AXEL


    “Sir Axel?”


    I was dragged out of my trance, dragged back to reality which was this damn conference room, and just back to a meeting that wouldn’t fucking end.


    “Sir Axel, I was talking abo-”


    “How long has this meeting been going on?” I asked the department manager, my voice harsh.


    The others in the meeting room stayed silent, suddenly finding something on their desk so interesting. The department manager looked around, but when he saw he was alone, he swallowed, looking back at me.


    “An hour, sir.”


    I scoffed, but the sound was hollow and bitter. “A fucking hour.” I stood up, adjusting my jacket. “We’re done with this meeting.”


    The manager hesitated. “But sir, the deal-”


    “Would you like to continue this on your own, Anthony?” I asked, my gaze a re and he kept quiet, looking down. “I thought so.”


    I left the room, adjusting my tie even though there was nothing wrong with it. We sealed the deal w that oilingpany, and just when I thought the work would lessen, it just fucking increased.


    “Sir, you still have the meeting with the financial officer,” Faith, my assistant, informed me as she fell in step beside me.


    “Cancel it,” I answered without looking at her. I had reached my damn limit for the day and it was just


    noon.


    Despite the fact that my brothers also handled their own part of thepany, the work never reduced. No, it fucking increased.


    “Send Rose to my office.”


    “Yes, sir.”


    I got to my office and finally loosened the tie, tossing it to the ground as I walked to my mini bar. Against my better judgment, I had started drinking. Father wasn’t so thrilled when he found out, but


    12:55 Tue, Sept


    he could go fuck himself. I was on the verge of going crazy, or maybe just going rampage.


    I didn’t bother with a cup and just drank straight from the bottle, my hands nted on the desk, my


    head bowed.


    Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.


    The door opened and the smell of her perfume made my nose burn.


    “How many times have I told you to lose that damn perfume?” I asked without raising my head.


    I felt her hesitate. “Uhm, I will-”


    “Strip,” I said as I turned to her.


    Her hesitation fell, and she wasted no time taking her clothes off, taking her time. But I wasn’t looking at the show she was putting up. I was looking at her hair. Red and bold.


    One year. That was how long it had been since I set my eyes on my Rose. Since I’ve heard her voice, since I’ve felt the softness of her skin, since I’ve felt her velvet lips on mine.


    I was dying. A part of me was dying.


    Rose finally got naked, and without needing to be told, she started touching herself. I looked at her, but I didn’t see her.


    I was proud that she left, that she changed her number, sold the house we had bought for her, and moved somewhere we didn’t know about. I was d that she was finally away from the monsters that


    we were.


    #


    But at the same time, I hated her.


    I hated her because she didn’t look back. Because she left me bitter, miserable, a drunk, and unable to get my dick up.


    Rose started moaning, loud and so fake, and like every week for the past five months, I told myself to endure it. That I was a man, and a woman touching herself and moaning shouldn’t irritate me, but like every time…


    “Stop.” I turned back to my bar, picking another drink. “Get out.”


    She didn’t get offended; this has been the routine for five months. She didn’t care because she was being paid. I had found her one shitty day when I was drunk. Her red hair was what caught my attention, and when she had said her name was Rose, I knew the world was fucking with me, but I still


    took her number, because I was trying to fill a void, but no one could fill that void except Rosette.


    On thest day we met, I had told her to forgive Kross, but I was just being hypocritical because ! couldn’t forgive him.


    He has been a damn mess,ing to work with his shirt wrinkled, his hair a mess, his tie wrong. And when he went home, he never came out of his room.


    A rift has formed between us, all three of us. A rift none of us knew how to mend, or was even making any effort to.


    I picked up my car key and the bottle of vodka before I headed for the parking lot.


    They looked at me as I walked past, they whispered behind their hands, but fuck each and every one of them. They didn’t know what I was feeling, they would never understand this ache in me. It was like something was brutally ripped from me, and that ce remained empty and was slowly dying, slowly withering.


    I needed her. I needed her more than I needed to breathe. If I didn’t get her, I fear I might not survive


    this.


    I barely remember driving back to the mansion. I barely remembered entering the house and going up the stairs. But I remembered vividly walking into her room. I stood by the door, looking around.


    Everything was exactly the way she left it. Every damn thing. I walked to the bed, sitting gently on it like I didn’t want to disturb it. I picked up her pillow, pressing it to my face, but then my eyes went wide when I couldn’t smell anything. My chest tightened, my heart kicking brutally against my


    ribcage.


    “It’s gone,” I whispered.


    Of course it was gone. A year.


    Tfelt like I was finally going to lose it. Her scent was what had been keeping me sane throughout this torturous one year. It was what had been keeping me grounded, and now… it was gone.


    I picked up my phone, dialing Faith’s number. She picked up on the first ring.


    “Book me a flight to London.”