I saw her through the cameras I had all over my house, and I felt things a man like me was not supposed to feel for a twenty-year-old girl. She had just come from a ten-hour flight and she didn't look like it.
Not a strand of her hair was out of place and her face was devoid of any trace of exhaustion. Those pants she wore accentuated her classic hourglass figure, with a small cinched waist, gently sloped hips, and long legs.
Her bust was moderate, elegant, and not exaggerated.
She was blonde with warm hazel eyes. Her diamond-shaped face was soft and innocent and her full rose lips with an accentuated cupid's bow were as enticing as ever. I had seen her once and it was all I needed to have her permanently ingrained in my memory.
She glided around the manor like she owned it with an impeccable posture and the strides of a model. Her mother had taught her well because even after she showered and got dressed, she still looked ready to leave the house.
She was flawlessly and effortlessly beautiful and no man could deny that.
I wanted to touch her soft hands badly and her corrupt and innocent demeanor with the darkness that simmered beneath the surface. But the time was not right.
When her mother told me her daughter was in a tight spot because of a scandal she had gotten herself involved in, I saw an opportunity and I took it. I asked Rosaline to bring her daughter to me until the heat died down.
But I wasn't planning on returning my little pawn. I would make sure she remained by my side forever.
My marriage to Rosaline was because I was forced. She had evidence against me and she forced me to put a ring on her finger so she would clean up her image and seem like the pure woman she wasn't.
Unlike her daughter, she was a fake blonde with dull blue eyes. I had to give her credit for not looking forty-five. She could easily pass for a woman in her mid-thirties. However, I still wasn't attracted to her.
She lived in Los Angeles while I lived in Cotswold, and I couldn't be happier. Just the sight of her made me sick.
"Take care of my daughter," she had said to me.
Oh, I would. I would take care of her better than she had ever been cared for before. Rosaline thought I was a saint but hidden beneath a perfectly tailored suit, wealth, and status was a beast waiting to be unleashed.
I smirked as I stared at my little pawn frown at everything, including the color of her room, the wardrobe choice, and even the food. The only thing that seemed to make her happy was the rose garden that she had the view of from her room.
She didn't want to be in London. She had a life across the continent that she had been forced to leave. I planned to make her so lonely that she only relied on me.
She was so delicate and fragile than I wanted nothing more than to break her so I could watch her fall apart and then build her up so that her world revolved around me.
My phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts and irritating me. It was my deal old wife.
"Has she arrived yet?" She asked.
"Yes."
"Is she settled in?"
"Yes."
"Did you pull strings for her to get into Oxford? No daughter of mine will study at a local college even though she is average."
It irritated me to hear Rosaline talk about her daughter like that. But I didn't expect much from a self-centered python with huge fangs and a narcissitic personality. The world revolved around her.
"Her grades got her into Oxford."
She was quiet after that. For a few seconds we were both quiet on the phone.
"Why did you want her to come to you? You don't like people staying with you."
I smiled. Little old Rosaline was not as dumb as I imagined. She knew I didn't do things for free, especially for her. I hated her more than anything in the world—and I hated a lot of things.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I asked. "You don't care. You should be grateful I am taking her off your hands."
"Don't forget all the dirty little secrets I knew about you," she reminded me.
That wiped my smile off my face.
"And don't forget that I can wipe you off the face of the Earth if I wanted."
She laughed in a taunting way that irked me to the core. That woman was going to be my undoing.
"Oh honey. I think you are the one who forgets that if anything happens to me, all your secrets get out. If I were you, I would get ready to be in LA next week for my movie premiere."
"I didn't know they still hired washed up actresses for huge roles. Oh, I forgot no one even knows the movie is coming out."
"Watch your fucking mouth, Julian. I am warning you."
"Or what?"
I could hear her fuming over the phone.
"Don't test me. I am not like any woman you have met. I will not hesitate to destroy you if you push me."
She was right. She was the only woman who had challenged me and succeeded. Not many people have lived to tell the tale.
"Keep my ungrateful daughter in line and act like a good husband and we won't have a problem."
"Oh I'll take care of Dorothea," I drawled out.
"Her name is Kennedy. Don't call her Dorothea."
As soon as she hung up, I felt an angry vein pop on the side of my head. She pushed every single one of my buttons and made me want to go crazy. I needed someone to take the edge off.
"Come in, Ava," I said to my assistant through the intercom.
She came in, hair tied into a bun and the glasses on her face off.
"Come here," I ordered.
She rounded my desk and kneeled by my chair.
"Yes, sir?" She drawled out, teasing me. I grabbed her hair into a fist and roughly pulled her hair back.
"You're coming home with me tonight."