Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
A few hours pass, and I look to see Emelia still hasn’t messaged me, and the sun is now setting. Ricardo is setting up the table, and I nod when it’s all complete. Debating if I should eat alone and make her wait until I come back to our room for the night, I decide against that. Maybe she’s learned her lesson now.
I stand, button my suit jacket, and make my way back down to the bedroom. Taking the key from my pocket, I unlock the door. Either she will lunge at me, or she will be asleep; those are my two guesses. With this in mind, I prepare myself and open the door slowly.
I don’t see her at first, and the bed is empty. The room is dark, but the light from the hall behind me shines in, and I see her sitting in the corner. Emelia’s legs are pulled up in the oversized chair, and she’s wiping at her face.
I flip on the light and see she’s been crying, her face pink and marked with darker blotches. I place my hands in my pockets and eye her over, waiting for her to say something. But she doesn’t.
“Are you ready to show me some respect?”
She wipes at her last tear as if it’s a bother, her face turning cold.“Respect? No. I'm not even ready to pretend to.” She stands and moves toward her luggage.
“You need to learn—”
She snaps then, turning on me and cutting off my words. “I know fucking respect, Nico! And I also know who deserves it. I have yet to meet a man in this world who has earned it. You are all the same. You take, take, take. You blister over with lack of control, and then when you snap, you do it. You take. Take freedom, control, self-respect, and any dignity.”
I open my mouth, but she keeps going.“I’ve lived my whole life under the thumb of a man like you. I didn’t ask to marry you. I begged to not be sold off to you like a fucking animal. I am a woman. A person. And I deserve respect. You claim that the world we are in owes me and must respect me because of my position. But you? You’re exempt, right? You can mock me, ridicule me, push my buttons, and lock me in a fucking room like a caged animal. And you can just… exist.” Her last word is spoken softly, a stark difference from every other word in that rant.
I stay put, letting her have the floor. No one is around. And if she needs to get it off her chest, then she can. Part of me feels a dash of guilt, but I brush that away, because I don’t feel bad for people. That’s the furthest thing from my damn DNA.
“So no, Nico, I don’t need to learn respect. But I’ve now been taught how much I despise the man you are. I would ask if your father would be proud, but he’s the coward who raised you, so I’m assuming he’s just as pathetic.”
That’s the last tick of the time bomb, and I explode.
“Enough! You—” I gain on her, moving until I have her backed into a wall. “—are never to speak about my parents again. You can call me whatever, Emelia, tell me what a prick I am, but if you say any ill words like that about my father again, I will lock you in the penthouse, and you will never see freedom again!” I yell and punch the wall next to her head.
Emelia jumps, her shoulders lifting and her head burrowing between them, scared that it’s her who will catch my fist. I breathe in and out deeply, my chest rising and falling harshly, and I give her one final look of disgust before I hastily pull back and leave the room, slamming the door behind me.
How dare she? My father was many things, but he was not pathetic nor a coward. My parents are the one subject I take zero shit about. You disrespect them, then you might as well be spitting in my fucking face. And if that were anyone other than her, I would have put a bullet between their eyes.
I get to the top deck, and I take my whiskey off the table and down the glass before I refill it. I sit down at the table, and I stare out at the blackness of the night sky. The lights from the yacht make it hard to see the stars. I’m trying to calm down, trying to let what she said go, but I can’t. I want to hurt something, break someone’s face, and make them pay for what she said.
And then I let out an incredulous laugh.
Of course I’m in the middle of the fucking ocean with no one around to do just that.