AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m—”
“Oh, all that is for you. Elliot called me last night and told me to do some shopping for you.” With a buzz of energy, she picked out a beautiful summer dress and held it against Vivian’s body.
“Perfect.”
“How did you know my size?”
“Oh, when I asked Elliot what size you were he said and I quote, my hand can span her waist.” She changed her voice to mimic that of a man’s. “It’s a good thing I know the size of his hand, right?” She laughed as if that was the funniest thing ever.
Vivian found herself far from being amused and forced a tight smile onto her face. She didn’t know whether she liked Deidre or not. No. She was being polite. She did know. She didn’t like her at all.
“Oh, and when I asked him what your favorite scent was he said, wait for it… Flowers.” She laughed again and continued to grate on Vivian’s nerves. She really didn’t want Elliot telling another woman she smelled like flowers. That seemed to irk her to no end.
He thought she smelled like flowers?
Irrelevant.
But at least the woman had good taste. It took them a while to unpack everything and Vivian had to sit and listen to how Deidre knew Elliot his whole life, then she changed it to half his whole life. They went way back, apparently. Again, Vivian kept that tight smile on her face for the duration of Deidre’s visit.
“Well, I hope you like everything I bought you. I do enjoy spending Elliot’s money,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
“I’m sure,” Vivian said before she could censor her reply.
“Okay then. If there’s anything I forgot or you need, just let Elliot know and he can tell me.”
“Thank you, Deidre.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Knight.”
She might have felt uncomfortable when his other staff called her Mrs. Knight and she was quick to correct them, but with Deidre, she just didn’t bother.
Apart from good taste, Deidre had thought of everything including a range of toiletries and makeup that Vivian knew had cost a fortune. This was some kind of prison, she thought. Gourmet food, designer clothes, but a prison still the same.
Without wasting time, and while she had the apartment to herself, she used the intercom and informed Owen that she was tired and going to take a nap.
Instead, she filled the bathtub and mixed in an array of salts and bath bombs until the whole massive apartment smelled like a giant apricot.
She soaked until the water cooled and her fingers pruned. She hadn’t realized the time going by. Her heart had been too heavy and drowned everything around her.
What was she going to do?
She couldn’t trust Elliot with her plan. His sole focus on Tobias was revenge. He would ship her off in a heartbeat if he knew an inkling of the truth because again, he wanted to mess with Tobias and she was his weapon of choice. Once he knew her worth was fruitless, there was no way he would keep her around.
Her eyes grew thick with tears as she thought of her cousin and uncle, alone in the tiny two-bedroom apartment they lived in. But even that was better than living on the compound.
She didn’t have to relive the moment she was told her mother had been killed. She closed her eyes as she remembered running to the foyer where it had happened. Blood still stained the floor. But her mother’s body had been removed.
She met her deadly fate because she had wanted to leave the compound and start a life with her daughter that was free of violence and crime and men telling her what to do. Her true fear that Vivian would be kidnapped and sold into slavery.
She was going to fail her mother. No matter all the promises she had made to her mother the night before she was killed and gave Vivian her locket, and the promises she continued to make at her graveside, Vivian was going to fail.
A surge of anger rippled through her. No. She refused to accept defeat. No man was going to tell her what to do.
She just needed another plan.
She stepped from the tub, wiped herself dry then used one of the lotions Deidre had brought her. She tried the perfume and found she hated it even more. No, she loved it. It was floral and fresh with hints of talc and vanilla and smelled like the perfume she used to use when she was still a mafia princess. Now she used knock-offs and it was still better than being on the compound.
She quickly grabbed a pair of panties and its matching bra, forcing herself not to associate everything she wore with how much she disliked Deidre. It was all Elliot’s fault anyway.
