CHAPTER 45

**CHLOE DUARTE**

Matt easily gets girls everywhere he goes, of course, a dark and handsome man like him would not go unnoticed by women today.

But many poor women prefer a long-term relationship or a date in a romantic place, but I know my best friend well enough to know that this is not his thing.

“But aren't there any girls you don't want for just one night?", I ask, interested in his love life.

“There is a girl, but I can't have her for a single night, princess...", I lift my head to face the dark eyes that are fixed elsewhere in the dark room as if I were thinking about this mysterious girl at this moment."

“Why?"

“Because maybe she doesn't like me and I don't think I'll ever have her for that reason.", he comments gloomily, and for the first time since I've known Matt, I'm watching him suffer for a girl.

“Ohh, don't think like that, you are a kind, good, loving, handsome man, and sometimes you give me such a hard time that I want to kill you, but other than that, everything is fine!", I remark, drawing a laugh from him as he hugs me tightly, taking care of my forehead.

“The rain has stopped, princess...", he says after a few minutes still sitting with me on the bed.

He gets up and goes to the bedroom window drawing the curtains to see the weather outside, I also get up seeing that the loud sounds and the lightning have also stopped, but the lack of energy continues.

“I need to go and you need to rest, princess!", Matt kisses my forehead before we head into the living room where he puts on his wet t”shirt again before grabbing his leather jacket and rain-damp cap.

“Are you sure you're going to be, okay?", he points to my bruises with a worried frown, and I nod and smile trying to show him that I am okay.

“If anything happens or you need anything, don't hesitate to call me, okay?"

“Okay! And thanks for a great night, Matt!", he hugs me one more time before walking out the door.

I lock the apartment and check the time on my cell phone and at this point, I also realize that the device is also low on battery and will soon run out.

I snort and head for the candle-lit kitchen where I decide what to prepare to eat before bed, make a quick meal and then go back to bed with nothing to do since the apartment is still dark and without power.

I swallow a pill for the headache I am feeling and then curl up under the covers and this time sleep doesn't take long to come.

When I wake up, I get a big fright when I see the room completely illuminated by the daylight coming through the window curtains, I grab my cell phone from the created world, but huff an irritated snort when the device is completely discharged.

I am scared that I am late for work, I get out of bed with a jump and regret this when I remember my injured ankle and soon the pain comes back.

I limp into the living room as fast as I can checking the time on the kitchen wall clock, luckily, I am half an hour ahead of the time I usually wake up every day before work.

I breathe a sigh of relief going back to the bedroom where I waste no time in going to the bathroom where I take a long hot shower, this morning is cold and cloudy, and I still have no idea what my work outfit will look like today.

In my robe facing the mirror, I carefully remove the bandage that Matt put on my forehead the night before, I sanitize and clean the cut seeing that there is some dried blood on my skin, the wound is average and maybe I would even get some stitches if I went to the hospital, but I don't want to go to that depressing place.

I put a new bandage on my forehead noticing the swelling and the purple color around the cut, I open my medicine bag and swallow a new pain pill and anti”inflammatory that will help me control the discomfort in my head.

I decide to do my makeup first today taking extreme care in trying to cover most of the consequences that the cut has done to my skin, in the end, I used a considerable amount of foundation and concealer to try to hide it, but the swelling and the bandage remain apparent.

I sigh defeated, letting my hair down and trying to throw a few strands of hair to where the cut was made, I smile a little satisfied with the result, of course, everyone will notice the bandage on my forehead, but the strands of hair will help disguise it a little.

I go back to the bedroom and open the closet looking for comfortable and warm clothes for this cold morning, I decide to put on a long-sleeved blouse underneath, black pants, and black boots without heels that will help me get around more easily than the very high heels.

I put on an overcoat over my clothes feeling very satisfied with the final look, before taking a shower I put my cell phone to charge since the power had already returned, but unfortunately the device managed to charge only 30% of the battery.

Sighing I put the charger and the cell phone in my bag along with my belongings before heading to the kitchen to prepare a quick breakfast.

This time I don't go to work walking as I usually do every day, I call a car by the app, and in less than twenty minutes I'm getting the car down in front of Colucci.

I pay for the ride and walk slowly and with slow steps to the entrance of the company, some people look at me, but I try not to care about this detail as I try to disguise that I am limping.

I look at the reception desk on the first floor and see that Samanta is very busy attending to the many clients and visitors who are already at this time doing their thing.

I nod quickly to her and she returns the compliment with a quick smile, because of the distance she cannot see the bandage on the side of my forehead and I thank her for that I will be bombarded with questions.

The elevator doors are almost closing as I try to walk as fast as possible feeling my ankle hurting more and more.

“Hold the elevator, please!", I shout and sigh in relief when I see that someone inside the elevator has managed to hear me, but my relief fades quickly when I see the person's hand holding the doors open again.

But this is not just any hand, this is a woman's hand, the hand with the red-clawed nails that I hate most in this world.

When the elevator doors open fully I have the displeasure of seeing none other than Camily and when her viper eyes land on me she puts a scowl on her face seeming to regret her kindness in holding the elevator.

Yeah, I'm not happy to see you either, that makes two of us!

I remain silent as I enter the same space with the cow watching the heavy metal doors vote to close again, I don't thank her, I just lean against one of the mirrored walls and wait to get to the top floor.

“My god, what happened to you, girl?", I close my eyes listening to the fake voice laden with disdain this time.

Unfortunately for me, Adam is not in here either as I am sure she would control herself around him and not treat me too badly as I know he would realize the unreasonable hatred she has for me.

She likes that, I know she does, the cow is now free, and with no one around to distill her deadly poison on me,

“Nothing I can't handle, Miss Sparke...", I hold myself close to her once more.

“God, you should get your face fixed, if it were up to me I wouldn't work with a deformed face like this!", she keeps spewing her venom at me and I try not to slap her face full of Botox.

Of course, she wouldn't come to work like this, she's the girlfriend of one of the managers and runs her own still at Colucci, this cow is guaranteed a living while I'm just a simple employee she hates.

“You know, you should try to cover this more, you work with Mr. Colucci himself and you have to be more than presentable not to spoil his image..."

“Thanks for the advice, Miss Sparke!", I smile a fake smile as the elevator doors open and the cow exits leaving me alone and relieved that she is leaving.

As the doors close again and the elevator begins to rise, I turn around seeing my reflection in the mirrored wall, my dress is apparent and my skin is a little purple from what the make-up couldn't fully cover, but it doesn't look as horrible as it appeared to be.

My day has barely started and Camily has already managed to irritate me easily all I need are cups of coffee and dive headfirst into work, but unfortunately, the other blonde cow in the penthouse also looks at me like I'm some strange Alien inhabiting the earth.

I hate that I can't completely disguise the discomfort in my ankle, I always work in heels and I see that the cow notices this and lets out a barely controlled giggle.

“I don't think Mr. Colucci would like to know that the secretary on his floor is chatting with her boyfriend while she should be working."

That's right, the watery blonde has a boyfriend and still dares to brazenly hit on James, I realized about the boyfriend when I heard her honeyed conversations with the poor guy in the hallway, we are meters away and I can still hear her voice on the call when James is not present in the company.