Chapter 14 #3
And apparently as Briggs.
In that we had commonality.
Shaking my head, I stepped forward and curled my fist, my ring practically digging into my skin. “Fuck family,” I shouted, my voice booming in the otherwise quiet space.
“That’ll never be the case, and you know it.
” Getting up, she walked over to me and cupped my fist with her hand.
Sighing, I relaxed my fingers, glaring over my shoulder at her.
“It’s a web we’re stuck in and could probably find our way out of, but won’t.
Because for every time they knock you down, they are also there to pick you back up when you get knocked down by someone else. ”
She made it sound like it was an endless cycle of creating something only to destroy it before creating it once more so it could start all over again.
“I’m working to remove him from his position as CEO.
” It wasn’t something I planned on telling her, but I also wasn’t in a rush to try to take the words back.
Brooklyn should know where I stood. She just didn’t need to know the minor details I chose to leave out, like how doing so would guarantee we wouldn’t have to marry.
It would do neither of us any good, and the last thing she needed was to get upset if she saw my decision as one that threatened her father in any way.
“How?” she asked, slinking away and grabbing the mug to take a sip of her tea.
“It doesn’t matter.” Coldness cut through my voice like a frozen dagger.
Her passive expression morphed as she drew her brows together and scrunched up her nose. “Are you sure about this?”
I gave her a curt nod when it appeared like she wanted to say more, but stopped herself, for whatever reason.
Although, she should have known never to do that for my benefit.
If I didn’t want to answer something, I wasn’t going to.
Just like if I didn’t want to hear what she had to say, I would listen and then move on from it.
Silence ensued. The only noise that broke through it was of her smacking her lips.
My eyes were drawn there, and I watched closely as her tongue roamed over them, wetting them so they glistened as she spoke.
“Robert doesn’t want anything to do with the baby.
” Frankly, none of this necessarily concerned me, so I hadn’t made a point to nose around.
I had enough going on without dealing with some old dude who couldn’t come to terms with his age, so he screwed younger women.
“When I told him I was pregnant, he didn’t care.
He basically gave me the boot and ensured I understood how he wanted nothing to do with me or the baby. ”
My wrath was quiet, but I could still feel it slowly igniting in my chest. “Pezzo di merda.”6 Astonishingly, I had never met a bigger piece of shit.
Well actually, maybe if I gave it a second, I could think of two or three more people that would give him a run for his money.
It seemed like a waste of time, though. I knew everything I needed to know, which was that Robert was as worthless as I would have presumed him to be.
“He should be so lucky you even gave him the time of day.” I didn’t need to know any of the other women who sucked his dick to know that not a single one of them compared to Brooklyn. They were all a non-factor next to her.
Glancing down, she lightly circled the rim of the mug with her finger. “Yeah, well, I don’t want him to have any part in this child if that’s not what he wants. It’s not going to help me or them any.”
“I agree, so fuck him.” I snarled.
“I already did that. That’s how I landed myself in this situation.” Her words were outlined in amusement, which I couldn’t understand how she found in a time like this.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” Holding the mug in one hand, she attacked the space between us, purposefully. “And Marco?”
Swallowing, I ignored the way my fingers tingled to reach out and touch her again, this time skimming them over her mouth.
She brought her hand between us, placing it on my chest before locking her eyes with mine. “I may not know chess, but I do know that your father is wrong if he thinks you’re only a pawn.”
“Save the rest for your wedding vows,” I replied, destroying the electricity between us.
It was a dangerous game, and I knew neither of us were afraid of danger, so we would not only gladly participate but probably even dominate. Only, it’d ruin us in the end. And that was one thing I wouldn’t allow.
When I stared at her hand but didn’t make a move to acknowledge it in any other sort of way, she chuckled and dropped it, backing up. “Oh, those? I prepared my vows right after our meeting in your office.”
I supposed I could have said that I had done the same, and I had been working to keep mine ever since.
That my vow was to put an end to the intolerable expectation that had been put on us.
Because, while I wouldn’t give her the wedding everyone but us wanted, I would give her something much better—freedom.