“Oh, come on. Let’s treat ourselves; this is a vacation.”
She knew I was right. We went into every store and looked around. We found a couple of things worth buying. We didn’t want to spend too much time here because we had other things that we wanted to see before we left in the morning.
About an hour later, it was dark, and we headed to Montmartre. It was the highest hill in Paris. We could see some of the Paris sights lit up. An hour later, it was time to go back. I was sad that our trip was over, but I loved it. It was nice to unwind and have some stress-free fun with Ella by my side.When I got back, I planned to talk to Shawn about getting a ring and proposing to Ella. I wanted to do it right.
Pierre walked us back to the hotel. We ate and went back up to the room. We were both once again exhausted from the day’s adventures.
Chapter Twenty-Five
ELLA
I didn’t want to be back. I wished I could have spent more time in Paris. It was an amazing adventure, but it was time to get back to the real world. The one thing I wasn’t excited about was going back to work.
I knew this week was going to be a long week. We had corporate coming in for the first time since the hotel opened to talk with the employees and check out how the hotel was functioning. It put my managers on edge. I needed to get plenty of sleep before my day back.
I was sad Alexander had to go back to the hotel. He had some things he needed to take care of since we were out of town for a couple days. He wasn’t used to taking off work.
It was crazy to think we have been together a year. It seemed like it was yesterday when he was knocking me down on the pavement. I will forever be grateful that I walked to work that day. He changed my life for the better in so many ways.
I took a hot bath before bed, hoping it would help me sleep. I was not excited about tomorrow by any means.
Slap!My alarm seemed to go off way too early. What time was it? I looked over at the alarm clock, and it was six a.m. Darn, it was time to get up for work already. Couldn’t I sleep in for just a little bit longer?
I got up and put my uniform on, threw my tennis shoes on, tied up my hair, and made my way to work. I passed the coffee shop Alexander knocked me down in front of and smiled.
When I arrived at the hotel, there were people everywhere. How many people from corporate were coming? There seemed to be at least fifty people in the lobby. I glided past most of them while saying the occasionalhi, how are youso I didn’t seem rude as I made my way to the back.
“Are all those people from corporate?” I asked my manager.
“I guess so. They all showed up this morning. I was surprised. I only knew of three coming. Thank God we have enough vacancies to accommodate them all,” she replied.
“We don’t have enough clean rooms for all of them, though.”
“I have some girls cleaning up the rest of the rooms that checked out last night. After that, we should have enough rooms for them plus the check-ins for today,” she responded. “Go ahead and clock in and head to the conference room. Some of the corporates want to talk to my team before we start for the day,” my manager said.
“Okay, great,” I said sarcastically.
I went into the conference room and sat down. Soon after, Mary showed up.
“How was your vacation?”
“It was great. Didn’t want to come back though. Almost thought about taking another week off, but I knew they would kill me for missing this.”
“Oh yeah, they are all freaking out in there. They don’t know how all of them are going to have rooms because we only expected three.”
A few nicely dressed women walked into the conference room with luggage and stepped to the back of the room. I noticed more and more people flowing into the conference room.
“Hi, everyone. My name is Shawn. I am the COO. I’m glad that we could meet with you guys this week. We are happy that you guys have kept this hotel nice and clean. Great job.”
“Yes, we are. My name is Alexander Edwards, and I am the CEO. Good morning.”
Wait, what? I looked up, and there stood Alexander and Shawn. What the fuck was he doing here? What did he mean that he was the CEO?
“We wanted to thank all of you for your hard work in making this hotel location such a success. As you know, we have Cisterna hotels in a couple different states and plan on expanding even more.”
So, he owned the hotels? He was my fucking boss? How could he not tell me? I felt betrayed. I started to tear up. The man who had changed my whole life had been lying to me. I couldn’t believe a word that he said anymore. He started talking again, but I couldn’t listen. I got up and walked out.
I couldn’t get home fast enough, my stomach turning and the tears falling down my cheeks. Finally, I made it home and drew a bath. All I wanted to do was cry and let it all out. It was the first time in years I had gotten close to someone. Close enough, I thought I would marry him and start a family only to find out he had been lying to me.