“Fuck no,” I add. “They’re just slugs in this underworld.”
Harrison nods in agreement. “True. But Bryant doesn’t mind working with slugs if it can help him. I think he may be realizing they’re worthless in whatever plan he is scheming, however. He miscalculated all this, is my guess. And after they findout about you fucking Lyriope, the war that has been brewing between them is going to erupt. Sidorov will blame Bryant for not controlling his daughter. Bryant will lose patience in all this and brush them off. It’s going to get ugly.” He smirks. “As you planned.”
“He should have just let Lyriope stay with me,” I say. “They should have all just left her the fuck alone in Italy. I had paid off the Sidorovs and all should have ended there. I’m considering fucking with the lives of the Constantines just for the fact that they stirred all this shit up and then got bored and moved on. Bryant should have known this was all going to backfire. It’s messy.”
“Yes. And I think he knows that deep down. This is all a nuisance to him. Sadly, Lyriope is nothing but a pain in his ass and an embarrassment. She’ll never be a Morelli in his eyes.”
Harrison’s words make me sad for Lyriope. I know she’s not the kind of woman who’d want my pity, but I can’t help feeling bad for the little girl inside of her that is desperately hoping for a good outcome in all this. She wants the family. She wants the daddy who will swear to love her and have regret for all the years missed.
I can already see the end of this story.
She isn’t going to get it… which makes me sad.
But it also makes me vengeful. I want to burn down the Morelli, the Sidorov, and the Constantine empires to the ground for playing with Lyriope’s emotions. For treating her as nothing but a game piece in their fucked-up competition of who has the longest dick.
“So if you don’t want to run off on the yacht and lie low with Lyriope for a bit, then what?” Harrison asks. “What’s your plan?”
“I wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“For Lyriope.”
Harrison chuckles and shakes his head. “You’ve never been a patient man.”
“I’ve never been a lot of things when it comes to this woman,” I admit.
Harrison inhales deeply. “We can agree on that.”
I smirk. “You aren’t one to talk, my friend. I saw you tonight. I saw.”
Harrison is a man who keeps to himself. He fucks women when his libido demands it, but even that’s rare. But I saw the way he looked with Sasha Morelli. I noticed the sizzle between the two.
“She infuriates me,” Harrison counters.
“Yes, well, women who have that kind of power over you are also the best fucks.” I laugh, happy to have the conversation off of me for a change.
“It’s not like that.”
“Yet.” I nod and my smile grows as I see Harrison’s discomfort discussing this matter. “Yet, my friend.”
Harrison stands and says, “Let’s go get one last drink and call it a night. I’d like to get home before the sun rises for a change.Youmay never sleep, but my ass is tired.”
Chapter Seventeen
Lyriope
Istand inmy robe, staring at myself in the mirror, and feel nothing but disgust. I’ve been given another red dress. Another fucking red dress. Bryant likes me in red, and I have grown to detest the color. The woman looking back at me is a stranger. Dark circles under her eyes, pale complexion, hip bones visible through the fabric due to the tightness of the mini dress, her collarbone jutting out from all her weight loss. This woman in the mirror is not the Lyriope Bailey who began to find herself in Italy. I am no longer the strong woman who left Nick that awful day determined to experience this new chapter of my life on my own.
No. This woman I am staring at has become broken. I have greatly underestimated how hard getting into the Morelli family would be. Fucking Nick at Wonderland didn’t help me win the graces of dear ol’ Daddy either. When he found out, the level of rage that occurred reached epic levels. He shouted, he threatened Nick’s life, and he forbade me to leave the house unless he was by my side. I was officially grounded like a rebellious teenager. It’s been two weeks of solitary confinement, and I’m nearly losing my mind.
I only interact with Sarah when we host the Sidorovs for dinner, which have been a few miserable and awkward times. The dinners are the only time I speak with or even see Bryant, and he’s getting more anxious to marry me off. His patience isshort, and he’s made it known that the engagement time frame is over in his eyes. He wants me out and never to return. I might as well be a ghost walking the halls of this mansion. I’m more alone than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
Sighing, I reach for my brush that sits on the dresser. I know that Bryant will want my hair long and shiny. He doesn’t like it pulled up, and all but demands I always show its length in however I style it. The first thing I will do when I leave this house will be to cut my hair. My mother had also loved my hair long. Funny that the two of them agree on that.
Being here has done one other thing for me. It’s confused me more on how my mother and Bryant Morelli ever ended up together. My mother does not belong in this world, and never will. Bryant is cold and unloving. I don’t see an ounce of charm in him, and I can’t imagine what my mother saw in him other than a quick payday. I think Bryant must have just been another hustle for her, but since she was poor my entire life, I can now assume that the hustle went bad. Which makes sense. It’s clear that Bryant is not a man you can hustle.
Brushing my hair, I hear a knock at the door. One of the guards enters before I can even give permission, but that is always the way and has ceased to surprise me one bit. I have no privacy. I am not a guest here, and whenever I even dared act like I deserve respect, Bryant would knock me down into submission again.