章節 1: PROLOGUE
Picking up the last shards of glasses from the floor which her boss apparently threw on the hard surface in anger, she sighs audibly in exhaustion as the incident rolls in her mind again. Today was a long day and she was expecting everything to go normal as usual, yeah maybe a few flirty interactions with her boss but that's it.
A smile forms on her face in realization of how she's starting to like playing this cat and mouse chasing game with him. Never in her life she experienced this power within her and that's too over a man like Ezra Knight.
But today she saw the brutal truth of his dysfunctional family. His heart broke just like the shards of glasses she collected just now. She knows he doesn't deserve this; in fact, no one deserves this kind of treatment from their family.
Throwing the glass pieces into the dustbin she looked around the dining room for any more traces of glasses but found none. "I guess this is it then." She mentally prepares herself to go to her room and walks through the hall to reach her destination when suddenly another glass breaking sound echoes through the penthouse. "Oh no!" Her heart skips a beat just about thinking Ezra might hurt himself if he keeps on breaking glasses out of anger.
Speeding up, she climbs up the steps towards his room. Knocking on the door she waited for his reply but nothing came from the other side. Fear creeps up her spine thinking he must have done something to himself. Without thinking much, she pushes the door open only to find the room dark, cold and empty.
The windows were open letting in the storm raging outside, making the curtains fly high. "Where is he?" She asks herself looking at the vacant space.
Running inside the bathroom she found it empty too, "what if?" She runs back out of the room searching for him in every room possible available on his floor but still no trace of him.
"Ezra-" she curses herself for blurting out his name to call him, "Mr. Knight!" she rectifies but still no reply from his side. "The sound definitely came from upstairs but if he's not here then where is he?" She stops and leans against the wall to think where else she didn't search.
Her eyes widened instantly, "terrace!" She drastically climbs up the stairs thinking to herself how foolish she was to not think of it before. "Ezra!" Again, she made the mistake of calling him by his name, ugh!
Reaching upon the terrace, the door was indeed open. "Mr. Knight! Are you-" a gasp escapes her mouth when she enters and sees him standing on the railing? "What are you doing?"
She rushed towards him as soon as possible but stopped when she found the glass pieces on the floor right down from where he's standing. She observes him and sees how calm he looks from outside as if he is standing on the land instead of the railing made of bricks and cement.
He cranes his neck towards her slowly and bestows a smile upon her which immediately makes her heart ache. The smile gave away all her answers.
He's alone.
His heart aches.
And he wants her to understand.
"What happened, Stella?" He arches his eyebrow at her, "you look like you just saw a ghost." He chuckles, "am I a ghost to you?"
"Can- can you please get down, Mr. Knight?" She stutters but he looks back ahead into the stormy night.
"Mr. Knight, huh?" He mutters in distaste. "You know, I used to love hearing everyone calling me with respect. Mr. Knight here, Mr. Knight there but now after all these years for the first time I feel hollow. This respect from you doesn't give me pleasure as much as it gives from others."
She knows he's drunk and should not believe his words but the turmoil in her heart is too strong to ignore the truth behind his words. "You will fall. Just… please step down Mr.…" Restraining herself from infuriating him even more, she calmed herself before carefully handling the situation. "Ezra? Please come down."
He laughs cockily even though he's not in the mood, "Feeling pity for me, darling?"
"No, Ezra, I'm serious. Let's talk about it, you always wanted to talk to me, right?" She insists while getting down slowly to remove the glass shards from his side to the other one.
"Don't you dare touch it." He warns her to stop.
"But why?"
"Because you don't need to handle every mess for which I'm the only one responsible." He says without looking at her but she could hear the angry growl in his voice. She knows he didn't just mean about these broken glass pieces, he talked about his life too.
But she can't bring herself to lose her to him now, this affection might ruin the wall she built all these months. "I'm your maid Ezra, this is my job; I will do it." She crouches down to her knees again ignoring his grunts and takes out her wiping cloth from her waist which she always keep on clutched in her apron and wipes away the glasses to the other side so that she can at least drag him down on the floor safely without falling on the glasses.
"She jumped off right from this place and I couldn't do anything about it." He says still looking at the windy nature.
She knows whom he's talking about, the previous maid who committed suicide but till now no one knows the reason behind it. Him opening up now is not the right time and neither his intentions look good. "It's not your fault, Ezra, she did what she wanted."
"How do you know that? In fact, do you even know anything about me?" She felt taken aback hearing the harshness in his voice but didn't stop her work until she swiped all the glasses from the side he could land on.
Standing on her feet again ,she slowly steps towards him, cautiously walking where he's standing, "yes I know everything about you, Ezra."
"I'm not talking about the tabloids, love." He lets out yet another chuckle but it's not filled with humor rather it's dark and depressing. "Whom am I even expecting from. you only care about your loved ones. I am nothing but the man who give you the paycheck, right?"
"You're wrong about it. I do care about you."
"Shut up Stella, you know very well I hate lies." He shouts, making her flinch but she is determined to help him.
Gulping down the lump in her throat she screams at him. "No, you listen to me!" She catches his hand just in time and pulls forcefully towards her making him fall…
…on her.
"Stella!" He cries out thinking she is caged between the shards of glasses and him.
She smiles weakly at him, "I'm fine, don't worry about it."
"The glass- glasses, you are on it." He stutters as he desperately shakes her body to turn and inspect but she puts her hand on his chest making him look at her eyes back.
"I removed them way before you could notice," she assures him but he still keeps on glaring at her when suddenly rain drops start pouring on them grabbing their attention towards it, making everything around still and silent.
His eyes drop to hers again, "What are you really doing here, Stella?"
She drags her hand up from his chest and towards his finely sculpted face and dives into his ocean blue orbs, "Trying to save you." She bites her lips looking at his plump ones, "maybe, saving myself too."
"Save us?" He asks as a glint of hope appears in his face. "What do you mean, Stella?"
"What I mean is, I need you to understand how special you make my day with your charming smile and how you end with a sweet kiss on my cheek." She chuckles, "I like these moments with you, between us which are enough for me to survive."
He shakes his head at her, "but it's not enough for me, I want to know you more; I want to feel you more." He closes his eyes and confesses, "I want to love you more."
Her body froze not due to the cold breeze of the rainy night but due to his confession. "You don't mean it."
She shakes her head at him and pushes his body off her but he doesn't budge instead he catches her hand in his fist and brings it to his lips to kiss.
"Let me show you that I'm capable of loving you," he pleads with his eyes.
"I can't- I'm your employee; I'm your maid. This is wrong Ezra." She objects.
"I don't care, all I care about is you. I want you Stella. I'm empty without you."
"But I'm right here with you."
"You are here in front of me but you aren't mine." He drops his face to her neck and kisses her sweet spot, murmuring against her skin. "I want us to be one, physically and emotionally."
"Ezra- this shouldn't…" she couldn't form her words out of ecstasy which felt like a foreign feeling to her.
"Tell me you want this too, Stella." He whispers right on her lips but stares at her eyes for permission to continue.
Her eyes welled up seeing his sincerity. Never in her life she thought she would be blessed with this man. Men had always shown her cruelty until she met Ezra and that's what makes her heart go against her mind.
She glances at her other hand to the ring finger which seemed empty, light and free. A smile broke onto her face as she found herself nodding at him.
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