The Devil Behind Me(11)

“Yeah, do what you have to do to get it done!” he seethed and hung up.

“Addie.” He stood from where he was sitting and walked over to me. He wore a simple three-piece light grey suit and a white shirt. He smirked as I looked at him. “I look good I know,” he shrugged knowingly.

“That’s not what I was thinking,” I lied.

“Really and what was Addie thinking?” he asked as he sat down on one of his brown leather couches, at the other end of his office. He watched me, waiting for me to join him.

“I was thinking how the hell did you get this job, but then again you do have your family,” I laughed. His face changed and he grew annoyed.

“Let me tell you this much. This building is mine and I earned it, not because I was born with money, but because I worked hard for it.” he sounded insulted by my comment. “Satisfied?”

I guess my comment must have hurt his ego. I made my way to the couches and sat down across from him. He reached for a file and placed it on the coffee table. He then slid it over to me.

“Open it up and read it. You can only do this here, simply because this relationship will only exist in front of others. Behind closed doors, we can be who we normally are. I want no one to know about this. So take your time. Oh, but don’t you need to work, right?” The way in which he said only made this decision harder on me.

“No, Sofia and my father are working today,” I murmured as I looked through the papers. Words such as control and ordering kept popping up. I looked it over in disgust. Basically, he wanted to control every aspect of my life, telling me when and where he wanted me, as if I were a doll, he’d dress up and I would act accordingly. I threw the papers on the coffee table and glared at him.

“Well that was fast,” he mocked.

“You want a slave,” I snapped.

“And? A slave does what I want, when I want. I need to have control, Addie. It’s important to me,” he stated coldly.

“You want control because you can’t trust. So don’t give me that bullshit,” I snapped. Daimon’s eyes narrowed and his face changed.

“You need me and I need you. It’s a win-win,” Daimon said.

“I will act the part of your girlfriend when you need me to, but I'm not jumping through hoops for you. I have a family to take care of,” I fired back.

“Yes and I'm providing for you and said family,” he growled.

“I know, but still, you can’t think I'm just going to hand myself over to you,” I hissed.

“Then what, Addie? You get the money and I get what in return? I need you to be believable. I want them to think we are so in love that I would never consider marrying that bitch,” he seethed. “You want to talk about control? Do you have any idea how it feels for a man to be told to marry someone because his father wants him to? I hate the very thought of it. The notion someone can tell me what do to and use me, I fucking hate that, Addie. I'm not going to allow you to have any power over me,” he said irritated. “Get that through you head already.” He glared at me from across the coffee table.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I breathed.

“Fine,” he groaned. “Let’s make our own contract,” he gritted through his teeth. He took out a pen and paper. “I want you to go out with me three times a week around Manhattan,” he stated.

“Once, I can only do it once,” I said honestly.

“You have to be kidding me? Addie, if you’re dating me, you need to go everywhere I go,” he barked.

“I have a restaurant to run,” I admitted.

“What? That dump? Come on, Addie, give me a fucking break…” Before I knew it I began to cry. I stood up and headed to the door. “Addie?” he rose up and grabbed my arm.

“Get yourself another girl to play your girlfriend,” I bit out and yanked my arm way from him.

“Addie, all I meant to say…” I held my hand up and stopped him.

“I can’t stop working because you have some sort of twisted relationship with your parents. That dump is what kept my family out of the streets. That dump fed us. That dump is all we have,” I cried. Daimon watched me closely, his features softening.

“Addie…”

“No, this was a mistake. God, I'm so fucking tired of everything being so hard,” I seethed in frustration. “Yes. I need the money. I want my sister to have the future I wanted for myself. The future I lost. I don’t want Sofia stuck with me in my hellhole,” I screamed, my tears now falling uncontrollably.

“Addie, I'm sorry. That’s not how I meant it. Fuck! I sometimes don’t realize the stupid shit I say. I meant to say you’re better than that place. You shouldn’t waste anymore of who you are in there,” he said softly. I wiped my tears and still stood by the door, wondering what to do next.