Chapter 9

When I first entered the conference room, I saw Lionel sitting at the head of the table.

My face flushed in embarrassment. I hadn't meant to just walk into one of his meetings without even knocking.

After my initial embarrassment, I realized who Lionel's guest was.

I recognized his brother instantly from various tabloids and interviews on TV. My embarrassment doubled.

Lionel cleared his throat twice quickly, nodding to my hair. "What happened to your hair?" He repeated his question.

"Oh the uh... the girls did my hair and they just wanted you to see their work." I explained awkwardly. I cleared my throat, gesturing vaguely to the braids.

Lionel nodded slowly, thoughtfully. He didn't respond for a long moment. I knew my face must have been bright red in the tense silence.

"It's... a nice hairstyle. You can tell them they did a good job." He responded hesitantly.

"Alright, I will definitely go do that now." I swallowed, pointing back towards the door and starting to walk towards it.

I needed to get out of the room before anything else happened. If it was just Lionel it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I didn’t know what to expect from Joseph. It was nerve wracking.

"Come here." Joseph called out to me in between his bouts of laughter. He waved me over with a lazy confidence.

I took in a deep breath, turning back around and walking towards towards them. "Yes?" I asked, trying to regulate my heart rate.

He reached out and grabbed me, both hands around my waist, pulling me practically into his lap. His hands were rough and warm, fingers lightly squeezing my hip. He buried his face into my neck, inhaling deeply.

"You smell really nice." He hummed against my skin. I made an undignified noise in surprise.

I hadn’t been expecting any of this and I felt a bit overwhelmed. More than that I was embarrassed. I glanced over to Lionel, trying to gauge his response.

His expression was the same stoic, dark look that it normally was.

Joseph’s voice vibrated against my skin, his breath was hot and it made me a bit uncomfortable. I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Thank you?”

I tried to pull away, but he was too strong. He held me too tightly. His nails dug into the soft skin of my hip.

"How much is he paying you?" His voice was low and his lips dragged against my neck as he pulled away, looking up at me. "I think I just might be able to do better."

I was frozen in place, mortified. I couldn't look up. I couldn't bare to imagine what look must have been on Lionel's face.

"What do you say? I bet I could double it." He murmured, squeezing my waist again.

"Joseph, let her go." Lionel's voice was dark and almost possessive as he glared at Joseph intensely.

Joseph's hand finally left my side. It brushed over my back and I fought back the urge to smack his hand. I quickly stepped away from the table, trying to calm myself by taking deep breaths.

Whatever weird brotherly rivalry this was, I didn’t want to be a part of it anymore.

Joseph shrugged with a dismissive look. "It was only a joke." He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner.

I stopped myself from glaring at Joseph, my hand brushing against the spot where he had grabbed me. It was a bit sore. I let out an annoyed huff.

I started to walk towards the door again, hoping I could just get out of this situation. "You know..." Joseph said slowly, as if he was savoring whatever he was about to say.

I stopped walking. I took in a deep breath, trying to keep myself as composed as possible. I didn't turn around to face them again.

"Your reaction to my little joke kinda makes me wonder." Joseph stood up, walking up behind me again. He reached out, his hand brushing against my braids.

I stopped moving, annoyed again at being a pawn in whatever game he was playing.

"Is she your lover?" He asked, leaning towards me with a lewd smirk. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest.

I wanted to be out of the room. I had better things to do than to be made fun of like this. It was bad enough Lionel was taking my daughter, I didn’t need him and his brother making a joke out of me.

Lionel's brow furrowed as his face darkened even further. He glared at Joseph with an expression I'd never seen before.

I wish I could understand what he was thinking.

"Sorry, sorry. I guess I should have known better." Joseph responded with a barely restrained eye roll. He took a step away from me.

He paused before he got any further away. "My last offer was sincere, by the way." He muttered softly.

"If you're ever interested, give me a call." I felt his hand on my waist again as he slipped a business card into my pocket. I tried not to make an annoyed face as I finally left the room.

I closed the door behind me, leaning against it as I tried to calm myself down after everything that had happened.

I could hear Joseph's voice even through the door. "Lionel, you should think about giving her to me. I'll give you the piece of land on the outskirts."

I frowned at the door. They couldn’t just trade me. I was just here for Patti.

"Ow! What the- why did you step on me?"

I smiled slightly in surprise as I realized what that meant. Lionel was defending me against his brother.

"If you don't want to die, shut up." Lionel's voice was cold, brutal, and absolutely incredible.

I started walking back towards Vera's room with a smug grin on my face.

Third Person POV

"I'm really really excited." Patti grinned, coloring on the drawing she had made. "I never thought I'd have a daddy, but now I have a mommy, a daddy, and a sister!"

That was the picture she was working on. A drawing of her family, her and Vera in the middle with their mom and dad on either side.

"I used to think about that sort of thing all the time." Patti sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "I asked mommy every other day when I'd meet my daddy." She laughed at herself.

Vera was quiet for a long moment. She stopped coloring, not looking at Patti or seemingly anything at all. "Patti, I don't think that's actually gonna happen."

"What do you mean?" Patti frowned intensely. She put down her colored pencil, focusing all of her attention onto her newfound sister.

"Daddy's gonna make her leave soon." Vera said softly. She avoided Patti's gaze, guiltily.

"He's gonna make mommy leave?" Patti asked with a furrowed brow. "Why?"

"The Alpha family won't let us have her as our adoptive mom. She's not high class enough." Vera scrunched up her nose.

"What do you mean?" Patti demanded with a huff. "She might not be rich, but she's super pretty and smart and nice-"

"They don't really care about any of that." Vera responded with a huff matching her sister's. "She's probably gonna be gone in like six months and we'll never get to see her again."

"No! That can't happen!" Patti exclaimed. "We can not let it!"

"We gotta do something! We gotta make a plan!" Patti continued determinedly.

Vera nodded slowly and thoughtfully. "We could try to make a plan." Vera said after a moment.

"Do you have one?" Patti asked hopefully.

"I think I might." Vera nodded. "We just need to make them fall in love."

Patti sucked in a breath. She grinned wildly. "It's perfect."