Ashley's POV

"Where were you?" Marcus repeated.

My brain froze, why was he looking for me? Wasn't it enough that I was fired?

"I was just ..." I spoke confused.

"You were just what? Trying to get a day off? Just when I thought you were the least pathetic employee I had, you ended up disappointing me." He spoke.

I stood there dumbfounded. Did that mean that I wasn't fired? What about that whole incident with Tristan?

"I'll have you know that if you don't show up tomorrow, you can say goodbye to your job. Maybe I should give your job to someone more interested in doing it." He spoke. "Be there eight a.m. sharp." He added.

Before I gathered the words to ask, Marcus had already hung up.

Ten minutes after the conversation, I still couldn't process his words. Did he really mean it? Could I really get my job back? I was pretty sure by the way Tristan reacted that I was never getting my job back. I guess miracles do exist.

*******

It took all the strength I had left in me for me to get up this morning and even more strength for me to get ready for work.

There were many hours between last night and this morning which meant that I had time to get all the negative thoughts into my head.

Did Marcus really want me back to work or was he using this as an opportunity to embarrass me even further? What if they publicly wanted to make an example of me? I wouldn't put anything past him.

But despite all my negative thoughts, I still needed this job. It was worth the risk of whatever chaos was about to follow.

This morning, I was an hour early for my shift.

I stepped off the bus to walk to the hotel.

"Ashley!" I heard someone yell my name.

I turned around to see Ivy breathlessly running towards me.

I stopped for her to catch up.

"Ash, where have you been? Why weren't you answering your phone? Marcus went crazy yesterday trying to look for you. I called too but it went straight to voice mail." Ivy rumbled breathlessly.

I sighed. "I don't even know where to begin," I answered.

I then began explaining what had happened.

If I had a normal friend, I would have expected her to sympathize with me or perhaps try to console me, but my friend wasn't normal. Instead, she threw a fit of laughter.

"You have to admit, it's a bit funny." She spoke in between laughs.

"I'm in a crisis right now," I spoke.

"Okay, I'm so sorry," Ivy spoke trying to stop herself from laughing.

I shook my head at her as she tried to maintain a serious expression.

"How did Waylen manage to get past all that security," Ivy asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that everything is a mess and now Tristan thinks we slept together," I spoke.

Ivy laughed. "Maybe you should tell him you are having his baby," She joked.

"This is serious, you didn't see how mad he was," I spoke.

"It will be alright, besides, he left early yesterday. Probably around the time after you had your encounter. He probably just never got to tell Marcus that he had fired you." She spoke.

"You mean that I can keep my job until he informs Marcus that I'm fired? That is just great!" I sighed.

"Come on, what are your chances? The guy has about a gazillion things to do, he probably already forgot about you. You just need to pray that you never bump into him again. Marcus thinks that he is never coming back, I'd say that your chances are pretty great." She continued.

That made sense, I probably didn't remember and the chances of me bumping into him again was extremely low. This was the first time he was showing up at the hotel in two years, hopefully, he won't show up again for at least another two.

Ivy and I stopped by the breakroom to have some coffee before starting our shift in about twenty minutes. Ivy and I sat around a small table, having our coffee with some cookies. There were a few other employees in the room.

Jeremy, one of the security guards approached our table.

"How was the surprise yesterday?" Jeremy spoke winking at me.

"What surprise?" I asked confused.

"Come one, you don't have to play dump with me. I know all about it." He spoke.

He pulled out a chair between Ivy and me. I could tell he was here to get information.

"Your boyfriend was here yesterday, he said he had a surprise for you, so I let him in. You know, you really owe me, it wasn't easy getting him past all those guards." He explained.

Ivy's jaw widened as we were both hit by the realization.

"You idiot," Ivy spoke slapping the back of his head. "So you are that one who let him in, how could you?" She spoke. She continued to slug his arm.

"Come on, did I do something wrong." He spoke using his one hand to block all of Ivy's slaps.

"You-shouldn't-have-let-him-in," Ivy spoke slapping him at every word.

"I see you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Jeremy spoke. He stood from his seat, running away from Ivy.

I didn't have much time to recover from the shock because Marcus walked in.

"If not for the girl who forgot she had a job," Marcus spoke approaching our table.

His presence created panic in the rest of the employees, the room slowly started to clear as everyone went to their posts.

"There has been a little schedule change, the boss has a special guest here that I would like for you to personally tend to." He spoke to me. "Can you try not to disappoint this time," He added before walking away.

I nodded, I didn't want to argue against the chanced schedule, new clients often meant trouble. I was just thankful I had a job.

Ivy and I went our separate ways, I took the elevator to the suite.

I knocked on the door. "Room service," I yelled out.

"Come in," The guy answered.

I stepped into the suite.

He was seated at a table, reading a newspaper.

He was an elderly man, probably in his fifties.

I started by cleaning up the kitchen followed by the living room.

I mixed some cleaning detergents in a bucket to clean up the floor.

I lifted the bucket to clean the other side of the room.

I wasn't looking when I bumped my knee against the table causing the bucket to spill out of my hands and the cleaning detergents to spill all over the documents on the table.

The man rushed to the scene.

"I'm so sorry," I spoke, shocked at the mess I had created.

"It's okay, these things can happen." He answered.

I hadn't expected him to say that, most of the guests would have rightfully thrown a big fit. I would have expected him to shout at me, this would have surely sealed the deal for my termination.

He quickly grabbed a cloth, wiping the spill from his documents.

I quickly grabbed another cloth to wipe the spill.

All our efforts went to waste, the detergents had ruined most of the documents.

Amidst cleaning, he got some of the detergents on his shirt, creating a black stain.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated.

"It's okay, I'll just ask my assistant to have them send me another copy of the documents." He answered.

"The least I can do is get your shirt cleaned." I pointed at the stain on his shirt embarrassed.

"Sure," He answered with a smile.

He left the room for the bedroom.

I cleaned up the rest of the spill on the table, I just hope it wouldn't ruin the wood, most of the stuff here was vintage.

He returned from the bedroom in another shirt.

"I'm Leonardo by the way," he said handing me the shirt.

"Ashley," I answered with a nod.

I quickly grabbed the shirt from his hand, embarrassed of what had happened.

"You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago." He spoke.

"I'll get the shirt cleaned up first," I spoke.

I left the suite embarrassed; I didn't know where my head was. I have never done this before.

I went to the laundry room.

Ivy was there, mumbling to herself as she shoved some clothes into the washing machine.

She looked like she was battling with the clothes.

"Who pissed you off this badly?" I asked.

"You have no idea of the guests that I just had. I hadn't been there for five minutes, and he was already accusing me of stealing his watch, it was right on his wrist. The man thinks I'm his assistant, and after this he wants me to go and walk five blocks away to get him his favourite cake, it's like he hasn't heard of food deliveries. I swear if he asks me for a coffee, I am going to spit in it and I am going to enjoy watching his face while he drinks it." She spoke.

She threw the clothes onto the floor.

She sighed.

"What happened to you? Why are you here?" She asked.

"I knocked my knee and spilt detergents all over the guest's work documents," I explained.

"Ouch, I can't begin to imagine the things they must have said," Ivy spoke.

"No, he was surprisingly very nice and understanding," I spoke.

"Let me guess, he is an older guy." She spoke.

I nodded putting the shirt inside the machine.

"I would just be careful if I was you. You know the story with these rich old guys, you never know what their intention is." She spoke.

"I'm sure he was only being nice," I answered.

Marcus walked in snapping his fingers.

"Hurry up, what are the two of you still doing here?" He spoke.

There was no escaping Marcus, he was everywhere. Sometimes I get the feeling that he is constantly looking at the monitor where we are just so that he can torment us.

"Maybe we wouldn't be so slow if there was someone for the laundry and we didn't have to clean up the guest's room and do laundry here," Ivy spoke.

"Excuse me?" Marcus spoke.

Luckily, Marcus was a distance away from us. Ivy quickly retracted her words.

"Nothing boss," She answered.

"Ashely," Marcus stopped me in my tracks. "I need you to clean up Tristan's room before he gets back once you are done with what you are doing."

Not this again.

Marcus walked past me, out of the laundry room.

"I need you to get me a scarf and preferably some sunglasses immediately," I whispered to Ivy.

She looked at me confused.

"I can't let him see me again," I explained.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure you are being paranoid right now. Marcus just said that he isn't there." She answered.

"Last time he just popped up unexpectedly, I can't let him see me," I spoke.

Ivy sighed. "Okay, I'm pretty sure I can find something in lost and found for you." She spoke.

Ivy walked to the back room, she came back minutes later with a black scarf and sunglasses.

"I'm pretty sure you won't even need it," She spoke.

"Better to be safe than sorry," I answered.

"If you do see him, how are you going to explain the scarf?" She asked.

"I'll just say it's a part of my religion," I answered.

"No one wears shades inside the building," She added.

"I've seen people do crazier things around here," I answered.

I returned to clean Leonardo's suite, but this time he wasn't around, helping me to finish my job even sooner.

The moment I dreaded finally came, it was now time for me to clean Tristan's penthouse.

I used the mirror in the elevator to wrap the scarf around my head, covering all of my hair. To be safe, I wore sunglasses.

I stepped out of the elevator and into the penthouse.

The first thing I noticed was the large painting against the wall with the number ninety-nine, I don't know how I missed it the first time around.

"Who keeps a painting of the number ninety-nine anyways?" I spoke out loud.

"I like to keep a body count of the number of people who thought they could betray me and lie to me but suffered a dreadful ending," Tristan spoke over my shoulder.

My heart throbbed as I nearly jumped out of my skin.

There he was, Tristan Montenegro in flesh.

All the memories of the previous morning came back to taunt me, I knew I needed to be very afraid.

What was he even doing here, Marcus said he wasn't around.

I tilted my head down, trying to avoid all eye contact

"I can come back another time when you are not around," I suggested.

"No, it's okay. You can go on with your job." He spoke.

I was about to leave when he stopped me.

"What's with the sunglasses?" He asked with hands folded.

Was I about to get caught, I should have known this was a bad idea.

"I have a bad eye infection," I lied pointing to the glasses.

"Why don't you just take a day off?" He suggested.

"You know me, I'm just really dedicated to my work." I raised my hand with enthusiasm.

"I like the attitude," He answered.

He turned around to leave.

"You sound familiar," He stopped in his tracks.

My body froze, did I just get caught? Had he realized it was me, I should have tried to deepen my voice.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

He walked past me to answer the door.

"Maddison," He spoke opening the door.

He looked like he had bigger problems now. Without him noticing, I slipped out of the room to clean the rest of the penthouse.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, please comment down your thoughts on the story.