“No, there are staff for that.” I reminded her. “Staff that you will be polite and respectful to at all times, because if they walk out because of your attitude and behavior you will be doing chores. Briannaella, has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?”
“Well, I certainly have an evil stepmother,” she spat back. “When did you two get married, anyway? Thanks for the invite, Dad.”
“December 18th. We eloped. No one was there, not even Elvis.” Eli smirked. “We’re holding a celebration on New Year’s Eve for everyone and of course you’ll be invited to that.”
“Is this because mom’s getting married?” Brianna added. “Is it to show her that you don’t care?”
“Don’t be stupid. Me and your mom were over a long time ago. I don’t care who she marries and I’m sure she won’t care that I have.”
“That’s not the case, actually.” Brianna beamed. “She’s always regretted how she treated you. I don’t think she’d marry Roger if you gave her another chance.”
My eyes clouded, and she saw it, an extra glint flashed in her own and her smile got that little bit wider.
“This conversation is a non-starter. I’m happily married to Alex, thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go to get dressed so that you don’t have to be disgusted by your own father.”
He stormed out of the room. Brianna leaned back against the countertop.
“Defensive isn’t he, for someone who doesn’t care?” She smirked. “Only four weeks and we’ll be at my mom’s wedding. The question is who will she be marrying? I wonder how long it would take to have your marriage annulled?”
I stared her down. “I pity you, Brianna. You’re going to end up lonely and eaten up by your own bitterness. You have the world at your feet and you can’t even appreciate it. Bring it on dear stepdaughter. Like you said earlier, I’m the wicked stepmother, so see how far you get and what the repercussions are.”
“So are you going to show me up to my room?” Brianna asked. We began to walk up the stairs to the landing and then I hesitated. “Oh my God, you don’t even know where the guest rooms are, do you? What on earth was my father doing? Have you blackmailed him or something?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’ll find my own room and I’ll let you know if anything needs freshening up, stepmother dearest.” With that she flounced off to her room, and I stood there rubbing the back of my neck, wishing I could jump back on a plane to Vegas.
Chapter 7
Eli
My daughter’s timing couldn’t have been worse. Alex and I hadn’t spent a full day in our marital home before her arrival. The showdown in the kitchen from Brianna wasn’t unexpected, but I’d loved that Alex had shown her that she wouldn’t be a pushover. Once my daughter realized someone was a soft target, she never let up.
Yet, Brianna was my daughter, and I loved her. Every time I saw her I looked for a way in, a way I could get her away from thinking everything was about money and what you could get out of people. And I failed. As a parent I’d failed my daughter. Because truth be told sometimes in the end, I gave her money so she went back to her mother because she was high maintenance and after a while I couldn’t deal. It was easier to give in. Now Alex was here, it appeared Brianna wasn’t going to get her way so easily. Thoughts of my feisty wife made my dick hard, but we needed to make a move to the office not the bedroom. I had to hope while we were out, Brianna didn’t pawn my Rolex collection.
Our honeymoon period had ended abruptly and there was a subdued air as we traveled to work in my car. As we walked into the office, Alex turned to me and giggled which lightened the mood a little.
“This is so weird. Don’t you be taking advantage of your assistant, you hear me?”
I pulled her into my office and locked the door behind me. Not that we were expecting anyone today. I closed the office down between Christmas and New Year, letting my staff have bonus days off for the hard work they carried out the rest of the year. It worked, my staff were loyal and extremely hard working. I guess they knew if they weren’t, there were plenty more coveting a job at King’s Enterprises. It was then I realized that Alex would also usually be off at this time.
“Shit. Your family, Alex. Don’t you usually visit them this
time of year?”
“You want to talk about my family now? When you just pulled me in here hopefully to take advantage of me over your desk.”
“Me? Take advantage of you? Hell, no, wife. I want that feisty woman I saw in my house here bossing me around.”
“Is that so? Well, Mr. King. In that case, sit in your chair, right now.” She clicked her fingers at me and pointed at the chair.
“And if I don’t?”
“Well, honey, I’ll just go right on back to my own desk and catch up on emails and then see if you accidentally click on the intercom while you’re jerking yourself off and screaming my name.”
I froze.
“Your face.” She howled with laughter. “Yes, Mr. King. I wasn’t totally sure it was me you were calling for until I heard you do it again on our honeymoon.”