“You can do whatever you wish unless you are back here tomorrow at four.”
Bossy. Demanding. Possibly overstepping. And I am definitely in for it.
She braids my hair into one big braid that hangs over my shoulder.
She pulls and tugs until it seems to be to her satisfaction.
“Head back,” she says, and I let my head fall back. “You’re such a good little girl doing what I say,” she says, a proud smile on her face. “We’ll have a lot of fun, Miss Phillips.”
Her lips find mine from above, and everything feels so wonderfully weightless. Easy. Liberating.
“Get up,” she then says and ends the kiss. “We’re having breakfast and afterwards a meeting with the lawyers.”
“The lawyers,” I repeat suspiciously. My chest clenches.
“Yes, the lawyers. Because we are going to go after everyone involved in the little scandal.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“You simply have to put your signature on a document, and I am taking care of the rest,” she says.
“But the media?—“
“The more they harass you, the more you get.”
“But I don’t need the money.” I really don’t. With money comes responsibility. And I don’t want it.
“Give it away then,” she says as we walk to the door.
I consider her for a moment. My eyes wander to my left, and I see myself in a mirror.
I don’t even recognise myself.
The hair.
The clothes.
I bite my lip because I love how I look. Something that doesn’t go unnoticed by her. Her face shows a self-sufficient, almost smug smile.
“And that woman?” I ask because I am actually scared of the woman who allegedly vandalised the house because she is some sort of stalker. At least that’s what everyone in the media said.
“A shadow of the past we will deal with,” she says. “I promise you, I’ll take good care of you.”
“Don’t,” I say.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t make any promises you can’t hold up,” I say, because I haven’t forgotten what happened last time she promised me something.
Victoria looks at me for a moment.
“Then, how about this—” she says and grasps my cheek with her hand. “I promise you to do everything in my power to protect you, take care of you and—“ She bends down until her lips are touching mine as she whispers, “Love you with all I have.”
Love me.
A grin appears on my face as I kiss her.
“Okay,” I say with a bit of cheek in my tone. I am also swooning, but I can’t show her that.
