Page 15 of Brix

“Vic, I’ve been doing that for weeks now,” he smiled.

She stepped back, looking at him. He was always tall. Almost too tall for his physique. When they’d first arrived, Hayes was six-feet-four and barely a hundred and seventy pounds. He was skinny as a rail. Now, he’d filled out. Victoria hadn’t noticed that before. He looked like a man.

“I’ve put on thirty pounds thanks to the guys and the great cooking. I hope to put on a bit more. Plus, Doc says I’m still growing, so I might get taller.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “That’s good. I guess. I mean, I’m terribly small for a guy as big as you. I guess you’ll look for a girl who is closer to your height.”

“What on earth would make you think that? I don’t care how tall you are, or how skinny you are, or how smart you are, or even who your parents were,” he smirked. “I like you, Vic. You know that. I’ve always liked you. A lot.”

“Y-you do?” she smiled.

“I’d very much like to kiss you tonight so I can remember when I’m gone.”

“I’d like that, too.”

He took two steps closer to her, gripping her shoulders as he bent down, placing his lips against her own. It was a first kiss for both of them. They’d never had the chance to kiss anyone before. It was different for the two of them.

The warmth of her lips sent chills down his spine. His whole body tingled with excitement and heat. He wanted to hold her tighter, closer, never let her go, but he knew he had to take a step back. He looked at her flushed face and cleared his throat.

“It was everything I ever dreamed it would be,” smiled Hayes.

“Can I kiss you again?” asked Victoria. He nodded, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as they kissed once more. They never noticed the eyes on them in the distance.

“Should we worry about those two?” asked Hoot, staring at Mo.

“I don’t think so,” he smirked. “It’s a first love and first kiss for both of them. I think it’s pretty sweet. I might not feel that way if he keeps getting bigger and comes back wanting more from her. But for now. It’s sweet.”

CHAPTER TEN

“Why did you do it?” he asked, staring at his wife. “I deserve to know. Why? She was my daughter as well, and you chose to withhold treatments. You told me there was nothing that could be done. All those messages from the doctors, and you said it was nothing to worry about, that you had it handled. Why?”

“I told you and those other horrible people why. No one would ever marry her with that disease. Her future would have been weak, always indoors, unable to travel. No one would want that. She’d be a burden to us, and we’d be pitied by everyone. I don’t want that.”

“She was our daughter,” he frowned. “I had the right to know and the right to make decisions about her health.”

“Oh, please! Neither of them are our daughters. We adopted them. We lied about them being sisters. We convinced the magistrate that they were, and we took them home.”

“No. You lied about them being sisters. I wasn’t for that. I’m not sure how you convinced the orphanage to lie or how you convinced the girls, but I wasn’t a part of that. You didn’t tell me the details until a year after we’d brought them home.”

“You really are naïve sometimes,” she smirked at him. “The orphanage was simple. Donations, darling. Donations that they desperately needed and a little something extra for the headmistress. As for the girls, that took a bit longer, but the head mistress just kept implanting it into their tiny little brains that they were sisters. It was easy.”

“I knew you were power-hungry. I knew you wanted to be one of them. I just didn’t know how desperately you wanted it.”

She flitted around the massive living room, straightening magazines, running her fingers over the tops of furniture, swiping away imaginary dust.

“I need to fire the maids. They’re not dusting properly. I’ll get a new crew in here as quickly as possible.”

“You’re not firing anyone,” he said, staring at his wife. “Stop trying to change the subject. Do you understand how disturbing this is? How absolutely sick it is to hear this about your own wife? Why did you do all of this?”

“You really are tiring, Randolph. I did this for us. For our future and our future position, more importantly.”

He shook his head and poured himself a drink. She was up to something. Something he didn’t understand at all.

“Listen carefully to me, Dierdre. My daughter, mine, is coming with her new husband and his family. You will treat them with respect and kindness, or so help me, I will divorce you, and I have all the legal grounds to do so. I lost one daughter. I will not lose another to your absurd ambition and greed.”

“Divorce me? You wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t want the scandal, and you damn sure wouldn’t want to give me half of the estate,” she laughed.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Dierdre, I’m an old man who isn’t going to continue working much longer. I can handle any scandal that comes my way. My reputation and work speak for themselves. Your reputation, however, is not quite as pristine. Others have watched you for years, clawing your way to the top or attempting to.”

---