Rejected: A love story

Chapter 166: I’m not a ghost

Alex entered the room, watching Viktoria’s fierce expression full of tears while looking at Nathan in rage. It wasn’t just that Alex had been working for Nathan for years; it was also the fact that Alex had coordinated things with Viktoria for the past several days. So what could be wrong?

"Mr. Keith, what is happening?" Alex whispered, looking at the screen.

"Just look for yourself, Alex," Nathan replied, pointing to the computer. "This ’partner’ of ours is nothing more than a fraudster. She is a professional actress who has been lying to us from day one."

Alex bent down over the desk, looking closely at the pictures. He saw the face of the woman sitting in the Zurich coffee shop. He saw the money transactions. In his view, all these photographs seemed genuine—proper light, proper shadows, proper dates. He looked at Viktoria, who was looking at him imploringly.

"Viktoria... do you have any explanation for this?" Alex said doubtfully. "Perhaps someone resembling you? An identical twin?"

"No, Alex! I don’t have a twin brother or sister!" Viktoria exclaimed, with tears filling her eyes. "I have never traveled to these destinations. You can check my passport; you can check my documents also. This is a trap set against me! Someone wants to frame me up!"

"Do not pay any heed to what she is saying, Alex," Nathan roared, his face flushed red. "This is her profession; she knows how to conduct herself professionally. No doubt she possesses at least ten passports in that bag of hers."

Alex looked back at Nathan, then at the photos. "Sir, with all due respect, we’ve been working with her for weeks. Her knowledge of the Russian markets is too deep for a simple actress. Maybe we should just take a breath and verify where these files came from before we....."

"Whose side are you on, Alex? Hers or mine?" Nathan demanded as he approached his assistant.

"What do you mean whose side, sir?" Alex asked, stuttering and caught off guard by the tone in his boss’s voice. "I’m trying to do what’s right here."

"It is exactly about sides!" Nathan thundered. "You’d better think twice before you speak another word to me, Alex. I’m paying your damn salary, not hers. I put you in this position of trust because I could rely on you, but if you’re just going to get swayed by a pretty face and some cheap sob story, you’d better join her at the exit."

Alex fell silent. His eyes stared blankly at the floor while he clenched his fists. There was no way he could ever think Viktoria was guilty of anything. He had watched her with Mateo, and he saw her true feelings. But now, he saw high-definition proof, and he had just been told by his boss—an individual he respected and feared to pick sides.

"I... I’m on your side, Mr. Keith," Alex whispered, yet even that seemed like eating poison. It wasn’t worth risking his entire career on a feeling when the images spoke for themselves.a

It was as if Viktoria had received a physical blow to the gut. Her only hope had betrayed her. She turned to Nathan, whose victorious smirk made him loathsome.

"Get her out of here, Alex," Nathan commanded, turning his back on them both to stare out the window. "I don’t want to see her face in this city by sunset."

Alex walked over to Viktoria, his head down. "Please, Viktoria. Let’s just go. Don’t make this harder than it already is."

Viktoria didn’t move for a moment. She looked at the back of Nathan’s head, her heart breaking not for the deal, but for the man who was so blinded by his past that he couldn’t see the truth right in front of him.

"You’re a coward, Nathan Keith," she said, her voice low and cold. "And one day, when you realize what you’ve done, I hope your money is enough to keep you company. Because you’ve pushed away the only real thing you’ve had in years."

She spun around and left the office, her shoes clicking loudly with each step that she took. She was followed by Alex, who closed the office door noisily behind him as he walked out with her.

Viktoria moved down the glass-lined hallway of the Keith building in a daze. Her mind was spinning with thoughts, her head pounding heavily. She could feel her heart beating rapidly; she felt it inside her ears. Alex stayed by her side, walking in silence and keeping his gaze low because he knew that he could not look at her in the eye after betraying her in the office.

Mateo was sitting on the leather bench at the reception desk of the Keith building, swinging his little legs and reading from a picture book. He smiled when he saw his mother.

"Mummy! Are we going to see the big boats now?" he asked, his voice full of excitement.

Victoria did not respond; she could not. Instead, she grabbed the boy and hugged him so tightly that he emitted an involuntary sound of astonishment. She made a dash towards the revolving doors, stepping out under the hot rays of the sun. Victoria did not even think about saying goodbye to Alex, nor did she wait for any company vehicle. Victoria stuck out her hand and stopped a passing yellow cab right on the spot.

"Grand International Hotel, quickly please," she said to the driver as she entered the cab and pulled Mateo to sit beside her.

With the cab moving, Mateo gazed at the skyscraper which they were leaving behind through the rear window of the car.

"Mommy? I couldn’t find my kind uncle," Mateo murmured gently, referring to Nathan. "He promised me he’d show me the gold pens on his desk today. But why didn’t we meet him?"

It was as if Viktoria’s heart was being stabbed in pain by the phrase ’kind uncle’. This man who just insulted their mother calling her a criminal and even dared to say that Mateo was a lie was kind?

"He is extremely busy today, love," she whispered. "We have to return to the hotel and pack our bags."

"Are we going home to see Papa?" Mateo asked, his eyes widening.

Viktoria leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Papa. Nikolai was back in Russia, waiting for the news that the partnership was signed. He had put everything they owned into this expansion. If she called him now and told him that Nathan Keith had accused her of being a high-stakes fraudster, Nikolai would be on a private jet within the hour. He was a proud man, a fierce man. He would come to this city with fire in his eyes, ready to tear Nathan’s world apart to defend her honor.

But then what? The "evidence" Nathan had was perfect. If Nikolai came and made a scene, Nathan would call the police. It would become a scandal that would follow them back to St. Petersburg. It would destroy their reputation in Russia too.

No, she thought, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. I can’t tell him yet. Not until I know what is happening to me.

She looked down at her hands. She was a business woman, a mother, a wife. She had lived in the same city her entire life. She knew her neighbors, her doctors, her son’s teachers. How could there be photos of her in Zurich? How could there be bank accounts she never opened?

The memory of the "voices" from the night before flashed in her mind again. The blur. The feeling of being handled by people with no faces. She had told herself it was nothing but deep down, a cold fear was starting to grow. Was it possible she didn’t know her own past? Or was someone so powerful and so cruel that they could rewrite her reality?

The taxi pulled up to the hotel. Viktoria paid the driver and led Mateo through the lobby, keeping her head down. She felt like everyone was looking at her, like they all knew she was a "ghost."

Once they were inside their suite, she locked the door and slumped against it. The silence of the room was heavy. She needed to think. She needed to find out who had sent that file to Nathan.

She walked over to her laptop and opened it, her fingers hovering over the keys. She wasn’t a hacker, but she knew her way around a business network. If someone was framing her, they had to have left a trail. She looked at Mateo, who had curled up on the sofa with his tablet, still looking sad about his "Uncle Nathan."

"I will find out who did this, Mateo," she whispered to the empty room. "I am not a ghost, and I am not a lie."