BILLIONAIRE, GIVE ME BACK MY LIFE

The first thing Lena Carter felt was the silence. And not silence like she was in a library. A silent, heavy, suffocating presence where the people around her had time to size her up and reach their conclusions before she had a chance to say a word. Standing in the middle of the giant lobby of the Wolfsbane Grand Hotel, wearing her simple waitress uniform, she gripped the apron she wore and stood tall. Just a couple of hours before she was rushing around the tables, serving rich clients that never seemed to even register her presence. In front of her, the lobby patrons all stared at her, and unlike before, they weren't seeing her serving them as a waitress, but as some low life criminal. "Say something, Lena." That voice belonged to the hotel's manager, Mr. Anderson. This usually calm person was showing on his face a rare sign of disappointment. "Tell us this isn't true." Lena was looking at him in disbelief. "What isn't true?" she replied weakly. A voice behind her cackled with delight. "The fact that you stole fifty million dollars from the hotel accounts." Lena felt her heart stop, words echoed through the hotel lobby, stealing fifty million dollars with her name on the account. Looking shocked, she said, "That's impossible." The manager set a file on the table in front of her. "We found transactions not approved by the hotel that were linked to your employee account." Lena looked. Her name, her employee ID, her signature were all on the documents but she knew they were fake. "I didn't do this," she said and looked around. A group of event guests that were waiting around started to whisper. "I always thought she looked suspicious" "You can't trust poor people when money is involved." Those words cut deeper than she was prepared for. Lena had committed three years of her life to this hotel. She showed up to work an hour before everyone else. She stayed an hour late. She worked as hard as she could to not get fired. She never thought of stealing or reaping from what she didn't work for not even when she had trouble affording rent or not even on days when she had to go hungry. "I know my account was used to frame me," said Lena, fighting to keep her composure. "This is a set up against me" Mr. Anderson turned his head and shakes his head "But the evidence shows that you stole." Lena shook her head. "You know I wouldn't do this to you." Before he could respond, a different voice intruded the scene. "What if we never knew you at all?" Said the voice Lena's mind stopped. She slowly turned her body 180 degrees. Her heart split in half. Daniel Hayes stood in front of her the love of her life, her fiancee. This was the only person in her life who promised to be her partner forever. His gaze was not full of love, but distrust, suspicion , skepticism. This was someone that should have been her comfort during this trying time. "Daniel, please...," was all she could say as she was fighting back the tears that had formed in her eyes He continued to avoid her sad eyes. "Did you do this?" That question shattered her heart into pieces. "So you think I could do such a thing" she questioned He claimed with contempt, "Lena, fifty million doesn't just vanish." She couldn't stand to hear those words anymore. "How could you think this of me after everything?" "You know how I am with money," she cried. " You know me too well that I'd never do such a thing" she added "Well I thought I did, but I guess it's because the chance to steal never presented itself that's why you seem to control yourself" Daniel stated Oh this was enough she thought, tears were burning through her eyes and she couldn't bring herself to cry profusely in the presence of those that already called her guilty. "Fine" she exclaimed "I'll prove myself innocent" she said confidently Three hours later at Lena's small apartment, she sat down curled up on her bed wondering what her fate would be from now on. The news had spread wide, the headlines were everywhere A WAITRESS STEALS MILLIONS FROM ELITE HOTEL , her pictures were displayed all over from TV stations to social media blogs. Her phone rang non-stop , calls and notifications from unknown numbers, reporters, investigators and so on. Just then a message came from Daniel "we need to talk" for some reason she hoped he'd apologize thinking he might be wrong for all he said and try to understand her but when she met with him at the cafe closer to her apartment, a part of her caught on immediately that he wasn't there to support or comfort her. "I think we should end this, it's not possible for us to keep going" he stated, Lena was stunned but kept her cool "Is it because of the accusation" she asked quietly "Of course, I can't continue to be with someone who is involved in a criminal case" he said with a face of displeasure "Someone'' she had now become "someone" not the woman he loved any longer , this made her heartbroken "You don't even know if I'm guilty of the charges pressed against me" she asked visibly shaken "Well I don't need to know, all that matters is I have to protect my future and includes staying away from you" he explained "Your future?"she nodded slowly "Of course" said the man who had promised her all but was walking away at the critical period in her life that she needed him most. "Goodbye Daniel" she stood up and left before he could say anything further. Then she made a decision, since the world saw her as a criminal she'll disappear until she finds the truth behind everything. Two days later she had her number changed and booked an small room in a motel in town, she avoided cameras, people and gatherings but what she was unaware about was that someone was watching her, the only person who knew she was innocent. Meanwhile across the city inside one of the tallest buildings in the capital was a man staring at the report placed on his desk, his name was Adrian Wolfe, he was twenty nine years old and was among the youngest billionaires in the country. He read the report and maintained a cold expression, "interesting" he muttered "Sir are you interested in following up the hotel case" his assistant Marcus asked "No I'm not interested" he closed the file and looked up at the beauty of the city lights "I'm interested in the person that thinks they can easily manipulate my family's business and go scot free" he said Marcus hesitated before asking "And the accused lady?" Adrian look at Lena's picture that was attached to the case file and something struck him about the innocent look in her eyes "find out everything about her" "Everything"Marcus asked to be sure "Yes everything" he said and a smile curled on his lips because in Adrian's world no secret could be kept buried forever. Lena Carter's life was about to get intertwined with his in a way that neither of them could imagine.