Page 26 of The Forbidden Villain
Pressing the button, I wait for it to arrive, only to groan inwardly when the clicking of heels echoes through the space, followed by Marissa saying, “Good evening, Miss Scarlett.”
“Hi! That dress looks great on you, Marissa.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I press the elevator button once again and still when an amused voice speaks up next to me. “It won’t come any faster. I’m afraid talking to me is unavoidable at this point.”
I plaster a fake smile and face the beautiful dark-haired beauty with the kindest brown eyes, who seems to know all your insides. She’s wearing a long pencil dress that showcases her hourglass figure in all its glory, and the only thing slightly less perfect on her is her pointy nose.
Scarlett is Rafael’s top lawyer at his firm and his right hand, without whom the company wouldn’t function. She’s legendary in and out of court, winning most of her cases and earning the respect of her peers. Even men are afraid of her, and her no-bullshit attitude solves most cases before they can even reach court.
She’s also my brother’s close friend who adores his wife, and she has an apartment in the building that she uses whenever she stays in New York, since she mainly lives in Boston.
Kind, successful, and mysterious.
No one knows much about her life, and the woman never dates, despite men constantly trying to get her attention.
Last I heard, she turned down a billionaire who bought an entire island for her.
“Hi, Scarlett.”
“Hi, girl. How are you?”
“I’m good.”
The elevator finally arrives. The silver doors slide open, and we step inside.
I wince at our reflection in the mirrored wall, which point out the contrast between her perfection and my imperfection.
Tearing my gaze away from it, I spin around to avoid it and go to press her floor number when she presses the P button instead. “I need to talk to you about your inheritance.”
“Doesn’t Rafael handle all the things that have to do with my inheritance?”
“We’ve agreed it would be better if I represented you from now on.”
“What? Why?” Anger sweeps through me as my brothers once again decided something behind my back. Who gives them the right to make decisions of such caliber for me anyway?
I’m not officially under their conservatorship, and I don’t have any diagnoses on my record. I have my rights, dammit, but my brothers seem to give zero shits about it.
“Breathe, Lavender, breathe.” It takes me a moment to realize I’m frozen, and I exhale. “I understand it’s frustrating.”
“No offense, Scarlett, you don’t.” Maybe this day tested all the patience I’ve had, starting with that disastrous lunch, then the whole Levi situation that I still refuse to examine, and now Scarlett.
A person can only fake and hide for so long until all the ugly starts to come out, and I’m reaching my limit.
We arrive on my floor, or rather, Rafael’s penthouse, since he graciously agreed to let me live here on my own a month ago after Emmaline and Phoenix convinced me that I had to learn to take care of myself.
“To tell you the truth, it was my idea, and I brought it up with Rafael.”
Walking into the spacious apartment, I love the huge window that opens up to a view of the entire New York skyline from this high up, when it’s not cloudy, that is. One of the reasons I fell in love with it was that I could stare at it for hours, thinking about nothing, too mesmerized by its beauty. I ask, “What was your idea? To find another way to control my life and finances? Or make yet another life-changing decision without me?” I throw my purse and books on the table, slipping off my shoes and sinking my feet into plushy slippers. “Oh, I know. Maybe it was your idea to show me how little my older brothers actually respect me.”
She ignores my outburst, and her brow rises. “You’ve changed your apartment a lot.” She goes into the spaciousliving room, which was once almost empty. Now it has a wide purple couch with two chairs, and a small table between them with a vase of fresh lavender. A flat-screen TV hangs on the wall opposite the furniture, creating the perfect spot for resting. The purple curtains, billowing in the light breeze from the open balcony door, finish the composition.
Rafael used to have a bar in the right corner with different brands of whiskey and a coffee machine. I removed it all since the smell of alcohol makes me sick, and instead turned it into my tea heaven.
It has pots, different brands of tea, along with water and small healthy snacks to munch on while I’m reading or watching something.
He also preferred to dine in the living room, so he had a round table there, but I found it useless, and since I rarely, if ever, eat at home, I got rid of it.
