The room was left in utter silence for the millionth time. My father looked torn, Patrick looked stunned, my mother was silently comforting me in thought, Grace seemed to have a mix of anger and shock, Beckham’s eyes never left mine, reading my body language and expressions cautiously, and Nancy...Nancy was absolutely livid.
In a flash, she crossed the room swiftly, and before I could even react, she slapped me across the face. I gasped, clapping a hand to my cheek.
“You ruined everything, you whore! You ruined—”
Nancy’s words were abruptly cut short as the adrenaline pumping through my veins moved my hand as I raised it and slapped the absolute shit out of her. And unfortunately, the anger, resentment, and fury of the last five years were emitted through my hand as it sent her flying to the ground.
Beckham was immediately by my side, and Patrick lowered himself to help his wife even while his face held anger.
“Let me go. I’ve had enough of that fucking bitch,” I seethed as Beckham dragged me outside of the home, Nancy and Patrick yelling incoherently behind me.
“Flower... breathe baby... just breathe.”
I ripped myself out of his hold. I pushed my hair out of my face as I paced the gravel of the driveway. Shaking out my stinging hand, my shoulders rose and fell as I tried to regulate my breathing.
Beckham stopped me and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. I felt rigid, my blood pumping, my body begging to run back in and take my anger out on the old bat, but I didn’t give in to the urge. Reluctantly leaning back in Beckham’s hold, I let out a sigh of relief as he held me gently.
Tears fell down my face, and soon, sobs began to escape my chest as my anger was replaced by sadness and relief.
Turning in Beckham’s hold, I threw my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. He caressed my back lovingly as he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, attempting to get me to relax in his arms. And that was all I wanted to do from now on. I was done with living a life that served me unhappiness and regret. I was done with being associated with a so-called family that made it their goal to bring me down and force me to comply with their degrading and demeaning values.
I wanted nothing more than to be embraced by my flawed, imperfect artist, who allowed me to see the beauty of life, of art, of passion, who allowed me to succumb to my deepest desires, to experience a relationship where I was put above all, to experience the feeling of being cherished in a way I had never known before, to experience simultaneous feelings of love, lust, and longing... to experiencethe art of discretion.
Chapter fifty-one
Rosenna
“Wow…”Kiramutteredbesideme. “What an absolute shitshow of a family get-together.”
After venting to her the entire morning about Gavin’s infidelities and Nancy’s outbursts, I practically had to pry her car keys out of her hand as she expressed the sudden urge to get in her car to give Gavin’s parents a piece of her mind. And even after feeling mentally and emotionally drained, I felt absolutely liberated… for the first time in areallyfucking long time.
Gavin had stuck to his promise and sent back the divorce papers, effectively freeing me from him. My attorney was finalizing everything currently, and my ex-husband had no complaints or exceptions to any of the terms we presented.
The house that was rightfully under my name would be void of his belongings by the end of the week, the extensive loan that encompassed part of his child support and hush money to his mistresses was dropped from my debt, and he, in turn, needed to pay me upwards of eight hundred grand in losses and damages involving my finances…threw in pain and suffering for good measure too.
And now, with Brent off my back with the rest of my loan paid off,I was a free woman. Well, in addition to the sex-driven, absolutely feral man who ravished me in his sheets every night, I was free.
“Just glad it’s finally over,” I said, with a shake of my head.
“You were literally face to face with two mistresses in the span of a week. Good lord, you could have held your step-child without even knowing it!”
“Baby Cory doesn’t deserve all of this, though,” I whispered, feeling bad for the little guy who had to share his father, or lack thereof, with multiple other children.
“Well, I still think Grace is a bitch. Kid or not, she isn’t any more innocent than Jessica.”
“Of course she isn’t. Not when Nancy was fussing over her like she was her own daughter-in-law. God, it makes me cringe imagining that woman all over me and my future child.”
“You’re not the only one.”
We both let out slight shivers of disgust before a smile broke out on both of our lips as we laughed.
Hearing a knock at my office door, Kira and I both looked over to see my mother standing idly and looking as gorgeous as ever.
“Mind if I come in?” she asked.
Kira stood. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” I sent her a small smile in return, and she walked over to the door, but not before pulling my mother into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Mama Hart,” she said with a smile.
My mother returned the hug. “It’s good to see you too, honey.”
