Chapter 44
44
MAGNOLIA
T he following few weeks were hellish at best. While Kolbi believed my parents would calm down and come around, they had done the complete opposite.
They had seen my act of going after him as the ultimate act of betrayal and subsequently cut me off from everything I’d ever known. I’d stayed at his place for a few days after the party while things calmed down. When I went back to my condo to get fresh clothes and to check on my place, I couldn’t get in. I tried every key on my key ring and even tried the numbered lock on the back door, but there was no use. The locks had been changed as had the code. Because my parents bought my condo, it belonged to them and they had access to the property. Knowing my mother, she probably had someone sent over as soon as she realized I wasn’t staying there and had the locks changed without telling me. Soon after, my credit card had been cut off and embarrassingly declined one afternoon while I tried to treat Margaret and I to lunch.
She had warned me. She had told me time and time again for years that everything I had could be taken away from me if I disobeyed or stepped out of line. It was how she and my father got me to be a dedicated and devoted daughter my entire life. They had raised me to live to a certain standard, to have certain expectations in life, and then used that comfort and security like a carrot, dangling it in front of me with the constant threatening undertone that it could be snatched away from me at any minute.
And it had been snatched.
Kolbi encouraged me to try and call them, to try and make amends and patch up our relationship. And I tried—I did—but every time I rang the house and someone picked up, neither of my parents were around to speak to me. I could hear the fear in the person’s voice who’d picked up and could just imagine my mother looming in the corner next to the phone making sure they made it known that I was no longer welcome there.
The fallout from Kolbi and my father’s fight became a local news headline. The papers reported on how the owner of the city’s largest security firm had gotten into it with the head of the Sinclair empire and why it happened in the first place. My name was splashed across the back white pages and outlandish tales of our relationship were spun for the sake of the morning news. Surprisingly enough, all the papers leaned in favor of what Kolbi did instead of away from it. All of them, minus a select few, painted him as a valiant hero who was out to protect his girlfriend from her enraged father. A father who—after a video of him slapping me went viral online—dropped out of the race for senator. I’d tried to reach out to him directly to apologize for not being honest with him but he ignored my calls as well.
Kolbi and I had fallen into a routine together over the last four weeks. He’d invited me to stay with him when we realized I could no longer get into my condo and was kind enough to take me shopping for new clothes and essentials since all of my stuff was trapped inside a home I could no longer get into. I was coming in from a walk around lunch one Tuesday afternoon, not really knowing what to do with my time now that I was no longer required to be at functions or benefits with my parents, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and felt my heart jump when I realized it was our house number calling. Sitting on the steps just inside his house, I took a deep breath before answering, trying not to get excited that my mother was finally reaching out.
“Hello?”
“Yes, is this Magnolia Sinclair?” A voice I didn’t recognize said from the other side of the phone.
“Yes? Who is this?” I asked, trying to place the voice. I knew everyone who worked in our house but this voice was completely new to me.
“The Sinclairs would like to let you know that their condo is being cleaned out tomorrow from one to five and if you wish to get anything from it you should during that time. Anything left behind after that time will be thrown away.” I love the use of ‘their condo’ when we all know it’s my condo. I paused for a beat, taking in what the stranger was saying and then their words hit me.
“Wait, thrown away ? They’re just going to throw my stuff away if I don’t come get it?” I exclaimed. It was bad enough that they had someone who’d I never met before call to tell me this but now they were threatening to throw my stuff away? It felt as if they were trying to throw me away.
“Yes ma’am, that is correct. The door will be open as the movers will be there so feel free to take whatever you want. Anything left behind will be disposed of.”
Just like me.
“I, okay, yeah sure. You said one to five?” I confirmed with the voice on the other end before hanging up. Once the line went dead, I tossed my phone down next to me and pressed the palms of my hands into my eyes, trying to fight back the tears that were welling in them.
I couldn’t believe they were getting rid of my stuff. That they were symbolically getting rid of me, their only daughter, because I had chosen love over choosing to be controlled by them for the rest of my life. I sat on the stairs, thinking about everything that had happened over the last few months and a realization began to wash over me.
My parents never truly loved me .
They simply loved the version of me that I created in an effort to make them happy. A version of myself who was polite, obedient, and minded her manners. A daughter who didn’t see them for who they truly were: conniving, spiteful people who only cared about themselves. Finally, after nearly twenty-nine years, I have a divine sense of who they were and that I never wanted to become them. I wanted to be me, the outspoken, ambitious, and carefree version of me that I had neatly packed away a long time ago and trained myself to believe I didn’t want.
But that is what I want.
That is who I want to be.
And now felt like the perfect time to start being that girl.
My heels clicked against the white marble floor as I headed towards his office. After deciding to be the woman I’d always wanted to be but my parents would never allow, I knew what I needed to do next. The hem of my skirt bounced against my shins as I made my way down the hall and I could feel the eyes of his employees on me as I walked through the office. It was just after lunch and I didn’t see Hank or Bailey anywhere and assumed they were still out grabbing some food. I’d texted him and asked where he was so I knew I could find him at his desk. I pushed open the large glass doors without knocking and loved the way his eyes lit up when he noticed me walking in.
“Well isn’t this a nice surprise,” he hummed, standing from his desk and taking a few wide strides towards me. Before he could get his hands on me, I held one up between us, stopping him.
“Not so fast,” I warned. He tilted his chin and looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. “I’m here on official business.”
His eyebrows shot up and he tried to control the smirk I could see growing on his face. “Official business, huh?”
“Yes, please take a seat.” I motioned towards his chair and took a seat in one of the ones on the other side of his desk. He crossed his hands on top of his desk and studied me through smirking eyes.
“Alright, what’s this official business?”
“I’d like a job,” I announced. I hadn’t worked since I graduated from college because I didn’t need to. I was told by my father plenty of times that he would show me the ropes on how to run the family fortune but he never did. If I was going to be the strong and independent woman I knew I wanted to be, part of that included getting a job.
“A job? But, baby, I already told you I’d take care of you.”
I smiled because he had offered to take care of me—in every sense of the word. But I couldn’t let him do that forever.
“I know you did. So take care of me in this way and give me a job. I have a degree, I’m a fast learner, and I am happy with anything you have open. Here, I even made you a resumé,” I explained as I pulled out a piece of paper from my purse. Before leaving the house I whipped it up to show him I was serious. As he read it, his lips pulled up into a grin before he flicked his eyes back to me.
“It says here under ‘Special Skills’, ‘ gives amazing head ’?”
A sly smile spread across my lips and I dipped my chin to look at him through my lashes. “My boyfriend always seems happy with my work.” This earned me a deep belly laugh which caused me to laugh right along with him. He tossed my fake resume on his desk and looked up at me, smiling.
“I would be happy to bring you on. How would you like to work with Bailey in our events department? She’s always saying how she needs more help and you two seem to get along alright.”
I beamed at him, excited about getting to work with her and help plan different events around the city. “That’s perfect! I’ve helped my mother plan events for years and have the names and contacts of some of the best caterers and florists and?—”
“I’ll let you talk to Bailey about those things. I trust that you’ll do a good job.” He leaned back in his chair and cradled his hands into his head, his elbows stretching out to the sides like the wings of a bird. “Now, stand up for me.”
I looked at him, confused, but did what he said.
“Come over this way,” he directed, nodding his head towards the side of his desk. I followed his directions and took a few steps so I was standing in front of him now. He grinned menacingly at me from his chair and hungrily took in my body with his eyes.
“Those shoes are straight sin, Miss Sinclair,” he growled, licking his lips. I tucked my lip between my teeth and looked down at my feet. The navy blue heels that matched my dress tied around my ankles and had bows just over the toe of each shoe.
“I’m glad you noticed, I kinda hoped you would and they’d get me a job.”
“You had the job before you even asked for it.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a remote. With a few clicks of the buttons, the large glass doors were now blacked out as were the glass walls that enclosed his office space. The only light shining in was from the big windows that overlooked the city. “Now get over here and show me what other special skills you have to offer.”
And for once, I did exactly what he said without putting up a fight.