Unwanted Pity

Infuriated by her casual dismissal, Gideon strode aggressively across the wet, slick floorboards. His polished leather shoes squeaked harshly against the damp surface. He reached out and tightly gripped Audrey’s thin wrist, wrenching her away from the heavy mop handle with a sharp, punishing tug. He glared down at her.

"You just have to humiliate yourself like this, don't you?" His voice dripped with condescension. "The person Dominic likes is Chloe, not you. Nothing you do will ever change that."

Audrey planted her feet to steady herself. She struggled uselessly against his iron hold, trying to twist her arm free, but his fingers only dug deeper into her delicate skin.

"I know Mr. Caldwell likes your sister. You do not have to reiterate." Audrey stopped fighting and stared blankly at his chest. "Please let go of me. I need to finish my job."

Down the long corridor, a harsh fluorescent light flickered intermittently. Audrey blinked and looked in that direction reflexively, scanning the dim hallway. The shadows danced, empty and silent. Her severe lack of sleep was making her see things again.

Gideon did not let go. Hearing her robotic, detached tone only made his jaw clench tighter.

"Do you really like Dominic that much? Are you willing to stoop so low as to scrub floors just to stay within his orbit?"

Audrey raised her head to meet his intense stare. Rather than defend herself against his absurd accusation, she weaponized his assumptions. A self-deprecating, icy smirk tugged at the corners of her dry lips.

"Does my love for him have anything to do with you? Let us say, hypothetically, I liked you instead. Would you truly want to be romantically involved with the vile perpetrator who tried to murder your own sister?"

The cold, cutting logic hit its mark perfectly. Gideon tightened his jaw. He stared at her for a long moment before his fingers finally loosened, releasing her bruised wrist.

"Why did you have to run over Chloe? You and Dominic were already getting engaged. She would not have been a threat to you at all."

Audrey let her eyelids droop. A bitter wave of unspoken injustice swelled in her chest, suffocating her. She thought of her hellish years of torture in prison, the undeniable truth that she had been framed, the endless nights of freezing agony behind bars. She swallowed the burning truth down like jagged glass.

"No reason. I just felt like it." She offered a hollow murmur.

Gideon stared at her, his breathing turning ragged. He could not believe she would actually say such words out loud. She used to be a little insolent, sure, but she had never been this vicious.

Audrey leaned into the psychopathic role he had already cast her in. She met his shocked gaze with dead, unfeeling eyes.

"What does her misery have to do with me? Someone as wicked as me simply loves seeing her former friends writhe in misery. The more awful her life is, the happier I am."

She kept her expression flat, burying the screaming thought deep in her mind. Could Chloe's pampered life over the past two years truly be worse than the relentless hell she endured in prison?

"How is it that you can be so wicked?!" Gideon demanded, his voice echoing loudly in the hall. "You were Chloe's best friend. You should know that as a dancer, dancing is her life! You broke her leg and ruined her lifelong dream! Do you know how miserable she has been in the past two years?!"

Before Audrey could process the chilling insolence of her false confession, heavy footsteps pounded against the floorboards.

Supervisor Bronson stormed over, his face flushed an ugly shade of red. He was horrified to see a lowly cleaner disrespecting a VIP customer.

"Vance! How dare you speak to Mr. Langdon like that!" Bronson barked, his spit flying as he pointed a trembling finger at the ground. "Drop to your knees! Apologize to him right now!"

Audrey lowered her head. She kept her gaze fixed on the dirty puddle gathering near the tips of her shoes. She stood perfectly motionless.

"Do you not speak English? I said to kneel!" Bronson raised his voice to a deafening roar.

Audrey licked her dry, cracked lips. Without a single word of protest or a flicker of hesitation, she let her knees give out. She dropped heavily onto the freshly mopped, freezing floor.

The icy, filthy mop water instantly seeped through the thin, cheap fabric of her uniform pants. The chill bit sharply into the deep, painful purple bruises she had suffered from kneeling in the snow just days prior. A sharp breath hitched in her throat, but she forced herself to stare down at her blurred reflection in the murky puddle.

"I am sorry, Mr. Langdon."

Gideon made no move to stop her. He stood tall, looking down at her broken form in a heavy silence. His amber eyes tracked the dirty water soaking into her knees, yet he uttered no command for her to rise.

The humiliating spectacle quickly caught the attention of passing elites. Guests in designer clothing slowed their steps, pausing to gander at the pathetic sight.

A baby-faced young woman suddenly stepped out of the gathering crowd to intervene. Roxanne Keller frowned deeply, disgusted by the archaic cruelty on display.

"What is going on here? We live in the 21st century! How are people still forced to kneel?" Roxanne marched forward and grabbed Audrey's arms. "Come on, stand up! Are you an idiot? Just because they asked you to kneel does not mean you should actually do it!"

Ignoring the protests of the staff, Roxanne hauled Audrey back to her feet.

A panicked man rushed out of the crowd and grabbed Roxanne's shoulder, pulling her back.

"Roxanne, do not meddle in other people's business!" The man pulled her aside. He turned to Gideon with a terrified expression, clearly recognizing the immense power the man held and fearing the consequences of offending him. "Please forgive her, Mr. Langdon. My friend just arrived in Florawood and does not know any better. I will take her away this instant."

Roxanne shook off his grip. She stood with her arms akimbo, stubbornly and bravely shielding Audrey with her own body.

"I am not going anywhere! What kind of man bullies a woman like this?"

The male companion looked beyond apprehensive, pale with genuine fear as he glanced nervously at Gideon.

Audrey looked at the kind, innocent stranger. She could not drag this girl into her bottomless mud. She forced a gentle, reassuring smile and pushed Roxanne away.

"Thank you. I am fine. You should go and enjoy yourself with your friends."

The man and another woman seized the opportunity. They grabbed Roxanne by the arms and dragged her down the long hall.

Roxanne refused to give up. As she was dragged away, she twisted her head back over her shoulder.

"I am in Room 4502! Come find me if you need any help!"

The literal second Audrey turned back around to face Gideon, her gentle smile vanished. A mask of cold stone replaced it.

Gideon watched this rapid, jarring shift in her expression. His amber gaze turned deeply complicated and conflicted. The stark contrast between the warmth she showed a stranger and the icy deadness she reserved for him gnawed at his chest.

"I will not give a damn about you anymore since you like being tortured so much!" Gideon snapped furiously.

He reached into his tailored pocket. Knowing perfectly well that her legs were severely battered and bruised from her previous punishments, he pulled out a premium tube of imported medical ointment. He stepped forward and shoved the small tube into her dirty hands.

Audrey did not even spare the medicine a single glance. She tightened her grip on the plastic and shoved the tube right back into his hard chest.

"It is my own business how I choose to torture myself. It has nothing to do with you, and I do not need you to give a damn about me ever again."