Burned By Love, Back For Revenge

Chapter 4

“Ava, are you okay?” Summer said, bringing me back to the present. The few eyes that were on me had turned away, save for Isaac’s which were flashing with concern. I sighed, bending down with Summer to pick up my phone and the bottled water.

“Yeah, I am,” I said reassuringly. “I just lost my grip on the tray for a bit.”

Summer laughed lowly, though she didn’t seem convinced by my lie. Her eyes then went up to the screen ahead, and this time, Jason’s annoying face was no longer on there, but that of a newscaster who was announcing stocks and their prices.

I wasn’t sure that she had seen Jason, but even if she had, she wouldn’t be able to piece anything together. Damian, on the other hand, was an unsure mystery, one I had to get to the bottom of very quickly.

“Could you get my food please?” I said to Summer, placing a hand on her shoulder while shooting her a pleading look. “I’ll be back real quick.”

She started to say something, but I’d already placed the bottle on the tray and was marching down in the same direction Damian had gone in. i followed the sound of footsteps and thankfully, found him on his way to enter the elevator. I made a show of dashing down the hall, past a surprised cleaner and two surprised employees, before shoving a foot between the doors, forcing them open again. Stepping in, I was glad that it was simply the two of us, then I hit the button to the bottom floor.

“Now, who’s following whom?” Damian taunted. When I turned to look at him, he was studying me with amused eyes and a smirk, and I rolled my eyes in return.

“I needed to clarify something quickly,” I replied, stepping closer to him. He merely shrugged, holding my gaze without moving a muscle. “I know you saw my reaction to Jason Whitmore on TV, but that was because a colleague at Delaware had a terrible encounter with the son-of-a-bitch.”

Two more floors to go.

“Oh really?” Damian said.

“It still angers me to think about it,” I continued. “I’m not sure what you thought, and just felt the need to clarify.”

One more floor.

Damian sighed rather impatiently before hitting the stop button, causing the elevator to halt and me to almost lose my balance. I turned to him with a frown on my face.

“What are you..?”

“First off, lying isn't your strong point, at all. Secondly,” he said, walking closer to me. I did my best to remain in place, but when he was too close for comfort, I took a step back. We repeated the same dance till my back hit the wall of the elevator. An arm shot to the side of my face almost immediately, and I looked up to see Damian’s pleased expression.

And the damn smirk still on his face.

“I’m well aware that you hate Jason. After all, he did betray you three years ago, Ariana.”

“That’s not my…”

“I’m a bit surprised that no one else can tell,” he mused, moving closer to my faee. “Then again, your disguise is convincing enough to deceive them, and you didn’t kiss them as a college sophomore.”

“I didn’t…what?”

“You don’t remember, do you? You were drunk as f**k from what I remember, ” he said this time, leaning so close that I could feel his breath on my face. My first thought was reporting him to human resources for harassment, but at the same time, I didn’t mind his closeness as much as I should've. That bothered me enough to keep me mute.

We stayed that way for a few beats, with me staring into his eyes and him doing the exact same. Suddenly, he frowned and moved away, allowing me to finally breathe.

He has the nicest brown eyes, don’t you think?

I willed my mind to shut up in that instant, and instead made sure I avoided eye contact with him.

“I prefer your green eyes, but these should suffice since you’re working on getting your revenge on that bastard,” he remarked coolly. “Or at least that would explain the disguise.”

These should suffice? I was working on getting my revenge?

All of a sudden, my mind started working the way it ought to, and I reeled my head back in anger.

“I have not the slightest clue as to what you’re talking about, Damian, and would appreciate it...”

“Oh, I think you do, Ariana,” he replied, cutting me off and deepening the frown on my face. “I’d love to help, by the way, but only if you want me to. I never liked Jason and never could see what you saw in him.”

“Who I like is none of your business, sir. Jason and I…”I said, then immediately regretted my words. Damian regarded me with a knowing smile.

“Well, I guess that ends this conversation. For now,” he remarked.

“Screw you, Damian. You don’t know what you’re talking about, and you really should stop talking like you own me, by the wa…”I stopped my speech midway, finally conscious of our environment. The elevator had opened up into the reception hall, and eyes had fallen on us, both those that wanted to go into the elevator and those that were roaming about.

Damian chuckled and stepped out, shooting me what I’ve come to understand is his signature smirk, before leaving me alone in my mortified state. I laughed nervously, shrinking into a corner of the elevator as a few people stepped onto it, some with raised brows and others with murmurs.

I sighed, ignoring all of them. Chasing Damian had been a big waste of my time.

****

After convincing Summer and Isaac that I wasn’t ill in any way, going over Venus’ dataset- or what I could of it- and conversing with some engineers in the building, I was home free. I was typically the type to hop straight into bed once I got home, with hunger waking me up at some point in the middle of the night, but this time, I went straight to my laptop.

“Jason Whitmore,” I mumbled to myself as I typed. Multiple searches appeared on my screen after I hit enter, and I began to take it all in. It had been three years since I saw or learned anything about Jason of my own accord, and it was like I was looking at Jason from an entirely different angle.

He had indeed changed W&M to Whitmore Technologies, and it hadn’t even been one month after my supposed arrest. Aegis had become the success I knew it would, and to my absolute shock, he’d sold it to some wealthy billionaire for hundreds of millions. Like all these weren't bad enough, W&M- Whitmore Technologies- had gone from being a company whose sole purpose was to create cutting-edge technology, to one that was clearly fine with creating apps and websites for large scale businesses.

I almost threw my laptop across the room, absolutely livid. He had destroyed my dream totally- one that I’d shared with him in my second year of college after seeing how great his sales skills were. We’d brainstormed W&M together, and I put in so much work into everything I did for years, only for him to flush it down the drain like it was nothing.

Like my life’s purpose was nothing. It probably meant nothing to him, seeing as he wiped me out of his life and that of our company without batting an eyelash.

I returned my attention to the screen, ignoring articles that mentioned me and my crimes. That was when I somehow stumbled upon Valerie’s i********:. I clicked it open and the first picture I saw before the site blocked me out was a picture of her and Jason kissing. Hurriedly creating an i********: account with my work mail, I went further down her account, seeing the couple happy together and finally noticing the baby bump- one that Valerie had obviously tried to hide. Jason’s i********: held nothing, and for a second, I thought it was all for show.

They were kissing, you i***t, my mind mentioned in annoyance.

I contemplated checking out her story, and without a second thought, I hit open. There were a few shots of her meals of the day, and finally, an invite to her and Jason’s engagement party. In two days.

Engagement party. The two words rang in my head for a good minute, and I finally burst out laughing. I’m not sure how long I laughed for, but a loud ‘the f**k is that?’ from downstairs put my hysteria to a stop.

Of course Jason would betray me like this. He stole everything from me, and somehow managed to convince my best friend to marry him. The worst part was that Ava Singer couldn’t do much until she had made a name for herself- and from the last time I checked, that took years.

I fell flat on my back, knowing what next I had to do. Damian Sterling was an annoying man, but he was going to be of good use to me when I plotted my revenge against my ex.

It was long overdue anyway.