The Fashion of Love | Adult F/M Romance [COMPLETE]

ch. 47 - August

Ravi had taken Dhiren rollerblading to make up for coming home early. They had plans to hike the next day, and to take Tommy sandcastle building that afternoon. Sora had absented herself from their itinerary early on. She'd encroached enough on their time together. She took this opportunity to hande some very necessary personal business.

That son of a bitch lied to me. I let him lie to me. Because as she'd told Michael, Sora had a tendency to trust the very people in her life who'd proven they couldn't be trusted.

She let herself into Sam's beach house with spare key taped to the mail slot.

"Every time I turn my head, you're up to something and none of it productive. What do you do all day?"

Anthony shut off his flatscreen TV. "I think. I brainstorm. I play the stock market. I make money, which is more than anybody can say for you these days."

"I make a great deal of money for myself and the company. Ask Tracy."

"Oh, we've spoken."

"Did she get your head on straight? We cannot have this amount of in-fighting, it damages our image and it's a blow to employee morale."

"Being in the red is a blow to the bottom line."

"That's propaganda. You shouldn't believe your own lies, Anthony; they always come back to bite you when you do."

"I'm trying to salvage my father's legacy."

"You couldn't stand your father. You're trying to line your pockets."

"Nothing wrong with profit."

"I never said there was anything wrong with it. In fact, I'm sure you've gotten perfectly adequate checks from Himura since your departure. Are they smaller than the hauls you're used to? Probably. But you can be sure that in time they'll grow-if you and Hana stop sabotaging me at every turn."

Anthony swilled his scotch. "I couldn't be bothered. You wanna run my company into the ground, you go right ahead. I'll be waiting to be called off the bench and fix what you decimated."

"I'm still not a stupid woman, Anthony. I put all my cards on you, because it made sense. Who else wants their way desperately enough that destroying my credibility wouldn't be too high a price? That's you. It was you, then; it's you now. What I failed to account for is your particular flair. Coming after me as a woman and mother isn't you; that has another type of person written all over it. That's Hana. You and Hana teamed up to oust me. Very clever." Sora might have applauded if loyalty hadn't guided her wrong again. "If only you'd had the good sense to stop when you were winning. That's where your partnership hit the rocks: you don't have the same ends in mind. You want the company, but that's not what Hana's after, is it?"

Anthony's jaw bulged under the force of him grinding his teeth.

"She's got you good. You're so far gone that you're going along with this, thinking she'll get him out of her system and devote herself entirely to you. That's...pretty sad, actually."

"What Hana and I do is none of your concern."

"Oh no, you're going to have to try another diversionary tactic. That one worked once, not twice. See, whatever your motives for being involved in Hana's little scheme, you are trying to undermine my relationship with Ravi and you need to stop."

Anthony grunted and wrenched himself out of his sprawl to refill his drink. "I served him some home truths piping hot. What's the matter with that? If your puppy love can't take it, it wasn't much to begin with, was it?"