Chapter 36.

Ryder scrambled out of his bed, still holding his phone closely and watching Catalina stark naked in his bed. He averted his eyes quickly. Seeing her naked was too much of a shock for him.

"What are you doing on my bed?"

Catalina pouted a little as she bared herself to him shamelessly.

"Don't be like that. I was just a little lonely."

"Lonely?!!! Put some damn clothes on!! And why the hell were you with my phone?"

He asked as he went through his phone and saw that she was trying to take pictures of them together in bed.

"What are you doing? What the hell are these pictures on my phone? What are you trying to do?"

"Ryder baby, don't be like that..." Catalina started as she approached Ryder and he took several steps away from her.

"Please don't touch me. Whatever we had years ago, it's over Catalina."

"Over?" Catalina asked as she scoffed.

"I guess it was all a lie then? Wasn't it? You said that you would die for me back then, you told me you'd never love another woman like you loved me."

Ryder rolled his eyes as he massaged his temples.

"I do now. And that was a long time ago Catalina, you broke me and you moved on, it took me years to heal but I did Catalina. And you don't matter to me as you used to."

Catalina jaw gaped as she stared at Ryder who looked emotionless.

"You don't mean that. You're just saying that to hurt me..."

"I'm sorry. It's the truth. Things are different now."

"Different??? How is it different? Is it because of that girl? That fat tramp!"

Catalina blurted out and Ryder turned around fast.

"What did you just say?"

He asked as he tried to connect two and two together, there was no way that Catalina could know about Holly, he thought.

"There! I said it! You're acting like this because of that Holly girl!!! That useless fat bitch? What do you see in her??"

"What do I see in her? I see everything you are not and everything you will never be Catalina!!! Holly is ten times the woman you will ever be."

He screamed at her suddenly enraged by the fact that Catalina had the guts to disrespect Holly.

Catalina started sobbing loudly. Ryder was still clueless as to how she found out about Holly.

"How do you even know her? Who told you?"

"She came over..."

Catalina started talking and then she stopped mid sentence, remembering the envelope that Holly had given her and the contents she had burned.

"Uhmmm.... She didn't come over... I heard you mention her once..."

"Catalina, did Holly come over? Tell me the truth."

Ryder asked calmly with a voice that was so soft and calm it was suspicious.

"She didn't! She didn't! I saw her name in your phone... That's all."

Ryder sighed as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He had finally had enough of Catalina and her problems. He had enough.

He went over to his wallet and picked out a couple of hundred dollar bills and dropped it on his bed.

"You're leaving today. I don't care where you're going. But you're not spending the night here. You can pay for an hotel and I'll contact my employee to set you up somewhere far away from here."

He said as she started walking out of the room.

Catalina stood up hastily, forgetting the covers and running towards Ryder. She threw herself at him without the slightest bit of shame and Ryder struggled to keep her at arms bay.

"I swear I am going to push you if you don't get off me now Catalina! Stop it!"

He snapped at her and she whimpered softly as she went back to cover herself.

"Please, I'm leaving now, I don't want to see you when I'm back."

Ryder said feeling thoroughly disgusted, he couldn't even stand the sight of her and he wondered what had happened to Catalina that made her stoop so low and resort to extreme measures.

Ryder left his apartment still in his clothes from the day before. He was tired and exhausted, he was also suffering from fatigue and stress.

He had spent the whole night working at the office, there was a lot that he had to do to uncover the years and layers of fraud from his company that had been done by his own friend Jake.

Not to mention the fact that Jake was fraternizing with the enemy. The enemy being Kim.

Ryder's plan was to drive around for a while, but he found himself in front of Holly's bakery and he couldn't help it.  

He stopped in front of Holly's shop and decided whether or not he was going to go in. He tried to form words in his head but he didn't know what to say, he was as tongue tied as a teenager on a first date and just as nervous as he stared at himself in his rearview mirror trying to think of what to say.

He knew that everything he did or say would never be enough but he had to see her. He needed to see her. The past few days without her had been hell.

On walking into the brightly lit shop, he spotted Rose the waitress that always seemed to be frowning.

This time, she had a mildly surprised look on her face.

"She's not in." She said blankly as he approached the counter.

"When will she be back?" He asked slowly as he looked around looking for signs of Holly.

The bakery didn't look quite the same.

It was a bit disorganised and it didn't quite have the tantalising smell of freshly baked goods.

"I don't know. She hasn't been to work in a while."

Ryder was silent for a long while as Rose absent mindedly started observing her nails.

"How is she?"

He asked and Rose raised her eyebrows at him as if she expected Ryder to know the answer to her question.

"Not good at all."

He wondered if he should visit Holly, but he didn't want to do anything that would make her anymore upset than she already was so he walked to his car and decided to go home.

He had been expecting to even catch a glimpse of her face, even if it was only for a second, it would have lifted his mood.

He looked at his reflection in his rearview mirror when he was back in his car. Emerald green eyes stared back at him, he had his mother's eyes and her full lips. Every other thing was from his father, except for his heart.

Ryder had his mother's heart, she loved hard and she loved fierce. And for over twenty years, she had loved no one else but his father.

And staring at the El Pastel Bake Shop with a longing for a woman who he might never see him again, Ryder knew that he had fallen in love with her.

Kim sauntered into Jake's apartment with growing annoyance and mad fury.

She threw her bag at the crimson red wall and fumbled with the straps of her heels.

Jake on the other hand didn't even look up from his computer, he was more concerned with Ryder's growing interest in the company affairs. He wondered if it was an appropriate time for him to quit already.

He had already set up his own company under another alias without Ryder's knowledge, he had also stolen some of Ryder's biggest clients and his last phase of his plan was to anonymously empty the company's account before Ryder's meddling got in the way.

"I can't believe it! That idiot Ryder!! After everything he still went to try and see Holly!!"

Jake sighed in annoyance. He was becoming increasingly disgusted by Kim's hate for her supposed best friend. He wondered what Holly had done to her to make Kim so obsessed with making the poor girl's life a living hell.

"What happened now?" He asked with a dull monotone not for once taking his eyes off his computer screen.

"I was at a shop nearby, keeping an eye on Holly's bakery hoping to see her and taunt her a little when I saw Ryder walk in."

"So?"

"So?" Kim shouted, enraged by Jake's disinterest at the conversation.

"Why the hell would he be seeing her? After what I told him about her, I expected him to move on! Never see her again!"

"Why the hell would he be at her bakery?" Kim asked tired and exasperated. Seeing Ryder still pursuing Holly after everything she had said and done to keep them apart was the most disheartening thing she had ever seen.

It fueled in her hatred so deep that it was destructive and blinding.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe he likes her."

"Likes her? It's the infamous Ryder Bates! He can't fall in love, much less with someone like her!"

Jake finally looked up from his computer.

"He's not as heartless as you think. He once fell in love with a woman named Catalina."

"Really? When was that?"

Kim asked with sudden interest and Jake shrugged.

"Long time ago. She broke up with him and now she's married to some billionaire."

"That doesn't mean he could have fallen for Holly so quickly, I mean... She's so plain. What could he possibly see in her?"

"I don't know. And frankly, I don't care."

"Don't care? I'm furious! I need to do something... Something to tear them apart! Something to bring Holly down."

Kim said as she paced around the room deep in thought till an idea popped in her head.

She stopped and stared at Jake who was still focused on his computer.

"I have the perfect idea."

She said.

"What's that?"

"It's a flawless plan. I just need a lot of money to execute it."

"I'm not giving you a dime Kim, your daily expenses are already digging into my pocket."

Kim put her hands on her waist as she cocked her head and glared at Jake.

"I don't care. I need about a hundred thousand dollars for a start and you're going to give it to me."

Jake chuckled.

"Yeah that's not happening. Do me a favour and close the door on your way out."

"Okay then. I'm sure you won't mind me telling Ryder all about your new company and how you committed fraud in his company."

She said as she picked up her bag and pretended to get ready to leave.

Jake glanced at her quickly, most of the time Kim resorted into blackmail to get her ways and he could never say no to her endless demands because he was scared of what she would do if he said no.

He knew she didn't make empty threats and she was a dangerous woman to deal with.

"What do you need it for?" He asked solemnly as he picked up his phone to make a quick transfer.

"Well, it's just a little something I have planned for Holly. I guarantee you it's the best revenge ever."

"Holly would never be able to recover when I'm done ruining her."

Kim answered with a determined smile that sent chills down Jake's back.