Liesl grimaced at Sandy but before she could respond Isaias held his hand up.
“We’re done here. I am taking my family and we’re going to celebrate my employee who has beat out thousands of other people in the country to win tonight’s major award.” Isaias motioned to his parents and his sister. “Shall we?”
Liesl was quiet as she took the proffered hand and walked away from the quartet who was sputtering behind them.
“Machado, we need to finish this conversation.”
“We can finish this conversation on Monday morning at eight in my office. Don’t be late, Trent.”
When Trent started to follow them, Mallory and a crew of men intercepted and created a physical barrier, escorting them into the decorated ballroom.
“There is our table.” Enia said motioning to the nametags near the front of the room. “Let’s take our seats.”
As they sat down, Isaias pulling out her and his sister’s chairs, she felt all eyes on her. Enia leaned close and whispered in her ear, “breathe, Liesl.”
She gave a nod as the adrenaline of the last twenty minutes began to filter away into nervous energy. “Everyone is staring.”
“Because Isaias decided today would be a great day to create chaos,” Enia snorted as she patted Liesl’s arm gently. “Don’t worry too much. This was a long time coming.”
A man she didn’t know approached Isaias and he hadn’t even sat when he stood upright again and shared terse words.
Apolonia distracted her, “you look lovely tonight Liesl.”
“Thank you, Apolonia. You look beautiful as well. You too Enia.”
“Thanks,” Enia made wide eyes. “I got dressed on an airplane, so it was hit or miss but I made it work. I won’t be going home alone.”
“Enia,” her mother chastised. “You can’t jump right into a new relationship.”
“Who said anything about a relationship? The best way to get over a man is to get under or over another one.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Apolonia groaned with irritation.
Enia looked pointedly at Liesl, “Liesl met Isaias a month after she broke up with her husband. It would be soon by your standards, but it seems to be working.”
Isaias sat down again and grimaced, “they changed the presentation a bit. They were only going to do the top three but now they’ll do top five with the first four happening during dinner and the major award will be after dinner. We’ll be here for a couple of hours. I’m sorry Liesl. I’m sure you weren’t looking to stay here all evening after the bullshit you endured from them.”
“I’m good. I got all dressed up. I may as well make the dress worth it.” She was waiting for him to compliment her dress, but he was clearly still thinking of Trent and the takeover as the other family took their seats nearby and stared them down. Isaias glared right back at them with a smug smirk.
She sat there quietly as the table around them made quiet chitchat. Multiple people stopped to say hello and Liesl smiled benignly at multiple enquiring glances. Isaias didn’t introduce her to a single person and eventually she was feeling increasingly out of place. His eyes were firmly fixed on Trent McGrath as if he wanted to stomp all over the man.
Dinner was served and by the time the entrée came around, she could feel the angry stares from the McGrath table and the indifference from Isaias. She had even rested her hand on the table hoping he would take it, but he ignored it. As a result, her own temper was starting to flare up. She could feel the curious glances from Enia and Apolonia at the weird vibe surrounding them.
Aside from holding her hand when they’d been confronting the McGrath’s, he was being quite standoffish.
She felt the buzz of her phone in her purse as the group was listening to a presentation. She looked down to it and saw a text from Merlin asking if she was okay and commenting she appeared upset.
She deleted it without responding and shoved her phone to the bottom of her bag. Liesl leaned sideways to Enia, “I’m going to the ladies room.”
“Do you want me to tag along?”
“No. I should be fine. Mallory is by the door.” She slid out of her seat without a second glance at Isaias who frowned at her departure. She nodded to Mallory who met her at the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Bathroom.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
“Thanks.” From the corner of her eye, she noted Merlin getting up from his table, “hey, can you make sure he doesn’t bug me?”
“Definitely. He won’t get near you.”
“Thank you.”
She entered the bathroom and noted it was noticeably quiet. She pulled her phone out and she called Janka. “Hi.”
“What are you calling me for? What happened?”
“The McGrath clan did, and they pissed everyone off and it was a kerfuffle in the lobby with all eyes on us. Isaias is furious and not speaking to me. I’m so uncomfortable. Merlin is staring me down from across the room and I’d bet my last dollar he’s waiting for me outside this bathroom. I asked Mallory to run interference.”
“Isaias isn’t speaking to you?”
“No. He also took over Trent’s company today, so he and his father took immense pleasure in delivering this news. Then Sandy weighed in with her opinion on how unlucky I am in love. We walked away right after she started in on me again. He’s barely able to even look at me since. I can’t help but wonder if part of this behavior is because of what I said to him Friday morning. He got all quiet the minute she said I had no luck with men.”
“I’m sorry Liesl.”
“I want to leave,” she admitted quietly. “He’s finally got the revenge he wanted on Merlin’s family. He hasn’t reached out directly to me since I confessed how I was feeling. I feel like he is second guessing us and I’m not feeling good about it.”
“But he bought you a dress.”
“He had his PA buy me a dress, probably because he told me earlier in the week he would. He hasn’t even commented on it.”
“Wait! Girl, you looked amazing when you left. Are you telling me he hasn’t told you hot smoking hot you look?”
“Nope. Not a word.”
“Oh honey. What are you going to do?”
“I think I’m going to call an uber but where am I going to go? I can’t go to his place because it’s his place. I can’t go to my apartment because Merlin owns it and apparently Trent has it wired for audio.”
“No!”
“Yup.”
“Come here.” Janka said earnestly.
“Your couch is super uncomfortable.” Liesl sighed loudly. It was plastic and Janka lived in a loft and slept on a mattress.
“Well,” Janka commented, “you’re at a hotel, right? Get a room and check in.”
“It’s probably full.”
“Hold on,” Janka spoke softly, “I’ll check to see if they have any openings.”
Liesl sat quietly while Janka worked her magic on the other end of the phone and then she smiled when Janka confirmed she’d booked her a room.
“Sending you all the details. You’ll need to give them a credit card at the counter.”
“I have my credit card and ID in my clutch.”
“Good. Get your room, order room service, watch some porn and call it a night.”
She laughed at Janka’s suggestion. “Thank you for having my back, Janka.”
“Any and every time. Love you.”
She ended the call and made her way out of the bathroom and noted right away that Mallory was in a standoff with Merlin at the end of the hall. She avoided them and made her way to the reception desk keeping an eye to see whether they noticed her in the distance. They were all so intently arguing with each other they could have dropped on bomb, and nobody would have noticed.
“Hi. I have a room in my name.”
“Are you here for the banquet?”
“I am but I just booked the room. I have a killer headache and rather than go home, I thought I’d try to sleep it off.”
“Of course.”
The woman checked her in with ease and she passed over her credit card. She shot another sideways glance at the squabbling men near the women’s bathrooms and noted Isaias had joined the fray. None of them appeared to notice she was no longer in the ladies’ room. She took her keycard to the room the woman assigned her, and she rapidly made her way to the elevator and stepped inside, giving a loud sigh of relief as the doors closed. This day couldn’t end any faster.
