Beautifully Revealed

Isabella

20 years earlier

“Mommy, M
ommy, look what Daddy got me!” I squeal as I skip into the room. “I’m a princess, Mommy.” My mother swings around, her bleach blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders like luxurious satin flowing in the wind.  Her grey eyes look exactly like mine, except they’re cold and empty. The haughty air she exudes always makes me feel inferior. Maybe I caught her on another one of her bad days because she’s looking at me that way again. I think she wants me to leave her alone but I want her to see that I can be a princess.

“You’re not a princess and you never will be. I don’t know w
hy your father wastes his time making you think you’ll ever be as beautiful as I am. You won’t.” She grabs the crown off my head, snaps it in half and throws it across the room. It feels like she tore my heart in two, tears well in my eyes and I fight them. I fight as hard as I can to keep them in, but they pour out anyway.

“You’re such a fucking baby.
Real princesses don’t cry, plus you look ugly when you cry,” she sneers at me.

I
f I knew what I had done wrong to her I would fix it, then she wouldn’t hate me so much. I wipe my tears with the back of my hand and walk towards her. She towers over me in her stilettos, her face and make up are perfect, and she’s much like what I think an angel would look like.

“Why do you hate me?” M
y voice screeches and I wish I could take back my question when she begins to laugh at me.

“I don’t hate you
,” she squats down and looks me in the eye. “I just don’t care about you. I never wanted you when your father forced me to keep you and I want you even less now.  I wish you would get the point and stay the Fuck. Out. Of. My. Face.” She turns and strides out the room with the style and grace of a queen. The queen of hearts, who just walked out with the blood from my torn heart all over her hands.

I knew that day I was
finished trying to impress her, finished trying to understand her and finished trying to make her love me. She hates me and what hurts the most is that there is no way I can fix it, no way to make her see that I’m worthy of her love.

I pick
up the halves of my crown and sit on the couch trying to fit the jagged edges back together. Somewhere deep inside my eight-year-old brain I knew that much like my heart, once it was broken there was no way to get all the pieces back together the way it originally was. There’s always the smallest little fragments that fly off into the distance, lost to me forever.

“What’s the matter
, baby?” My dad walks into the room and sits down next to me. I should tell him about Mom, but I never do. He loves her and I don’t want to hurt him by telling him how mean she is to me. She’s always so sweet and sugary towards me when he’s around. It was confusing at first, the back and forth switches in her attitude towards me. As I got a little older I realized that it was all an act for my dad. I could only imagine how much more she would hate me if I told him how she treats me.

“I broke my crown,”
I sputter, tears pouring out my eyes as my dad wraps me in his arms.

“That’s okay sweetheart, you don’t need a crown to be my princess.”

I already knew that, I was just hoping I could be her princess too. I cry against my father’s chest, the ache from my mother’s hate burning a hole into my heart. He sweeps me up into his arms and carries me to my room then lies down next to me in my big princess bed and holds me. The love I feel in his arms doesn’t erase the pain from my mother’s words, but it dims the burn until I fall asleep.

Isabella

“Ella! I’m going to be late,” Liam calls from the foyer. I hop into the room on one heel while trying to put my other shoe on. Liam’s crisp blue pinstripe suit jacket is hanging open. The matching vest is buttoned up and stretches across his muscular body perfectly. My eyes slide down his body and stop at his snug fitted crotch. The distinct bulge is always present, even when he isn’t aroused.

“I told you not to get in the shower with me.” I smile at him
as I straighten up and grab my purse off the table. Mornings with Liam are the happiest part of my day. Waking up with my face cuddled into the crook of his neck has a serene affect on me.

“I was trying to save us time,” he says, pulling me into his arms and nuzzling
my neck. “Besides I can’t function at work without my morning dose of that sweet, wet-”

“Liam!” I scream at him
as his fingers slide up my skirt and skim the top of my garter. “Stop, you’re going to blame me if you’re late.”

“It is your fault. I
f the scent of your pussy wasn’t teasing me, we could be halfway to the office by now.” He nips my neck, I jerk out of his embrace, and race to the elevator before we lose control.

He steps in
to the elevator after me, crowding me into a corner. His dark hair is still wet, he attempted to slick it back, but stray pieces hang over his lust filled eyes. I’ll never tire of his intensity, his utter love for me. I want him as badly as he wants me, but sometimes I need to focus on the world outside of our little bubble. It’s been over a week since I thought I lost him and everything’s been so perfect I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’ve never been lucky in life and I don’t expect to be lucky in love.

“So are you set for tomorrow night?” he asks. “I’m excited to show
off my girl.”

Tomorrow?

“What’s tomorrow?” I ask, confusion clouding my features.

“
Are you serious, Ella?” He steps back and glares at me. “
MADDOX
Magazine
’s
fifth anniversary party is tomorrow night.”

I forgot
. I’ve been so lost in our week of unusual blissful existence, I haven’t thought about anything, including this upcoming party.

“I’m sorry
, Liam, I forgot.” Damn, how am I going to pull off getting a dress to a high profile party in one day? Liam pulls out his wallet and hands me a credit card.

“Take the day off
, go get a dress. I want you on my arms tomorrow night, Ella.”

I push his hand away and shake my head.
“I don’t need your money, Liam. I can buy my own dress.” The last thing I need is for Liam to think I need his money. I took the car as a gift, but it was bad enough that he thought I only needed him for sex, I’m absolutely not going to let him think I need his money.

“Ella,” he says looking at me in that
, “
I’m the man let me take care of you,”
way. I don’t care if spending money on me makes him feel like he’s a man; I’m not budging on this. “Take it,” he says slipping it into my bag. As the door slides open, I take his card out my purse and follow him into the parking deck.

I stop beside him as he opens his
car door. He pulls me into his arm and kisses me, never feeling me slip his card back into his jacket pocket before I head over to my car. He watches me with one foot perched inside his car until I pull out waving at him victoriously as the top on my convertible comes down.

I race into Maddox Enterprise in a hurry to get some reinforcements. The office is eerily quiet when I step in
, and Lillian’s desk is empty. Lillian is always here before everyone so I rush to Rich’s office to see if he can help me track her down.

I
swing the already cracked door open, and the first thing I notice are Lillian’s breasts swaying. Rich’s pants are around his ankles as he powerfully thrusts into her from behind. I gasp loudly and Lillian squeals as she tries to push away from Rich.

“Oh
shit! I’m sorry.” The sight of Rich ramming into Lillian over his desk is burned into my brain as I pull the door shut and walk to my office.
Rich and Lillian?
I didn’t see that coming at all. I’m not sure if I should wait for Lillian to go shopping or leave without her. I hope it won’t be awkward now that I’ve seen her naked at the height of pleasure. Who knew our resident sexy geek had the ability to make a woman produce those kinds of noises. I chuckle into the empty room, happy that my friends have obviously found some happiness in each other. There’s no way Lillian would have sex with Rich if she didn’t have serious feelings for him, it would ruin their friendship.

Less
than five minutes later, Rich walks in after a light tap on the door. He smiles at me sheepishly as he sits across from me. As much as I love Lillian, Rich and I have grown closer in the last six weeks. Maybe it’s our closeness in age, but I feel like Rich is the brother I wish I had growing up, someone to confide in and protect me from my mom when her hate knew no bounds.

“So…” he says nervously.

“So…” I repeat. “Seems my friends, who are always trying to get me to open up, are keeping their own secrets.” Rich runs a finger over his lips and leans towards me.

“I didn’t intentionally keep this from you. Lillian
refused to give us a chance, and then she forbids me to even talk about the possibility of it. It has been hell keeping this from you. I would love a woman’s opinion on how to get her to see that we could make this work.” His eyes are hopeful; I can tell he’s relieved to get this off his chest.

“You seemed to be doing a perfectly fine job at convincing her before I interrupted.
” I’m not sure I’m the best candidate for relationship advice anyway. I could barely spend more than a few weeks at a time without fucking up my relationship.

“The sex is…” his face turns a rosy shade
, and I can’t help but to laugh at him. “Yes the sex is great, but she won’t let me in.”

“
Oh she let you in,” I laugh at him, “deep in.”

“Come on
, Isabella,” he whines. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Aww Rich,” his desperate plea is making me a little sad. I really hope Lillian cares about him as much as he seems to care for her. “You and Lillian are good friends
, if the attraction is there then why won’t she give you a chance?”

“
She thinks I’m too young, I’m twenty-five and she’s forty-one. I don’t think it’s a big deal. She goes on and on about me being young enough to be her son one minute, then the next minute she’s begging me to fuck her. I don’t get it, woman are too complicated.”

“I think you two would be fantastic together
, but…” I hate to be negative about it, but Rich is my friend so I won’t lie to him. “She has a twenty-year-old son; you have to see how this would be weird for her. I’m not saying to give up, but give her some time to adjust to the idea.”