Bidding For Her Curves - Flora Ferrari Page 0,44
sudden.
“Our boy was adopted out, but I never forgot him. I never thought I’d see him again.”
“Until you came to work for me,” I say aloud, feeling like I’ve double-crossed myself all these years somehow.
“How did you know?” I ask him, still suspicious the old man could be up to something else, a new con maybe? But no, I know it’s the truth.
“That little birthmark under your arm, shaped like a cross almost. It’s different now, but when you were born its how we knew you were special, that somehow you’d change the world. Make it better.”
I clear my throat, pulling myself together.
“So, why try to ruin me, why try and take it all as your own? I know how you did it now. You had access to all my investors, my friendly and not so friendly competitors. It was nothing for you to contact them, even act on my behalf, telling all the lies needed to get what you wanted.”
He’s silent for a moment, then continues, “Aye, it was simple enough. I just got sick of seeing you, my only son as the man who had it all while I had nothing. Lately, you’d sign anything I put in front of you, you trust me that much.”
“Trusted,” I correct him, looking at my watch.
“And that’s your time up,” I inform him, ready to hang up.
“Aren’t you even going to forgive your own father?” he asks, his voice trembling with emotion, but mine’s recovered. I can hear Jules humming as she comes back into the kitchen.
I know where my loyalty lies.
“I might’ve,” I tell him in a low voice. “Except you made the worst call, telling me I could do better than Jules. Look out for my subpoena in the mail, as well as the cops knocking. I’ll see you in court, asshole.”
I hang up, taking a second to breathe in and then out while I yank the cord from the wall.
“Everything alright?” Jules asks, sidling up next to me, stroking my face with her hand.
“Better now,” I tell her. “Just a ghost from the past… Say, what kind of dogs were you thinking about?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jules
I might not know much about high finance, but I’m no dummy when it comes to who’s on the phone.
I know it’s that Nicholas man. Mason said he’s one of the few who has access to that number. I also know that no matter how much Mason wants me by his side 24/7, I know when to make myself scarce too.
I take a bathroom break, and by the time I come back to the kitchen, I can’t help but overhear. And I think I hear enough to get the picture anyway.
I turn back, giving Mason his privacy, waiting until I think he’s done before going back into the kitchen.
I can’t help it either, the passing thought.
There’s just too many stairs in this place too… the kids… They don’t come out with common sense or big enough to climb stairs the right way.
Remembering what Mason said about keeping me barefoot and pregnant, it makes me smile. I find myself standing in the wide hallway bathed in sunlight, rubbing my belly just thinking about it.
And it’s not the bagels I’m feeling in there.
Maybe that’s why he wants a family. Maybe that’s why I do too, we’ve never known any ourselves.
I hear Mason winding his call down, I know it’s not on a happy note either from his tone. I hum as loud as I can to let him know I’m coming.
I suddenly want to tell him that he can have me barefoot and pregnant if he wants, that all I want in this life is him, him, and his children.
Inside me and all around us.
If money’s no problem, then I don’t have to work. I can work at what I feel like doing best, loving my man, and raising our kids.
Why should life be any more complicated than that?
Mason’s better at dealing with some things than I am, and he looks like he’s dealt with his own demons in a matter of seconds.
I can’t say I’m sad to see that phone cord ripped from the wall either, I don’t want anyone bugging us unannounced anymore either.
I ask if he’s okay and he replies by asking which kind of dogs I was thinking of.
It makes me smile, proving that Mason is thinking like I am, not worrying so much about the business side of his life.
But that still concerns me too.
I nestle myself between his legs as he