My Best friend's Father Made Me His Mistress

3

Maddison Lorenzo.

Adonis. Praxis. Edward.

I hate him. I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to stop the sob asking to crawl up my throat as I hear the sound of his zipper and the rough tug of his belt somewhere in his office. I wasn’t trying to seduce him. I was nervous. It was a mistake. And somehow, out of that one stupid mistake, he’s decided I’m a w***e like he knows everything about me, like he’s the authority on who I am.

I straighten my shoulders just as he walks over and settles into king-like couch.

“Come in.”

The cops enter.

They interrogate me, but I barely speak. What’s the point? Every question they ask is biased. They work for Adonis. They’re not here to help me or give me justice. All they care about is finding my brothers, tracking them like animals, and reminding me of the debt I didn’t create.

I only breathe once and it’s when they finally leave. I know I need permission to do so.

“Can I go now, sir?” I ask quietly.

“Yes. For now. You are to do nothing until I give you an order.” His voice is stern but at least he’s not looking at me.

I get to my feet fast and walk out even faster. The moment the office door closes behind me, I feel everything inside me shaking. My eyes burn.

It’s Christmas Eve. I was supposed to be with Carl today….my boyfriend. I haven’t even checked my phone since last night, since everything went to hell. We planned a whole day together: dinner, lights, then the fireworks at the park to welcome Christmas morning.

“How was it?” Fusia asks the second I find the main area of the mansion.

My face is already blotchy from everything that happened with her father so I plaster a horrible, fake smile.

“It went well. Your dad is so helpful and so nice.”

“Awwn, usually he’s a monster, but he never fails as a protector.” Fusia says with a bright smile. I love her but she has no idea that her father is only a monster.

“You should see the way he acts anytime Francis comes over. He hates….like, hates every guy I’ve ever dated.” She laughs, and for the first time today, I feel a little bit of relief. She’s the only person in all this mess who makes me feel safe. Like maybe because of her, Adonis won’t just… make me disappear.

I pull her into a hug, and she freezes for a second.

“Awwn, don’t get emotional.” She pats my back. “Hey, nothing has to change. You’re living here rent-free for a while, and you don’t have to worry about watching your back. Also, we’re having a Christmas Eve party tonight. Carl said he’s been calling you.”

“Oh yeah…” I rub my forehead. “It completely slipped my mind to call him back.”

It didn’t slip my mind.

Carl’s mom already doesn’t like me. She found out what type of jobs my brothers do and decided I was trouble too. Their whole family has these old-fashioned morals, like crime is contagious and I’m just waiting to infect their son. I didn’t want to drag Carl into any of this so I didn’t call him for help that night.

“We were supposed to go out tonight—” I stop myself when I remember Adonis’s order.

Do nothing until he tells me otherwise.

“Hey, you guys can meet here.” Fusia says quickly. “We’re having a full-blast Christmas Eve party. Everyone from my college is coming. My dad won’t ruin anything as long as we don’t wave alcohol in his face.”

I think about it. Do I want Carl here? Do I want him anywhere near Adonis?

I miss him. But I’m confused. And scared. And not sure what the right move is.

“Alright… I’ll tell him to come.”

“Yay!” Fusia claps, bouncing a little.

Estella appears between us and clearing her throat in her stiff uniform.

“Miss Fusia, what is the amount for the guest list we are preparing—?”

“Estella, I told you. About two hundred.”

“Two hundred!?” I squeak. “Your dad—”

“My dad can give me a break. I got accepted into an Ivy League school. I’m not pregnant at twenty. The least he can do is let me have a freaking party. And also, Maddy couldn’t get all her clothes from her house, so I need the personal shopper. Today.”

I blink. Is she serious?

Estella arches an eyebrow. “Did sir approve this?”

“Since when does he have to approve of my shopping sprees?”

“The expenditure has to be approved if it is for someone else—”

“Well, consider it an expenditure on behalf of me, his perfect daughter. Chop chop! Make the call, please.” Fushia claps her hands twice.

And before Estella can say something, she grabs my wrist and pulls me toward her room.

“Fusia, you don’t have to.” I say as we walk. “I can go back for my clothes later. And Estella is right—”

“Estella is the wrongest person in this house.” She goes into her bathroom, which is basically a glitter cave and her voice echoes over-the-top bathroom as I sit on her bed. “She thinks she’s going to be the next lady of the house just because my mom’s gone. Please. My dad’s standards are so high, I’m starting to think only angels can reach them.”

She comes back with a bottle of nail polish in hand. “Just move in here properly. We can act like college roommates, are you still looking for a part-time job?”

“Um.” I decide not to say anything else. What am I supposed to say? Actually, my life is basically in your father’s hand right now. Yeah, no. “I should go text Carl. Can you remind me where my room is again?”

“Babe, it’s down my hall. I asked Estella to put you there so we can be together.”

“Oh, right.”

“What size are you, anyway?” she asks, then holds up a finger. “Never mind. I’ve already mentally measured your hips…which are, by the way, my dream hips, so I know.”

This time I laugh and it’s without fakeness this time.

When I get to the bedroom, I text Carl to let him I'm staying with Fusia's family for now, keeping the details as vague as possible. He agrees to come to her party tonight, and until then, I just collapse onto the impossibly soft bed. I try my brothers’ numbers again, the same thing I did all last night, but it just goes straight to voicemail.

They warned me to leave, but I didn’t listen. It’s not like they could pay my tuition. I got that Ivy League scholarship the only way I knew how: by reading until I passed out at the library. Being orphans, books were my escape because I could never ask my brothers to give everything they had to support my dream. So when they told me to back off, I took it as a threat to the only future I could build for myself. And now… I’m here.

I must have fallen into a deep sleep, because the next thing I know, a butler is quietly setting a plate on the bedside table.

“Uh.” I grunt.

“You didn’t eat breakfast or lunch, Miss. So this is dinner. It’s currently 10 p.m.”

No way. I slept the entire day away? The party must have already started.

“Uh, thank you, sir.” I try to shake the residue of sleep from my head.

“Miss Fusia asked me to place all the shopping bags in your closet. Also—”

I turn to see but of course the closet is another corridor, somewhere in the room. I just nod and smile again. “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Thomas, ma’am. I hope you have a lovely evening at the party.”

The moment he leaves, my phone buzzes. It’s Carl. He’s here.

My first instinct is to get up and get dressed immediately, but my stomach growls so loudly. I don’t want to eat, but it’s uncomfortable to have nothing in my system, so I pick up a piece of chicken and swallow it with some juice.

Then I head for the closet. My feet bumps into a bag. I can’t even get inside because it’s completely blocked. Shopping bags are everywhere. Luxury logos. It looks like Santa Claus came in here with gifts and exploded.

I kneel. The first bag I open has a price tag of $5,000. I check another one. Same thing. And another. I quickly check a few others, and they all tell the same insane story. I thought she was just going to get a couple of things, but this… this is a department store.

My phone buzzes again from the floor, and when I pick it up, it’s a flood of texts from Carl asking where I am.

I quickly get ready. I grab the first flowy halter-neck dress I see, pull it on, smooth down my hair, and grab a cup of water to gulp down.

As I finally head down the stairs, I catch bright fireworks sparking across the sky through a window. I hear laughter until I reach the bottom and realize it’s just a few housekeepers, who immediately stop laughing when they notice me.

My hand tightens on my phone. I walk past them slowly. No matter how big this house is, I still feel like I don’t belong here.

Thomas points me toward the back doors, and when I step outside—

It’s beautiful. A full-on paradise party. Fusia’s friends are already in the pool, splashing and screaming. There must be way more than two hundred people here. Estella is on the lawn yelling into a radio like she’s running a military operation.

There’s drinking. Fireworks shooting too close to the trees. People jumping into the pool in bikinis. Wow, a random bonfire too—

“Hey.”

An arm wraps around my waist and pulls me back, and someone kisses me before I even turn my head. The familiar taste tells me instantly that’s it’s Carl.

“Hi,” I smile against his lips.

“Been calling you—”

“I’m sorry. I fell asleep. I had a horrible night last night.”

“Yeah, Fusia gave me the rundown.” Carl brushes his hair off his forehead. I open my mouth to explain more, but he leans in and kisses me again.

“Come on. Let’s go into the woods and make out.”

“Make out?” I repeat, half laughing, half startled.

“Yeah, I’ll get you some alcohol—”

“Carl, no.” I grab his hand before he can walk away. “Can we just… talk instead?”

Did he just call everything that happened to me—"a break-in, getting grabbed, being threatened...a rundown?” Like it’s small. Like it’s nothing. Like the natural thing after trauma is to wander into the woods and make out.

He turns back to me, and suddenly I don’t want to be vulnerable anymore. I remember the last message I sent him. I told him I got the scholarship into Ivy and now the first thing he wants from me is… this?

All my life, I’ve worked so hard to be enough. To be someone worthy of dating him, of being in his world and he hasn’t even acknowledged it.

“Did you see the message I sent you?” My voice is quiet. “About me getting into Ivy League?”

“Yeah, Fusia sent it to the group chat.” He shrugs. “Congrats. We can go to the college parties together. You can come to my dorm whenever. I’ll get an apartment soon, so we can—”

I sigh

He frowns. “Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t know. Repeat everything you said and ask that again.”

“It’s always something with you, Maddie!” He snaps, turns his back, and walks away.

Just like that.

A sharp rock blooms in my chest. Some tears are dangerously close now so I blink rapidly, forcing them back as I stare at the spot where he vanished.

When I lift my eyes, I see a figure standing alone high up on the upper balcony. A man. Dark shirt. Unbuttoned halfway down. Smoke curling around him.

Adonis. He is watching me. Recognizing that is like a bucket of ice water!

I quickly walk off the lawn. After some minutes, the party is in full blaze. The music is shaking the ground, lights are flashing and everyone is pressed against each other.

After swallowing down the college-sized sob in my throat, I think I’m ready to talk again so I go searching for Carl again.

When I find him he’s dancing.

Oh no. No, no, no.

Not dancing but Maria from science high school is throwing it back on him like she’s auditioning for a music video…and he’s collecting it.

My chest cracks open.

I shove past bodies, perfume, sweat, laughter. I hear Fusia call my name once she finally spots me, but I can’t handle anyone seeing me like this.

So I run.

As fast as I can.

I cut through a back route of the house…anywhere with fewer people. Past palm trees. Past a wooden fence. Past a terrace and a row of golf carts. Faster, faster, until the music melts behind me and the night gets quiet enough to hear my own heartbeat.

I end up by a silent pool, staring down at my reflection trembling on the surface.

I’ve never been good at dealing with my emotions rationally. Tonight was supposed to be the start of a new year for me. A better year. But I’m losing everything…my excitement, my dignity, Carl, myself.

My reflection blurs as another tear falls.

I know I can’t swim but I’m angry and exhausted and I want everything to stop. I want to sleep and wake up pretending this whole night never happened.

So I take a step forward and dive.

The shock of the water punches the breath out of me, and regret hits even faster.

I kick, I thrash, but the water pulls me down—

I’m drowning.