The Disastrous Love Lives of the Delaney Family

1.6 Destitutus Ventis Remos Adhibe

"What if we take the Monaco apartment off the list and replace it with Lady V?" I ask Corinne as we plough ever further on with the Luzhin case. After two days of carving up the assets, Corinne and I were now armed with seven different proposals to present in front of Judge Foley, and are currently on the eighth. "And then swap out Tischier's By the Grace of God for the Gadsby diamond?"

Corinne writes down the options and pinches her eyebrows closer together. "I'm not sure. Lady V is by far more expensive than the property, but the Tischier-Gadsby swap may work. I think we almost need a male perspective on this. What is it a man wants?"

From the doorway, a bored yawn echoes into the meeting room. Turning, I see Evander leaning casually against the doorframe, his arms lazily folded across his chest. Uninvited, he stalks into the room and proceeds to sit opposite Corinne. 

"In my experience," he mumbles, his eyes assessing me, "men usually want to possess a woman. There's something quite primal about knowing that you have power over someone like that, that they would do anything for you if you asked, and having them worship you. Also, in my experience, women want to be possessed. They appreciate male dominance."

Instinctively, I feel my eyes narrowing as I lift my gaze to look at Evander. Surely he must be joking; in this day and age, everyone knows that women are not there purely to be a man's plaything.  Women are strong, we have opinions, and a voice that has a right to be heard. We work, we earn our own money, and we do not need the validation of a man to make ourselves feel worthy. I am enough whether I have a man at my side or not; I am often more than when I don't have a man at my side. 

When I'm just me, I don't feel the need to be beautiful, a pretty decoration whose entire existence is there to make a man feel more confident or give him countless compliments. I am a woman who is here to be funny, angry, intelligent, ditzy, adventurous, sarcastic, and a whole host of other things- including being utterly fabulous while simultaneously on the verge of a breakdown (if I so wished to be). I am not here to be possessed by anyone.

"You're wrong," I announce, not caring a single bit that I may be offending Evander. I think he's offended me more with his idiotic comment. "Women don't appreciate male dominance, and if that's what men think of us, then I would say that they're not a man at all, they're an idiot with an ego that needs to be brought down a peg, or two, or twenty."

Evander jolts in his place like he's been electrocuted. He hadn't been expecting me to talk to him like that, and if I'm honest, I hadn't expected it myself. I won't apologise for what I said, though. He turns to Corinne and dismisses her from the room. She glances at me but all I do is nod and show her that I'm more than capable of standing up to Evander on my own. 

When the soft thud of the door closing behind Corinne reverberates around the room, Evander gets to his feet and walks towards the internal window, pulling the blinds close, not wanting an audience for whatever is about to happen next. "You know, Sera, some bosses would consider what you did as insubordination," Evander's voice carries in the stagnant air. Spinning, his dark gaze fixes on me, his hooded eyes travelling down towards my cleavage, the top buttons of my crisp white shirt undone. Suddenly, his focus snaps back up. "But not me. No, if I'm honest, I quite like you when you're feisty and vocal. It gives me hope."