Engulfed with the billionaire brothers

Chapter 4

New York cabbies were said to be the most experienced people in New York, having seen the good, the bad, the ugly and extreme worst.

Having made it out of Zach's loft without having a break down, she thought of herself as quite strong and capable.

However, after flagging down a cab and settling down , she found herself bursting into tears.

She had seen it coming she just didn't know how soul wrenching her tears were going to be.

As she cried, not the least bit silent, she was aware of the driver's multiple glances at the rear view mirror to see what the cause of distress was.

It was a sad sight to see. A pretty young woman dressed in fashionable clothes bawling her eyes out and not even in a graceful manner. Sad didn't even cover it.

As she cried, she thought of the first time she'd seen Zach. She'd thought of how amazing and intense his grey eyes were. A mix of storm clouds and dead calm. Very refreshing and unusual.

He'd been dressed in an breathtaking tux and had spoken to her like she was the most amazing creature alive and had kissed her like he would never let her go. He hadn't even run after her when she'd left. Pathetic, really.

With a hint of sympathy, the cabbie fished out a face wipe and silently handed it over to the now hunched form in his back seat, folding herself into a tight ball and still crying with snot trailing down her nose like a child.

Annie paid him no mind.

Her mind was in a different place, asking herself where she'd gone wrong, what she hadn't done right that Zach had felt the need to cheat on her. She didn't understand.

Dimly aware of her surroundings, she threw some crumpled bills at the driver and stumbled out of the car, heading straight for the elevator of her apartment the cab had stopped in front of.

She didn't care if the money wasn't enough or too much, she couldn't deal with the sympathy or pity she'd seen in his eyes. If there was anything she hated, it was pity.

With snot trailing down her nose and tears complementing the heartbroken look, Annie found herself in the elevator of her apartment, leaning against the walls and taking deep shaky breaths.

She couldn't believe she was crying but the shocking fact was that she couldn't stop and this made her cry even harder.

As she locked the door of her apartment, she dropped her handbag first and then headed to the one place that offered comfort. Her bed.

****

Lots of snot, a truck load of tears and self misery later, Annie's phone buzzed in its desolate position in her handbag. She heard the buzz but didn't even raise her head to look. Not that she cared. Whoever was texting could wait.

It buzzed again and Annie registered that her phone was actually ringing.

She still didn't care and didn't even as much as blink when the buzzing stopped.

She was not moving, just slowly blinking at her blank plum coloured walls as her tears dried on her face and her sniffles died down.

The tears were gone but the ache in her heart was still there and she had no idea if it would ever go away. The pain seemed permanent in nature, the ache would forever leave a scar.

She hugged the pillow tighter, unable to move even if she wanted to.

Today was Valentine's day and she'd just received her Valentine's gift. A broken heart and a lot of used tissues, that was the present.

She felt resentment coursing through her veins. How dare Zach do that to her despite what she'd done for him? He hadn't even explained, calling everything a mistake. Life didn't work that way.

All she'd ever done was to love him and devote time to him but yet, it seemed that Zach found comfort in the arms of other women than hers. It hurt, no doubt.

Hours may have ticked by in her haze of self misery and helplessness.

She was never going to be enough for anyone. She was never going to be good enough for her father or Zach or anybody. Her father was always pushing her further, merciless in his words and sharp tongue. She wasn't sure the man had ever told her 'well done' for all her efforts.

Zach in all his 'you're perfect' clearly thought otherwise, if not he wouldn't have cheated. It seemed like life was always throwing lemons at her and then not giving her hands to catch them.

A knock on her door startled her, rudely jolting her from her thoughts.

Scrambling up the bed, her heart pounded as she briefly wondered if Zack had come back, maybe to beg or moan for hours about how sorry he was. Strangely, she felt hopeful about this thought.

"Miss McHenry," came the almost mechanical voice of her father's secretary, Roselyn, a woman in her early forties who's devotedly worked for her father for years.

She was a slim, black haired, dark blue eyes woman who's signature was her tight expression. Annie was sure the woman had never laughed a day in all her fifteen years of service.

All air left Annie as she slumped back on her bed, all feeling of hope deflated.

"Miss McHenry, are you in there?" Came the almost concerned question. Annie didn't know whether to answer or pretend she wasn't home. The latter was looking nice. Maybe the news would say she got over the heartbreak and took a vacation to the Caribbean. That would sound better than them knowing she stayed home and cried non stop. Now that was pathetic.

"Miss McHenry?"

"I'm home, Roselyn. What do you want?" Came Annie's toneless reply. Try as she could for a more enthusiastic response, it just didn't matter. Not that she cared anyways what Roselyn thought.

"Oh, alright. Your father sent me to you," at the mention of her father's name, Annie's face scrunched up like a dried up date. What the hell did her father want now? She knew he wasn't going to comfort her or pet her so what the hell did he want?

"Why?" Annie couldn't help but ask or keep the irritation out of her voice.

"He wants to see you. He said he wants to see you in the next thirty minutes, miss McHenry. Normal place, he said " the secretary practically quoted.

The old fart is just as demanding as he was ten years ago, Annie thought bitterly as she got out of bed lethargically. No amount of begging would send Roselyn away and nothing she could do would postpone what ever her father wanted to see her for.

Sometimes she just hated the man.

Without bothering to put on makeup, Annie donned on some sweat pants and wore the biggest hoodie she had in her closet that she didn't even know existed.

It was cliche, stupid even but she wanted to wear none of the clothes that Zach had bought for her. And that was a lot. Zach was a billionaire so what did she expect? The guy practically bought her full wardrobe and wearing anything of his would not help her emotional state.

When she opened the door and almost smacked Roselyn in the face, the look of absolute repressed horror on the secretary's face said a lot.

One she looked like hell and two, she was a changed person but she would be damned if she actually cared.

Ignoring the silent judgemental stare of the secretary who'd never paid her any mind till now, Annie managed to whip out her phone and was not surprised to see that she'd been in her room for three days.

72 hours of misery and endless tears. She hadn't even eaten nor realized that the time she'd classified as minutes was actually three days.

Sighing to herself, she pocketed the device, careful to not open i********: or even glance through her notification bar. She knew it would be blowing up with messages and she wasn't going to answer any, so why check?

Besides, 72 hours was enough for the press to know of the break up and carry it round the full New York and beyond. Of course, they would dig the story. It was a major headline.

Realizing this, Annie paused in her steps and faced Roselyn.

"Are there reporters...."

Understanding and saving her the embarrassment of actually asking, the secretary shook her head.

"All taken care of," the woman reassured.

Annie let out a breath of relief. She wasn't sure she had the composure to stand in front of the most press and their stupid cameras and answer questions.

The next words stole her breath from her lungs and made her grind her teeth.

"It was taken care of by Mr Ralstone," the secretary supplied the information casually, completely unaware of the resentment she'd stirred up within Annie.