Lilliana's pov

"Don't date men with a lot of money. They will use and dump you like trash."

My grandmother's words came to mind as I watched Edward Carrington go through my grant proposal. My eyes travelled from the document he was reading to his head. His hair was neatly combed back, not a hair out of place. I could not see his face clearly but even in that angle, it was undeniably perfect. Not to mention he had a body of a Greek god, sculptured to perfection.

"Rubbish," he said, pushing my document across the table. "Get out of my office and come back when you've thought of a better research project."

"What's wrong with my project, sir?" I asked, not willing to accept defeat so easily. I had worked so hard on that proposal for him to rubbish it with one word. The least I deserved was an explanation as to why his company couldn't fund my project yet they had been asking for grant proposals in the field of health. Did women's health not matter to him?

"It's about effects of hormonal contraceptives on women," he said. "There are so many of those. Our company wants something new and fresh. If you don't have a creative mind, don't bother. Go back to doing whatever the hell you do."

This man was rude. My grandmother had been right. Rich men were the scourge of the earth; rude, despicable and extremely prejudiced. It seemed Edward Carrington, the 32 year old CEO of Riverdon Pharmaceutical company was the worst of them all.

"Yes, there is a lot of research about birth control effects but there's minimal research on some of the specific hormonal birth controls. I'm trying to find out the effect of the etonogestrel implant on muscle growth not hormonal contraceptives as a whole which is what most research has done."

"So you thought that was unique or special enough for you to insist on seeing me instead of sending it to our email like everyone else?"

"Yes, did." I said, confidently.

"Well, thanks for wasting my time. Now, get out of my office."

I studied him for a few seconds before continuing. "Edward Carrington. You think you're so great because you're rich. You think you're better than anyone else because your rich ancestors left you some money. You're just lucky and everyone knows you got that position because your family owns the company. You've never had to start from scratch that is why you can easily trash some people's ideas. You have no idea how women struggle to find answers when they experience struggles with birth control. When doctors try to convince that the effects are not directly linked to ‘bc' and all these things. You sit there in your throne like chair, feeling high and mighty, ordering everyone around. Anyway, it's okay. I'm glad that I won't have to work with this kind of company, if those are the values it teaches. Bye."

I stood up. I was about to take a step when he spoke. I paused.

"I earned this position but if thinking I was handed it on a silver plate makes you sleep better at night, by all means keep thinking so. Now get out before you ruin my mood further and I have to call security."

"Gladly," I said, strutting away, my four inch heels creating sharp sounds when they hit the polished floors. I was about to open the door when it opened by its own. People in this stupid company did not even knock. Well, with a bad-mannered CEO, the employees couldn't be great. They were probably worse because of the bad management.

And then I came face to face with him. The man I hated most in the world.

Ronnie Trump.

"Lilliana," he said, smirking.

"Ronnie," I said, feeling nauseous. Even the name itself made me feel disgusted and want to fly out of there as fast as possible. I tried to pass by but he blocked me by putting his hand in front of me.

"Don't touch me," I said, stepping back when his arm was about to come into contact with my body.

It seemed he was not expecting me to shout because he looked surprised. "It's funny how fate works. We meet again, my fiery queen."

Ronnie Trump was the one person I had hoped never to run to. And if I had to meet him, I would have preferred in other circumstances where I had more power and could make him pay for the horrors he put me through. He had destroyed me and I was struggling to heal. I had thought he'd stayed in South Bend, our hometown but he was now in New York. Thankfully, New York was a big city. It was going to be easy to avoid him.

"Ronnie, get out my way because I need to go."

"What if I don't, sweetie?"

I wanted to punch him but he was rich and he could put me in jail for as long as he wanted especially with evidence and a witness. My grandmother had not only warned me about dating rich people but also to never mess with them unless you had to. I took a deep breath and turned to Carrington who was quietly watching our exchange.

"You moron, let the young woman leave. And never do things like this in my office."

"Come on, bro." Ronnie laughed, getting out of my way. "See you around, sweetheart."

I walked towards the reception and sat on a couch, unable to bear it anymore.

"Hey, what's the problem dear?" one of the receptionists appeared where I was.

"Ahhh," I said. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You look like you're going to be sick," she said. "Come on, I'll take you to the rest room."

I nodded, standing up. She wound an arm around me and led me away from the reception.

When I stayed at the rest room, the memories flooded back into my mind after me working so hard to push them to the unconscious part of my mind.

I felt a heaviness in my chest and breathed in deeply to calm myself down. My heart was thumping. It was as if everything had just happened.