Chapter 12
The following week, Veronica was studying for a quiz when her phone rang and she picked it up without looking. She was shocked when she heard Anson’s voice. She wasn’t expecting him to call, he hadn’t called her since he evicted her.
“How are you?” he asked her in a satin smooth voice.
“I miss you. I think about you every time I go to the apartment. I hate to be there now, it makes me too lonely for you. Are you doing okay?” he asked her.
It was a little late to be calling her to find out.
She couldn’t help wondering why he went to the apartment.
For random sex? Or did he already have a new girlfriend living there?
Anson moved fast. “I worry about you,” he said in a gruff voice, and she didn’t believe him.
If he worried about her, he wouldn’t have thrown her out on one day’s notice, and he would have called a lot sooner.
He sounded lonely, which was probably the only reason for the call.
Maybe he hadn’t found a replacement yet after all.
But with the benefits he offered, apartment, wardrobe, and jewelry to wear if not keep, it wouldn’t be a hard spot to fill. “Are you still in school?”
“Yes, I am,” she said simply. She wanted to ask how he was, and if he missed her, but she didn’t want to engage. He had thrown her out, and it was better that way now. “How’s the campaign going?” It seemed like a safe subject. She wanted to end things civilly, even if he hadn’t.
“It’s heating up. I miss you, Veronica,” he said again, in case she hadn’t heard him the first time.
“Would you have dinner with me sometime…like tonight?” he asked, and she was surprised.
He had been so cold with her, so heartless when he told her to leave, cutting his last ties with her like a knife, and invited her to dinner now.
She didn’t want to see him again. She had been his mistress for ten years, a role she no longer wanted in his life, and they weren’t friends, he had seen to that.
It was over for her. Just talking to him gave her a chill.
“No,” she said simply, “I can’t.”
“Are you seeing someone?” He sounded angry for a minute.
“No. Just friends.” That’s all Scott was for the moment. She hadn’t wanted to rush into anything right away, no matter how attractive he was, but the relationship was headed in that direction.
“So you’re an heiress now, and don’t need me.” He sounded wounded as he said it. The narcissist as victim, a classic switch.
“I loved you, Anson, and not for what you gave me. For you. All those perks were nice but that wasn’t why I was there or why I stayed. I stayed for you,” she said, so gently that it unnerved him and cut through him like a knife.
“I was upset. You were different after your mother died, and I thought you didn’t need me anymore once you inherited from her.
And you went back to school.” He viewed it as a betrayal, and acted accordingly.
It was a major new insight into his character, and who he was.
He was cruel beneath the surface. He had banished her from her home, and taken back everything he had given her. This punishment of her was merciless.
“I needed to feed my mind, and it was a hard time for me. But that didn’t make me love you less.” He had done that on his own, especially in the end.
“I thought you were cheating on me.”
“I didn’t and I never would,” she said seriously, and he believed her. He had always believed her to be an honest woman, until the end, when he could sense she had secrets.
“I made a mistake. I acted hastily. Come back to me,” he said, pleading with her. Anson never humbled himself to anyone and Veronica was stunned.
“I can’t,” she said quietly. “You threw me out of the only home I had. I don’t want to depend on anyone anymore, or be a mistress.”
“I need you. Where are you staying?”
“I found an apartment, I’m okay.” It was actually prettier than his, much smaller but more distinguished, and more elegant the way she’d decorated it. She loved it, and it was hers. And no one could throw her out at a moment’s notice ever again.
“Can I see you?” he asked, and Veronica squeezed her eyes shut.
This was harder than she expected, but her life was a one-way street now, away from him.
There was no going back. He was too possessive and controlling and cruel in the end.
She knew he would squeeze the life out of her if she went back, and she might never have the guts or the opportunity to leave again.
He had done her a favor by evicting her.
“I can’t, Anson, I’m sorry.”
“You can, but you won’t. You’re punishing me, and that’s not fair.” It was more than fair but she didn’t say it. There was no point. “I told you I’m sorry. What more do you want?” Anger edged into his voice when she didn’t give in to him.
“I don’t want anything. I told you, I don’t want to be a mistress anymore.”
“If I divorce Anne, it will destroy my political career. You know that.” But Veronica didn’t want to marry him either. She just wanted out. She already was out, thanks to him, and she wanted to stay there, away from him. He was toxic. She understood that fully now.
“I’m not asking you to get a divorce. I never did. I knew the rules, and I followed them.”
“You stopped needing me.”
“I need to rely on myself now. You did me a favor. I needed to grow up, and you forced me to. I’m trying to be a grown-up now.
I couldn’t be dependent on you forever. It’s not right.
” She could breathe now. She was free to live and move and do what she wanted, not waiting for him to show up and being alone for the holidays for the rest of her life.
And he had said he missed her, not that he loved her. Anson didn’t love anyone, she knew now.
“Just see me. We can talk about it. I liked you the way you were.” She had been honorable, and he knew it. Too late.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said softly.
She was gone and he knew it. There were tears of anger and frustration in his eyes.
The world was full of younger and even prettier girls, although she was a beauty.
He wanted her. He had seen what was out there, and they wanted him only for the money. Veronica didn’t.
“Call me if you change your mind,” he said, and hung up. It was too humiliating listening to her refuse him. He couldn’t bear it.
She knew she wouldn’t go back to him. She would never give up her freedom again.
And thanks to her mother, she didn’t need to.
Even without her inheritance, she wouldn’t have gone back.
She would never get back the ten years she had spent as Anson’s bird in a golden cage and his slave.
She knew that whatever she did now would be better for her.
He would be fine. He’d have another girl in his love nest in no time.
A girl he could control, as he had her. She was shocked that he had called her, and flattered, but he hadn’t changed her mind.
She took the quiz she’d been studying for and got an A.
She wrote a paper for the class, which the teacher loved, and Scott took her to dinner on Friday night.
He’d had a long week and he was tired, but happy to see her.
They went to their favorite little Italian hole in the wall after that.
They walked back to her place for another glass of wine afterward.
She had told Scott at dinner that Anson had called her and he wasn’t surprised.
Anson was no fool. He’d had a diamond in his hands and he knew it, and he had thrown her away.
Scott guessed that he had probably thought he could get her back if he wanted to.
But he’d been wrong. She wasn’t for sale.
Veronica realized now that she didn’t love Anson.
He was a bad habit she had broken. Scott admired her for it, and for other things.
He knew she was free now. He hadn’t been sure until then.
While they were talking, he leaned over and kissed her, gently at first, as his lips brushed hers, and then it became a searing, passionate kiss, heightened by all the times he had seen her and wanted her and knew he couldn’t have her.
He had spent many nights thinking about her after he saw her, wishing that he had a chance with her, but she had been in Anson’s control then, and she no longer was.
She could really give herself freely now, and as they kissed, she melted into his arms and he wanted to love and protect her, and be part of her life.
They stopped kissing for a minute and he looked at her.
“I wanted you for so long, Veronica.” She nodded and smiled shyly.
“Me too. I thought that would never be possible,” she said, looking at him, soaking up the feelings between them.
“I thought he would hold onto you forever. I never thought this could happen.” He kissed her again and neither of them could stop, and they didn’t want to.
They answered to no one but themselves. They were two free people who had fallen in love.
They stood up together and went to her bedroom, and he slowly undressed her, and admired her in all her beauty, unable to believe that he was here with her, and as she pressed him to her, and lay on her bed with him, she gave him her heart, but knew that she belonged to herself, and what she gave him came from the depths of her soul.
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