“Well I guess it’s good that I’m not a fucking secretary then.” I was getting fed up.
He pointed a finger at me, his face suddenly puffy and red. “You watch your mouth when you speak to me.”
I stood up from the bed. “I’m not leaving Miami. I don’t care what you want. I’ve made a life there. I have a job and an apartment and a loving boyfriend and friends. I’m not leaving all that to come back here and be miserable with you and Daniel fucking Bennett.”
My father yelled from his spot on the bed. “You will do what I goddamn tell you to do!”
“Or what?” I screamed back.
He said nothing as he looked at me with widened eyes. I had never spoken to him that way before, I’d barely ever uttered a word against him. I had been weak. Afraid to stand up for myself, afraid of what might happen to me if he decided he didn’t want to put up with me anymore. I had been afraid of everything. That little girl who had been taken from the one bedroom apartment she shared with her loving mother had been thrust into an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people and instead of facing it head-on, she chose to hide away.
I was ashamed of myself for letting him push me around for so long. I hated that I never took the time or the effort to demand to be treated fairly and to take what I wanted for myself.
I was tired of seeking his approval and telling myself I was doing the opposite I was tired of searching for love in a man who didn’t know how to give it. I made a life for myself, it was messy and new and ridiculous, but it was mine. Dex, my apartment, Nora and Cam, and all of the friends and memories still waiting to be made. I loved all of it, more than I had ever loved anything and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Christopher Reed take it away from me.
My voice was calm when I spoke again. “I’m going to go back downstairs and finish my meal with my boyfriend and Valerie. First thing in the morning we’re leaving and I’m not coming back.” I narrowed my eyes at him, daring him to speak again. “I’m not going to marry Daniel; I’m not going to be anyone’s fucking trophy wife.”
I stared at him straight on, holding his angry gaze. “You’ve controlled my entire life with no thought to how I felt about it and I let you because I wanted you to love me. But I’m done seeking your approval. I have a life that I’m finally proud of any it may not be much but I did it without your help.” I smiled a bit. “I don’t know whether you love me or not and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop wishing you knew how to show it, but I’m done letting you walk all over me.” I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders. “And I won’t be coming back here until you learn to respect me. But I won’t hold my breath because I’m not confident you actually know what that word means.”
With one last huff I made my way back downstairs, the weight on my chest finally beginning to lift.
20
Dex
I wasn’t exactly sure what happened between Rosie and her father but she returned from his room happier and more relaxed than I had ever seen her. Her smile was as bright and glittering as her eyes.
As soon as she returned to the dining room, she interrupted the slightly awkward conversation I was having with Valerie with a deep kiss. Her little hands tugging a bit at my hair before she pulled away with a grin.
“What happened in there?”
From her happy expression I could only assume she and her father had reconciled. Maybe he apologized.
“Nothing.” She chuckled, reaching down to pick a room temperature green bean off of my plate, popping it into her mouth. “Dad and I just came to an agreement, that’s all.”
Valerie spoke up from across the table before I could. “What kind of agreement?”
“He’s going to stay the fuck out of my life until he learns how to properly treat me.”
Valerie’s perfectly painted mouth gaped open. “He agreed to that?”
Rosie shrugged. “I didn’t give him much of a choice.” She reached out to grab my hand. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Dex and I are very tired. We’ve had a long day,” she said with a giggle as she dragged me from the dining room and into her bed.
I was woken up early the next morning by a soft knock on Rosie’s bedroom door. Looking down at the woman in my arms I made sure she was undisturbed before getting up to see who it was. Melissa, the young housekeeper, greeted me with a tentative smile.
“Hi, Mr. Dex.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry to bother you so early, but Mr. Reed is requesting your presence.”
I figured it would come to this. He was too weak to come to dinner and I knew I wouldn’t be leaving the Reed estate without hashing things out with him man-to-man. No matter how satisfied Rosie felt with the outcome of their conversation.
I nodded. “Sure, just give me a second to put something on.” There was no way I was going to face that asshole in just my boxer briefs.
Melissa led me up another flight of stairs and into a large room. The smell of sickness in the air making me turn my nose up slightly. The man I assumed was Rosie’s father stared over at me from his place on the bed. His pinstriped pajamas were perfectly pressed and his hair, the same shade as hers, was combed neatly on his head.
“Mr. Quinn, I presume?” The man spoke with the cadence of someone who was much more important than he looked in that moment.
I walked forward to shake his hand, tightening my grip a bit in his cold grasp. “Yes sir.”
“And what are you to my daughter?”