Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77372 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77372 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Basically, I would be given everything while married to him, but once we were divorced I got nothing. Not one penny of what he earned. I understood, he worked for it and I didn’t, but it didn’t make me feel any better. If anything it made me feel worse, like I was insignificant somehow. I was nobody in his life and I contributed nothing to him and his world. Here it was in giant neon letters in my hand.
“Does it bother you?” he asked somewhat surprised.
“No,” I breathed and without thinking, signed it.
“As for the other contract, we’ll have to write that one together seeing how my contract didn’t work the first time around,” he smiled as he sat down in front of me.
“When?” I asked without really bothering with him. “Tomorrow,” he said. I nodded looking down at the two piles of paper which had both changed my life in a span of fifteen minutes. “Addie?”
“Hmm.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I'm fine,” I lied. I stood up and headed out.
“Hey, where are you going without saying anything?” he asked with annoyance.
“I'm leaving, I came to do what was needed and now I'm done,” I said coldly. The truth was I wanted to leave here and just lament about what had happened.
“Addie…” he said again, but I stopped him.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow you own me. But today, I'm Addie Sakis, the daughter of a man whose dream died today. Tomorrow, I'm your Addie, the one you bought, but not today,” I said curtly. Daimon stayed sitting as he watched me intently. I pulled my gaze away from his beautiful blue eyes and left.
***
“So I hear your father is doing better,” Elissa said over the phone. Both she and Jace would not stop calling, trying to see if I needed anything. Darren was great with what had happened and didn’t push when I wanted to start working again.
“Yeah, he’s doing great actually. Despite all that happened I'm pretty happy with everything,” I said sounding melancholy.
“What do you mean?” she asked nervously.
“Well, I shut the diner down and I didn’t tell my father yet. I figure I’ll wait, but the man isn’t stupid. He knows something’s up. I figure I’ll tell him in a week or so,” I said resigned as I stood in front of our diner looking through the darkened storefront.
“Are you serious? Look, if you need me, I'm here. I’ll always be here for you,” Elissa said trying to comfort me. “Besides, Addie, it was about time. The restaurant had its hay day, now you get to move on and live for yourself.” Her words hit close to home. For myself? Not for another. I don’t even know how long that would last. Daimon had bought me for a price and I let him. He now owned me and I had to accept that.
“Thanks, Elissa,” I said as I hung up.
I moved closer to the storefront and held out my hand. The window was cold to the touch; the diner had given us life and I basically took it away. It now lay there lifeless, gone from our lives.
The lights were off and the door was locked. It looked so different after only a few weeks away from it. I stood there thinking about it like it was another person in our lives. The diner had always been there from the time when I was little, through my mother’s death and my father’s illness, until right now. A bittersweet feeling came over me as I looked inside and remembered all the sacrifices and work we had all done. Daimon had so easily taken it over and ended everything for us. A large chapter in my life had ended and now I was to start a new one. Where was it going to lead me? I didn’t know, but today I had to think about my father and how I was going to explain all this.
ASKING PERMISSION
“Addie, just tell me what’s going on,” my father asked as he watched me on the other side of the room. I sat down on the couch and held onto the keys to the diner that no longer worked. Daimon had changed the locks and for what reason I still didn’t know. “Did you have to sell it to pay for my hospital bills?” he asked almost in a panic.
“Not exactly,” I finally managed to say. I looked away from my father’s face as I tried to find the courage to tell him what had happened, minus the selling of my soul.
“Then what exactly?” he asked.
“Daimon helped me with the bank and helped me settle our debt. I was then able to pay off most if not all of the medical expenses,” I said nervously. “I'm sorry, Daddy, but it needed to be done or they would have taken the house.” I bit hard on my lower lip, trying desperately not to blurt out the truth.