Chapter 18: Chapter 18

\# JADE #

"Tell me he agreed! Did he give you the job?" My father didn't even let me enter the house before his questions started. He rushed toward, his eyes wide and impatient, not even allowing me to sit down.

"Gerald, calm down and let the poor girl breathe," my mother snapped, her voice dripping with a bitterness she usually reserved for his worst gambling habit. "Whose fault is it in the first place, huh? You’re the one who got into debt, and now your daughter is the one out there begging for your mistakes."

"She’s my daughter!" he said with no shame, turning to my mother. "It is her responsibility to make sure the family’s name is not perished!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Gerald," she shot back hotly, stepping between us. "The name you failed to protect? And you expect her to bear the crown of your failure. How many times will you keep pushing her to clean up your shits?"

I watched them silently, my skin still crawling with the memory of Vane’s teeth on my ear and the heavy, damp wetnes in my underwear. They were arguing about family names and responsibility while I was still feeling the hands of a billionaire's all over me.

"Do you need some water?" my mother asked, her tone softening as she looked at my pale face. Her chest rising and falling with anger.

"Yes, Mom," I whispered. I felt like I was choking on the secrets I was carrying, and I would be needing water to force it down my throat.

She disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me alone with my father. He stared at me, his eyes full of a desperate, selfish kind of hope, the look of a man waiting for a miracle he didn't deserve. My mother returned, handing me a glass. I took it and drank with a loud gulp, feeling the cold liquid slide down my parched throat.

"So..." my mother asked tentatively. "How was it, Jade?"

I set the glass down, my hands shaking. "He didn’t give me the job," I said softly.

"What? No! That’s not possible!" My father practically spat the words, his face reddening. "I went there to plead! He said he would only consider a deal if you came in person, only you. What did you do wrong? Did you offend him?"

I looked at his face, the man who had raised me like a princess, is now the man who was willing to trade my future for his gallery, and for a second, I almost told him exactly what the deal was.

"He asked me to come back tomorrow," I lied, the words feeling like a pile in my mouth. "He said he’d reconsider the position then. Because he’s too busy to check my portfolio today."

"Oh, good. See that you get it this time, don’t fail Mr daughter, don’t fail this household," my father replied, his eyes narrowing as he scanned my outfit with  disapproval. "And what is this you're wearing? Don't you have anything better in your wardrobe? Something... more seductive?"

"Gerald! That is enough!" my mother flared, her voice sharp with disgust. "She is your daughter, not a whore you're dressing up for sale."

The word whore hung in the air, vibrating against the secret I was already carrying. I didn't wait to hear his defense. I stood up and walked away, my heels clicking on the floorboard as I retreated to my room. I shut the door, leaning my back against the wood and letting their bickering fade into a sound.

I caught my reflection in the mirror, my face flushed, lips trembling, and I’m  still wearing the scent of Vane’s office.

\~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you’re telling me that handsome fucking Vane Blackwood, the man who looks like he was sculpted by the gods and has more zeros in his bank account than I have brain cells, asked you to spread those fine legs over his desk and fuck you into the next century... and you ran?"

Sandra didn't even wait for a second or try to relax. She stormed into my room, tossed her designer bag on my duvet, and threw herself on  the bed, staring at me like I’d just admitted to burning down a palace filled with gold.

"Jade, honey," she continued, propping herself up on her elbows and looking at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. "People literaly sell their souls to even be in the same elevator as that man. And he wanted you to trade a seven-figure debt for a hot fuck? Do you have any idea how many women would kill to be in your position?"

I stood by the window, my arms wrapped tightly around my stomach. Hearing her say it out loud made it sound so much more real.

"I didn't exactly run, Sandra," I whispered, turning to face her. "I just... I left..I panicked. My mind was telling me to get out of there, but my body... it was doing something else entirely."

Sandra rolled her eyes, a playful but sharp smirk crossing her face. "Yeah, I bet it was. I can smell the pheromone from here. So, what’s the plan? Because we both know you're going back there tomorrow. You're not letting that gallery go under the rock, and you're definitely not letting a man like Vane walk away without finishing what he started. Because he has to fuck you. I will make sure yiu do."

“Yes, I will be going back tomorrow,”I said rolling my eyes at her.

Even heaven knows what I was going back there to do because what else? He refused to give me the job and I need to save my family.

Sandra  hopped off the bed and march straight to my closet, flinging the doors wide. "If you're going to trade your body for a gallery, you aren't doing it in a frayed holy Mary skirt from three seasons ago. You’re going in there looking like the most expensive thing he’s ever bought. Something he would want to tear off the moment he lay eyes on you"

I watched, frozen, as she started tossing hangers aside. "Sandra, he said a month  at his mansion. A month of... everything he wants."

"You mean a month of heavenly fuck,” she said sticking out her tongue t me. “And in that four weeks, you'll have him wrapped around your little pretty finger," she countered, pulling out a sleek, form-fitting black silk slip dress I’d only worn once to a gala. "Vane Blackwood is a predator, Jade. He likes the hunt. But once he taste what he’s paid for, he’s going to realize you’re worth way more than some old paintings."

She held the dress up against me in the mirror. The silk was thin, almost like a second skin.

"Wear this under your coat tomorrow," she whispered, her eyes meeting mine in the reflection. "No bra. No panties. Just you at your hot banging body. When you sit on that desk and he realizes you came prepared  him... he won't know what hit him."

I looked at my reflection, the girl in the mirror looking far more determined than I felt.