Page 71 of Divine Sense

“The Sinclairs would like to let you know that their condo is being cleaned out tomorrow from one to five and if you wish to get anything from it you should during that time. Anything left behind after that time will be thrown away.”I love the use of ‘their condo’ when we all know it’s my condo.I paused for a beat, taking in what the stranger was saying and then their words hit me.

“Wait,thrown away? They’re just going to throw my stuff away if I don’t come get it?” I exclaimed. It was bad enough that they had someone who’d I never met before call to tell me this but now they were threatening to throw my stuff away? It felt as if they were trying to throw me away.

“Yes ma’am, that is correct. The door will be open as the movers will be there so feel free to take whatever you want. Anything left behind will be disposed of.”

Just like me.

“I, okay, yeah sure. You said one to five?” I confirmed with the voice on the other end before hanging up. Once the line went dead, I tossed my phone down next to me and pressed the palmsof my hands into my eyes, trying to fight back the tears that were welling in them.

I couldn’t believe they were getting rid of my stuff. That they were symbolically getting rid of me, their only daughter, because I had chosen love over choosing to be controlled by them for the rest of my life. I sat on the stairs, thinking about everything that had happened over the last few months and a realization began to wash over me.

My parents never truly lovedme.

They simply loved the version of me that I created in an effort to make them happy. A version of myself who was polite, obedient, and minded her manners. A daughter who didn’t see them for who they truly were: conniving, spiteful people who only cared about themselves. Finally, after nearly twenty-nine years, I have a divine sense of who they were and that I never wanted to become them. I wanted to be me, the outspoken, ambitious, and carefree version of me that I had neatly packed away a long time ago and trained myself to believe I didn’t want.

But that is what I want.

That is who I want to be.

And now felt like the perfect time to start being that girl.

My heels clickedagainst the white marble floor as I headed towards his office. After deciding to be the woman I’d always wanted to be but my parents would never allow, I knew what I needed to do next. The hem of my skirt bounced against my shins as I made my way down the hall and I could feel the eyes of his employees on me as I walked through the office. It was just after lunch and I didn’t see Hank or Bailey anywhere and assumed they were still out grabbing some food. I’d texted himand asked where he was so I knew I could find him at his desk. I pushed open the large glass doors without knocking and loved the way his eyes lit up when he noticed me walking in.

“Well isn’t this a nice surprise,” he hummed, standing from his desk and taking a few wide strides towards me. Before he could get his hands on me, I held one up between us, stopping him.

“Not so fast,” I warned. He tilted his chin and looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. “I’m here on official business.”

His eyebrows shot up and he tried to control the smirk I could see growing on his face. “Official business, huh?”

“Yes, please take a seat.” I motioned towards his chair and took a seat in one of the ones on the other side of his desk. He crossed his hands on top of his desk and studied me through smirking eyes.

“Alright, what’s this official business?”

“I’d like a job,” I announced. I hadn’t worked since I graduated from college because I didn’t need to. I was told by my father plenty of times that he would show me the ropes on how to run the family fortune but he never did. If I was going to be the strong and independent woman I knew I wanted to be, part of that included getting a job.

“A job? But, baby, I already told you I’d take care of you.”

I smiled because he had offered to take care of me—in every sense of the word. But I couldn’t let him do that forever.

“I know you did. So take care of me in this way and give me a job. I have a degree, I’m a fast learner, and I am happy with anything you have open. Here, I even made you a resumé,” I explained as I pulled out a piece of paper from my purse. Before leaving the house I whipped it up to show him I was serious. As he read it, his lips pulled up into a grin before he flicked his eyes back to me.

“It says here under ‘Special Skills’, ‘gives amazing head’?”

A sly smile spread across my lips and I dipped my chin to look at him through my lashes. “My boyfriend always seems happy with my work.” This earned me a deep belly laugh which caused me to laugh right along with him. He tossed my fake resume on his desk and looked up at me, smiling.

“I would be happy to bring you on. How would you like to work with Bailey in our events department? She’s always saying how she needs more help and you two seem to get along alright.”

I beamed at him, excited about getting to work with her and help plan different events around the city. “That’s perfect! I’ve helped my mother plan events for years and have the names and contacts of some of the best caterers and florists and?—”

“I’ll let you talk to Bailey about those things. I trust that you’ll do a good job.” He leaned back in his chair and cradled his hands into his head, his elbows stretching out to the sides like the wings of a bird. “Now, stand up for me.”

I looked at him, confused, but did what he said.

“Come over this way,” he directed, nodding his head towards the side of his desk. I followed his directions and took a few steps so I was standing in front of him now. He grinned menacingly at me from his chair and hungrily took in my body with his eyes.

“Those shoes are straight sin, Miss Sinclair,” he growled, licking his lips. I tucked my lip between my teeth and looked down at my feet. The navy blue heels that matched my dress tied around my ankles and had bows just over the toe of each shoe.

“I’m glad you noticed, I kinda hoped you would and they’d get me a job.”

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