Cinderella and Her Three Knights

Zara’s pov***

“Zara Amani will now be escorted out of the building.” I watched as Roman spoke with such spite. What seemed like the perfect morning had just turned sour with those words from the man I was engaged to.

I gazed at him, hoping, praying it was a joke, desperate for it to be a dream I was going to wake up from. But it wasn’t, and reality was harsher.

“Roman,” I called out, my heart racing. Surely there had to be an explanation for this.

“Not one more word from you…" I watched him turn to the members of the board … We shall now continue the other agenda.” I looked at his eyes, this was not the man I knew; his eyes, once warm and affectionate, were now cold, distant, it felt like I was never there, I had lost him.

“Roman, I didn’t.” I tried again, but he interrupted with a snarl.

“Damn it, Zara, I have enough proof here, you leaked the blueprints of the Elcon’s contract to our competitor! Our competitor, Zara, is all here,” he slammed the papers onto the table.

I glanced at Levi, Romans' best friend and advisor, but he wouldn't meet my gaze either.

“I can explain, Roman, I do not know what those are,” I tried to persuade him, moving closer to him.

“Do not, don’t you dare come near me,” he bellowed, his tone stinging.

Just then, the conference room door swung open, and the security guard came to take me out. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I wasn’t only losing my job, but the man I love was sending me out, casting me aside, publicly humiliating me.

My chest throbbed in pain as I turned to look at Roman again. His eyes were void; I couldn’t plead with them. I couldn’t communicate with the man I called my own.

Roman and I had been engaged for 6 months, 6 beautiful months. It was love at first sight for me, and I had always believed it was the same for him. Or so I thought.

I walked out of the conference room, tears streaming down my face. I was no longer welcome in a place that once felt like home. I walked to my office, which was right next to Romans, yes, we were that couple, inseparable. Memories flooded me as I walked past his office to mine.

I would go home and talk to him, surely he would listen to me at home, I tried to tell myself. There must have been some mistake, the company had lost the contract, but I wasn’t the leak, someone else must have done so, to tear us apart, all I had to do was make Roman see.

As I looked through my stuff, Tania entered the office, her expression was heavy with sympathy.

“I heard,” she spoke softly, trying to comfort me, “Are you okay?”

“No, no Tan, I'm not,” I cried, overwhelmed.

“The whole office knows, but I know you didn’t do this,” she insisted.

“I'm sure you can make him see reason. He listens to you; you are his woman,” she tried to convince me, but somewhere in my heart, I knew it was over.

“I don’t know Tan, he was distant, he didn’t even look at me," I paused, feeling hopeless "he had proof Tan, proof, someone is sabotaging us” I lamented like there was anything she could do, she was just a staff at the human resources where I formally worked.

“We’ll figure this out,” she said, and hugged me, but I doubted it.

Just then, the door opened, and Levi walked in

“I'll come back to see you,” Tania said before leaving.

“Talk to him, he'd listen to you.” I looked at Levi for hope.

“I'm sure there is a mix-up somewhere,” I tried to convince him

“I don’t know Zara, Roman seems pretty convinced. But I'll talk to him, I'll look into it,” he assured me, squeezing my hand for comfort.

He was Roman's best friend, and if anyone could get through to him, it would be him. I took a shaky breath and sat on the chair.

“What do I do? Do I wait for him here?” I asked him, unsure what the next step would be.

“I would advise you to go home, perhaps you can go to his house later, when he is calm, he will listen to you.” It made sense; he was upset now, and he wouldn’t listen to me.

“Thank you,” I told him, gathered my things, and left the office.

I could feel the gaze of the workers as I left. I was the lowlife who snuck her way into the billionaire's world only to ruin it, I could feel their disgust and their eyes trying to rip me out.

Roman and I had met at the company’s dinner at the end of the year, shortly after I joined. Everyone spoke about the handsome billionaire boss, but we, the new hires, had yet to see him up close, and the dinner was the perfect opportunity.

After 2 glasses of wine, I felt light-headed and needed to get some air, so I stepped out,

“It’s a rather dull evening, don’t you think?” someone asked beside me

“No, look at the sky, it’s a beautiful evening,” I countered, turning to look at the man by my side, who was created tall and covered me in his evening tuxedo. His face was blurry, but I could see that he was beautiful, as beautiful as the stars I was staring at.

“Maybe you are right, but not as beautiful as you.” My eyes flew open, my head blank, he had complimented me, someone had noticed a simple HR assistant like me.

“Oh, thank you,” I said after finding my word

“Roman Vale,” he introduced himself and stretched out his hand for a handshake.

The world stopped in that moment. I choked on my drink, and his suit was ruined. I could remember him laughing at my clumsiness.

Looking back now, I wonder where that man was and who was doing this to us.

Looking back now, I wonder where that man was and who was doing this to us.

I was determined to do what Levi had advised; I was going to wait it out and talk to him as a couple, or whatever was left of that. There had been no signs, there had been no warning. We had gone on a date the week before, and it was filled with love and laughter.

At home, I tried logging in to the company’s database to find some once of truth to back up my own story when I told it to Roman, but I had been locked out of the company's database.

What do I do? I paced around the room, I couldn’t wait for time to fly by, to see Roman and explain to him that there was indeed a mistake somewhere.

Stacy, my dog, barked like she knew my frustration,

“It's going to be alright, right Stacy?” I asked her, and she barked again

“Thanks for being a brave dog.” I brushed her hair as she came to sit by me.

After what felt like hours, I picked up my keys and left the house.  I headed for Romans, I knew he would be home by now. I wasn’t quite sure of the words to say to him, but I knew I had to try. At the gate, I put in the code, and it opened. I sighed in relief, he hadn’t yet changed it.

 I drove straight to the apartment I thought Roman would be in and found the door open. wiping away my tears, I went into the house. It was quiet, and on the table, I discovered the files with my signature on them.

“Blueprint handed over to….” I sighed heavily; whoever had done this clearly must have had it out for me. I heard some noise coming from the room.

Thank goodness, I thought, he was home.

As I entered the room, my world came to a halt for the second time that day.

The keys in my hands dropped to the floor.

“Zara…”