“We had a long talk last night as a family about me finally having a life of my own and they…are…going to try their best to let me live it.” She gives her hair a small tug. “Tomas is still not sold, but I don’t give a shit because it’s not his life. It’s mine. And if it comes down to it…if I have to choose you or him…love or someone who has spent so much of my life manipulating me to their liking, I’m gonna choose you.” Our eyes lock allowing me to feel the power in her words. “Every. Time.”
Silence spreads throughout the area in between us as I take a moment to process the proclamations that have fled from her lips.
She’s always been loyal to a fault.
Sometimes I think that’s something I actually love about her.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise it would be her inevitable downfall with me, but it was. The pain of the stabbing paled in comparison to where the real agony lay. Now that I have her side of the story…now that she is showing me that she wants to be here – with me – that she wants the things I wanted before we were ripped apart, that ache can begin to finally fade.
Heal.
I smooth down my tie on an emotionless, “Is that all, Miss Pierson?”
“Um…,” nervousness floods her voice over not receiving the response I’m sure she was anticipating, “I think so?”
“It either is or isn’t.”
“It is.”
“Very well then.” Reaching across the desk, I flip open the folder. “I’ve kept up my end of the deal.” Shifting the pen onto the stack is followed by me stating, “Sign the highlighted portions.”
Her sigh of defeat shakes us both in our seats.
I keep my eyes focused on her trembling hand, scribbling her name and wait in utter silence for our arrangement’s ending to be finalized.
She places the writing device back on the desk beside the unused scissors and whispers, “Finished.”
Memories of our first night invade my mind threatening to make me smile. Sliding the completed paperwork to me, I close the folder, fold my hands on top of it, and reveal critical information, “Iquique. Galway. Prague.”
Her bleary eyes twitch on a confused, “Huh?”
“The dolls your brother could not find are because he doesn’t possess the proper resources.”
Zel lets her brows lift towards the ceiling.
“While my last doll, did meet an untimely demise, because playing chemist inside your body with the latest and greatest illegal substances the world has to offer isn’t a brilliant idea, the others who have less ugly addictions were relocated elsewhere per their final request at the time of our contract’s end.”
She lets her mouth crack open the slightest to grab a needed breath.
“Charlotte is in Iquique, Chile. We have no contact directly, although her and her husband have a hand in managing our properties in the vicinity. Alva is in Galway, Ireland. She sings in an Irish Folk band as well as plays the banjo. We have no contact directly; however, I have heard them play in passing. Brianna is in Prague, Czech Republic. I’m not entirely sure what she does, but if I had to make an educated guess, I would say she spends her days drinking wine and swindling tourists out of their money, something she did quite often when she still lived here in the States.”
The corner of her lip curls upward.
“If there is anything else about my past you or your family would like to know, Zel, simply ask. You have a right to access information about the man who loves you.”
Joy fills her gaze, and, for the first time since she left, it feels like I can breathe again.
“However, if another altercation does arise with your brother, I won’t spare his life twice.” Harshness is presented for what I hope is the last time. “Understood?”
She frantically nods prior to brushing away a fallen tear.
“Now, I have a four o’clock with Vegas, but…,” I cockily lean back in my seat and steeple my fingers together, “still have a bit of time left to play withyou.” The smirk that crosses my lips is so wolfish she whimpers. “Come here, little doll, and kneel for me.”
Zel doesn’t hesitate to abandon her seat to fulfill my request.
Seeing her so eager further dissipates the lingering worry.
This woman is no longer in my life because of a debt that needs to be paid.
She’s here out of love.
Loyalty to her feelings.
To me.
Zel Pierson is much more than a long-haired doll in need of a firm hand.
She’s the woman I know I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.
