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Zach
I hated leaving Victoria in the morning, but there was something that I needed to do, and it was best that she didn’t know about it. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, and if she knew I was doing it, she wouldn’t approve.
She had been so exhausted from the day and our lovemaking throughout the night that it didn’t surprise me that she slept late into the morning. I was never one who could stay in bed once I was awake, and while the idea of waking her up held a certain appeal, she needed the sleep more.
There was something very right and settling to see her lying next to me in my bed. To feel her arms wrapped around me as we slumbered. I wanted to wake up next to her every morning, come home to her every night; I wanted her to move in with me. Though the last one, I wasn’t so sure she would want to do. She had just bought a house, her dream home, and I couldn’t go and ask her to move out of it before she had even settled into it.
But we couldn’t think about that, or she wouldn’t allow herself to until everything was settled with her job and my father. I hated that he thought that he could manipulate me by using her. I hated that she was caught in the middle of it. I needed to get her out of it, both of us, and there was one person I knew who could help me with that. And probably the one person that Victoria wouldn’t want me to talk to.
I had heard through Ashley that Samantha, Victoria’s mother, was staying at The Visions Hotel while the divorce was being finalized. I had also heard she was sending the bill to my father, something that had annoyed me initially but now didn’t bother me as much.
It was early still when I knocked on her door, or at least early by Samantha’s standards. I had never seen her out of bed or in public before noon on any given day, except when she needed to be on set. The woman was a bit of a diva, but she was always professional when it came to work and being on time. I didn’t expect to find her awake, much less dressed and looking like she had been up for hours, when I knocked on her door.
“Zachary, what are you doing here? Has your father resorted to having you do his dirty work now?” she asked when she saw me.
“No, actually the exact opposite. I need your help with doing some dirty work.”
Samantha raised one dark red eyebrow at me. Her hair had started to turn grey years ago, but she kept coloring it her signature red, even her eyebrows. It should have looked fake and that she was trying too hard, but she must have found a good hairstylist and colorist as it was hard to tell that it wasn’t real. She was a striking woman with long thin legs and a shapely body. I could see some of Victoria in her and why my father had been so smitten with her.
“Oh, this sounds juicy, do come in,” she purred.
She turned away from me and back into the hotel suite. I followed her, taking in the living room with the couch and chairs in front of the large flat-screen television. The windows to the terrace were open, and the morning sun and breeze flowed into the room. There were papers on the desk by the window, and I resisted the urge to see what she was working on.
“What do you want done? And why do you need me to do it? Your father is one of the most ruthless people I know. It was one of the things that drew me to him, and now I wish it hadn’t. If you need something done, just about anything, all you have to do is ask him, and he’ll find a way to make it happen. I’m sure you already knew that. So, if you’re here talking to me, it’s because you don’t want him to know, or better yet, it’s about him,” Samantha said.
She leaned on the armrest of the couch as she surveyed me. She was trying to figure out why I was there and what I really wanted. I didn’t say anything for a few moments; I was enjoying watching her mind work and seeing so much of Victoria in her. Victoria never wanted to be associated with her mother, but I could see they had the same drive, the same independence, and smarts. All things that I admired about Victoria. It might be just what I needed from her mother to keep Victoria by my side for the rest of my life.
This was not at all the woman I had expected to find when I knocked on her door. I had expected to see her distraught and playing the victim. Instead, she looked like she was ready to take on the world. I looked over at the bags that were sitting by the door.
“Leaving?” I asked.
“I’m moving in with Arturo, my voice coach. We have decided that it will be best if I’m closer to him to be able to do a more intense program,” she said.
There was little doubt what she meant by intensive program, but I wasn’t going to pry. I wondered if the new man and lease on life had made her less dramatic than she had been when Victoria had talked to her. Victoria had told me about their conversation, which was completely different from the one I was having. But it made it easier for me to be able to tell her why I was there.
“I need to tell you something, and I’m not sure how much you’re going to like it,” I said.
“Not the best way to start this conversation, but go ahead,” Samantha said.
“I’m in love with your daughter. We started seeing each other recently, and it has turned serious quickly.”
Samantha looked at me as if she was waiting for me to continue. When I didn’t, she tilted her head. “Was there something else?”
“You aren’t upset? You aren’t mad? You aren’t going to tell me that I can’t be with her? That it’s wrong? That it will ruin your career?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Did you want me to? Did you come here trying to get me to break you two up?”
“No. I need your help making sure we stay together. Or I was hoping you would.”
“Okay, what can I do to help?”
“That’s it? You aren’t going to question it?”
“I had a feeling something was going on between the two of you when Victoria called me a few weeks ago. She asked a lot of questions about you, and I figured it was because she had feelings for you. Victoria was always more concerned than I was about what people thought and how she was perceived.”
