As I continued looking, my eyebrows furrowed. One of the rooms on the outline wasn’t viewable. I attempted to enter to view his floor plan, however, the only word that showed on the empty model of our showroom was the wordPRICELESS. Looking over at Kira, I pointed to it curiously, and she sighed.
“His father’s assistants asked him the same thing, and Mr. Picasso deemed it necessary for this room to remain a secret. He will be the only one to set it up and wants it to be revealed on the day of the show.”
“Well, that’s not suspicious at all now, is it?” I muttered, and she shrugged.
“You know how artists can get with their work. If he has a vision for something, maybe only he can be the one to put it together.”
I nodded wordlessly, handing the iPad back.
“You know…” Kira began, “now that he’s done his work, I don’t mind if you answer his calls… just to see what he has to say.”
“Go back to work, Kira.”
She walked out of the room with a prominent pout as I shook my head.
Turning back to my computer, I finished up the work for the afternoon. Surprisingly, I didn’t receive any more calls or texts from my personal incubus. However… I did receive a message from someone that made my mood sour immediately.
Father
Rosenna. How are you? Your mother and I wanted to discuss some things with you. We should meet for dinner soon.
Glaring at the phone, I slammed it back onto the desk and grabbed my belongings.The fucking audacity of that man.
To say Gavin’s parents were horrible was an understatement compared to my own.
Eric and Elise Hart.
I absolutely hated my father for his attempts to control my life and his insufferable view of women. While I loved my mother, he made me slowly begin to hate her as well. Reason being the fact that she was a fucking pushover.
I could only imagine why Gavin’s parents loved her and my father so much. They were the epitome of a couple from the 1950s: a working husband with a silent and obedient housewife. Being their only child after my mother was unable to conceive any more children, my father made it clear he wanted a son from the beginning. And because I wasn’t what he wanted, I wasnevergood enough. I only seemed to appease him when I went to college for business and married Gavin. But he knew by then I wanted nothing to do with him…
Grabbing my bags, I walked over to Kira’s office and bid her goodbye before leaving for the afternoon. When I arrived home, I noticed Gavin’s car wasn’t in sight, letting me know he would remain at work for a little longer. In the past, I would wait for him, but I increasingly began to enjoy my solitude. It was my time to unwind, relax, and put myself first.
It was thanks to Kira that I was slowly beginning to value my self-care, though she made an argument that I was pampering myself more these days for… a certain someone who shall remain nameless at the moment.
Nonetheless, I made my way inside, easily ridding my thoughts of Gavin and my parents—but unfortunately, the beautifully flawed man obsessed with me still plagued my mind.
Chapter twenty-two
Rosenna
Grabbingafewextrawine glasses from the kitchen, I made my way to the patio to help Gavin set up for his game night. His buddies would show up in less than half an hour, and I began feeling anxious as time passed. He’d invited Beckham a couple of weeks ago, and I was silently praying he wouldn’t show. His getting closer to Gavin was nothing more of a ploy to get closer to me.
I was starting to lose control, and heknewthat. Ever since that night, I’d tried my ultimate best to ignore him, but he wasn’t having any of it.
I needed to be careful, to tread lightly around Beckham and his tactics that could quite literally send me to my knees. After all, it truly was getting harder to say no to him.
“Rosenna, can you grab the guests from the front door?” Gavin asked as he looked through his messages while simultaneously trying to fix his speaker. “I need to finish up a bit here, and some of the guys texted saying they were here.”
“No problem; be back in a sec.”
I walked inside the house and toward the front door. Upon opening it, I was met with about four men from Gavin’s clique. Brent, my loan shark essentially, was amongst the group and he gave me a smile and a short side hug as a greeting.
He was all charm and sharp edges. With his dirty blonde hair and gentle green piercing eyes, I was reminded of his days as a ladies’ man in college with Gavin.
“Rosenna, thanks for having us,” he said happily.
I gave him a small pat on the back. It felt a bit odd to hug the man who coerced me into getting an excessive loan, but I remained polite nonetheless.
