"Mrs Trusk!"
Anna slowed down, reducing her pace so her secretary could catch up since she had been running after her ever since she walked out of her office. Anna had half her focus on getting to the elevator and the other half on things about home, things like him, Angelo. She had only noticed the young lady that had been running after her, calling her over and over again when she was a few paces close.

"Mrs Trusk!"
Anna stopped right in front of the elevator, giving the really tall lady a chance to meet up while she let her bodyguard push the necessary buttons.

"Ma'am," 
Besides the fact that she was breathing really loudly from all that running, Anna felt her when she got closer and she wasn't really happy she did. Anna had a lot on her mind as it was and the last thing she needed to hear was anything about work.
She really didn't need to be stressed about work more than she already was and she was almost sure that was the news her secretary brought, more work. She had her palms sweaty while she waited for the doors to come open.

"What is it Mariam?"
She asked weakly  a few seconds after she felt the lady's presence take a stand beside her as  she tried to pull her skirt a down a bit after it had risen above her knee thanks to all that running.

She just had twenty minutes to be on the top floor with the rest of the board for the meeting, one she didn't want to even attend and now she had to entertain a discussion about work she was really not interested in.

It hadn't even been two months and running the company was already too difficult for her. Who ever knew so much power came with so much stress? The pressure was a lot. Sometimes, like this time, it felt like she had no idea what she was doing. She could barely breathe without thinking about those that were dependent on this moment, she had a lot of people to prove somethings to, people she had to protect, people she had to show they were wrong about her, people she had to show she was fine without them. Running the company was hard, harder than she had ever imagined and sometimes, she just wanted to end it, to end all of it and return home, if her brother ever accepted her back.

She was sure there were a lot of people in the company that wanted her to make a mistake so the board could vote her out. Engaging in all the activities she could, helped her keep everything under control. Every board meeting, every project, every proposals and partnership meetings, she knew she had to always have her ears on the ground. Having spies here and there, private investigators and a PA wasn't enough. She knew she couldn't trust anyone.

"I'm sorry to disturb you ma'am but a change has been made in your schedule."

Anna watched the lady pull her glasses up from her nose while she stared into her iPad. Anna rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe her secretary had just chased her all the way to the elevator just to upset her on her schedule.

"What changes?" Anna had to at least act like she cared.

"Mrs Katherine called earlier. She would like to have lunch with you after your meeting."

Mariam kept her gaze focused on Anna even though Anna was barely looking at her, she hoped that at least that name was supposed to brighten up her face a little

"I would like to know if I should include it into your schedule ma'am?"

She continued, observing Anna's gaze carefully

Anna exhaled it was obvious she wasn't listening. Anna had no idea in the least what Mariam was talking about. She had her mind somewhere else.

" Ma'am?"
Anna exhaled.

"I don't know Mariam. I'm fine with whatever really."

"Oh." Mariam said almost in a whisper. "Alright ma'am"

Ding!
Finally!
Anna waited patiently for the elevator door to get open. It did. She raised her head to make for the entrance of the elevator when she froze.

Anna swallowed hard.
She needed a second, a second to snap out of it, to take in what was in front of her, more like who.

The loud sound of Patricia's scoff made her let out a weak exhale and brought her back to her senses.

What on earth was she doing there?
Anna wanted to ask that so bad. She could feel Patricia's gaze boring a hole on her forehead.

"Ma'am,"

Mariam could notice how Anna wasn't making a move. Had she forgotten they had somewhere to be? She couldn't afford to be late for the board meeting. The board was giving her a hard time as it was, they were constantly looking  for reasons to get her out of the company, she knew she couldn't give them that satisfaction. Anna drew a deep breath, convincing herself to snap out of it.

It's no big deal Anna, just act natural.

Patricia's attention focused on Anna as she walked out of the elevator.

"Excuse me miss but you're not supposed to be here. All staffs and visitors are expected to use the staff elevator at the other part of the hall." Mariam had to own up to her job but Patricia didn't take her eyes off Anna for one bit. She kept staring, chewing hard on her gum and it made Anna really uncomfortable. Too uncomfortable to even look back.

"And why is that? "
Patricia asked.

Mariam looked at Anna, and then back at Patricia thinking for a suitable answer to her question like there was even an answer to it. Everyone that worked in that building had to know that that particular elevator was for the Executives of Trusk industries. The CEO, and members of the board even without being told. There was no way she could have missed the signs on the doors.

This was intentional. It had to be.

"It's Okay Mariam."
Anna had had enough. She wasn't going to make a big deal out of this too. There was no big deal being in an elevator with another woman and not just any woman. Her husband's ex.

Yes,

Anna knew exactly who Patricia was. She didn't need an introduction. She did her homework on Angelo before she said the words "I do" to him. She knew the woman in front of her and her story with Angelo. She knew enough. Anna walked into the elevator with her bodyguard behind her, sticking as close to her as possible.

The door closed slowly and Anna took a deep breath.

There was nothing to be worried about, she knew there was no Way Patricia was ever going to try to hurt her anyway. She hoped Shink  was right about her though, from what he told her, Patricia wasn't a violent in person. She always knew what fights to not engage in and was better at throwing shades and subs than punches.

Anna held on tight to her wrist, hoping there would not be any reason to break the silence.

"You're Anna aren't you?"

That was it,
A reason to break the silence. Anna swallowed hard. She turned slowly to Particia and let out a tiny fake smile too. She turned back to her phone.

"I know you know who I am."
at the point, Anna knew her plan to ignore Patricia wasn't going to work. She was trying so hard to start a conversation. She stopped texting.

Tap! Tap.

Anna could hear Patricia's heels make loud sounds as she walked closer towards her. She could smell her better now. She registered her scent.
She took a deep breath

"Look here."

Anna felt a tight grip on her hand. She quickly turned to Patricia. She had her eyes focused on her while her fingers pierced deep into her wrist, right below Anna's bracelet. The way she glared at Anna was like she had something to say to her, she had a lot to say to her and the fact that Anna was intentionally ignoring her irked her the more.

Her bodyguard stepped forward to stop Patricia but she looked pretty determined to say what she wanted.

"It's okay."
Anna had to make sure he stayed out of it. The last thing she needed was them getting into a fight with a human or hurting someone important to Angelo. She could already come up with a hundred other sides of the story when people began to talk.

"I'm fine." she assured him, convincing him him to step back. She had everything under control and even if she didn't, Patricia was no match for her. She could handle it. She could take care of herself.She slowly turned to Patricia.

"Let go of me Patricia and we can talk."

"We?" Patricia scoffed. "So now you know me? You know my name? It didn't look like you did earlier. There's no we in this. This is just me talking, and you listening."

Anna sighed.
She already knew what to expect, she knew what was about to happen, she knew what Patricia was going to say even before she said it, but she waited, for some reason, she wanted to hear it.

"Now look, I don't know you so I'm going to keep this as short as possible because we obviously have things to do. I don't know exactly what you want or what it is you're up to and I don't have anything against your kind but I'm warning you, if you do anything to hurt Gelo, I will come for you and I would make you feel my wrath ten times more than you can imagine. I will rain hell on you and everything you care about and I will destroy you, piece by piece till there's nothing left for you. "

Anna scoffed.

"You must have managed to fool everyone into doing all you wanted and into falling for your ridiculous identity but you don't fool me. I am not scared of you, or any of you." Patricia turned to Anna's bodyguard. He kept a straight face.

Ding!

The elevator stopped and the door opened slowly. None of them moved. Anna did not take her eyes off Patricia and neither did she. The mood in the elevator was....cold. You could literally feel the bad blood between both ladies from wherever you stood in the hallway. Patricia tightened her grip on Anna's wrist.

No one moved. It didn't look like anyone was going to leave the elevator first anyway.

"Patricia?"
The sound of his voice broke the silence and the energy. Patricia let go of Anna's hand quickly and turned at the sound of Angelo's voice, forcing a smile on her face. Angelo narrowed his gaze on them both, he could see how tensed Patricia looked and how Anna gently rubbed her bruised wrist. Her wrist was red all over, Patricia had dug really deep into her skin, that could explain all the finger nail marks.

"Gelo." Patricia hurried out of the elevator like nothing had happened, pretending like she didn't just see Angelo catch her hurting Anna like that.

Anna dropped her wrist quickly as she followed Patricia out of the elevator, she knew the last thing she needed was making a huge scene out of nothing. She just had to let it slide, it wasn't like Angelo cared about anything concerning her anymore. He made the clear the other day, besides, he was never going to choose her over Patricia.

Angelo could see her trying to pull her sleeve down to cover the red patch round her wrist from Patricia's tight grip. She was trying so hard not to look at him and when she did for a second and he looked away. Anna let out a weak exhale, of course, just as she had imagined. What did she even expect?

Yup, he was still pretending not to care about her.
He turned to Patricia.

"Patricia, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean Gelo?" She let the smile on her face widen. "I came to see you." She reached for his hand, narrowing her gaze on his pale skin. "You don't look so good."

Anna raised her head to him the moment Patricia had said those words. She was right, Angelo did look so pale. His whole face had lost color and his lips too. His eyes were dim and sleepy.
He looked...terrible.

"I'm fine."
He pulled his hand away before it got weirder. That was obviously a lie. "I just need to rest that's all."
He cleared his throat.

"Really?" She had to ask.
Angelo nodded to assure her.

Anna let out a shaky breath. There was no need standing there any longer especially since she had heard him admit he was okay. Why did she have to care about him when he obviously didn't care about her?

"Come on Ben."
She called her bodyguard. "We have a meeting to get to." She looked away from Angelo And started to walk away without taking another look at him. Angelo held his breath when she walked past him, feeling her shoulder graze his slightly. Was she really okay? Was she really going to leave like that? She wasn't even going to ask if he was fine even though he obviously Wasn't? She was just going to be cold and mean till the end? He scoffed weakly in disbelief. Was she really not going to talk to him?

"I don't like this Angelo."
He turned his attention back to Patricia.

"You should go home and get some rest."

For some reason, hearing her talk to him made him really disgusted. He could remember clips of how she had grabbed on tightly to Anna when the elevator opened in his head and could remember how Anna's wrist was filled with bruises. It made him really upset and even more now she was starting to talk to him again.

"Don't do that again."

Silence
Patricia frowned.

"Do what?"

"You know what I mean."

"I just wanted to talk Angelo."

"You hurt her."

"Since when did you care? She's not human. She probably didn't feel it."

"Atians are not immune to pain Patricia."
She scoffed and frowned harder. Why did she have to care? Why did he have to care? Why did any of them have to care about the reason why they couldn't be together? About why she couldn't be with the man of her dreams? About Anna.

"What did you just call me?" Reality hit her.

"What?"

"Patricia. You just called me patricia."

"So?"

"You never call me Patricia. It has always been Tricia."

Angelo rubbed his forehead. Was that it. Was that what really bothered her at that point? He let out a weak breath, he wasn't even sure he was cut out for another argument. He was out of a lot of energy.

"I'm sorry, but does that even matter?"

Patricia froze. She couldn't believe it and he knew, he could see it.

"I can't do this right now."
She turned to leave.

"Come on Tricia. Please wait."
He tried to go after her but he couldn't.

He cringed back as soon as he felt a sharp pain on his chest when he stretched his hand to her but Patricia didn't stop, she couldn't. She was hurt and really embarrassed. She hurried as fast as she could towards the door and got back into the elevator.

Angelo exhaled.
He watched Patricia glare at him just as the door closed slowly.

This wasn't the Angelo she knew.
This Angelo was different, this Angelo was in love with someone else, someone that wasn't her. She could feel it. She knew it.

"Patricia!"