Page 71 of Once Upon a Prince
Tom didn’t look up from what he was doing but said “Yes. She arrived about twenty minutes before you did and stood outside the building. Do you know her, sir?”
“I do not, we do not have any appointments. If she comes in and has an appointment with anyone else in the company, I would like to be made aware.”
“Certainly, sir. Should I be concerned?” Tom looked up at me.
“Not yet. If anything changes. I will let you know.”
“As will I, sir,” Tom said.
“Thank you.” I walked toward the elevators and as I got in, I spared one more quick glance to the front of the building. The woman was gone but I had a feeling it wasn’t the last time I would see her.
Chapter 41
Ella
I wondered if I would ever be able to look at my stepmother and not feel like a lost little girl. The woman had terrorized me for years, made my life a living hell, worked me to the bone, and said she did it all in the name of love or what was good for me.
It had taken me years of hard work, dedication, and good friends to be able to get out of Nebraska and away from her. I had found a position working with a man that I cared about doing work that I loved to do. I was finally in a city that I had wanted to be in since I was a child where I could see my two best friends daily. I wanted to keep all of it and I knew the only way to make sure that happened was to get my stepmother out of my life once and for all.
She had been attractive looking and, in some ways, she still was but she looked like she had some work done, her nose looked different as did her chin but it made her look older not younger. Her eyes barely moved when she talked and I didn’t think I saw her blink. Her clothes looked like they were supposed to be expensive but they were gaudy and out of place. They made me think she wanted people to look at her, to talk about her, and I was sure they were, but not in the way she wanted.
“Hello, sweetheart. It’s so good to see you,” Cheryl said as she walked into the conference room.
We had agreed to meet at my office. Dax had told me it was good to have her on a turf that I felt comfortable in. He had offered to come with me but I had needed to do this on my own. I didn’t want her to know how important he had become to me or that I needed him to fight my battles. Plus, he was meeting with the board at the same time. Something told me that wasn’t a coincidence and I was worried about what Cheryl was going to do. Still, I told myself I wanted this, the sooner I talked to her, the sooner I could get her out of my life. I squared my shoulders as I held her gaze.
“It might be for you,” I said.
“Oh, honey. Don’t be like that. We’re family, we will always be family and that isn’t the way to treat your mother.”
“You are not my mother. You’ve never been my mother.” It hurt that the woman ever thought that she had been loving toward me when she never had. It was even worse that she thought she could compare herself to my mother.
She walked into the room and started talking as if I hadn’t spoken. It was a move she perfected over the years. “Everything seems to be looking up for you. You have a great apartment, you get to spend time with those annoying friends of yours, you have a job that allows you to be with your lover every day, and then he wines and dines you all night. It would be a pity for you to lose all of that. Or for your lover to have everything he worked so hard for go up in smoke.”
I knew that Cheryl was up to something, I knew she was going to try and hurt me. I figured it was why she had called, why she was in the city, why she had wanted to see me. I worried she was going to use Dax to do it. I hated that she could or thought she could. I wanted to tell her she was wrong and she could never hurt Dax but I had to know what she had planned, what she wanted to do. The more she talked the more she would dig a hole for herself.
“What are you talking about? What did you do?” I asked.
“Well, I haven’t done anything yet. Well, not anything damaging. What I do is up to you.”
“Spill it, Cheryl. Stop with the theatrics.” I wasn’t sure if it was because of where I was, who I knew was supporting me, or I had grown and matured enough that she didn’t scare me. I could and would stand up to the woman. I felt more powerful and sure of myself than I had ever been and I knew I could deal with whatever she had in mind for me. I just needed to know what it was.
“Can’t a mother miss her daughter? I want you to come back. I’ve been so lonely not having you around. Chloe and Chantel miss you too. It isn’t right for our family to be separated. You really should be home with us, where you belong.” She put her hand on her chest as she spoke, as if that would make her words sound more sincere. It didn’t.
“You mean back where you can work me eighteen hours a day seven days a week. Where you and your daughters go and spend all the money the company makes and I get nothing? No. I don’t think I’ll do that.” I crossed my arms and glared at her.
“It worked well for all of us for years. I have no idea why you had to go and change it. I let you have your fun. I let you have your freedom. But it has gone on long enough. You need to come back home. You need to help save Taylor Medical.”
“The company is running fine. There is no need for me to come back.”
“If you don’t, then your lover will never be CEO of Moore Enterprises and he will know it is all your fault.”
“There’s nothing you can do about that. The board is meeting soon, you can’t change their minds that quickly.”
“I could if a scandal were to break out before they were to take the vote. What would the board think if his bad boy reputation came back up? What do you think the board would do if they thought he wasn’t on the up and up with them?” Cheryl smiled at me as if she knew something I didn’t. A chill went down my spine but I didn’t let her see she had affected me.
“Dax hasn’t done anything that could be considered wrong or inappropriate.”
“Are you sure? I have it from a reputable source, and pictures, that he has been spending time with my daughter, your stepsister of all people. How scandalous! Does he have no morals? How could he be spending time with you and making everyone think he’s a changed man when he has been sneaky around behind your back. What kind of man would do that, and how could anyone let him run a company?”