Page 28 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
“They’re gorgeous. How do you keep them fed with them being so far out here or when you’re on tour?”
“The caretaker built an automatic feeder that shoots food into the pond from an underground food storage. He created an app that alerts when the food is low or if there’s a malfunction. We both have it on our phones. It also lets us know if the filtration has issues. He comes out about every six weeks to check on them.”
A giggle popped out, and she rolled her lips in. “So…about the dying rose under glass. I thought you were a tough guy.”
He gently bumped her with his elbow and rolled his eyes, and she knew he’d taken it as she’d meant it—as teasing. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.” He grumbled under his breath, “You’re still short. I can adjust my attitude.”
Laughing, she took a deep breath and shook her head, wishing her dad could see the place. “My dad would love this.”
“The Beast didn’t mind Belle visiting her father…according to Disney.”
Charlotte chewed her bottom lip. “I saw him once just after I got back from college, and then we’re allowed to Facetime a few times a year. Most of the time, I just get emailed updates from the assisted living facility.”
One of the hardest parts of working for Octavia was the way her stepsister controlled even the smallest things, like allowing Charlotte to see her dad. She couldn’t understand why, either. She’d asked more than once, and each time all she’d received in return was threats. It had made her too fearful to even think of asking for help. She just hoped Emilia was as good with secrets as Malakai said.
His eyebrows knitted together. “You haven’t seen your father in person in three years? Why?”
Charlotte walked to a nearby tree and sat on the ground. “Octavia controls that. If I want to keep my job, I do what she tells me to do. The only way I’ll ever find out how she stole the company from him is if I stay on.”
“You didn’t know anything until you returned from college?” Malakai crossed the short distance and sat beside her.
“No.” She shook her head and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “I talked to him, but he never indicated that anything was wrong. I was getting a dual bachelor’s in business management and marketing. I was taking a full load of classes in the fall and spring semesters and taking classes during the summer. I wanted to be ready when it came time to take over the company.”
Malakai whistled. “Two degrees? That’s impressive! You were busy.”
“Too busy, apparently. I didn’t even need those degrees to run it, but I wanted them because I thought it would give me credibility. Had I known what was going on, I would’ve returned home much sooner.”
“We could go visit him.” He caught her gaze and held it. “Make it part of the plan to rehabilitate me.”
Charlotte twisted to face him, shaking her head. “If Octavia got wind of that, she’d fire me and make my dad homeless. She knows too many people, and she’s vindictive. She’d make me and my dad suffer.”
Malakai tapped his foot a moment. “There’s got to be a way to visit your dad without her knowing about it.” His eyes widened. “I know someone. A friend of mine—”
“How many friends do you have?” She chuckled.
Shrugging, he stretched his legs out and cast his gaze to the ground. “I’ve been calling them friends, but I’ve treated them like servants. I didn’t even realize it. Jasper…Jasper said I’ve always been gruff with people, even before the addiction.”
She tilted her head. “Really? Was he…was he right?” She hoped he didn’t take it as an accusation as much as genuinely wanting to know and maybe help him.
“I don’t know. I mean, I loved growing up on a farm. I love my grandparents and my…” He stopped short. “My parents didn’t send me to live with them until the summer before middle school started. My dad and I were butting heads. He wanted me to go one way, and I wanted to go another.”
“You were just a kid. What was he wanting you to do?”
“Not music.” He grunted a laugh, but it held a bitter tinge. “My dad was the CFO of Wolf Computer C & D Distribution. He wanted something akin to that for me. It was stable, respectable, and honest. The sooner I started, the better off I’d be.”
Charlotte scooted closer. “What got you into music?”
Malakai studied her moment, and it seemed as if he was trying to decide if he wanted to tell her. “My third-grade music teacher. I wrote poetry, and she saw it one day. She said it was beautiful and asked if I’d thought about turning it into music. From there, it just became something I loved.”
“You seem to be the poetry type.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What’s that mean?”
She rolled her lips in as the corners of them lifted. “You’re crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.”
Throwing his head back, he laughed. “Oh, you think so, huh?”
Nodding, she moved closer, and the laughter died. “I’ve thought that from the moment I saw you. You flinched when people reminded you of things in your past. If you hadn’t cared, you wouldn’t have done that.”
