Chapter 3 The Strange Invitation

Her eyes moved up to stare into the brightest, yet, deepest brown eyes she had ever seen in her life. The world seemed to still for them as their eyes stared into one another. She hadn't seen anyone as good-looking as this stranger in a while, but this wasn't the right time to ogle.

She quickly released his collar. "Astor, you should have let her fall and break a knee!" Lucian shouted from the position she was. His name was Astor? She thought to herself.

Lenora couldn't help but be disappointed that this angelic masculine-looking man knew someone like Lucian. She looked from him to Lucian, then from Lucian to him. Angelic face was still staring at her. He's been silent. A slight frown marred his face, making him look mysterious. Lenora simply withdrew her attention and left the spot.

The cab that was waiting for Lenora outside drove her away to her house. Inside the cab, she let go of her sassy mask, and allowed the tears to fall. It hadn't been easy pulling off such a show at the eatery while Lucian and Megan showcased support for each other at the expense of her humiliation, but she knew it was either her or Lucian. If she hadn't been ahead of him, he would have embarrassed her into silence just as it had once happened.

Though she was mourning the loss of their relationship, she felt a deep relief in her chest. She didn't have to live under Lucian's shadow anymore. She would never have to experience their betrayal like she had in her past life. She would never have to die, at least not in their hands.

Lucian couldn't believe his eyes when he got home only to see the videos of him spreaded everywhere on the internet. The headline goes "Videos of A popular CEO involved in a tight mess as a hot looking lady baptized him with a bottle of wine in public. Is this lady his mistress? No one knew who she was."

As if his video being online wasn't traumatizing enough, the comments underneath were more degrading. "Fuckkk!" His loud curse was followed with a crash. The servant beside him jolted as he witnessed his boss smash a glass cup on the wall.

"Would you like some coffee, Sir? You will need it to..."

"Get out of here!" He commanded harshly, and the servant quickly exited. The large opulent living room of the mansion he had inherited from his late father was cold but for some reason, he was sweating. It wasn't long that he started receiving calls of business associates wanting to sell the shares they owned in his company.

"I'm in a deep mess." He murmured in realization. "Noraaa! You will regret this. I promise you." He threatened under his breath, his fist tightening with anger, but right now, he had to start working towards damage control. His mind darted to Megan whom he had excused earlier. Should he call her over? He needed sex to cool off. But that wouldn't be enough, he needed to get into action.

A couple of days later, Lenora had moved on with her life like Lucian never happened. Today, dressed a feminine flowered shirt that she tucked into a well-ironed office trouser, she was about heading to her work place where she worked as a pattern designer at a big stylist company when a delivery man knocked on her doorstep and presented her flowers and other items in a box.

She looked at the flowers in confusion. She was sure that she wasn't expecting gifts from any man, so who sent her this. "You are at the wrong address, this isn't for me."

"Are you Miss Lenora Albert?" The delivery man asked, and she nodded, followed by a "Yes" Her brows knitted together with curiosity as she waited for the man to pull her out of her confused state. "Then it's you I'm asked to deliver the package to."

Lenora gently received the flowers, and unfolded the letter in between them. Written words displayed, and she read. . "I overreacted, Nora. I miss you. We should talk. -Lucian" She scoffed internally, before she accepted the other boxes from the delivery man.

When she got in, she unfolded the boxes that contained designer accessories, and expensive jewelry. She laughed out loud, amazed but not pleased by the gesture. Lucian never gifted her in her past life even though he had the money, the most he had given her was a necklace, and that was because he claimed she should be wearing what she gave him and not what her father gave him, which was why he had aggressively snatched the necklace from her neck and throw it off the rooftop.

Infact, he had grown colder towards her since she started wearing the necklace from her father. He had talked about not having that bond with his own father when he was alive.

She wasn't pleased by these gifts, if anything, she knew that Lucian was deceptive and would do anything to pamper his weak ego. She had seen the videos trending on the internet and knew well that Lucian should be more angry by that.

If he thought she would come back crawling, then he was in for a rude awakening. At work, Lily, her colleague came to her table looking overly excited.

"Girl! I'm proud of you. I've always told you that that freak never loved you. You should have seen how loud I had laughed when I watched the trending video on the internet." She laughed, clutching her stomach together at the same time. This brought a smile to Lenora's lips.

"You revel in violence, Lily. Well, I guess I've had enough and had to put an end to his endless disrespect." Lenora said with a shrug as she closed a file she was going through and placed it on the well-lined ones on her desk.

"You did a number on him, I never knew you had that in you. Girl, he looked like a cold chicken in the video." Lily added mockingly and Lenora couldn't help bursting into laughter this time around.

By the time she got home, and settled, she started going through the messages Lucian had sent her. Her responses to his texts were polite, yet distant. She allowed him to think he was still in control, that his gifts were melting her resolve. She let him believe his manipulation was working because she wanted to see just how far he would go.

"Did you receive the invitation card?" Another text from him read. "No, I might have missed it." She texted back. "Damn, you must have hated me so much now that you didn't bother to check out the card." She left the message unattended and then left for her room to check out the gifts again, and that was when she saw it. An invitation card to his 30th birthday that was happening the next day.

His birthday party was set to be an extravagant event. Held at one of the city's most exclusive five-star hotels, the guest list included high-profile business moguls, celebrities, and socialites.

He even added that she should wear the dress and heels he sent her as a gift to attend the party.

What was Lucian up to? Her subconscious thoughts asked. When her mother asked her where she got the gifts from, she lied that they were from an admirer.

She slept that night contemplating whether to honor the invite or not. She concluded to, since she was overly curious about what Lucian was up to. Then the day finally came.