me, Alice. And you never did."
Before she could say anything to him, he pulled her closer to him. His lips captured hers in a kiss that was all fire and fury. His hands were on her waist, pulling her close, the heat between them could ignite a storm. She could taste the desperation in his kiss, the raw need he was trying to hold back.
But Alice couldn't hold back either. She kissed him back with a yearn she didn't know was in her up till that time . It was like all the walls she had built up, all the years of playing by the rules, came crashing down at that moment. She needed him. Just as much as he needed her.
His hands moved, unbuttoning her blouse with each button he touched, it made her crave for him more and more. When she pulled away for air, he looked down at her, his eyes dark with desire. "You don't have to hide it anymore Alice, I can feel you want me . Your body is giving out every signal."
But before she could respond, before she could let her words spill out, there was a loud crash from the other room. A loud voice yelled David's name, and the sound of glass breaking echoed down the hallway.
David's face twisted in confusion, and his eyes moved towards the direction of the noise . "What the hell was that?"
Alice froze. Her heart thudded in her chest, her stomach twisting into knots.
"Stay here," David said, urgency in his voice. He moved toward the door, but then paused for a while and then turned back to look at her again. "Don't move."
But Alice wasn't sure if she could trust her own instincts anymore. Was someone coming to take him away from her — again?
Before she could think of what she could do , the door to the penthouse swung open with force, and standing there in the doorway was none other than Daisy.
With a frail smile put across her face, Daisy stepped into the room, her eyes immediately landing on Alice, giving her a look of disgust.
"Well, well, well. Another whore is it?" Daisy purred. "These girls never get
tired of being caught by me."