Chapter 89. You're a Monster (1)

Andre’s POV

The office buzzed like a hive of wasps, filled with whispers, stolen glances, and gasps that didn’t quite reach the surface. I could hear them murmuring her name—Vanessa. Every corner I turned, I caught someone looking at her with heavy eyes, and I couldn’t care less. Let them talk. Let them stare. It was all they could do. She belonged to me.

I watched her from behind the glass wall of my office, her head bent low, her fingers nervously tapping her keyboard. She looked too fragile to handle their poison, but I knew better. Vanessa had strength in her, a quiet, burning kind that people often underestimate. Still, the vultures around her didn’t deserve her.

I sent her a bouquet of rose flowers through Stanley—red, white, and yellow, with a note tucked inside which read, <My girl>. I wanted everyone to know she wasn’t just any girl. She was mine.

I watched her face on the monitor as she opened the card. The flush that painted