Teddy appears next to me and smiles sweetly. “Can I help you pick?”
At the same moment, a knock sounds on the door, and a casual, yet cheery voice greets the girls.
Samantha jumps off the counter and brightly squeals as she runs up to him. “Aiden, my boy! Are you here for a shoot? I can’t believe you’d let someone else do your makeup!”
Hearing that name, I turn and cock a brow at the handsome man in a cheetah print shirt and black leather pants.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, but I actually just finished for today, so I came by to say hi,” he says, flashing a cute smile before noticing me. “Oh, Aoi. What a coincidence.”
Samantha untangles from his neck and shoots me a strange look. “Y’all know each other?”
Aiden smirks, thenshrugs. “Kinda.”
10
Visha
I stare at the black screen of my computer, leaning back against the chair.
Ao jumps into my lap, purring as I scratch the back of her head. I adopted my cat not so long after my brother took me away. Technically, it wasn’t me who adopted her because she was a gift from Bellami.
An apology.
It hadn’t eased my anger, nor my sorrow, but in the memory of my dear Aoi, I named her Ao. It was silly and desperate of me to try so damn hard to keep his memory alive through a cat.
I needed something,anything, to keep me grounded and breathing. I was powerless against the situation. I wanted to call him and explain myself, desperately needing to get back home, but was unable to.
If I had known any of what was going to happen, I would have memorized Aoi’s number. No, I never would have left in the first place.
I spent the next eight years thinking about him every fuckingsecondof the day. I tried to move on, of course, but I just couldn’t. He bewitched me, body and soul. So, when I turned eighteen, I tried to leave the mansion to find him, but I had no lead, and Bellami wouldn’t help me because he’s an asshole.
I even asked his staff to help me go home, but they all obey my brother, so there was no use in trying to coerce them. One day, when I started smashing things in my room because I was so lost about my life and how to finally find someone else to love, someone I couldreach, Bellami slapped me across the face.
He pulled me aside and said, “What makes you think that by finding him, he’ll still want to see you? What do you want from him now? In the past, you wanted a family, but what do you want him to be for younow? If you can’t figure out what you truly want, then let him go. You can’t try to chain him down with expectations you don’t even know the nature of. Grow up, Visha.”
That was the first and last time he ever raised a hand against me. He altered my vision by knocking some sense into me, and I’ll always be grateful for that. I’ll always begrudge him for taking me from Aoi in the first place, but he kind of redeemed himself.
Just a little bit.
It was so hard to keep myself from jumping on a plane to find Aoi before I was worthy of him. I had to be the best version of myself. I couldn’t be lacking in any way. If I were to be with Aoi, who’s extraordinary, I couldn’t be any less than that for him.
No one during my years in France managed to make my heart shiver the way Aoi did. Neither women nor men had his charm, his kindness, his beauty, and wits.
Ao purrs like the engine of a car, which makes me chuckle as my thoughts drift back to Aoi’s adorable face this morning. The most important part about this whole encounter is definitely the fact that I hadsexwithAoi.
Me, little old me, slept with the incredible Aoi Holden.
I must be dreaming because there’s no freaking way in heaven that happened. My second biggest dream came to reality when he kissed me and fucked me. The love of my life took my virginity, and I couldn’t be happier.
Did he like it? What if he didn’t like it and pretended not to know me this morning? But he was definitely enjoying himself! I mean, I was there. He rocked his hips for more and moaned so loudly. I thought I’d cum simply by hearing his voice.
I squeal in my seat and can tell that Ao’s judging me from her comfortable spot in my lap. “Listen, you don’t understand how much this means to me. Aoi is your future daddy, so you’ll have to behave when he comes over.”
She meows in response as I pick her up and shower her with kisses. Ao is now seven years old and still the sweetest baby. She used to be feistier, but eventually, she warmed up to me. Now, no matter how weird I am around her, she barely reacts.
The sudden buzzing of my phone on the desk steals my attention from the cuddly creature in my arms. I lower her onto the ground and pick up my phone. The report I asked for has been sent to my computer, according to Linda. I jump to the keyboard and skim through my emails for the files until I finally find them.
“Okay, Visha, calm down. You’ll find everything out about him in a second, but don’t freak the fuck out no matter what you read.”
