CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN: CLEANING MY PAST.

MILES:

If I could make her feel a bit of my pain, I would. When I stormed out of the car and my eyes fell on the pink BMW, I knew who it was. What the hell was Louis doing in my house, and who let her in? I walked with aggression and yelled at everyone. I wanted space. To be left alone. No drama. I had to think. How was I going to do damage control to the business?

Opening the door, there stood Louis with innocence on her face and worry in her eyes. “Miles, I heard what happened and drove down here as soon as possible. I am sorry. The unsuspecting ones tend to turn out the worse,” she tried to console me. How distant her words sounded.

“Are you any different? Get the hell out of here, Louis. I don't want to see you or your ridiculous car anywhere near my house.” For some reason, my eyes landed on her ring finger and I noticed that the engagement ring was gone. “What happened to your ring?” Was I serious right now? That had to be the dumbest question ever. What was my business if she got into a car accident or lost her ring? She was in my past, as Meredith would soon be. They both needed to remain there and out of my present life henceforth.

Smiling, “you noticed. I called off the engagement. Apparently, I couldn't stop thinking about us. I wish to make things right.”

Again, words left me. If I wasn't disciplined, I would have smacked her across the face for projecting such nonsense after what she put me through. “Yeah. Let us do that because the timing is right”

“Really?” She excitedly moved close to me, arching for an embrace.

“Of course, not. Just leave. I am tired.” I was about to walk out when I heard sounds at the door. It must be Meredith. My first instinct was to grab Louis and land on the sofa, making out with her. Why did I take this step? I wanted to hurt her. Make her feel pain. That is if she ever felt anything for me. If she wasn't acting this whole time.

When our eyes fell on her, I picked up something which was hard to believe was there. Truly, her eyes were covered with pain. Not just a soft pain. That kind you feel when you lose something or someone valuable. There were also tears.

I was too mad to care. Blinded by hatred to reason. She stood for seconds before running out the door. It took all the nerves in my body to not run after her and grab her in a tight hug, comforting her fragile body. 'No! Miles, she is playing you,' my brain told me. 'Go after her,' my heart pushed.

Struggling to get off Louis, she refused, entwining her hands around my neck to trap me. I shoved her hard, breaking away. “Hope you are happy now that she is gone.”

“Kind of, yeah,” she smiled, quirking a brow in-between. “Isn't that what you truly want? Isn't that why you made out with me in her presence? To hurt her.”

Yes, I thought it would hurt her. Turns out, I was only hurting myself more. Why was I hurting instead of her? “Just get lost! I would rather fuck a hooker or buy a pig than get back with your deceitful ass, Louis.” I stormed off to my room.

After undressing, I only managed to take a quick bath. Food was far from thought. I had a serious heartache. Something that had subdued and even vanished all this while. Back to my old life, I popped a couple of my pills, adding a sleeping pill to it to help me get some rest. Subsequently, I turned in for the night, ignoring the endless calls from Richard and everyone else.

Who was I kidding? Sleeping pills did nothing. I couldn't even blink, to talk more about sleeping. I tossed and turned all night. The bed felt empty and bigger than usual. But, this was my normal bed, which I was comfortable sleeping alone in. Not anymore. It felt cold seeing the side that once belonged to Meredith.

I even increased the heater to keep warm, but it didn't work. I tried drinking, but couldn't. I ended up pacing the room, thinking about her. What could she be doing? Why did she do it? And why did she lie? Was she that hungry to make the news? But, I wasn't hiding her from the world. The press conference was just for her. Why Meredith? No matter how I tried to solve the puzzle, a piece kept missing.

* * * *

A month later...

A month of slow torture and silence had passed. Things went so badly. Business depreciated. My stock market crashed. Steele completely canceled the contract, transferring the selling rights to Howard and Hilton, who were partnering with Alan. From my sources, they were in the contract preparation phase, which would be ready soon. It didn't bother me any longer. I had nothing to fight for. I drowned myself in work, trying to remedy whatever was left of my empire.

I reached out to Zara, explaining and apologizing to her. She was mad at first, but eventually came around and spoke kindly to me. She still believed that one day, I would find the answers I was seeking regarding why Meredith did what she did. “I can tell a bad person by looking into their eyes,” she had said. “Miles, I looked into Meredith's eyes. She isn't a bad person. She would have a reason for what she did if she did it.”

Zara was that confident in Meredith. 'If?' There was no room for probability. I saw her doing what she did. It was the aftereffect of charming and getting through to their heart. Zara and people like her don't trust easily, so once they did, tearing that love and trust away was difficult. If she saw her true colors, how she lied and cried like she was actually hurt, she would feel the same way or words towards her.

Don't even get me started on the condition and atmosphere surrounding the house. It was gloomy and too quiet, and most of my workers were judging me. I could tell from how they stared at me like I had done something terrible. Come on! I was the one who got hurt. Whose heart was wrecked? Mine! Yet, they all hated me for it? Why? Because nobody made them stupid nice meals, cracked jokes, or brought back gifts for them while on vacation. I had no time for crap like that. And, things better go back to being professional. No other woman would hurt me a third time. None. I was done with women.

Speaking of which, Louis started coming around more and more. Of course, I didn't let her in. She begged for me to take her back, sending gifts and leaving public hints that we were back together. Most times, we were photographed together, but it wasn't what it seemed. I tried to warn her and put an end to her bizarre attention-drawing charisma, but it backfired with paparazzi making headlines that we were back together as she kissed me once she saw the cameras going off. I was too tired to fight her or anyone. What did it matter? I just tightened my security and made sure she couldn't reach me.