Eliana Brown
~•~ “What the hell, James?” I spat out, feeling even worse than I felt when I left the house this morning. “You said you were certain I’d get it.” Everyone was sure it’d be me. I’d gotten congratulations this morning and it made me take my mind off the fact that Harry was cheating. James, our department manager, winced. He felt guilty but that wasn’t good enough. I was still a sales associate and a random person was the assistant manager. “I know, Anna, but this was out of my control as well. She knows our boss.” I gritted my teeth. James wasn’t a bad person. In fact, he was friendly with us all, but I’d been looking forward to this promotion for months. I’d been working harder than ever to make sure the spot was mine. Everyone else thought I deserved it, apart from the said boss, apparently. I had never seen the boss. With a department store as big as the one I was currently working in, it was only natural she had other business that required more of her attention, but I instantly hated her. “Don’t worry, Anna.” He placed a hand on my arm, trying to calm me down. “You are still young. You will have a lot of opportunities in the future.” I took several deep breaths, trying not to cry. I was at work and I still needed to maintain professionalism anyway. “I’ll tell you whenever the spot opens up again, okay?” “You better do.” At that moment, I didn’t care that it came out rude. It wasn’t fair. Just because I was young didn’t mean I didn’t deserve it. I had the best sales this year. I even went on a business trip to sell our cosmetics. I came back this morning and still came to work early. I did all that for nothing. “Put on a smile and get back to work.” I inhaled and exhaled. The most important part of my work was smiling. Even if everything was falling apart in my life, I had to smile through work. Some customers were snobby enough to scold you for frowning even if it had nothing to do with them. James started to speak again, but I was already gone. I went to replace my colleague at the counter and she gave me a sad smile. “From your expression, I’m guessing you didn’t get it.” I hated the reminder. “The position was given to a newbie.” “That’s tough. Sorry about that.” “It’s fine.” I forced out the smile James told me to. “You can go back to work. I’ll stay here.” Thankfully, it wasn’t a busy day and since I was at the register, I didn’t have to socialize much. I was not in the mood for it. Every few seconds, my mind drifted to the way Harry was holding the other girl in my kitchen. How long had they been together? How long had he been tired of me? Why couldn’t he just leave if he was tired? The relationship was already falling apart but it still hurt. Most of all, it was embarrassing to get cheated on. From my peripheral, I watched as a woman put one of the lip glosses on the shelf into her bag. I frowned. Most people that came here were wealthy. They wouldn’t need to steal. I was wondering if I merely saw it wrongly when she placed another one in her bag. I gasped. One of my colleagues was with her but she was distracted and didn’t see her stealing. Not wanting to make a scene, I decided to watch for a while. Maybe she was going to pay for everything after she finished picking what she wanted. To no one’s surprise, she tapped my colleague and said something with a smile before she started walking toward the door. Oh no, she doesn’t! The products were expensive and if something went missing, it would be deducted from my salary. I doubted I’d have a penny this month if she managed to walk out that door. I didn’t waste time leaving my post and running up to her. “Ma’am,” I said with a tight smile. She continued walking, pretending like she couldn’t see me but I wasn’t about to allow her leave with my salary in her bag. I went in front of her and she screeched to a stop. “Are you done shopping? Did you see anything you like?” She frowned, as though I was a nuisance. “I didn’t. I’ll come back another day.” She tried to step around me but I didn’t let her. I couldn’t be rude but I also couldn’t let her leave! I was at a crossroads. Just because I didn’t get the promotion I wanted didn’t mean I could afford to lose my job. Jobs were hard to find in New York. “Uh, I’m sorry for getting in your way, but…” my gaze traveled to her bag. “What?” She asked impatiently. “I don’t know if it was a mistake but a few products may have fallen into your bag, Ma’am.” “What?” “It’s open so it’s possible.” “Are you saying I’m stealing?” I exhaled. I already had too much sh*t to deal with. “Even if you want to claim I’m lying, there are cameras in the store and they recorded you putting them in your bag.” Our conversation was getting long and by now, people had stopped to stare. It was embarrassing for her which was why I wasn’t surprised when she continued to deny it. “You’re crazy. I can afford the whole store. Why would I steal a few lip glosses?” I arched an eyebrow at her. She just shot herself in the foot. “I didn’t say what you stole, Ma’am.” Her face was red as she looked down at me in anger and embarrassment. She was already taller than I was and she had six inches heels on, making her even taller. She could crush me with her heels but I wasn’t backing down. “Get out of my way.” She glared at me. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Ma’am.” “Where’s your manager?” I snorted. She was such a Karen. “You can meet my manager after you return the glosses.” I reached for her bag but she pulled it away. All my colleagues watched wide-eyed as we engaged in a push-and-pull with her handbag. She was squealing like I was harassing her but she was the one who couldn’t let me have a regular work day, especially after what just happened to me. Eventually, her bag fell on the floor and the contents of it spilled, revealing the two lip glosses I saw her put in the bag. Passersby gasped and a new face wearing our uniform walked toward us. She was wearing a black tie, so it meant she was the new assistant manager. I immediately hated her too because she stole my job from me. I hated her even more when she reached us and gave me a dirty look. “What’s going on here and what do you think you’re doing by fighting with a customer?” Our store had a “the customer is always right” policy but my salary was on the line. “I was retrieving our goods.” The lady scoffed. “You were harassing me! Is this how you treat your customers? Are you the manager?” She asked the newbie. Newbie planted a smile on her face. “I’m the assistant, but I can help you. Tell me what happened.”Eliana Brown~•~I wasn’t at fault. I was the one who stopped a crime but as I stood in my manager’s office with Karen and Newbie, it felt like everyone was against me.She had twisted the story to make it look like she accidentally put the products in her bag and I ambushed her without saying anything first.“Anna,” James started. “I know you’ve had a rough morning, but–““I don’t care if she had a rough morning or a rough life. Projecting it onto me just says a lot about her professional ethics!” Karen emphasized.My mouth fell open. “How is this my fault when you’re the one that stole?”“Anna–“Karen cut him off with a scoff and brought out her phone. She walked outside the room to make the call, then came back in with a smug look on her face. “I’ve informed your boss about the situation, so if you do not want this to escalate, you might as well apologize and get it over with.”“Anna, just apologize and let it go.”“But she stole!”“And she’s a customer we can’t afford to lose.” Ne
Eliana Brown~•~We were on the side of the road and passersby stared at us like we were crazy. The tears flowed freely and my sobs became harder that it was even hard to breathe. I tried to stop but I only ended up crying even more. I tried to level my breathing but it was no use. It felt like the world was closing in on me.I leaned against the wall, trying to steady myself since it seemed like my legs couldn’t carry me anymore. “Are you okay?” The stranger asked.I looked at him through my lashes but I could barely make out his face through my blurry vision. I inhaled and exhaled. I tried to count. I tried to list what I could see, and what I could feel, but my brain was blank. It was only good for replaying every bad thing that had happened to me today; my five-year-old relationship was gone, and my five-year-old employment was gone. I was forced to apologize to a thief. All in one day.I crouched to the ground and covered my ears with my hands. It was too loud, but I couldn’t h
Eliana Brown~•~My jaw dropped at how casually he said fifteen thousand dollars and before I could say anything, he shook his head. “Sorry, I meant twenty-five thousand.”My eyes widened and if I wasn’t already on a hospital bed, I was certain I would have fallen over. “Twenty-five thousand is cheap?” I exclaimed. “It was just the white shirt I spilled on, wasn’t it? I didn’t ruin the jacket or the pants?”“The full piece costs a hundred thousand.”F*ck me. What kind of man did I encounter? Why did he have to be so rich to wear a suit worth a hundred thousand? Hell, why were there even suits that cost that much? Who made them? Whatever happened to four-hundred-dollar suits?If I had known I was going to encounter such an issue today, I never would have quit my job. I would have s*ck*d it up. But then again, if I hadn’t quit my job, I wouldn’t have run into him.I was jobless, without parents or a partner. I didn’t have many people I could call for help. I didn’t have anyone that coul
Eliana Brown~•~“What the fuck?” Catherine exclaimed. “You can’t be serious. All those bad things can’t happen to a person in one day.”I sighed and collapsed on the couch. “I thought the same.”After leaving my former apartment last night, I’d come straight to Catherine’s house. While I had other friends, they weren’t close enough for me to show up to their place unannounced, but the problem was that Catherine lived with her boyfriend so I had to crash on the couch.She allowed me to have a good rest before waking me up this morning to question me.“What are you going to do now?” She asked, looking concerned.“I don’t know. I have to find a job and an apartment as soon as possible and I don’t even know where to start.”Finding a job was hard as hell and finding a cheap apartment was even harder. Even the smallest apartments were very expensive and it was rare to find a landlord that wasn’t greedy.I inhaled deeply. I fucked up by letting Harry take advantage of me like that. He shou
Eliana Brown~•~After two weeks of sending out my resume to every possible fashion retail store, I was finally invited for an interview.Going through my suitcase, I found a casual business outfit and dashed into the bathroom to change. Living with Catherine and Peter wasn’t just stressful for them, it was inconvenient on my end as well.I couldn’t wear what I usually wore in my house. I had to be decent all the time and I couldn’t change as I pleased. I always had to change in the bathroom in case Peter suddenly came home.I hated it.I was trying so hard to find an apartment but it felt like I wasn’t. All the apartments I’d visited were either out of my budget or too small to contain anything I owned, which wasn’t much. Sometimes, I thought about settling for one of those small apartments as long as I had somewhere to rest my head, but Catherine told me to take my time with it as it was the place I was going to be living in the next few years.I appreciated her. She was the best fr
William Caddel~•~“I don’t think the wheelchair is necessary.”“Shut up,” I said easily. Her knee was hurting badly and she was limping. If the wheelchair wasn’t present, she’d have to lean on me and I didn’t want her to touch me.She remained quiet as I rolled her wheelchair out of the hospital. When we got to my car, I stared at her and she stared back at me. I exhaled. I guess I’d have to touch her anyway?However, before I could carry her out of the chair and into the car, she held onto the side of the car and stood up by herself. I breathed in relief as she closed the door after entering the car. It wasn’t like she repulsed me or anything. I just couldn’t afford physical contact with her. It was dangerous for me.As I rounded the car to enter from the other door, my driver came out to take the wheelchair back in.“No offense but, you’re pretty rude, you know that, right?” She asked while we waited for George to come back.“If you think it’s going to be offensive, then it’s best
Eliana Brown~•~William Caddel didn’t believe me when I said my injury wasn’t serious but by the next day, I wasn’t limping anymore. Catherine felt pity for me when I told her what happened to me but was intrigued to find out that William had helped me again. He was practically a stranger yet I owed him so much already. I hated it.Emily had shown me three apartments today already. They were very nice and I’d love to stay in them, but they were way out of my budget. I didn’t have a job. I couldn’t afford to stay in an expensive apartment.When we stopped in front of another expensive apartment complex, I groaned. “I doubt this is in the range I told you, Emily.”Emily wasn’t just an agent. She was also a friend. We weren’t very close but we knew a bit about each other’s lives. Rent in New York was already crazily expensive. Even the smallest apartments cost more than a thousand and apartments like those barely had water inside except it was a shared house.I wanted something I was
Eliana Brown~•~“I don’t ever want to leave, Anna,” Catherine said dramatically.“Well, you are coming with me whether you like it or not.” I continued dragging her by the arm.She dug her feet into the ground, making it harder for me to pull her along with me. I hissed and pulled her even harder. “No, Eliana. I don’t want to leave.”“Girl, you’re coming back anyway! It’s just groceries.”Catherine smiled sheepishly. “Fine.”I rolled my eyes at her and finally let go of her hand when she didn’t seem reluctant to leave anymore. Catherine had helped with packing my things and unloading them into the new apartment. The problem was that she was in love with the apartment which was why she started acting dramatic when I told her to follow me to get groceries.Since I didn’t have much to offload, I spent less than two hours on it. The apartment was already nicely furnished so I didn’t have to do too much to it. I just made a mental note to add a few flowers and paintings to make the place
Eliana Brown~•~I was excited.I couldn’t remember the last time I had been in a club. I was most likely underaged and faked an ID even if the bartenders and the bouncers knew my real age. I lived in a small town after all.Since living in New York, I have never been to a club. Harry and I moved to New York together and I didn’t want to do anything behind his back so I always declined whenever Catherine invited me out. My refusal always annoyed her but she never ceased to ask me. Whenever she was going out with her friends, she made sure to include me so I wouldn’t feel left out, not caring that I almost always turned her down.Since I became an adult, I never went to the club so I was a bit excited to go with William. I didn’t know what kind of influence he had in Chicago but we went through the back door as the front door had a long ass queue.“Regular or VIP?” William asked me as we approached one of the bouncers.“I’ll follow your lead.”William shook his head and chuckled softly
Eliana Brown~•~We arrived in Chicago by eight o’clock in the evening and we went straight to the mall as William said earlier.I was already tired of the clothes I was wearing and needed something more comfortable. I picked out a pair of gray sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt as well as a night dress, a short dress, a pair of jeans, and a shirt to go with.When it was time to pay, I brought out my card but William had already handed over his card to the cashier.I stared up at him. “I could have covered that.”“You can do that when I’m not around.” He shrugged. “And even then, I’d hope you use my card for what you want.”“You’re not financially responsible. Why would you give me your card?” I questioned as he took the bags from the cashier and led me out of the store.“Are you already forgetting that we’re married? It’s my job to take care of you.”I was always forgetting that we were legally married. It caught me by surprise whenever he reminded me. There was also the fact that
William Caddel~•~“You animal.” Eliana spat out, hitting my chest. “Let me go.”I held her arms and pinned them above her head. “So you can be this feisty?” I laughed. I had never seen her like this. She was very shy and reserved around me so she barely bared her claws when she was with me. “You’re such a jealous little thing.”She glared at me. “Shut up.”I had been irritated when George divulged information about me to Eliana that I hadn’t said myself but her reaction made things interesting. Call me a bad person but I reveled in the fact that she easily got jealous. Her jealousy meant that she liked and wanted me. Maybe it was toxic but I’d never claimed to not be toxic anyway.“How are we going to enjoy our time in Chicago if you keep up this attitude?”“What attitude?” She huffed. “You’re the one picking me up and throwing me down like a rag doll.”“You are a doll,” I affirmed. “My doll.”The little kitten didn’t like that very much. “You’re pissing me off.”“Tell me how to make
Eliana Brown~•~I was the first person to leave the office.At five o’clock, I was quick to shut down my computer and rush downstairs.I found Will’s car and tried the back door. Thankfully, it was open. He wasn’t inside but his other friend was in the driver’s seat. “Good evening,” I said as I settled down inside. I didn’t understand their dynamic at all. They were all friends yet they worked for him. George looked rich. His clothes and shoes were expensive but he drove William around. I wanted to ask but was too shy to.“Good evening, Eliana. Will will be down shortly.”I nodded, brought out my phone and pretended to be busy while I waited for William. I was excited to follow him on his trip. Thankfully, it was on the weekend so I wouldn’t be missing anything. The only times I’d gone on trips was for work. This was the first time I’d be traveling just for the sake of it.Just as George said earlier, Will came down a few minutes later with Duke trailing beside him. They were close t
Eliana Brown~•~I had mentioned that William was clingy but I just felt the need to repeat it. He didn’t like letting me out of his sight unless it was work and even then, he was a bit salty about it. He made sure I slept in his room every night and with the way his hands were always on me, I was surprised we hadn’t fucked yet.I wasn’t ashamed to say I was looking forward to it. I loved spending all my time with him, which was why I was excited by the fact that it was a Friday. It meant another weekend with him.“What are you smiling about?”I quickly schooled my expression and faced Marcus. He was from the purchasing team and we usually worked side by side. “What’s up?”He looked at me like I was weird but when I didn’t divulge, he shook his head. “Mr. Edward wants to see you.”“I’ll be right there.” I forced a smile.He rolled his eyes, making me wonder what was going on in his head as he walked away. I shook my head and stood up, walking up to his office. I knocked on the door an
Eliana Brown~•~I was currently sitting on Will’s lap. It was surreal.I’d felt so awkward when I had woken up in the morning to find that I was lying on top of him naked. I had thrown myself at him last night so I felt embarrassed as fuck. Thankfully, he didn’t make things worse and instead assured me that he wanted me.I’d been so angry at him these past few days that I didn’t think our weekend would end like this. Will was clingy as fuck. The only time he let me go was to go and have a bath and even then, he wanted to join me. As soon as I finished getting dressed, he carried me downstairs, not letting my feet touch the ground, and brought me to the kitchen where he made breakfast like a regular husband.Sometimes I had to remind myself that he was my husband but at the moment, it felt real. It felt like we got married for love and not for a silly reason that I didn’t wish to repeat.“So are we going to continue our lessons today or what?” William asked while we were eating breakf
William Caddel~•~I woke up the next morning with Eliana on top of me. She was naked and I was insanely aware of her breasts pressing against my chest but I couldn’t do anything about it.I didn’t want her to wake up anytime soon because I knew damn well she was going to revert to being shy after all we did last night. I wasn’t content yet but it was enough for the meantime.I wasn’t sure if she knew it but the position she was in at the moment was her basically declaring she was mine. I’d wanted her for so long that I could barely remember what it was like to not be obsessed with her. It was crazy. I was crazy.Opposite to what I wanted, I felt Eliana start to stir. She made a sound in her sleep, hugging me tighter as if we weren’t close enough already. It made me smile. Maybe she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. Yesterday proved that she liked me and she wanted me.I had done it on purpose; the date with Olivia and the date with that model. I knew the media was going to expo
Eliana Brown~•~My breath hitched. “W-what?” Who said anything about fucking him? Was he doing it on purpose to fluster me or did he mean that question?He placed his thumb on my bottom lip, pulling it slightly. My mouth parted as I stared at him. “What are you so mad at, hmm? Are you worried about what grandfather will think or are you worried I’ll actually end up dating one of those women?”“I–““The truth only.” He interrupted me before I could cook up a lie. I had been lying so much in the past few days because of William. What was so bad in telling the truth just once? “What if I am?”“That’s not a clear answer. Are you worried or not?”There was no harm in admitting it, right? “I am.”“Good girl.” He let go of my bottom lip. “Now tell me why you’re worried.”What did he mean by that? Did he want me to admit that I liked him? Did he like me back? Or did he want to reject me gently? Unable to say the words, I shook my head.He arched an eyebrow. “Tell me, Eliana.” He prompted. “
Eliana Brown~•~I was starting to get pissed off.At the lunch I attended, I was barely able to focus because I couldn't stop peering at William’s table. That day, a new article about him came out. In the article, they were contemplating if he was with Sandra or Olivia because their date seemed intimate. I wondered what that was going to do for their friendship but it merely annoyed me.I had told myself I had been angry the other day, but this time, I couldn’t deny that I was jealous. I hated seeing him intimate with other women. The thought that he might kiss him, fuck them…As if the second article wasn’t enough, he left the house on Saturday and I stayed at home just to see the third article of the week. This time, there were rumors about him and an Italian model. They had a supposed date earlier in the day, then they attended an event together.The writer was calling him a playboy. They thought he was playing the field, looking for someone to settle down with, but I was just pla