The Arrogant Artist : A Billionaire Boss Romance (International Bad Boys Set Book 2), стр. 72
Emily looks up and smiles at me. “You’re very confident, Mr. International Artist.”
“Sorry to break it to you, Miss International Artist, but have you seen me?”
She bursts out laughing, and it’s great to watch her.
“You would be up on all this.” I wave my hands over my body. “Plus, once you saw my dick… well, that would have been game over. You would have been begging me for another turn. Lucky for you my dick is always ready for beautiful women.” Her eyes narrow at me. “I mean a… as in singular… beautiful woman. One named Emily, my Emily.” She nods, giving me a playful smile. “What I’m saying is… I’d have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you.”
She rests her hand against my arm. “Yeah, I would probably have fallen for you as well.”
“That’s because I’m your favorite artist.”
Emily bursts out laughing.
Not long after, we arrive at Victor’s home. I can feel the nervous tension emanating from Emily, and her hand is shaking in mine.
Victor and Eloise are already waiting for us at the front door. They both look equally as nervous until Eloise breaks away and runs toward Emily along the driveway with tears running down her face.
Eloise pulls Emily into her arms. “My baby girl.” Emily is tentative for a couple of moments as Eloise hugs her so tight, but then Emily wraps her arms around her body and hugs Eloise back.
Eloise steps back and looks at Emily. “You’re so beautiful.” Emily smiles. “Come… we have much to talk about.” She grabs Emily’s hand and makes her way inside, quickly stopping to introduce her to Victor, then they disappear.
“I think that went well,” Victor says.
“Yeah, surprisingly.”
“Eloise has been a bundle of nerves all day.”
“Same with Emily.”
“Come on in, son.”
The day has gone so well. Eloise and Emily catch up on everything that has been going on in their lives. The similarities between them are crazy, and the wine seems to relax Emily.
“I have to ask… why did you never keep in touch?” Emily questions.
“Sweetie, is that what you think? I tried. I sent letters. I attempted to see you, but your father would never let me. Once I left, he cut me out of your lives, cut you all out of my life. I would secretly see you, though. I did all sorts of things to make sure you were doing okay. You looked so happy, I thought it was best not to interfere anymore, especially when your brother and sister told me they never wanted to see me again.”
“Wait! What? They never told me that.” Emily looks confused.
“I’m not really surprised… they were very close with your father. It was one afternoon… I think you were at a friend’s house when I decided I’d take a chance and ignore your father’s wishes and see you all. Your sister answered the door, but she wasn’t happy at all to see me. She told me to go away, that you were all better off without me, and that you were happy. The words… they broke me, especially when I could see the anger and hate in her eyes. I knew the damage was done, and it was best for me to leave.” Tears form in Eloise’s eyes, and she blinks a few times to keep them under control. “But I attended your high school graduations. All of you, and then your university graduations.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Just from afar. We also went to New York to see your debut, too.”
“You did what?” Emily’s eyes widen.
“When Louis showed me the photo of the woman he loved, I knew straight away this was a picture of my baby. I knew it was you. I couldn’t believe of all the people for you to fall in love with, it was Louis.” Eloise reaches out and squeezes my hand. “The boy who feels like a son to me.” I smile at her. “When he told us what Yves and Elisabeth had done, I told Victor I wasn’t going to sit back and let these vile creatures try to destroy my child.” A single tear falls down Emily’s cheek. “So, Victor and I pulled every favor we had owing over the years to put those two away and get them out of the industry.”
“You did that?” Emily asks.
“Of course, sweetie. I needed to make it all right. No one messes with my family.”
Emily smiles. “We’re sorry that the two of them got away, but at least you’re safe in knowing they won’t be back in France,” Victor adds.
“I had no idea, I thought you hated me. That you never wanted a family… that’s what I was told all my life,” Emily tells Eloise.
“No, sweetie, I wanted you more than anything.”
“But they kept you away from me...” Emily becomes upset. “My own family.”
“Emily, don’t be mad. Your brother and sister were puppets for your father.”
“I always felt like an outsider in my family. They were always close with Dad, but me, I was more like you than they were, and I think I reminded him of you, so he was always distant with me.”
Eloise holds out her hand to Emily, who takes it. “I’m so sorry, sweetie, that I didn’t fight harder, but I thought I was doing the right thing at the time. Had I known, I’d have done more,” Eloise tells her.
Emily shakes her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t come find you sooner. I kept you alive in my mind by keeping up my French, by doing art, but I had to do it all in secret because we were not allowed any of those things growing up, but for some reason, I had to. I needed to. It was an ingrained part of me.”
Eloise looks at Emily sadly.
“I’m glad I am here now. Hopefully, we can have the type of relationship we should have always