Catherine's POV
"I like that" he said, he replied with a smug smile.
I didn't take my gaze away from him and my usual shy self was nowhere in sight.
I'm making my intentions clear because I hate secrets and he doesn't look like he likes lies too.
"My wife also left me last year, although my situation is a little different from yours but we have similar stories". He said and I nodded.
So he was married? Did she cheat too?. I wanted to ask but held myself back. I knew his story was more than that because it seems we are just a couple of broken people coming together.
He turned away and we stayed in silence until about ten minutes later.
"The Ferdinando aren't that powerful, they are a bunch of greedy people sharing the same blood and money they made through illegal means." He said and let out a dark chuckle that sent a chill down my spine.
That was the last thing we said to each other that night. I can't say if he was being nice to me or he is just too nonchalant but none of that matters to me.
I got down to the dining room the following morning to find out that he had left very early in the morning.
"Where did he go?" I asked the person that had passed on the message to me.
He looked away and couldn't respond for a few seconds.
"Never mind, it's fine". I said with a smile at him and he excused himself in a rigid manner.
Now, left all alone, I have time to do everything I want to.
The first thing to do is to go to the company, before everything had I believed in came crumbling down like a gingerbread house–i worked in the finance department of the company, Dad had actually forced me to, I had graduated from business school with honours but I only worked for the last two years in a sector that barely get touch with the real dealings of the company.
And today I would go there to know if I was being thrown out of the family completely, or still permitted to work.
With the help of the maids, I got ready to leave for the company. Gerald had also assigned a driver to me and I paused for a minute in front of the car that he brought out. It was an Infiniti QX60 in mineral black colour.
This was too much for the company, it would put me in a difficult situation. Since they believe I have nowhere else to go, I need them to keep thinking that until I have finally gotten stronger than they can imagine.
"Isn't there a less extravagant car that we could use?" I asked the driver and he shook his head with a frown.
Probably wondering what was wrong with me.
He waited for me to make up my mind but I chose something else, a safer option for now.
"Call an uber for me". I said to him as I pondered on my choice.
"Uber?
The boss ordered that I drive you anywhere you want to go". He replied with a pained expression, it was clear it doesn't sit well with him to disobey his boss.
"I am fine, I will be fine". I winked at him and just walked away while calling for an uber.
I got to the company slightly later than I intended, I had just stepped into the lobby when several eyes turned to watch me.
"Oh, how could I have forgotten my humiliation was publicised?".
I slightly dropped my face, and hurried to the elevator but the stares and murmurs didn't stop.
"She is the chairman's eldest daughter that was dumped for her younger sister". Someone whispered behind me in the elevator and my fist balled up.
I was a breath from turning around and snapping at them but the sound of the elevator as we arrived on my floor made me let it go.
I noticed all eyes turned to my direction as I stepped out of the elevator onto the floor that I had worked for the last two years.
I breathed in and raised my chin high, why do I need to hide my face when I wasn't the one at wrong?
"Catherine". A voice called out as I walked towards my office.
I stopped and turned to her, it was my team manager.
Flashing me a smile, she gestured for me to come.
The rest of my colleagues were all sneaking peeks at me. I pretended not to notice and walked towards her. I didn't kill anyone, why am I being treated like I committed a crime?
"How are you doing today?" She asked as we got to her office.
I know she wasn't really asking because she wanted to know, she had always hated the fact that I worked with her and would never pass on any opportunity to remind me on how I am only benefitting from nepotism despite my over qualifications for the stupid position I worked in.
While many heiresses and heirs of other families lived without working, Anna included.
But I was too intimidated to say these words then. I had accepted her naggings and worked diligently.
How pathetic.
"I have an order from the chairman". She started and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach, definitely he won't stoop this low right?.
"Okay?" I asked as I hated the smug look on her face.
"This is for you". She said and handed over an envelope.
He wouldn't be this heartless right?
I thought as I returned to my office, I ripped open the envelope once I was alone.
The employment termination letter that sat inside confirmed my suspicion, definitely he was being heartless to the very end.
I didn't bother reading it, I tore it to multiple pieces angrily and threw it into the bin.
It was hard to remain calm and my hands trembled while I paced my office several times until I finally calmed down.
Now, I have lost three things, my family, job and the one man I had loved all my life. I must be a joke for life to want to fuck me all over.
I stormed towards my Dad's office. I had no idea what I wanted to say to him but I intended to say everything that came to my mind.
"The chairman is in a meeting". His secretary informed me and asked me to sit and wait for him.
Sitting was difficult, I paced with different thoughts going through my head.
"Why am I being treated this way by people that claimed to be my family?" I thought with suppressed anger.
An hour passed before the door to his office finally opened and he walked out, another person closely behind him.
It was Dane's father, Christopher Ferdinando. They were laughing with each other and I contemplated on meeting him or not.
"Dad". I called calmly where I stood and he stopped immediately, turning a pair of cold eyes at me.
The look of disapproval on his friend's face didn't go unnoticed by me.
"I was told that I have been fired. That is a lie isn't it?" I asked in a hurry.
"It's not a lie, don't come here again or ever call me your father. I fathered no useless human. Is that clear?". He bellowed loudly.
His loud voice startled me and I moved back a few steps in shock.
"Useless? What exactly made me useless? That I couldn't keep a cheater from cheating or what?" I yelled back at him after recovering from the shock of his words.
"What?" He yelled in disbelief. He raised a hand to strike me across the face but someone stopped him, and I didn't even flinch or move.
If he should do that, I will not hesitate to shred him into a thousand pieces.
"Don't hit her, it's better you get someone to throw her out instead". Dane's father said as his face looked at me with disgust.
Oh, this fat-faced ugly thief actually said that?.
Nodding at his words, my father called the securities to throw me out. I stopped them from touching me and I walked out of the company with my head raised.
The Catherine of the past would have broken down in tears but there was no need for that.
If he would raise his hand to strike, this was nothing. He had proudly denounced me as his daughter, then I would walk out proudly too.
I knew my life plummeted further as I saw few people take pictures and videos of how I was led out by the securities.
But even in those videos I want to be seen leaving without a shame.