I don’t understand why he does it. It’s a slow, suicidal and repelling habit,I thought as I watched my father’s ritual in calm fury. I had never taken up smoking because it’s disgusting. Or maybe because it reminded me too much of my father. When we were 14, Andy had come over to my family home one day with a huge bulge in one of his pockets and signaled at me all through lunch so we could go up into my room. He’d asked me to lock the door and pulled out a wad of tissue paper; two sticks of slims were lying delicately inside it. He told me he had poached them from his father’s desk. After he had spent the next fifteen minutes assuring me that we would not get caught, Andy lit one and tried taking a drag. I’d asked him to hold on and stuffed my duvet against the gap under the door.
“I saw it in a movie once. It’ll keep the smoke from getting out,” I explained when I witness my friend’s puzzled expression.
I got my turn to try it and ended up in fit of coughs. I pictured my father sitting behind his desk, looking down at me with a mean stare, his lips curled menacingly around a cigarette. I’d passed it back to Andy without saying a word and decided that smoking was not my thing. It became a ritual for Andy, though. He would steal cigarettes from his dad and come over to my house after lunch to smoke them.
“I am coming back as chairman, the board voted unanimously on it,” my father’s voice pulled me from my reverie.
What the hell?
Chapter 2
Sasha Ramirez
“You’re going to be fine, babe,” Renee said, smiling as she smoothed a wave of auburn hair over my shoulders. She’d spent the afternoon helping me prepare for the evening ahead. She’d straightened my hair, painted my toenails, and helped me pick out a dress. Navy blue, tailored, almost demure; the cocktail dress fitted me perfectly. I looked pretty damn good. And I was ready to throw up.
Leo had sent word this morning that a client has specifically requested my company for the night. It had been exactly a week since I’d narrowly escaped death at the hands of a homicidal maniac. A psycho who’d decided to teach me a lesson because he’d been convinced that I’d looked at him contemptuously during some fleeting interaction at a club. I’d barely even remembered the incident. Yet it had been enough to drive him track me down and attack me in a hotel room.
“Thanks, Ren. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I murmured. I knew I was probably still too pale, despite the make-up. Renée had carefully applied concealer to hide the fading bruises around my eye. The bruises on my thighs were taking longer to fade but nobody would be seeing my legs anytime soon. I’d agreed to go on this “date” with the strict provision that there would be absolutely no contact. I would simply be a companion for the night. Frankly, I wouldn’t have agreed to go at all if not for the call I’d received from my mother a few days ago. Emilio had returned from a week-long bender, which was cause for relief and exasperation in equal measure. Clearly he had been up to his old tricks – hanging out with a bad crowd, getting up to who knew what. She was afraid for him. And, of course, she needed money. And I was the only one who could help. I needed this job, even if it scared me to death.
“You won’t be alone, you know that, right?” Renée said, clearly interpreting my brooding silence. “I spoke to Leo myself. I told him I’d have his nuts if anything happens to you.”
I gave a nod and a watery smile. Renée’s tough words were sweet, but inside I knew there’d be little she could do – either to Leo, or to anyone who might try to hurt me. My best friend in the world was a high-class callgirl. Leo might humor her while she was making him money. But the fact remained, he was a pimp, and she was a hooker. I was occupying a world where I’d become a commodity, and so was she. Leo’s slip-up with the previous client had left him repentant for a few days. But he’d gotten over the guilt. And I had to get back to work.
My phone pinged and I practically jumped at the sound. I didn’t need to glance down at the screen to know it was from my boss. Besides, Renée already had my phone in her hand.
“Sly’s at the door,” she murmured as she read the message. She gave my arm a squeeze. I stood shakily then made my way to the door. The driver would be in the lobby waiting.
“He was wrong, you know,” Renée said just as I reached the door. I stopped and turned to face her, tilting my head in question. “The bastard who hurt you…he was wrong. If anything happened to you, you would be missed. Your mom would miss you. Even your fuck-up of a brother. And me most of all. I’d be heartbroken, Sash. You’re not alone.”
I swallowed hard and give a small nod.
You not alone,I told myself. Then straightened my shoulders and headed out the door.
∞∞∞
Prince Walker
“All the privileges that came to you with this office have been rescinded. You will no longer have access to the jet. Starting tomorrow, you will come in as the director for the technological operations department. I don’t know how Luke will feel about how you are taking away his job but he’s being updated right now,” Drew Walker announced, referring to the man who currently held the position. Not for long, it seemed.
I realized my mouth was hanging open in shock as my father delivered the cold punches to my heart with a triumphant smirk. I felt my bile rise in my throat, and my skin broke out in sweat.
“You will pay the deficit of the business deal gone awry. You have a week to pick your preferred house and car. If you have the money, fine, we will take a check, although I doubt you do; I doubt you ever bothered to save while you have been at it. If you don’t pay up within three weeks your assets will be liquidated to pay back the company. The trust fund which your mother set up in the eventuality of her death has been frozen.”
I couldn’t help but gasp. I gulped back the hard lump in my throat.
“Calm down,” my father replied, flicking the ash from the cigarette’s butt over the tabloid. “I won’t be taking a penny from it out of respect for your mother. But it will remain frozen, so you don’t fall back on it and continue your reckless habits.”
I couldn’t stand to look at my father, I felt like punching that smirk off his face, but I steeled myself. My lips were crushed together to silence a deep groan. I had served my father the opportunity to humiliate him on a silver platter. The board would not have been this severe. These actions had his father’s cruel machination written over them. The air felt scarce and stale; I could feel my lungs constricting as I struggled to draw in a breath.Why does he hate me so much?
“And finally,” I watched as my father’s finger hovered over Angelique’s face in the tabloid cover. “This girl. Would she make a suitable bride?”
My eyes widened in alarm. My mouth opened and closed several times as I struggled to form a coherent response. "What?" was all I could manage. My voice was strained, my thoughts racing.
“Could you marry this girl?” my father asked again, in a terse voice. “Is her family respectable enough?”
“What does Angelique have to do with anything? I do not wish to get married! You can tell the board I will fight this, or I could just leave the company. I don’t have to do anything you say.”
“Let me finish before you begin your pathetic tirade. I could convince the board to be lenient with you if you promise to marry this girl as soon as possible. You have been together for a long time, the longest you have been with anyone, I believe. You do this, and I will let you keep your assets and come back as chairman in three months. You can choose to resign but no other company will pay as much as you make here. And bear in mind you have debts to settle.”
