Chapter 39: Peace And Pieces

Penelope's POV

I was summoned into my father's office at his company on Wednesday morning. As the secretary escorted me there, I texted rapidly in my cellphone to escape the images of my father's expression playing in my head.

Reaching the tall glass double doors, I exhaled before steadying myself then I entered.

The images I saw in my mind was nowhere close to the one I was seeing right in front of me.

"Yeah, I screwed up," I began as I sat down.

"You hold your tongue, Penelope. You have no idea how much I'm disappointed in you right now!" he shouted at me.

"Aren't you always, dad?"

"And yet, you wouldn't try to do better! You're a chip from your mother, program exactly like her too."

"Leave my mother out of this," I told him, holding back the tears. The jabs about my mother always cut me.

"You had one job. O-N-E! And you fucked it up because you can't do anything right. Why is it that you can't do anything right, what is your malfunction?"

"I told you what was happening but you weren't listening. Ricardo doesn't love me, he never did."

"Shut up! An ex is the easiest person to get back in your life, especially if it's a man. You let a freaking maid get you riled up and can now take your spot, and what the hell were you thinking going to Jamaica and having a surprise wedding blow up in your face?"

"I was trying to impress you!"

"Impress me, I told you to focus on planning the wedding which would have been scheduled to take place in December! I had the perfect plan!"

"I wanted to prove I could have married him before then, to impress you, surprise you and make you happy."

"You were unsuccessful with it all! That was very stupid, Penelope. You ought to know better. A beach wedding without even his mom and his sister present, what were you thinking, were you even thinking?"

"No."

"Of course not! That's what is wrong with you, you don't think! You do listen and you don't do better!" dad shouted at me at the top of his lungs. He stood up for his chair and walked to the glass windows.

"I'm sorry. You're disappointed, I get it, but I tried. I tried to love him correctly and to fix my mistakes."

"What did you do after you returned from Jamaica, huh?" he asked, surprisingly calm.

"I went to my own place and..."

"Before you went to your place, where did you go and what did you do?"

The images flashed. I took my wrath out on Ricardo's grand master bedroom, ruining everything my hands could have possibly reach.

"I wrecked Ricardo's bedroom," I answered.

"Exactly. You destroyed the man's bedroom where he has to lay his head! Even if you or I try to mend what you did once again, it's a wrap! He wouldn't want you! You're a nut!"

"Dad, he never wanted me. Why can't you understand that, do you know how hard it is to get him to open up to me or hold a conversation or even smile at me?"

"I told you this was bigger than your feelings, Penelope. Didn't I?"

"You did but it's too late for that right now."

"Too late, no such thing. You're going to find a way to fix this, I don't care who stands in your way, I don't care if you have to build an army to get him back but you would. I have too much riding on Ricardo and his company for everything to just go down the freaking drain. Fix it!"

"Dad, I'm not going to fix it."

"What did you just say to me?" His head slowly turned to my direction and when his eyes blazed at me, I felt like I was being scolded like a child.

"I said I'm not going to fix it. I'm mentally and physically exhausted from all of this. You have no idea what it is like!"

"Hear you whine."

"I'm not going to beg anyone to love me and I'm not going to marry someone because of a business transaction. I still have some dignity left. He told me one thing when we were in Jamaica, he said even I deserve someone to love me."

"Spare me the fairy-tale misery."

"Mr. Vant, Mr. Parriston is here to see you, should I send him in now?" came the secretary's voice though the office line.

"Send him in," my father commanded.

"Ricardo is here?" I questioned and turned towards the glass doors. Within a few more moments, I saw him walking towards us. My heart tugged.

~

"Ah, Ricky. Come in and have a seat," my father offered as Ricardo walked through the doors.

"Thank you but I think I'll stand. I wouldn't be long," he answered.

"I asked to see you because I've heard what happened in Jamaica and afterwards. My daughter can be a very big disappointment but rest assured, all will be well."

"And by well you mean..."

"I'll reimburse you for the damages..."

"Thank you but that wouldn't be necessary, Marcus."

"But I think it's the least I can do."

"Nah, it's fine."

"You're not faulting her for her own actions?"

"Why should I, she reacted from a hurt place."

"Ricky.."

"Listen, after Jamaica, after cleaning up my bedroom, I reflected on this whole situation. Penelope was loop into this, and although her love may have been genuine, I couldn't love her back the way she loved me."

"I was about to make you a very rich man, a powerful and untouchable man. And you let it all go because you don't love my daughter?"

"Unlike you, Marcus, I have a heart and I couldn't spring her along."

"Look at Penelope, doesn't she look as someone you should spring along, huh?"

"I'm sitting right here!" I cautioned my father.

"Penelope, I'll like to speak with you in private for a moment please," Ricardo spoke as he looked at me.

"I'll excuse myself," dad said quickly and left his office.

~

"How are you, Penelope?"

"Let me see where I should start, hmm, after planning a surprise wedding and being humiliated and left at the beach, tear stained face, ruined makeup, sand all over me.. I'm doing great, Ricardo!" I snapped.

"I couldn't do that to you, and to myself."

"So why didn't you make that clear since the very beginning, you accepted my father's ring and placed it on my finger!" I said as my voice broke.

"You're right, I shouldn't have let things gone beyond that point and I'm sorry for hurting you. At first, I thought this was what I wanted."

"Having me, being on my father's good graces, the money, international launches, I wasn't worth it, these things weren't worth it, Ricardo?" Tears rolled down my face. He handed me a tissue.

"I'll marry for love. Anything less is a no."

"Are you going to date her now then?" I just had to ask.

"Pene.."

"Answer me."

"I'm not going to answer that question."

"It's the least..the very least you could do right now."

"Don't act like you were a saint. The way I see it, you got your satisfaction and speaking of, that threat you wrote over my bedhead, you better don't even think about putting it into action."

"A threat you say?"

"Yes!"

"I didn't write that."

"Then it must have been Eloise."

"She wasn't there with me."

"Then who was?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"Penelope.. I'm not joking.. I swear.."

"No! You don't get to humiliate me and think you'll be happy afterwards. I meant what I said when I said I would make your life a living hell."

"You want to go to war with me?"

"Darling, we're already at war."