Mr. Sterling—" The guard protested."Was I not clear?" He said, stooping into the car."Actually…It doesn't have to be..." She squeaked, suddenly guilty over the whole thing."Are you always so kind to those who hurt you?"parsley buttoned her lips.The car drove up the gravel drive to the villa. parsley got out and followed him inside to a spacious living-room-slash-office space with a glass wall at the far end and a cream leather couch. Minimalist bookshelves and a desk in the other corner with a globe nearby."What's up?" Ryan asked casually, walking the length of the room.He had poured a glass of wine (he hadn't offered her one) and was now sitting on the sofa rigid and stern like he was about to discipline her. The sunlight streamed through the window behind him, somehow amplifying his charismatic and elegant demeanor. Like a sexy Jesus, she thought. Laughed, swatted the idea down, and sat down in the armchair opposite him.parsley wrung her hands and squirmed in the armchair. "
Stop," said Ryan, raising a hand.Mark then said, "Sir, it's your father's sixtieth this weekend. It's at the Ritz. Your younger sister called me just now, asking if you'd like to go.""Tell her I'm busy," he sighed. "And arrange to have a gift sent, something big and expensive."Mark hesitated for a moment, "Since you returned to Los Angeles, you haven't been back to see your family. This time…""That's enough." Ryan interrupted stern-faced. It was getting dark out, and he could see the phosphorous street lights were flickering on, one by one in the distance. "Pick up, parsley, and drive her home."Mark bit back his tongue and nodded, went to leave.Lilly hurried over. "Oh, you know the poor relationship between Mr. Sterling and his father," she hissed. "why keep bringing it up? You know it only makes him upset."Mark forced a smile, "I just want to know why. It feels like there are secrets everywhere with this family, and I know none of them."He'd been Ryan private bodyguard for tw
Fuck you, Valerie." She said, the words coming out like sparks from a furnace. "How long has it been, huh? You and Stephan, your secret 'meetings,' how long!" In the last part, parsley growl through clenched teeth, and Valerie momentarily recoils.Valerie had known that parsley had discovered them. Stephan had told her as much the day before. And good innocent parsley would keep feigning ignorance, and she'd thought, only she wasn't… not anymore. Then remembering this was her house, her parents, and that she was the older one, she loomed upright and began fighting back. "At least I'm loved, parsley. At least I'm wanted by him. Something you'll never know, you leech. You parasite! You think he wants to marry you, so you can bleed him dry? Ha!" she barks. "You stupid girl.""What the hell is wrong with you? I really, really, don't care. If you want to become Valerie Yontz and marry the idiot, be my guest. But I'm guessing he's using you the same way he's used me." parsley sighted, pity
stephan parked in front of the hotel. It was crowded with people in pretty dresses and dark suits, and they were slowly making their way inside to the main hall. There was a marble fountain, and several parked cars outside, and stephan stopped as close as he could to a red car. They got out, and stephan took parsley by the arm and introduced her to his mother, Hannah. It was her red car."Hello, my dear!" she said, flinging her arms around them both. "stephan, you look so handsome! And so pretty, parsley!" She smiled. Took a swig of wine."Are you already drunk?" Asked Stephan."No, not yet. A few wines, that's all." She waved at Norah, Dalton, and Valerie behind them, struggling with the car door. "The Schultz's. The perfect family." She said, as they finally joined them and kissed Norah and Dalton on the cheeks. "Thank you so much for coming. It wouldn't be the same without you."Norah blushed. "It's a pleasure."" She snorted and placed a steadying hand on Norah's shoulder as she l
stephan hissed into her ear, "you heard the man. We'd better get to it soon, eh? Was I thinking… tonight? If you're free, that is?"She elbowed him hard in the ribs, but he didn't back off. "Remember what happens if you mess this up for me. Be nice now, and later tonight, you can be as naughty as you like." He grinned so wide she worried his ears might drop in. She bit her bottom lip hard, so hard it drew blood. If Mr. Sterling didn't come soon, she knew, then she would have to sleep with his guy.Then, quickly, the room grew silent. It was like the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. A fork clattered; a mother silenced a child; a wine glass chimed. Then, shoes hoofing on the marble floor, growing louder, each stride resonating purpose.A man entered, tall and handsome in a charcoal grey suit. Chest out shoulders back, hands in pockets. Such elegance and confidence that he commanded the attention of everyone there. parsley's eyes fixed on him and realized that figure. It was Mr. S
parsley let out a guttural growl and gnashed out her words. "You! You who slept with my sisterstephan turned scarlet, his jaw clenched, and fists were clenched white. He was raised above his head, ready to strike, like a hammer on an anvil.parsley flinched. Waited for the blow to land… but it didn't come.Stephen's hand was frozen above his head, where it was locked in a vice-like grip. Stephen stared maniacally at his uncle, Ryan, whose jaw, wide and sharp like a spade edge, was clamped shut in a repressed rage."You would dare hit a woman in front of me." Not a question.stephan's temper quickly cooled; his shoulders dropped, and his mouth started to form words that sounded like an apology."Remember who I am, stephan, and know that she is now with me." He let go of stephan's arm and took parsley's hand, whispered to her, "Do you want to go back inside, or would you rather leave?"parsley shook to the core, felt she had no choice but to cling to his arm as he led her to the backse
You have the nerve to come back here? After running away with a man, just like your shameless mother!" Shouted Norah, livid, jumping out the sofa.Dalton, usually the diplomat, joined in, "Are you crazy, parsley? How could you sleep with stephan's uncle? Is there any misunderstanding? Just go and explain to stephan and old Sterling, and tell them it's nothing between you and Ryan."parsley clenched her fists. "No misunderstanding. stephan and I couldn't be together anymore."Norah pointed her finger at her, "Did you hear that? She really has a thick hide! Shameless thing! The same as her mother, who ran away from home, abandoning her daughter and her husband!""Stop it!" parsley stared at her aunt, "I'm not going to marry stephan, and I have the freedom to choose who I marry. And -let me be clear- stephan and I are over. That man, he has done things to me! Or are you just worried about your factory? Well, don't be. stephan won't dare do anything in fear of his uncle. Okay?"Dalton was
Sister, do you know him?" Asked the child, Tony, curiously.parsley nodded.More than "know," she thought to herself. She'd grown up with him in the orphanage, in the aftermath of her father's death. She cried, daily, sometimes in throat rattling sobs, other times a weak whimper, but always a sense of earth-shattering change taking place around her. Like she could not trust the walls around her, that they might fall away and reveal another, stranger reality she knew nothing of. For the first time in her life, she was alone, in every sense of the word, and she didn't know what to do.At first, she'd stayed in bed until the uncanniness of her own life, spinning in circles around her head, drove her up and out, if only to get away from the repeating dreams that haunted her. It was then that she met Kevin. A tall, boy with a mop of blonde hair. He sat next to her on a bench in the courtyard and showed her a picture he'd drawn. "Do you like it?" He held it up. It was her, smiling in a on