Chapter 2 Beneath The Suit

CHAPTER TWO: Beneath The Suit

The whiskey burned going down.

James welcomed the sting.

He poured another glass before the first settled in his gut, his hand practised, steady despite the chaos in his chest.

The clink of ice against crystal was the only sound in the penthouse, aside from the mute thunder rolling over the Manila skyline.

From this high up, the city looked like a glittering gaze of opportunities and illusions just like him.

Behind him, the television played a financial news report on mute, he wasn't listening, he never listened.

He loosened his tie, exhaled and fell onto the leather couch, feeling the silence crawl upon his skin.

Earlier that day, the war had broken again at his father's house.

"You are thirty, son!"

" I was already a CEO and married at twenty-nine, you on the other hand are partying and drinking your legacy away".

His father's voice was like a sharp blade. One that manages to find the softest part of him.

"You mean your legacy"

James muttered.

"Not mine".

Mr Ricardo didn't even blink when he started pouring out hurtful words to his son.

" You think that hotel chain is yours? You think you've earned it? You haven't earned the 'Everett' name, let alone the Empire"

James gritted his teeth.

"What do you want, a wife? A political puppet I can parade at galas?"

"Yes"! His father nodded.

"And you have six months"

Using his fingers to symbolise the number six.

"Announce an engagement or I'll strip you of everything, and don't think the board would protect you, they want stability.

Family!

He yelled while walking out of the room.

Family? James replied.

The word felt like ash in his mouth. Unlike the family he had, he was scared not to have such a family of his own.

James stood and wandered to the floor-to-ceiling windows. His reflection stared back at the expensive suit, tired eyes, a man being swallowed by a name he never asked for.

He downed another drink.

Only two people had loved him without an agenda, and neither of them lived in this penthouse.

"Tomas", he muttered as he stepped into the private elevator.

His driver had been waiting in the lobby, standing tall despite years of service that had greyed his hair and stopped his shoulders. A man of few words but bottomless loyalty.

As the elevator doors opened to the garage, Tomas was already holding the car door open.

"Your father again?"

Tomas asked gently as James slid into the backseat.

James nodded, "the usual lecture. Marriage, legacy and my failures".

Tomas didn't flinch

"He's trying to protect what he built the way he knows how".

He added.

James stared at the dashboard.

"And what if I don't want what he built?"

"Then build yours" Tomas said starting the engine.

"But don't drown in his shadows trying to prove you don't care".

James gave a dry laugh. "It's a little late for that".

Before heading to the Velvet Room, James took a detour.

It has been a while since he visited the old townhouse in Tondo. But some nights when the world felt too heavy, only one person could make it lighter.

Lola Pillar!

She was more than a nanny. She particularly raised him while his parents travelled the world securing their name.

She taught him how to fish, how to cook rice without burning it and how to pray when everything else fails.

Now she's old, her once-vibrant energy dulled by arthritis but not diminished.

She opened the door before he could knock.

"Ay, anak. Look at you. Always handsome but always tired.

James chuckled, "Still sharper than anyone I know". He teased her.

He stepped inside and for a moment, the scent of ginger tea and old wood grounded him.

"You are drinking too much again"

She said, eyeing him with motherly precision.

"Guilty" he calmly responded.

"Your father still pushing you to get married?"

She asked.

"And threatening to cut me off if I dont"

James added.

"You are not a contract James, you are a person."

He smiled sadly, "that sounds like a fairy tale".

She squeezed his hand " Then it's time, you lived one."

Two hours later the Velvet Room was played with low music and expensive perfume.

James sat in his usual VIP booth. Half listening to one of the junior executives from his hotel ramble about stocks and influencer events.

His mind was elsewhere.

He scanned the floor out of habit, watching the performers with disinterest. But then.. something Shifted.

Near the end of the bar, a woman stood still while the world moved around her.

She wasn't dancing, she wasn't trying to be noticed.

But James noticed her.

Slender frame, dark eyes clouded with something he couldn't name. Fear, sadness, maybe defiance.

Her uniform was slightly too big like it didn't belong to her. His hands were trembling, clenched into fists at her sides.

Their eyes locked.

For a second, just a second. He saw her lips parted slightly like she recognised him.

And something deep in his chest stirred.

He blinked, and the music swelled. A dancer passed in front of her and just like that, she was gone.

A strange unease crept inside him. Had he seen her before? In a dream? In a memory?

He shook it off.

"Sir?" The executive asked, snapping him out of it. "About the opening of the Makati Grand?"

James turned suddenly alert. "What about it?"

"We still haven't filled the vacancy for the position of a second front desk. HR said they hired someone off-book. A favour for one of the floor managers."

He frowned "Name?"

The executive scrolled through his phone. "Alexa Cortez."

James smiled

The name echoed in his ears like thunder, "sounds unfamiliar" He thought.

"Say that again, he said quietly"

"Alexa Cortez" the man repeated

"Why?"

But James didn't answer, he was already pulling out his phone fingers flying as he sent a message to HR.

"Send me her file. Now!"