Only After I Lost Her

Chapter 5 On Her Knees

Xavier walked off with Kelsey tucked into his embrace, leaving Nina alone in the suite.

Nina gasped for breath as the searing pain in her chest slowly hardened into something resembling a scab over a raw wound. She pressed a hand to her sternum and waited for the wave of agony to pass.

A shop assistant from the jewelry store had eyed her with concern earlier. "Need help getting home?" the woman had asked, but Nina had just waved her off weakly.

Home. That word did not exist anymore. Not for her.

She had assumed that today, being Kelsey's birthday, Xavier would be doting on his precious fiancée all day long. She had expected to have the evening to herself, to rest and gather her strength.

Yet at 10:17 PM, her phone had buzzed with his drunken slur demanding her presence. "Get here now. Six days left after today."

'He was counting down like she was serving some kind of prison sentence for him.'

Dead on her feet though she was, she had still dragged herself to his hotel suite.

The door had barely clicked shut behind her before he pinned her against it, his mouth devouring hers like a man starving for air.

No trace of last night's coldness remained in him. Instead, there was just this terrifying intensity, as if he wanted to melt her into his flesh and blood until they could not be separated.

She could not let herself drown in this, she knew. Not when his whiskey-laced breath might mean he was seeing someone else's face when he looked at her.

Her mind screamed warnings at her, but her traitorous body arched into his touch anyway, responding to him the way it always had.

"Why did you leave?" His voice cracked when he finally spoke. "I was ready to burn the entire world down for you. Why did you stomp on my heart instead?"

For a single heartbeat, she thought she must have imagined hearing those words.

Then she saw the wet gleam in his eyes, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Xavier, I."

He cut her off with a bitter laugh that held no humor at all. "Right. You already answered that question, did you not?"

"If it is not love, then what else could it possibly be?" His lips curled into something ugly. "No fancy family name, so I was not good enough for you, was I? You sold yourself for money and status, but Ansel gave you nothing in the end. Do you regret it yet?"

'Regret.'

'Maybe she should regret many things.'

'But she did not regret choosing her child. She only regretted ever loving this man who now loomed over her like a coming storm.'

Dawn found them both completely wrecked. Him from taking what he wanted from her, and her from being taken apart piece by piece.

A phone's shrill scream shattered the morning quiet.

"Sir." The voice on the other end was frantic. "Miss Carter's elevator just hit the twentieth floor. She is on her way up."

Xavier bolted upright in bed. "Maid uniform. Now."

He yanked on his pants while shaking her awake roughly, then flung the arriving uniform at her when it appeared. "Put it on."

Mechanically, she obeyed his commands, watching as he gathered her clothes and dumped them in the toilet like evidence that needed to disappear.

The doorbell chimed through the suite.

He shoved a rag into her hands and jabbed a finger at the floor. "Scrub."

Under his dagger-sharp glare, she sank to her knees on the cold marble.

When the door flew open, Nina finally understood the frantic urgency in Xavier's voice.

"Xavier, I brought you freshly baked croissants from that place you love," Kelsey chirped as she swept inside. "I had them waiting since six this morning so they would still be warm."

Crouched low and mechanically scrubbing the floor, Nina heard Xavier's overly sweet tone as he responded. "You woke at dawn just for these? Kelsey, you really should not trouble yourself like this."

Kelsey's saccharine smile widened with pleasure. "I wanted to do it for you."

Then her cheerful expression soured the instant she spotted Nina crouched there. "Why is she here in your suite?"

Xavier glanced dismissively at the kneeling figure. "Just the cleaning staff. They come through every morning."

Kelsey's eyes glittered with something unpleasant. Then, with deliberate carelessness, she tipped the cup in her hand. Her oat milk latte splashed across the tiles, forming a white puddle that soaked into her designer heels.

Xavier was at her side in an instant. "Clumsy girl. Did it burn you?"

Kelsey shook her head, her lips trembling as she stared down at her ruined shoes. "These were limited edition. I waited months for them."

She turned her gaze to Nina with a sweet smile that held nothing but cruelty underneath. "Since you are already down there on your knees, you can clean my shoes for me."

Nina's hands turned to ice against the rag she held. Before she could find words to refuse.

"What are you gaping at?" Xavier barked at her. "Did you not hear what she asked?"

His final words dripped with venom as he stared down at her. "Know your place. You are just the help here."