Malea’s POV
I spun around to see— Myra? She had her honey blonde hair tied in a low chignon, a pair of reflective Gucci sunglasses perched on her head. She shot me a sly smile and walked over to us. My heart pounded wildly. She knew about Lucian and I way before Lucian and Ales filed a divorce. What did she want now?
Once she got to our booth, she pushed me aside so I was pressed up against the window and she took the seat across from Lucian. I pushed her a bit so I had more space to myself.
I didn’t know Myra knew Lucian. Lucian smiled widely at Myra, an estatic look in his eyes. “Long time no see, Mi-Mi.” I flinched at the nickname. A pang of jealousy rang through me as I ground my teeth together.
Myra grinned and swatted Lucian playfully. “I know. It’s been so long and I was wondering when I would see you.” She turned to me and winked. “I actually bumped into Malea outside your work one day. We had an interesting conversation.”
Lucian perked up. “Mind sharing?” He asked me.
Myra threw her head back and laughed. “It’s a secret.” She placed her pointer finger on her lips suggestively as if to say “shh” and grinned.
I cleared my throat and they turned to face me as if they hadn’t even noticed I had been there until now. “Lucian, did you use to date Myra also?” I asked, angry with the fact that Myra had overpowered our date at the moment.
Lucian frowned and shook his head in disbelief. “No. Myra’s my cousin on my mother’s side.” Immediately I realized just how stupid I sounded and I felt my face flame up in embarrassment. I felt like curling up in a hole.
Myra hid a smug giggle behind her hands.
“My mother has a sister who gave birth to Myra and ever since we were kids we never went anywhere without each other.” Lucian finished, taking my hand in his in reassurance.
Myra winked. “Not even the bathroom.”
Ew. Lucian flustered in embarrassment. “No. We were like 2 years old and we took baths together but there wasn’t much we could do about that..” He trailed on, his neck flaming red. “Anyway, later on we lost contact and now here she is!”
Myra squealed. “Here I am!” She turned to me then. “How’s Ales? I cannot believe that you and Lucian started dating right after that huge divorce fiasco on TV! That’s a little heartless if you ask me. I mean in a weeks time after Lucian announced the divorce, Malea’s already all over him.”
I gulped. I opened my mouth to say something to defend myself but nothing came out. It did seem really heartless of me to begin dating someone my best friend just divorced. The waiter gave me my tall glass of lemonade and Lucian’s coke and walked away.
“And to think that Ales is perfectly fine with it kind of baffles me! If I was her I wouldn’t let something like that slide. Especially if my best friend did that to me. I mean—” Myra babbled, only making me realize how much of a crap friend I am.
“That’s enough, Myra.” Lucian said harshly, giving my hand another reassuring squeeze.
“Have you at least spoken to her?” She inquired with a raised eyebrow at me.
I nodded. “Of course. We spoke this morning—”
“So you and Lucian are officially dating?” Myra cut me off. She leaned over and took Lucian’s tall glass of coke and took a long gulp, her mauve lips wrapped around the straw over-suggestively. I clenched my free hand in frustration. Who does she think she is?
I shot Lucian a hard glance. He cleared his throat. “Yes. Malea is my girlfriend.” That wasn’t what I was hoping he would say. I was expecting him to tell Myra off and ask the waiter for a new drink, but instead he took another sip from the same straw and acted like Myra hadn’t just passed her saliva through the same object.
I avoided his eyes. The waiter came back with our food and Lucian and I began eating while Myra talked.
Myra clapped her hands. “How cute! What happened to Yurissa though?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. Yurissa? Are they talking about the woman I met at the bar on my last day of work as a bartender?
Lucian paled, dropping his fork on his plate. “I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“You dated Yurissa?” I asked, suddenly curious as to why at the mention of her name, Lucian would pale.
Myra pushed out her lower lip in a pout. “Lucian, you haven’t told her about Yurissa yet?” Lucian shook his head once and Myra put her hand to her mouth in surprise. “Well I reccomend you should. Malea might want to know what she’s getting herslef into.” Myra laughed as if she’d just said the funniest joke.
Lucian frowned. “I think you should go, Myra.”
Myra shrugged and flipped open her compact that she had just dug out from her Balenciaga bag. She reapplied her mauve lipstick and returned her things into her bag. “I guess I better be going.” She exchanged numbers with Lucian before walking off. There was just something about Myra that made me keep my guard up.
After I was sure Myra was gone, I moved back to my original spot and turned my attention back to Lucian. “Who’s Yurissa?”
“She was my last girlfriend before you.” Lucian said.
“I want the whole story because when I last asked Levi about his ex, things turned out terribly.” I stated, done with this bullshit.
Lucian sighed. “Yurissa and I had been going out for about 2 years and suddenly word got out that she was pregnant and the baby wasn’t mine. I mean I know for a fact that the baby isn’t mine because she told me.” I urged him to continue.
I puzzled. “So what happened to her?”
“My father got involved. He made her swear to stay out of Manhattan and in exchange he gave her millions of dollars.” Lucian shook his head. “I hate the way my father manipulates situations to suit himself. I wanted Yurissa to stay in Manhattan, but my father refused and there was nothing I could do about it. He said that if she stayed then the press would do nothing but talk about it and taint our name.”
I sucked in a breath. I never knew this side of Lucian nor have I ever even seen his father. “Is she okay? Have you kept contact with her?”
Lucian shook his head. “One of the rules was that Yurissa and I couldn’t keep in touch or talk or communicate in any way. I’ve tried countless times to call her number but it never goes through. I’m almost certain my father made her change her number as well.”
I hadn’t even realized that I had Yurissa’s number until Lucian had dropped me off at home and I was in bed. I’ll make sure to tell Lucian tomorrow…
***
Malea’s POV
I put on a pair of suede heels and grabbed my keys, my phone tucked between my shoulder and ear.
“Hi, Yurissa. This is Malea, the bartender.” I added in case she didn’t know who I was. “I was just wondering if you could call me back. Have a nice day. Bye.” I clicked off the phone and sighed. After leaving 5 messages
in different time intervals I wasn’t sure if Yurissa would answer. I really want to talk to her myself before I tell Lucian that I have her number.
I closed my door and locked it behind me before making my way to my car. After getting in, I turned out of the apartment complex and began my way to King Enterprises.
As soon as I pulled into a parking space and made my way into the building, the I first thing I noticed was how everyone turned to look at me. Confused, I made my way to the receptionists desk to check in. A woman of the name Caroline stood behind the desk with a tight smile and as soon as I neared the desk, her smile dropped to a sneer.
I brought out my King Enterprises ID and showed it to her. “I’m—”
“A whore? I already know. You’re the one Lucian cheated on Ales with, right?” She interrupted. My stomach plummeted to my shoes.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You know what I’m talking about! How could you possibly go behind your best friend’s back and start dating her husband? Lucian deserves someone better than you.” Caroline continued with more venom in her words as she spoke.
My throat went dry and I blinked away my teary eyes. “What are you talking about, Caroline?”
She shook her head in disgust. “Did you not all the emails that leaked? It’s all the emails you and Lucian sent to each other while he was still married to Ales.” She said. What emails? Lucian and I never emailed each other at all. Never once.
I swallowed past the rock in my throat. “Where did you see these emails from?”
“They’re everywhere! Just search it up and it’s the first thing you’ll find.”
Without even thinking, I spun around and ran back to my car. I know who might have done this.
***
Alesandra’s POV
The doorbell rang. I sighed and stood up then made my way over to the door. I unlocked it and opened the door to see Malea. She looked furious.
“What’s up, Malea?” I asked, concerned.
She pushed past me and into the house, slamming the door behind her. “Don’t what up me!”
I stepped back in surprise. I’ve never seen her this angry before. “Malea. What are you angry about?”
Then she began crying from her frustration, her fury still clear in every word. “I thought you said you were okay with me and Lucian! You didn’t have to leak those emails that I never sent! Now I can’t even go to work without someone telling me I’m a whore or a backstabber!”
I swallowed. I didn’t want to see her like this. “Malea. I never leaked ANY emails. I’ve been with Winter all day. We were planning on inviting you over to go shopping with us but…” I trailed off. Winter was still in the living room watching Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Then she froze. “You’re tell me, that you never leaked false emails? Because I could name a number of reasons why you would.” She said, her voice harsh.
I shook my head with empathy. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “Malea. I would never do that to you no matter what happened. You’re my best friend. The only friend I’ve had for years. Please don’t think of me like this.” I stepped back to look her in the eyes.
She nodded and swallowed back another wave of tears. “I know it wasn’t you, Ales. I just… don’t know anymore.”
I cocked my head to the side curiously. “Since it obviously wasn’t me that leaked those horrendous emails, then who did?”