“Keep your voice down.” Vanessa Parker glanced toward the guest-room door and lowered her tone.
“There’s someone else in the house. Do we really need to let outsiders hear our family business?” Evelyn Parker’s expression remained cold.
“So now you know it’s embarrassing? Maybe you should have thought about that before you did it.”
Vanessa’s eyes reddened.
“Evelyn, I’ve cared about you since you were a child. Do you honestly believe I’m some shameless woman who deliberately wanted to destroy your family?” Evelyn gave a short, humorless laugh that made her answer perfectly clear without needing another word.
Vanessa sighed and looked down.
“Fine. Blame me if you want. I never expected any of this to happen, but your father still only has one daughter from your mother, and you’ve refused to speak to him properly for three years.” Her voice softened further.
“He hasn’t had a peaceful day since you left. Even if you hate me, please stop punishing him and go see him.”
“That’s enough.” Evelyn’s eyes sharpened.
“Stop pretending you came here because you’re worried about my relationship with him. You think I don’t understand what you’re doing?”
Vanessa stiffened.
“You wanted me out of the way so you could give him a son and secure your place in the Parker family.” Evelyn’s voice grew colder with every sentence.
“Now you’ve had that son, and suddenly relatives keep arranging introductions and talking about how I should settle down and get married. You want me married off quickly so your child becomes the obvious heir.”
Vanessa slowly stood, tears appearing in her eyes.
“Evelyn… is that really what you think of me?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn stared at her without hesitation.
“I can support myself. I don’t want Richard Parker’s money, Parker Development, or a single dollar from that family. But if you try manipulating my life because you’re worried about your son’s inheritance, I won’t let you succeed.”
Vanessa shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Evelyn pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
“Evelyn—”
“Go. And don’t come here again unless I invite you.”
Vanessa wiped her face and looked at Evelyn for several seconds, but whatever she had wanted to say apparently died before reaching her lips.
She picked up her purse, gave her stepdaughter and niece one final complicated look, then turned and walked out of the house.
Evelyn remained standing until the sound of the door faded.
Only then did the anger drain from her expression.
She slowly sat on the couch, leaned back, and covered her forehead with one hand.
After several seconds of silence, she called toward the guest room in a tired voice, “You can stop eavesdropping now.”
The guest-room door opened slightly.
Mark Anderson stepped out carrying Marshmallow.
“Technically,” Mark said carefully, “I didn’t hear anything.”
Evelyn didn’t even look at him.
“If you heard it, you heard it. Laugh if you want.”
Mark glanced down at Marshmallow.
The cat looked back at him.
Neither made a sound.
Evelyn remained quiet for another moment before asking, “Can you get me something to drink?”
Mark noticed the slight rasp in her voice and hesitated.
“Your throat already sounds rough. Alcohol is just going to make that worse. I can make coffee or tea instead.”
“I want a drink.”
Her voice carried a faint nasal quality this time.
Mark paused.
He didn’t ask.
After a moment, he carried Marshmallow into the kitchen and checked the refrigerator.
Most of the beer had already disappeared during his stay, but there was still a bottle of bourbon in one of the lower compartments.
Mark brought it out and placed it on the coffee table.
“Wait a second. I’ll get you a glass.”
When he returned from the kitchen, he stopped.
Evelyn had already opened the bottle and was drinking directly from it.
Mark stared at her.
“You really don’t believe in doing anything halfway, do you?”
She ignored him.
Mark looked at the empty glass in his hand, shook his head, and carried it back into the kitchen.
Accidentally witnessing someone else’s family disaster was almost as uncomfortable as having your own exposed.
Mark dried his hands and returned to the living room before saying, “Since you’re home now, I should probably leave tonight. I already packed most of my things, and you can have someone change the sheets tomorrow.”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
Her head was lowered, and her breathing sounded heavier than before.
Mark took that as agreement and returned to the guest room.
He collected his toiletries from the bathroom, zipped up his bag, checked that nothing had been left behind, and headed back toward the living room.
Evelyn was sprawled across the couch.
“Evelyn, I’m leaving.”
No response.
“Meow.”
Marshmallow sat beneath the couch and gently tapped Evelyn’s hanging hand with one paw.
Mark frowned, set his bag down, and stepped closer.
“Evelyn?”
Her eyes remained closed.
Her brows were slightly drawn together, her lips parted, and the smell of bourbon surrounded her.
Two faint trails of tears had run down her cheeks, leaving traces through the makeup she had worn to work.
Marshmallow rubbed his head against her fingers.
Evelyn shifted slightly in her sleep.
“Mom…”
The word came out so quietly that Mark almost didn’t hear it.
He stood there for several seconds.
Then he sighed.
Whatever Evelyn looked like inside Silverline—cold, confident, aggressive, impossible to intimidate—none of that changed what had happened to her family.
Behind all that armor was still someone who had lost her mother and apparently never made peace with what followed.
Mark set his backpack beside the wall.
Then he bent down and carefully lifted Evelyn from the couch.
An unconscious person was harder to carry than someone cooperating, but Evelyn was relatively slim and Mark was strong enough to manage.
He adjusted his grip, made sure she was secure, and headed toward the staircase.
For all the jokes he had made about exploring the forbidden second floor, Mark had never actually gone upstairs.
Until now.
He carried Evelyn into the master bedroom and stopped at the doorway.
Pink.
There was pink everywhere.
The walls carried soft pink accents, the bedding was pale rose, and several plush animals occupied the bed and surrounding furniture.
The elegant, intimidating studio president who could freeze an entire conference room with one look apparently slept in what looked suspiciously like a princess bedroom. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Mark looked down at the unconscious woman in his arms.
“So this is what you were hiding.”
If Silverline’s employees ever discovered that their terrifying president slept surrounded by stuffed animals, Evelyn would probably fire the entire company just to preserve the secret.
Mark carefully placed her on the bed.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Evelyn was undeniably beautiful, and pretending otherwise would have been ridiculous.
But attraction was one thing; taking advantage of someone who was drunk and unconscious was something else entirely.
Mark shook his head.
He removed only her shoes, pulled the blanket over her, and stepped back from the bed.
“You can yell at me tomorrow for violating the second-floor rule.”
“Meow.”
Marshmallow was sitting in the doorway watching him.
Mark pointed at the cat.
“You’re my witness.”
He left the bedroom, closed the door behind him, and carried Marshmallow downstairs.
“All right, buddy. I’m heading out. Maybe I’ll come visit once your owner stops threatening to break my teeth.”
Marshmallow answered with another meow.
Mark returned him to the cat room, picked up his backpack, and walked toward the front entrance.
Then he stopped.
The doorframe had been damaged when the police entered earlier.
The lock no longer secured properly.
Mark stared at it for several seconds before looking through the opening toward the dark street outside.
Evelyn was upstairs, drunk enough that she probably wouldn’t wake up if someone entered the house.
Leaving her alone in a house that couldn’t be locked suddenly seemed like an extremely bad idea.
Mark sighed.
“So much for going home.”
He dragged a heavy armchair against the damaged entrance as a temporary barrier, double-checked the remaining locks, and returned to the guest room.
He would wait until Evelyn woke up in the morning and leave after someone came to repair the door.
It had already been a very long day.
Mark changed clothes, crawled into bed, and closed his eyes with a tired sigh.
A few minutes later, he heard a faint click from the hallway.
Then soft footsteps.
Something jumped onto the mattress.
“Meow.”
Mark opened one eye.
Marshmallow walked across the bed, licked the back of his hand, then curled up against his arm and began purring.
Mark smiled faintly.
“Yeah. Fine. You can stay.”
He closed his eyes again.
Marshmallow settled closer.
Soon, the room became quiet.
(End of Chapter 23)