by Eva Moore
“Good luck with that.” Enzo laughed and climbed into the cab of his truck.
“I’m going to need more than luck tonight,” Adrian muttered as he tried and failed to suppress the urge to slam his truck bed closed.
His temper hadn’t cooled when he pulled up to the construction offices and saw her car out front. It was a slap in the face that she would just ignore everything that they’d agreed on. He knew he shouldn’t walk through the door. He shouldn’t talk to her while he was this angry. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions. But too many of his buttons had been pushed today, and his shouldn’ts weren’t as strong as his what-the-hells.
He pushed through the main doors and strode back toward her office. He paused outside her doorway when he heard her on the phone.
“Yes, that’s right. I need to special order that porcelain tile. The timeline got moved up on a lot of our projects. If you can get it to me quickly, I’ll make sure to feature your company name on the show.”
She’d get what she wanted. She had a way of convincing people to bend over backwards to please her. Well, he was through contorting himself for very little reward. He had his crew and his reputation to think of.
Sofia looked up from her desk and held up a finger for patience. She had the nerve to ask him to wait, after ignoring his request that she wait for his reports? His simmering anger cranked up to a boil.
“Thanks, Ashley. You’re the best. Yes, you can have them shipped directly to the house.” She rattled off the address for the Ong house, which only served to piss him off more, before hanging up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He couldn’t keep his anger hidden. In fact, he didn’t want to, didn’t even try. She should absolutely hear how pissed he was.
“What are you talking about?” Adrian watched the confusion cross her face, and it irrationally fed his anger. She didn’t even know.
“Why are you ordering tile for the Ong house?”
“Because the Ongs agreed that they liked it for their bathroom today?”
“So you’ve already pitched the plans to them? Great. That’s just perfect.”
“What is your problem?”
“You’re my problem. Didn’t we agree that you wouldn’t plan before I got you the inspection reports?”
“Yes, but—”
“And didn’t we say you wouldn’t show it to the clients until we agreed?”
“But—”
“I just got done with that inspection, and there is a major leak under the house. Likely damage to the interior wall.”
“I’ll figure it out,” she said through clenched teeth.
“What if I told you that the wall you wanted to take down is load-bearing? Or that the backyard doesn’t have permit clearances for your expansion?”
“I’d—”
He was too far gone down the path of this rant to listen to her response. His thoughts were spewing out of his mouth as quickly as his brain could pull them up. “I don’t care what you have a degree in. You’ve designed one house. One. I’ve built hundreds. The fact that you ignore my advice shows your inexperience. Maybe it would be better to have those show designers step in. You keep making everything more complicated than it needs to be. We don’t need to knock down walls and expand square footage on every house. We just need to make them livable for these people on a budget. Get your own agenda out of it. And another thing—”
“No.”
“Excuse me?” Her one-word response pulled him up short.
“No. Now it’s my turn to talk. I’m not going to get my agenda out of it. I’m not making them complicated to show off or to prove my skills. Hopefully, that last is a by-product. My designs take an okay room and make it perfect. I don’t think anyone should have to settle for just okay. My agenda is what I’m getting paid to pursue, and that is designing rooms to be as beautiful as they are functional.”
Adrian drew in a breath to refute her argument, but she stayed him with a raised hand.
“You come into my office and accuse me of breaking our deal. You weren’t here with Jake and Lorena breathing down your neck and Trina filming over your shoulder, demanding something to film to fit their schedule. So yeah, I got started on the designs. I talked through minor color choice and design details with the couples for the camera. I didn’t mention any major feature that I couldn’t guarantee, and I’ve kept fifty percent of the budget open until I see your fucking reports. I’m not an idiot, despite what you think.”
“Then why send—”
She cut him off, clearly not finished ranting.
“Why send you the sketches? To get your feedback. To see if there were any red flags before I create the blueprints. To see if the goddamn wall is load-bearing. I’m going to give them the best damn house their budget will buy. But that’s not what this is really about. It’s about your precious proposal, isn’t it?”
So maybe she wasn’t being as irresponsible as he’d thought, but he was too mad to back down now. Not when he was close to finally getting the truth out of her. “Have you given it any thought?”
“No. My workload has exploded, and I have gotten zero answers to the many, many questions I have asked.”
“So you don’t support it? You don’t think I deserve to own a part of the company I’ve spent twelve years slaving away for?”
“Do you want me to hand away Frankie’s chance at running this company someday?”
“For the last time, that’s not what it would be.”
“Isn’t it? Can you give me any proof that after you buy in, Dad’s not going to make you head contractor? Are you going to be my boss if I vote yes? Hell no, on all counts. You can’t tell me that’s not how it would be, because he hasn’t told any of us anything. It’s been Frankie’s dream to run this place since before Gabe died.” Sofia’s voice grew louder and higher in pitch as she picked up steam, like a teapot too long on the stove.
“I’m not asking you to give away Frankie’s share of the business.”
“No, you just want a part of it. But there are only so many slices of the pie. What the hell is your proposal, Adrian? You can’t tell me. Dad can’t tell me. All I have asked is for you to give me the details. But no, I am supposed to just support you no matter what because we slept together a few times.”
“Sofia…”
“Oh my God. Is that why you slept with me?” Her face drained of color and emotion as that nasty thought took root. “Were you trying to guarantee my vote for your proposal? Throw the big girl a little touch to clear your path?”
“No, that’s not…” He couldn’t let her believe that.
“Get out of my office.”
“I’m not done.”
“Oh, yes, you are! Do you think just because I let you touch me, you get to come in here and tell me how to do my job? Fuck that and fuck you, too. Leave the reports, and then just leave.”
Adrian knew when to call it quits. He turned on his heel, his fury now directed at himself for screwing up that conversation so royally. They’d both take time to cool down, and he’d try again.
The door closed behind him, and Sofia dropped her head onto her hands. She couldn’t stop the tears from coming. He hadn’t pulled a single punch. He thought she was incompetent, untrustworthy, and frivolous. He had zero respect for the value she added through her work. He’d slept with her to gain her cooperation and pushed her away when that had failed. She’d thought that they were building something solid. In her weaker moments, she had pictured them together, raising a family and running the company side by side. Now, those dreams felt ridiculous. He’d made them ridiculous by tearing away any illusion she had that she was in a committed, respectful relationship. She didn’t need him to rub her nose in it.
She was so done.
She walked out of her office, leaving behind everything but her keys.
Chapter 25
Sofia drove and drove until she got to the coast. She didn’t realize where she was headed until she got there, but
her subconscious knew. She needed the water. It was already dark, and technically the beaches were closed. But she parked by the side of the road anyway and got out of her car. She kicked off her shoes and ran down the steep, sandy cliff path that wound down to the shore.
Her toes sank into the icy sand and the waves at high tide swirled around her ankles, soaking the hems of her jeans and chilling her to the bone. Letting loose the pain she’d been fighting to contain, she turned to face the turbulent waves and let out a scream that threatened to split her in two. Anger, sadness, fear, all crammed into a primal roar. Each sob pulled a painful memory or a piece of guilt to the surface, and she let them all flow into the vast ocean. Gabe, Mom, Dad, Adrian—every broken piece of her heart swirled in the eddy of her pain. Once the seal was broken, scream after scream fell from her lips, each one taking more of her, until at last she was empty.
When she came back into herself, she was kneeling in the surf, and her face was wet with salty water. Whether it was from the ocean or her tears, she couldn’t tell and didn’t care. With her head finally clear, she was able to think for the first time in weeks.
She wasn’t happy. What would make her happy?
She held the newly empty space in her mind quietly, and waited for the big picture to materialize. From the back of her mind, where she’d buried that shiny dream after college, emerged a bright and beautiful office, with her designs framed on the wall. It was a business that she loved and was proud of. In her mind, her dad gave her a pat on the back and told her, “Good work.” She drove home to a lovely old house with a loving husband and children running in the yard. She carefully kept Mister’s face blank. She had to move forward, so she touched the fragile dream gently. It had lain buried for too long, and she’d gotten distracted by her father’s crazy plans. It was time to bring it back into the light.
I want respect.
I want to do what I love.
I want to be with a man I can love and who loves me in return.
Surely that wasn’t too much to ask. Shivers rattled through her, shaking her from her soul-searching. Hauling herself back up the steep path to the highway, she picked apart her revelations. The first, she’d never get as long as she was working for her father. The second didn’t seem likely either. And her hopes for the third had gone out the window when Adrian hadn’t been able to handle her reaching for one and two.
She couldn’t control him or his feelings. No matter how much she wanted to, either he’d have to come to the conclusion that what she did was worthy of his respect on his own, or he wouldn’t. If the latter was the case, good riddance. She deserved better than that, no matter how much she missed his laughter and that dimple, his kisses and—
No, no farther down that path, or she’d crumble. She climbed into her car and turned on the heater, even though it felt like she’d never be warm again. She hadn’t felt this cold and shattered since the day they’d found out Gabe was dead.
What would her life have looked like if Gabe had survived and come home?
Would she be happily designing homes as the head of Valenti Brothers’ design team? The vision she’d guarded so long in her head felt like a shadow of the truth when held up to the moonlight. If Gabe had come home to run the business, she likely would still have ended up doing the lion’s share of the paperwork. Gabe had never been an organized soul. And though she would like to think he’d have supported her in her dreams, he was still her big brother and would have probably bossed her around, just like Dad. This illusion she’d held on to for three years evaporated as her resentment toward Gabe faced the cold light of reality.
She’d been so angry for so long, but that wasn’t fair to either of them.
“I’m sorry, Gabe. I’m sorry I blamed you for everything. I love you.” She whispered the words into the silence of the car, hoping that wherever her brother’s soul was he could hear them.
She’d thought she was done grieving, but the fresh tears on her cheeks assured her she was not. She was so tired. Tired of being angry and sad and guilty. She had to let it go.
Sofia resolved to give herself some grace. She was going to stop blaming her dead brother for her troubles. She knew who was causing her problems, and she was looking that person square in the eye in her rearview mirror. She could take responsibility for her own actions. And while she got her feet back under her, she’d plan, because that’s what she did best.
She was done taking responsibility for things just because no one else wanted to. Her mother was right: no one was making her run the business. Certainly, no one was appreciating the fact that she’d done it. So, enough. If she wasn’t going to get the respect she wanted at Valenti Brothers, she could go somewhere else.
Even just thinking that thought turned her knees to jelly. So many unknowns crowded her mind, so much uncertainty. She’d worked for her father every day of her adult life. True, she had contacts in the business world from college and conferences, but putting out feelers was a big step. She hauled in a shaky breath. A big step, but a necessary one. She went back to that happy fantasy in her mind, and she could see herself in her office, drafting table full of swatches and tiles, happy as a clam. As she let the fantasy play out and soothe her rough edges, she kept waiting for a boss to come in, but no one arrived to mar her happy planning. And then it hit her.
She didn’t just want to not work for her dad. She didn’t want to work for anyone. Maybe Enzo had planted the seed in her mind, but now that she’d thought it, she couldn’t shake it. She wanted to open her own design firm. It had always been her goal to run her own division inside Valenti Brothers. This was the same vision, slightly shifted, and it still felt right.
With her fresh resolve to forgive herself and forge a new path still clear in her mind, Sofia made the long drive back to Menlo Park. She let the details swirl through her mind, plotting and planning, eager to navigate her way back to happiness. And she very carefully avoided any thoughts that led to a certain tall, dark and handsome lover who she missed terribly. That was another sorrow for another day. She was finally starting to feel warm again, and she couldn’t afford to let anything extinguish her flame.
It was past midnight when she pulled up in front of the office again, damp but happy, ready to finish the payroll one last time before she walked away.
Monday morning, Sofia was already at her desk when her dad strolled in at eight a.m. She’d spent her weekend researching and reaching out to old friends. She was ready. She patted the stack of papers she’d assembled, outlining her plan.
“Good morning. Have you got the payroll for me to sign off on?”
His terse tone told her he was still angry at her. She might as well get him furious all at once.
“I emailed you the link on Thursday.”
“I’ll go check my email then.” He turned to go.
“It’s the last one I’m going to do.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Guys gotta get paid.”
“That’s exactly why I’m hiring an office manager.”
Arms crossed, his eyebrows pulled together like they were facing off in the ring. Before, just the sight of his angry face would have made Sofia second-guess herself and back down. Not today. Not ever again.
“We’ve been over this. I don’t want money handled outside of the family.”
“Yes, I heard you, and I believe I told you to find someone in the family to do it, then. Since you haven’t, I’m going a different route.”
“The expense—”
“Is necessary, Dad. And half of her salary is already covered by the flood of new business. You can take the rest of my salary to pay her a decent wage.” She handed him the packet she’d prepped, including a qualified resumé and the cost projections.
“So you’re just going to hand our bank accounts over to a stranger? I’m not hiring someone outside the family.”
“You didn’t seem to have any qualms about selling half your business to Adrian.”
“That’s diffe
rent.”
“Besides, she’s not a stranger. My girlfriend from college, Meena, is looking to change jobs, and she said she’d give us a six-month trial.”
“I don’t like it.” Dom crossed his arms over his chest, fully expecting the argument to end there.
Sofia let the silence hang between them while she gathered her courage to say what needed to be said. “Then you can find someone else.”
“Why do I need someone else when I have you?” His placating tone pushed Sofia back into her resolve.
She straightened her spine and stood firm. There were things she needed to hear before she dropped her bombshell. “Why don’t you say what you really mean? You want to keep me behind this desk because you don’t think I can handle the designs.”
“Now, princess, I didn’t say that.” He reached out a hand to brush her hair back behind her ear as he’d done when she was a child. She stepped back out of reach and glared. Why did the men in her life seem determined to keep her locked away in some safe tower? She’d scale her own walls, thank you very much. Dom sighed and let his hand drop. “Your designs are beautiful, but I don’t think you can keep them in line with the mission of this company. On time, under budget, safety you can trust. That’s the promise I’ve made to clients for over thirty years.”
“Just because I want to make these homes shine doesn’t mean I can’t also hit those targets.”
“They aren’t targets. They are the foundation of my reputation. And no, I don’t trust you yet. You’re just getting started.” His voice began to rise.
She raised hers to meet it. “Because I’ve been tied to this desk for three years! Meena starts Wednesday.”
“I am not adding expenses right now.”
“You’ve had free labor for over thirty years, first from Mom, and then essentially from me. You’re going to have to pay for someone to handle this like a real business does, because I’m done.”
Without another word, she strode out the door. Sofia sucked in a shaky breath. She’d done it. She’d stood up to her father and taken the first step to freedom. She would let him get used to the idea of outside help before she told him she was actually leaving. It also would give her some time to work out the details. This was just what she’d planned. So why did this victory feel so hollow? Where was the elation she’d expected to feel? She pushed aside the lingering churning in her gut and headed to her car. She still had a lot to do to prove herself, and she wouldn’t get there wallowing in self-doubt.