THE BILLIONAIRE'S DARK CLAIM

CHAPTER 1

The morning sun was really harsh on the city. It was also really harsh on me. The morning sun rose up in the sky. It was trying to show me something. The morning sun was shinning on all the cars and the shiny windows in New York. I was just standing there in my shoes and I was holding my bag really tight , like the morning sun was trying to take it away , from me.

I was already late.

My father stood in the doorway. Called out to me "Eleanor!" He sounded really tired. I could still hear that hope in his voice that he always tries to keep hidden. "Be careful today Eleanor do not get caught by the inspector " he said to me the inspector being someone we really do not want to deal with so my father reminded me again "Eleanor just make sure you stay away, from the inspector today."

I said I would not. I made myself smile but it was not a real smile. The smile did not get to my eyes. I did not tell him that the inspector was not the thing I was afraid of. I was also afraid of losing my job. If I lost my job we would lose the bit of stability that we had. Stability is something that's very hard to get in our world. It is something that we want much. The job meant stability for us. Losing the job meant losing that stability.

I kissed his forehead. Then I stepped into the street. The street was where I was going so I took a breath and I started walking. I had kissed his forehead. Now I was walking down the street.

The air was really cold. The wind felt like it was slapping me in the face. I just kept on walking because I did not have any choice. The city was very loud. It was busy with people everywhere but I was okay with that because I was used to nobody noticing me. People walked past me like I was just a part of the city . A woman wearing a coat walked by me really fast without even looking at me. A man standing on the sidewalk was laughing really loudly on his phone. He didn’t even know that the small girl,the city girl was standing just a few steps away, from him trying to hold her life together.

I did not have time to think about any of that. I had work that I needed to do. The work was my priority, at that moment so I had to focus on the work and get it done.

Mr. Delgados office building was not far away but every time I walked there it felt like it took forever. I looked down at the ground. Did not think about much of anything. My mother always said that the world is a place for people who do not talk very much. Maybe my mother was right, about the world. Being silent. I thought about what my mother said a lot when I was walking to Mr. Delgados office building.

I walked up to the building. Pushed through the glass doors. The lobby had a smell of perfume and fancy polish. This smell was the kind that told you the people who lived in the building had a lot of money. The building was one of those places where money was everywhere. You could tell that the people who lived in the building had money because of the smell of perfume and fancy polish, in the lobby of the building.

Mr. Delgado was already at the place standing next to the reception desk. He looked really confident. His hair was combed nicely his suit was very nice. His face was serious. Mr. Delgado looked like the kind of man who never gets worried, about Mr. Delgados problems.

When he saw me, his face. Became gentle. His expression was no longer tough and I could see the kindness, in his face it was like his whole face softened when he looked at me.

The man said morning to Eleanor.

I said morning to the man and I bowed a little bit.

He did not speak to me like I was the cleaner. He spoke to me like I was someone that the cleaner was important, to him. The cleaner was someone he treated with respect.

That was really weird because I did not usually get respect from people. Respect is something that I ever received. It was just not something that people gave to me. That is why it was strange. Respect was a thing, for me.

He told us to make sure the conference room is clean before the meeting. The conference room has to be clean. We need to check the windows in the conference room. He does not want to see any fingerprints, on the windows of the conference room.

I said yes to him. I was already, on my way.

I was quick. I was efficient. I was always careful.

The truth was, I put in a lot of effort. I did this because I really cared about my father. I did not do it because I enjoyed working I did it for my father. I loved my father more than anything. That is why I worked harder than most people I knew like my friends and other people in my life. My father was very important, to me. That is why I worked so hard.