Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Tears spilled down Elara's cheeks as she choked out between sobs, "I've endured so much injustice... I kept it to myself because I didn't want to burden anyone. But why me? What did I do to deserve this?"
She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, her shoulders trembling. The sight of her—so utterly broken—was painful to watch.
Elara turned to Julian first, her hands shaking. "You just got back, and you can't defend me with your current connections." Then she looked at Alex, her voice turning bitter. "And you, too busy with your father's legal problems and girls to even care."
She finally fixed Ruby with a shattered look. "And Ruby, you're the worst. You chose some guy over me, forcing me to deal with Victor and Adrian. If it weren't for you, I'd never have been humiliated like this."
Ruby muttered under her breath, "How could you stab your bestie in the back?"
Alex and Julian finally connected the dots—Ruby was the reason everything went wrong last night.
Julian exploded. "Ruby, so that was the reason why you brought them to the welcome party? You swore you just ran into them, and that they pressured you into it."
Ruby's stomach dropped. She shot a guilty glance at Alex.
The warmth in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold, disapproving stare that sent Ruby right back to high school—like she was staring at a failing test with no way out.
"Ruby, is what Julian and Elara said true?" Alex asked.
Ruby gave a bitter laugh, her expression closer to tears than anything else.
"Come with me," Alex said, standing and guiding Ruby to the balcony. To anyone watching, it looked like she was about to get a private scolding.
Ruby hunched her shoulders in silence, like a student caught red-handed by a teacher.
Meanwhile, Julian was bent over laughing. "Elara, look at Ruby," he managed between breaths. "She looks just like she did in high school when Alex caught her with a crush. It's exactly the same."
Elara looked over, her eyes still wet with tears, but then she lost the fight and laughed anyway.
Seeing her finally give in, Julian let out a sigh of relief.
Elara brought the wine glass to her lips, the last of her pout fading as the laughter warmed her. Like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, her irritation with Alex melted away.
Fifteen minutes later, Alex and Ruby came back inside. Still embarrassed, Ruby just stuck out her tongue and grabbed a spare rib to stuff her mouth.
Julian saw his chance to break the tension. "This industry's insane. We recently got a new sales manager, a married woman in her thirties.
"One day, she came in with really bad sales numbers, so I called her out... Then suddenly she's unbuttoning her shirt and sitting in my lap."
Ruby, ever the gossip, leaned in eagerly. "What did you do?"
Elara also perked up, listening intently.
"I just moved my leg," Julian said flatly. "She slid right onto the floor."
Ruby howled with laughter while Elara covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling with quiet giggles.
"And then she ran out crying and quit that very same day!" Julian added.
"You're impossible," Ruby giggled, shoving him.
Julian smirked. "What? You think I'm an easy mark?"
Alex smiled as he peeled shrimp for Elara, dropping them onto her plate. She ate them quietly, the last of her irritation fading away.
The mood around the table had grown warm and easy until the doorbell rang.
"Alex, did you invite someone?" Julia asked, puzzled.
Alex shook his head and moved to answer the door. Before anyone at the table could see who it was, Nancy's shrill voice rang out. "Alex, why are you ignoring my messages?"
Nancy stormed in, kicking off her expensive heels. In one quick motion, she grabbed a fresh pair of slippers from the cabinet.
Alex reached out to stop her, but she'd already slipped them on. They were meant for Elara—the matching pair to his own. He'd bought them as part of a set, along with toothbrushes, pajamas, and coffee mugs, planning to make their relationship official when she returned.
But he never imagined his father's legal case would last this long. With that weighing on him, dating was the furthest thing from his thoughts.
The smell of food drew Nancy into the living room. She froze when she saw three people at the table. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, clearly surprised.
Ruby grinned, ready to stir up trouble. "Nancy, we should be asking you that," she teased. "What brings you to Alex's place so late?"
Nancy nearly retorted that she was Alex's girlfriend before remembering his warning from the night before. "Just here to see my classmate," she said casually, walking over in her slippers.
Elara noticed immediately that Nancy's slippers matched Alex's. As she took a sip of beer, memories surfaced of all the matching items she'd bought for him during her time abroad.
She had claimed the hoodies were part of a buy-one-get-one deal at the mall, and the watches were merely product samples from a brand campaign she worked on. There were countless other pairs too, all carefully selected, yet Alex had never used any of them.
With a quiet sigh, Elara opened another beer.
Alex didn't have the heart to turn Nancy away. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked casually.
"No," Nancy replied. "Now's your chance to impress me with your cooking." While Alex went to fetch utensils, Nancy remained by the table, scanning the room.
Her eyes fell on the used dishes beside Elara—clear evidence of where Alex had been sitting. Without hesitation, she strode over in the slippers and took his vacated seat.
Ruby's face darkened. "That's Alex's chair. Move."
Nancy shoved the used dishes aside. "I'm sitting here. This isn't your house, so you've got no say in where I sit."
"This isn't your house either. You can't just sit wherever you want!" Ruby snapped.
Nancy rolled her eyes. "If Alex doesn't mind, why should you?"
Alex returned with silverware to the tense scene. Seeing Nancy in his spot, he pointed firmly to another chair. "Nancy, sit over there."
Nancy lifted her chin, not moving. "I want to sit by Elara. We've got years of catching up to do."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You might as well wear a sign that says 'Homewrecker'!"
"After all these years," Nancy said coldly, "that mouth of yours still spews nothing but filth."
"Look who's talking," Ruby scoffed. "You invented gutter language."
A faint smirk touched Elara's lips as she gave a faint nod.
Alex saw the argument brewing. Without a word, he gathered his dishes and moved to sit beside Julian, deliberately putting distance between himself and Nancy.
"Alex," Nancy said, tapping the seat beside her. "Come sit here."
"No, thanks," he said. "I don't want to interrupt girls' talk. Julian and I need to talk business anyway."
Nancy's mouth twisted into a pout as she fell silent.
The atmosphere turned on a dime. While the others carried on cheerfully—Ruby and Elara exchanging hushed gossip, Julian and Alex debating market trends—Nancy sat isolated, the temperature around her noticeably dropping.
She stiffened, stung by the obvious exclusion. Then she turned abruptly to Alex. "I spoke to my brother about your father's case."