Chapter 5 Embarrassed

LISA FERNANDO

Ten million dollars was a huge amount of money that no girl could ever refuse. As soon as he dropped the call, he looked at me and frowned. "Sorry if my voice was too loud; I didn't know there was someone else in the elevator." He apologised, and I nodded.

"No, it's fine. I didn't..."

He let out a chuckle. "How did you not know that I insulted you?"

He was rude, but that wasn't my concern. I was focused on bagging that money that would change my life forever. I didn't even care if it would have consequences. I'm definitely not missing out on that huge amount of money.

"The contract offer? I might be interested." I voiced out.

He looked at me from head to toe, stunned by my boldness. "I forgot to add pretty; it's not just open to every girl. You have to be pretty, eloquent, and smart."

Rude!

He can forget about it; I'm no longer interested. I knew I was pretty and maybe smart, so I wasn't going to let the words of a rude man affect me.

"Do you even know who I am?"

The elevator stopped on the tenth floor just as I was about to reply to him, and one of the security guards walked in. He was about 6.3 feet tall and looked like he was in a rush to go somewhere.

Still gushing over the amount of money this man called, I realised the elevator could have stopped by now so I could get off. It was taking a longer amount of time to stop than expected, and I was already getting worried. The soft noise of the elevator's machinery was the only sound accompanying me as I absentmindedly watched the floor numbers above the door light up. My day was filled with a lot of stress from the protests, and I also had a whirlwind of meetings and deadlines with my boss. I could have used the stairs, but I guess I was just too tired to do that.

Engrossed in my own world, the lights flickered once, and then the dim glow that had bathed the small metal box was replaced by complete darkness. Panic surged through me as the elevator came to a halt, my heart pounding in my chest.

What just happened?

I fumbled in the darkness for my mobile phone, desperate to shed some light on the situation. It was dead.

My breaths came faster, and I could fucking feel the sweat forming on my brow. This definitely wasn't how I anticipated my day. That's when I remembered there was another presence in the elevator... Not just one, but two men were in the elevator with me.

He stood on the other side, his silhouette barely visible in the dim emergency lighting. We exchanged nervous glances in the near darkness, the silence palpable, only broken by the eerie humming of the elevator's mechanisms. I really couldn't see their faces, which made it awkward.

I tried to steady my voice as I spoke, even though it was laced with uneasiness. "I can't believe this is happening," I whispered softly, my voice breaking the silence. My fingers anxiously fumbled with my smartphone, trying to get it back on.

"It seems we're truly stuck," the rude man sighed. His voice was kind of reassuring but, at the same time, concerning.

What if we were trapped here without any way to come out? What if there was no escape? Worse, what if no one knew the elevator was stuck?

I turned to the elevator's control panel, my fingers itching to press the buttons for the emergency phone and alarm. Yet there was no response, even after I pressed it countless times. The control panel remained silent and very unresponsive, adding to my worries.

With a heavy sigh, I sank down to the floor, my back against the rough metal wall. Suddenly, the lights came back on, which reassured me a little bit that their maintenance staff were probably fixing the building, and since Hommes knew I could be stuck in here, he was probably finding a way to get me out.

One thing no one knows about me is that I work at a strip club as a stripper at night. I work for a publishing company from morning until late afternoon, and at night, I dance and sexily strip on poles. I started it recently, and since I was allowed a mask, it was much easier to hide my identity.

But even the money from the strip club couldn't help me pay my grandma's bills. I definitely needed much more money to help her, because I didn't want to ever lose her.

I noticed two of the men staring at me like they wanted to engage me in a conversation, and I decided to assist them. Who knows? I could make a great impression on the contract guy.

I noticed the security guard had a Mabel Mora fan T-shirt from Only Murders in the Building, and since I had watched a couple of clips on TikTok since I couldn't afford to subscribe and watch them legally, I decided to use that to make an impression.

"Fascinated with murders, huh?"

He chuckled.

"I didn't know you were a murder mystery kind of person." The security guy replied, "I'm Ken; I work here."

"Nice to meet you," I didn't want to give him my name because he wasn't my concern at all. I was hoping the other man would join our conversation. "Yeah, I'm quite a murder mystery fan."

"The killer reveal at the end of Season One was top-notch. I was so gagged, I wanted more."

I didn't even know what happened at the end of Season 1, but I wanted to play along.

"Right? I remember watching it on Netflix that night, screaming and throwing tantrums because I didn't expect that person to be the killer."

There was an awkward pause, and he looked at me in a certain manner as if I had just said rubbish.

"Uhmm, the show is not on Netflix."