Chapter 4 CHAPTER 4

Drew wears his tuxedo with his usual gait and confidence, all the adornment he needs to get the ladies drooling. He loves what Tracy s crew has done with his ballroom. That girl is good. The guests are arriving and the room is getting filled up. Drew move around the circle with a glass of wine in his hands chatting and mingling, and of course with Tracy latching to his arms and hanging on to his every word. Tracy is not ready to relinquish her position at Drew s side; she has come prepared in her Red short dress, her auburn hair in a wavy cascade down her back and her killer shoes complementing her hot long legs. She indeed is a feast for the eyes, and not willing to give any lady a chance for competition. ?Drew must admit that his companion looks good. But he is just not into her. Aside from the glued human-sized doll attached to him, Drew is having a good time. He makes new contact and reconnects with old friends too. Some of the guests meet Drew introducing business partners and acquaintances and congratulating Drew on his new achievement. Tracy stays glued to Drew s arm through it all, ensuring to assert her position with Drew in the mind of the guest, with a plastic smile on her face, responding an intermittent "Nice to meet you" Trina one of Tray s girls grew a liking to Nadia, keeping her company for the night as they serve the guest. "Nadia, forget the black and white uniform you are the belle at this party." Trina admires Nadia. "You must be joking" Nadia laughs it off "I can see all eyes trailing your movement" Trina continues. That s an exaggeration, all eyes you mean? Nadia asks in sarcasm. "Well, only one set of eyes I want on me tonight" Trina gushes. "And whose will that be?" Nadia asks "Andrew Sebastian!" She said his name like she is having an orgasm at the mere mention of his name. "Who is that?" Nadia whispers ignorantly "Did you just ask who? You don t know Drew? He is the heir to The Sebastian Corporation." "I have never met him, and I don t think I will," Nadia says regretfully. "He is the man the boss lady s arm candy, she will not allow even a butterfly move close to him she is one lucky lady," Trina says with a dream-like expression on her face. "Get a grip young lady" Nadia scolds with a chuckle. Pablo enters the serving quarters, interrupting their chats, "what are you girls doing?" Before he says more, the girls hurriedly disperse going about their business for the night. Nadia was working and serving, moving in and out of the crowd, but she feels someone is watching her every move, she can not place it but she is sure, she looks around but no one seems to be watching, maybe she is just paranoid and her mind is playing tricks on her because of what Trina said earlier so she shrugs it off. Tracy finally has to powder her nose, leaving Drew to really be alone for the first time since the evening. Retiring to a corner, his glass of wine in his hands, resting on the polished banister like a king surveying his kingdom, and watching the guest chat, mingle, and laugh. This is one of Drew s fortes, he likes to patiently observe, by detaching himself from things to have a clear and unclouded picture, which helps to be objective especially in business decision making. This particular quality has helped him from making business and personal errors several times. From his elevated position in the house, his eyes land on a particular girl weaving her way in and out of the crowd attending to his guest, The sight of her does something to his body, he is not willing to examine. He rolls with ladies but with emotional restrictions. And this particular one is off-limit. He does not want anyone feeling cheated. All his relationships are defined from the get-go. His partners are women of the world, who know what they are getting into. Well except Tracy who is clingy and taking advantage of their long-time friendship. His eyes following her every move just for amusement, or so he thinks. ********* Nadia s feet are killing her, standing and working for hours straight is beginning to get to her, those feet are crying for help,? if she doesn t get a rest anytime soon, they might just give out on her. She locates Pablo to inform him she needs fresh air just for a few minutes. The party has gotten to his peak and things are beginning to wind down, some couples are on the dance floor, some people are chatting probably on business matters, that s all they do at these parties anyway and some couple are having private moments in dimly lit corners, she sees no reason why Pablo will not allow her. Nadia excuses herself to the patio on the first floor of the mansion, admiring the interior of the house, such a piece of art. She was engrossed in her work that she had little or no time to admire her surroundings; she can do that now with no interruption. The house is simply magnificent, how many rooms will be in this mansion? She wonders. The golden chandeliers in the ballroom, like nothing she ever saw in her life, how hard does one need to work to get enough money to put this together. She looks into the sky the stars glittering, some stars are brighter than others. Remembering the stories her Mum used to tell her when she was younger, that everyone is a star, but you become one when you leave the world you go into the sky to become one but your brightness depends on how good you were while on earth. She identified two bright stars close together glittering, those must be her parents she thought, her eyes shimmer with unshed tears. How she misses her parents. They had little but just like the Darrel s, they were just fine………….. Nadia entered the small condo she shared with her parents. Small but comfortable, every single interior décor had been made by her Mum s loving hands. She believed that even if you had little, your home should be neat and welcoming. Nadia was waiting the time she would eventually leave for college, get a good degree and make life a little comfortable for her parents, Mum had always told her she is a star and she is special, but for now, she had to keep working and believing that, one day the star will shine brighter enough to illuminate her parent s life. The apartment was eerily dark, which was unusual. Mum, if not her Dad should be home. She had a sense of foreboding she could not quite flip. She went to the fridge to see what to make for dinner, but the car headlights from a car entering their driveway interrupted her stride. That must be her parents; she went to the door and open before they could. Instead of Mum or Dad, was a uniformed man: "Are you Miss Nadia Simon?" "Yes" "I m sorry, there was an accident and I m afraid, they didn t make it." Those were the words that changed Nadia s life……… Tears were streaming from her eyes, her gaze still on those two shining stars. A ruffling sound of movement behind her brought her back from the past. Wiping her eyes quickly before turning afraid Pablo would be fuming by now. She turned and a shadow was blocking the doorway. "Hello Angel," he says in a slurred speech. "Who are you?" She asks in a trembling voice, either from so many tears or from fear she does not have time to analyze. The man moves towards her in a staggering gait, his face still in silhouette from the light behind him. "I have been waiting to catch you alone all night; it must be my lucky day." The stranger keeps moving slowly towards her. By now she is sure that it is the fear gripping her that is making her voice tremble. She keeps moving backward one step after another as the man moves even closer. She can not see his face but can sense the impending doom his intentions might bring. He was about a few feet from her, he launches at her. Nadia is terrified out of her skin; no one can hear her from the patio even if she screamed. His hands are now holding her in a death grip. His inebriated breath on her cheeks, feeling her head with the smell of alcohol she turns her head either thither, but she is no match for his strength. He aims a sloppy kiss at her lips but landed on the cheeks in her struggles. The beast grabbed one of her shoulders in with one hand, and the other hand pressing her tightly to him, making her feel his arousal, the instrument of his desire poking her mid-section. Nadia was scared to death, screaming and struggling. She is giving up when a strong hand lifts the beast off her. Nadia feels more than seeing the Man lifted and punched to the floor making a thud sound. Whoever that just saved her would remain in her book of gratitude for life. Drew thinks he hears screams but cannot be sure, but no one is up on the patio, even if anyone was there, they could be couples in need of privacy and he is not about to walk on anyone one doing the deed. But it comes again, a shrill, he had the sense to go check, he is a top businessman and one can t but step on toes, but one thing has always kept him out of harm s way- his intuition. That sixth sense is telling him to go check. Drew steps into the balcony, and his expression becomes like its cast in stone, his jaw clenched and hand in a tight fist. The guts of one of the patrons to try and molest a woman in his house, he closes the distance in short strides lifts the Man off the lady and landed him a deadly punch, he will not recover from in a while. Drew moves to the switch turns it on to see who the scoundrel is, but freezes up at the sight that greets him. A beautiful damsel in distress, flooded by the golden glow of the balcony lamp, her blond hair escaping her hair band, one gold loops dangling on her ear, the other is nowhere to be found, and her shirt rumpled and askew at the shoulder with some of the buttons missing, both of her hands holding her shirt together attempting to cover what is left of her dignity with her face downcast. If seduction were a person, then she is standing right in front of him. He won t blame the man for being attracted to her, but how he chose to express it is appalling. Nadia stands ashamed of what almost happened, Shivering as the cool night breeze blows on her skin. Drew moves cautiously, past the unconscious man on the floor, careful not to scare her the more. "Are you alright?" he asks in the gentlest voice he could muster. Nadia kept standing shocked, and afraid to lift her head or even move from the spot. Why is fate cruel to her? She comes out the first time to try to find a balance in her life and here she was almost raped! Drew kept moving gently scared she might just bolt if he moved too fast, considering what she just experienced. "No one will hurt you again." He promises Drew is now close enough to touch her, but kept his hands to himself, instead remove his tux jacket and cover her up. Nadia quickly holds the jacket to her body with trembling hands. Still not speaking or moving, except for her trembling fingers one will think her to be a beautiful statue. Drew moves slightly closer having no choice but to lift her head up gently with his hands. She flinches but did not step back. Slowly raising her face to the prompts of his fingers till her shimmering golden eyes connects with his midnight blue ones. Drew gasp, not from hypoxia but those eyes- they have haunted him since he first laid eyes on them, how he tried to forget them, but they kept haunting his dreams with the sadness lurked behind them, and their mesmerizing beauty. Looking at her face purely takes his breath away, how he wants to protect her and keep her safe and happy so much so that all he sees in those eyes is pure joy and laughter. Nadia looks into the deep blue eyes of her hero and she was would recognize those eyes anywhere. "Where have you been?" She asks without uttering a word, her heart and eyes doing all the talking He must have heard it….. "I m here, so sorry, you had to experience this at my party," he says in response to her unuttered question. Trina and Pablo are worried, searching the service quarters looking for Nadia. Trina suggests she go look for her outside climbing up to the back stairs to the patio…. She was surprised at what she is seeing, a man lying on the floor just coming gradually from a punched induced coma, and a Man with his back to her, talking or kissing or whatever he is doing with a woman….. She is moving away, the Man turns and it was her forever crush Drew…… but who is the woman? That cannot be the?Boss lady…… Trina stands at the doorway looking at the drama unfolding before her "Let me take you home" Drew says to Nadia, moving away enough for Trina to recognize her. Holding her hand, her other still holding his jacket as close to her as possible. He pulls her gently towards the entrance where Trina still stands….. But not before he gives the man on the floor a kick… causing a grunt and a flow of intoxicated vulgarities from him. ?Seeing who the lady is, Trina exclaims from her position at the entrance, "Nadia Simon? What in God s name happened here?" mouth ajar, taking in her friend s disheveled state. Drew holds Nadia s small hand tightly in his larger ones. Not giving any explanation to Trina but leaving her open-mouthed, gaping at their retreating backs.