Lily's POV -10

I hadn't even been at the hotel for up to ten minutes when Lucien walked over to me. "What's the plan for today?" He had a mocking look on his face, and I pursed my lips in thought before glancing at the brochure. We were supposed to be going to one of the beaches for a swim, but I shook my head.

"Nothing really. What did you have in mind?" His words from yesterday still tormented me, and when I asked Catherine, she advised me to be a bit calm and not act rashly.

I watched as his eyes looked my form over turning to the other guests who seemed ready to go or swimming. "So why am I paying your boss a huge amount of money to have you as my personal guide?"

"I...I… Sorry about that. I just wanted to give you the choice to pick an activity," I explained and began to nervously flip through the papers on my desk. I hated how much he made me feel useless at my job, but I couldn't say anything bad in retaliation. From the corner of my eye, I could see him intently watching as I scanned through the list.

Why did I suddenly feel the need toimpress him? I hated the way he made me feel, but I also needed to make him feel good for both the sake of my job. Besides there was a deep desire inside me to satisfy his needs. When I finally looked up at him, there was a smile on his face and my heart skipped a beat.

This couldn't be good. "Maybe one of the day clubs or the museum," I suggested, and he laughed out this time, forcing the other guests to look at him. "Is there a problem?" Using my most professional tone to talk to him was a bit odd for me, but if there was any hope of getting through to him, maybe it was this way. I couldn't let him see how much his character affected me.

"Do I look that boring to you?" He was almost shouting, and more guests sauntered over to my desk. "You know, I thought you sounded intelligent, but I thought wrong. How long have you been working here?" There was a sneer in his voice, and I shuddered while trying not to look at the people around us.

"Three years," I answered. "And...and I can be a good tour guide."

"Can you?" There was an incredulous expression in his voice. "Because that's not what it looks like."

"What's happening?" One of the guests asked, and I recognized his voice as the one from yesterday. This couldn't be good. "If there's an issue, you can come with us."

"I'll do that, but first, I need to get this through to her." He pointed at me, and I could only look at him in surprise. "Do you actually know your job, or you're just here occupying space? The other guy did a better job, and I'm beginning to look like a fool for paying extra."

Lucien's voice increased and some of the guests tried to calm him down while others supported and a few were quiet. However, all their eyes looked at me with dislike, and I felt like sinking into the ground or crashing into a hole. Why was Lucien treating me this way?

"I'm sorry, Sir, if that's what you think. I… I can assure you, I'm good at what I do." I struggled hard not to let the tears fall from my eyes. In all my years of working, not once had I ever been embarrassed like this and judging from the look on his face, it looked like he had more.

"Okay," he responded sarcastically and left my desk. "I think I'll have to take to your boss about your attitude towards work." With that, he walked out of the lobby while I stared after him in confusion. Did I do something severely wrong? My thoughts went back to yesterday's event, but before I could fully focus on it, one of the women tapped my shoulder.

There was a scowl on her face when I turned to her. "Look, Lily, I'm just going to be straight with you. The fact that Mr. Wills hired you to be his personal guide is beyond me," she paused and gave me a demeaning look. "But I cannot dispute it, so here's a word of advice: Try to put in some actual effort, sweetie. You don't want to mess with sometime as powerful as that, alright?"

I frowned at her, and fought the urge to talk back. Instead, I bent my head and whispered. "Thank you."

"Anyway, it won't be so bad if he dismisses you. After all, you're not doing anything now, are you?" She turned away and sauntered towards the other guests, and as I watched them interact, Lucien came down again. He was clad in only swim shorts, and against my judgement, I swallowed nervously. The fact that he was constantly making me feel bad and worthless in the hotel should have made me angry, yet all I wanted to do was cry and have him hold me in apology.

However, I sat still and waited for all of them to leave before allowing the tears fall from my eyes. Ateg gave me an apologetic look but he couldn't say much without alerting them, and I silently thanked him for that. I had dealt with a lot of rich people, but these ones seemed desperate to agree with Lucien and anything I did from now on would be bad to them.

I shook my head and took in a deep breath, as I cleared my eyes and focused on work. I couldn't let Lucien and the others break me, instead I need to prove myself worthy of this job. It wasn't like I fancied it so much, but without it, what else could I do?

I didn't notice the hours pass until my thoughts were cut short by the vibration of my phone, and I picked it up to see a message from Ateg. "We're on our way back. You need to make yourself scarce. Mr. Saris has been instigating the others against you."

My mouth opened in shock as I stared at the message. Was that how far he was willing to go just because of what I did? Even though I felt bad for it, he was still the one at fault, not me. What else could I have done when he literally cornered me and kissed me without consent? My mind went to Catherine's advice that I go with the flow and see where it headed, and for a second, I felt like hitting her.

Was this the kind of person I would do something with? A vindictive soul, so thought it best to humiliate me at every time. He was literally a replica of my ex boyfriend, and my eyes watered as I considered my poor chocies. It didn't seem right to me that–

Familiar voices filled my ears and I shot up in surprise. If the guests saw me here, there was no telling what would happen. Before I could think too much about it, I rushed out and ran towards the bathroom. As I locked myself inside, it occurred to me that because of Lucien, I was hiding away from my own job. Wouldn't that get me fired faster?