Chapter 18: 18) Oh Mary

Vasili

What the hell was I thinking! Embarrassment washed over my body as I quickly walked into my office hoping Allison did not notice my extremely beet red face. I really wished the world could open up under me and swallow me whole; when Edward looked at me like I was the biggest idiot of all time. Frankly I did not even disagree. I was the biggest idiot of all time.

When I saw him come out of the elevator I was just so happy to see him alive and well. Except weird was not a word I would have used for his appearance. He still looked sharp and clean, but the dark circles under his eyes told me he barely slept. His skin was not as radiant and tan for his usual beautiful caramel complexion. Yet what scared me most was the blank expression he had when he saw me. Even at the ball there was a slight glimpse of something, but now it was as if he was staring at a wall.

I quickly took off the uncomfortable suit jacket Mary insisted I should wear to work instead of the hoodies I normally wore. To say I was beyond irritated by this was an understatement. I ended up giving her the silent treatment all through breakfast since I was in no mood to argue with her. Once she had her made up it was hard to change it.

Since it was lunch and I had finished my work surprisingly early I had nothing else to do. I knew it would look bad to Edward if I left this early, but the plans were sent to Russia last week for government approval. Technically I worked for Yavok, but Edward was my temporary boss for the moment. Unlike my brother, Edward was a strict boss even when things were good between us it was very rare he let me slack.

I threw myself down onto the couch and covered my face with my forearms. A large sigh left my lips as I tried to process everything I had done this past week. The doubt had started kicking in the third day Edward did not show up to work. At first it was the excuse of a business trip, but Allison knew his schedule like the back of his hand so we knew that was not the case. Then I started wondering if he had ran off somewhere for a luxurious holiday, but I knew realistically he would have most probably been sighted once or twice.

On the fourth day I knew he was avoiding me and it ate me up inside. I tried not to think about it much, but as Mary tried to distract me with meaningless conversation I found myself missing Edward. I could tell it irritated her, but I was thinking of more important issues than which dress she should order. Whilst she rambled on about nonsense I started to doubt if I had made the right choice. Edward and I would have been doing something more fun if were together. Who knew maybe we could have taken a random drive to the country side and just enjoyed nature.

Maybe we could have been cuddled up in his theatre room watching a movie or whatever documentary he always seemed oddly interested in. My chest always swelled up with emotion the more I thought about him and I just felt like I was going crazy. I had made the wrong decision. What did I expect? That he would come back to work and we would be best lads whilst I was with Mary. It was idiocy and I was ashamed I could even think that way. It was so highly insensitive of me and I felt sick to my stomach. I had become 'that' man, the type who wanted two cakes and wanted to eat them both out of greed.

I was a greedy bastard. Out of impulse I sat up and jumped to my feet. I had made the wrong decision. Without thinking twice I rushed to Edwards office despite Allisons' questioning face. The burst of adrenaline hit me like a train and I just needed to tell him I had made the wrong decision. Yet as I walked into his office, with my head buzzing with excitement, I was awfully shocked to find no one there.

"He left a few minutes ago. He had a meeting with a client," Allisons' voice said behind me. I did not even spare her a glance as disappointment washed over me. My hand fell from the doorknob as I felt my heart fall to the pits of my stomach. I could have easily left and waited, for him to return or for him at his house but it felt so wrong suddenly. What was I thinking? This was not some kind of movie where things went according to plan. Where we would confess our love for one another and go skipping into the sunset.

It was much more complicated than that and I had to make sure that when I did tell him I wanted him just as much as he wanted me it had to be clean. No loose ends; Mary. No hesitation. I had to be sure of it.

"Allison I'm leaving," I told her after I collected my belongings from my office.

"Bye Vas," she smiled then continued to type away on her laptop as I went into the elevator. For some reason it felt like the elevator moved even slower as I descended down to the parking. I ran to my car as soon as the elevator doors opened and took no time in rushing down the London streets to my apartment.

Just like I had suspected, when I walked in Mary sat on the dining table with papers scattered all over as she read through them. Her round glasses rested on the bridge of her nose as her hair was up in a messy bun. She wore a large jersey and shorts. When I entered she looked up and immediately stood up to greet me. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek as I tried to figure out what she was reading. I noticed one of the papers had 'Coleman enterprise' in large bold letters.

"What are you doing?" I asked completely ignoring her asking about my day.

"Well my boss gave me an assignment to write an article about Edward," she said shrugging.

Surely nothing bad could come out of a simple article about Edward, "we spotted Selena with another man months ago and she seems to have a stable relationship with him. So we thought it would be a good idea to kind of expose him to woman. You know for womanizing."

Anger immediately bubbled inside of me, "it was all under consent!"

"I know I know we just thought it would be fun to show all his previous exes and get some interviews with them. People love gossip," she laughed.

I immediately pulled away from her and grabbed one of the papers. This was way more than just a simple fun article about his love life. They were digging into every single wild moment in Edwards life. From the time he was drunk at a university party when he was twenty two to the time he got into a car accident three years ago. It was every single negative thing that happened to Edward. They were planning on publishing something this wrong and hateful to someone. I knew how he was, he was strong, but he had his own demons.

Reminding him of such tiny little failures would be detrimental to his mental health. "Mary how could you write something like this about him? You've met him multiple times and we are friends! This is equivalent to back stabbing. This is horrible." I held the papers in my hands and threw them onto the table in shock.

"Vasili it's just work. Edward will know I mean no I'll harm," she rolled her eyes and sat back down.

"How would you like it if I wrote about the time you failed your finals in the last year of university and had to rewrite? Or how you lost your mothers wedding ring and blamed it on the help? Or the time you scratched your fathers brand new car and blamed your brother," I was horrified at what she was doing.

"Look I owe Edward nothing," she looked me dead in the eye and smiled. The woman was psychotic, "come on go shower. I ordered us some dinner."

"No."

"No?" She raised her eyebrow, "look I get Edward is your friend, but you are going to be gone in a few weeks. You'll probably never talk to him again. He won't even care. People like him don't care."

"Mary he is a billionaire not a robot. He has feelings too. He has a heart. He has made mistakes just like us and you are going to taunt him by reminding him that he skipped two classes in high school because he hated art. Be serious," I thought finally that I had broken through to her, but she just stared at me once again.

"Oh well," she shrugged once again.

"I need you to leave."

"What?" That seemed to get her attention as she dropped the papers she was reading. "You're over reacting."

"No Mary. I'm done. I can't do this anymore. This thing between us is not working. It's become something toxic I can't do this anymore. You're not the girl I fell in love with three years ago. This is a side of you I don't know. This backstabbing someone in our lives is madness. Where has your humanity gone? Where had the caring woman I cared for gone," for some reason I felt close to tears. I always knew she would do anything to succeed, but this was to much. This was not her.

"Don't do that! Don't try to guilt me just because you are best friends with him now! You've changed since you've been friends with him! You've become this person I barely know! You will never be anything near him and here you are playing billionaire with your new best friends!" She screamed as she stood in front of me.

"Mary I want to live! I want to go out for walks and go out with you. I want us to discover new things every week and do something we both love. I don't want to be stuck in the apartment all day whilst you work none stop and just expect me to be happy. I cut my hair for you. I started wearing suits to work for you. I gave up ballet for you! I brought a house I hated in Russia for you. I've done everything for you, but you won't take one hour out of your day to just not talk about work or yourself. When you ask about me about myself, it's about Edward or Amanda or whoever I've met in these past few weeks so you could score an interview with," I had never noticed I had given up so much for her till I said it out loud.

Instead of yelling back like I had expected she broke down crying, "I'm broke Vasili! I'm about to get fired I needed something! You don't understand! You have a rich brother! A rich friend! You have everything!"

"Your parents are loaded Mary don't pretend like you come from rags."

"I can't ask them. Imagine how degrading it would be to move back in with my parents," she cried and childishly threw her hands up.

"Is that why you are with me? Just for the money and status," even though my intention was to end things it hurt so much more to know that she was using me. That she might have lied about our whole relationship just to climb the social ladder. When I looked back at her and noticed the tears running down her face I knew it was true. She was just using me. "I want your things gone when I come back in an hour. I'll book a hotel room for you and a flight back to Russia. Don't expect to go back to my house either I'll give Yavok the right to sell it immediately."

"You can't do that!" She screamed and violently pushed my chest.

"I can. Find someone else who is willing for you to milk them," I took a step back away from her as she started shaking with anger. In a split second I felt the skin of her hand against my cheek. Instantly it burned as I gasped. It seemed it had dawned on her what she had just done as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Vasili I'm so sorry," she tried to reach out for me, but I turned around.

"I'm going to notify the security to be here in thirty minutes if you are not out I'm going to call the police," I did not even bother to look at her again as I walked out my apartment and ran to my car.