Dear Lover, We are Done!

OLIVIA CABELLO

My chest rises and falls with an erratic intake of breath.

The Manhattan city lights shine from outside the glass-ceiling windows in this penthouse, reaching all the way inside the room, to me and to the man standing in front of me.

He picks his shirt from the floor and my eyes linger on the muscles on his shoulders, the tats on his arms, down to his lean waist.

Ryat Winchester, first son to the Winchesters who own the whole of Manhattan, has always been handsome.

Blessed with emerald eyes- so dark and intriguing, a body built like a Greek god, messy dark brown hair and a chiseled jaw that could cut through cheese; he was Manhattan's most eligible bachelor for a reason.

I'm still sore since he was inside of me a few minutes ago but that doesn't mean I don't want more of Ryat Winchester tonight. I've wanted more for two years.

We meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at exactly ten pm. Once he gets what he wants from me which is sex (hot and steamy sex if I might add), he leaves. Nothing more, nothing less.

Lately, I've been wanting more and secretly I think he wants more too.

"Ryat", I purr his name nervously.

He doesn't cast me a glance as he picks his phone from the floor, turning it on and going through his messages.

"I've been thinking... maybe you could stay for the night?"

He never stays for the night.

Never. Ever.

His eyes move from his phone to me in seconds, his jaw already ticking.

"What's this about Olivia? You want more money? Is that it?"

I scoff.

"Does it always have to be money? I stopped taking money from you a month ago and now I just want..."

My emotions curb my throat as he takes lengthy strides towards the bed, towards me and I'm shaking a little beneath the covers.

"You want what, curvy?" his voice comes out harsh.

"Is it bad for you to spend just one night with me? You don't have to leave every time we have sex like I'm some stripper you found on the streets."

His hand picks a loose tendril of my dark hair, tucking it behind my ear.

This is the Ryat I fell in love with. The Ryat who is gentle with me and actually sees me more than an object he can use every week.

"You are a stripper, Olivia. Are you forgetting that? Are you forgetting you've been spreading your legs for me every time I get you on this bed? See you on Tuesday, curvy. I want those legs even wider for me when I see you again."

I'm not a stripper. I gave my virginity to you two years ago.

His lips land on my forehead.

Then he pulls away, walking towards the door with his phone in hand.

"Got a bit delayed with something, Tyson. I'm on my way", Ryat speaks into the phone.

Delayed with something. Not someone. Not me.

A minute later, the door closes behind him and I am left in the penthouse picking the pieces of my slightly broken heart.

I don't even get to cry and be miserable in this empty nine million-dollar penthouse when my phone rings somewhere in the room.

I get out of the bed and I find my phone hidden in a pile of my clothes.

Mom's number and her face covers my entire screen and I pick it up with my heart in my mouth.

"Mom-."

"W-where are you? Where were you, hija! I told you to look after your father while I was gone! I told you I would be gone for only ten minutes and you left him alone? Why, Liv? Why?"

I left because Ryat called me to meet a bit earlier than scheduled. Dad said he would be fine.

"Mom? Mama, calm down because I don't understand a word you are saying. Can you give dad the phone maybe he might-."

"This is all your fault! Your father... Liv, your father..."

My heart pounds at the sound of her voice cracking.

"Mom, what happened to dad? Mom, where's dad?"

"We are in the hospital!"

No.

No.

"H-Hospital?" I stutter.

"He had a heart attack, Liv. I found him on the floor... I don't know how long he was lying on the floor but Liv... he-he wasn't moving and the doctors... the doctors have said nothing yet."

"I'm on my way, mom. I'm coming."

Guilt eats me as tears sting my eyes.

I left my father alone and came to meet with Ryat thinking I would get my fairytale ending by confessing my love for him.

Now my father is...

Five minutes later, I'm in a cab headed to St. Anne's hospital.

Ten minutes later, I'm running to the hospital in heels and a face full of ruined makeup.

I spot my mother sobbing while my best friend Jules, consoles her.

"Mom, I'm here. I'm here. Everything is going to be okay."

My mother's tear-stricken face turns to me, her eyes gloss over me, my state, my makeup and my hair and disappointment covers her features.

I smell of sex, I look like I just stepped out from a hooker's bar downtown.

"Nothing is going to be okay, Liv. The doctors say your father needs to undergo bypass surgery immediately. Otherwise, we might lose him."

"We won't."

I won't let dad die. I need him. I need him so much.

"Where are we going to get two hundred thousand dollars, Olivia? Even with insurance, we can't afford that kind of money. We need to clear the bill before the surgery starts. What are we going to-."

"Ryat", I whisper.

Ryat Winchester has that kind of money.

Ryat Winchester will help me. I am sure of it.

Sharp pain pricks my right cheek and it takes a minute to realize my mother has just slapped me.

"Are you still that stupid? You have been one of Ryat Winchester's whores for so long that you've become this stupid? Everyone knows what you are, Liv but I kept quiet because I refused to believe you would stoop this low.

Your father is in this state because you left him for that man and now you think that Ryat Winchester will help you? You are nothing to him, Olivia! Wake up!"

Hot fat tears line my cheeks but I still speak.

"He... he will help me. If I ask for his help, he will help me and dad will survive this."

"Ryat Winchester is getting married, Olivia! He has no time for you or your problems."

Her words hit me like a bucket of acid to my face.

"He is not... "

He is not getting married. He's not engaged.

"It's all over the news. Ryat Winchester is set to wed Irina Buchanon in the next few months."

"No."

It comes out as a pained hiss.

"This is all your fault and all you can think about is a fairytale that will never exist instead of thinking about your own father?"

I take a few steps back muttering a 'no' over and over again.

When reality hits me back, I look at my mother and whisper what I believe to be the truth.

"Dad will survive this because I'll get the money from Ryat. He'll help, he cares about me."

OLIVIA CABELLO

Thunder clouds hang low, the threat of heavy rain looms in the sky, my stomach churns, tears prick my eyes and I hold them back asking the cab driver if he can drive a little fast than the pace we are going at.

Once the cab stops, I pay the driver, getting out of the car with my six-inch Gucci heels that are the only things holding me up.

My cheek burns from my mother's slap.

My head aches from moving up and about.

My eyes hurt more due to crying.

But all this will be worth it once I get the money.

Winchester Industries stands in front of me in form of a fifty-five-story high building.

I pull out my phone and dial Ryat's number but it still goes to voicemail.

I know he's working. I have seen the news articles of Ryat Winchester that call him the shrewd ice-cold workaholic.

He works all day. He works all night. When he is not working, he is with me. Only me.

Ryat is not getting married. He likes me.

The security guards let me in without asking questions, I take the lift to the executive floor with high hopes that all this nightmare will just be that. A nightmare.

The top floor is owned solely by Ryat.

Which is why I am not surprised when I spot a woman who I assume to be Ryat's secretary seated right in front of the office I'm trying to get into.

In a nude red lipstick and a sneer on her face, Ryat's secretary sizes me up and down when I ask her,

"Can I speak to your boss? I know he's in there so if I could please have a minute of his time."

"Visiting hours are over and even then, you still need an appointment to see Mr. Winchester. It's almost midnight too in case you haven't noticed", her words come out with ire yet I still beg.

"You don't understand... I need to see Ryat. Tell him I'm here... he'll want to see me. I need to see Mr. Winchester! Please! My father is dying I need-."

"The world knows you are his mistress but Mr. Winchester does not entertain mistresses when he is working. Have some dignity and leave."

A mistress?

Her eyes look at me like she's disgusted that I'm breathing the same air as her. As if I'll corrupt her with my whorish ways.

I sniff back tears, my back stands ramrod straight as the last bit of my dignity tells me to be strong.

You have to be strong for dad, Liv.

"I'm not leaving without seeing your boss. I don't give a fuck about an appointment or visiting hours. Tell him I'm here, tell him Olivia Cabello is here to see him."

She clicks her tongue at me. Seconds later, her acrylic nails reach for the telephone on the desk and she dials Ryat's number.

"Boss, I'm sorry to disturb you like this. I know. I'm really sorry, Sir but your...this woman won't leave until I... Olivia Cabello is her name, sir. Of course, sir."

She pulls the telephone away from ear handing it to me with an agitated gaze.

I take the phone in my shaking hands, pressing it to my ear.

"Ryat, Ryat, I'm sorry for coming in like this but my fa-."

"You really don't know when to quit, do you curvy? Go home. Right now. I have no time for you."

"Ryat-."

The line goes dead.

"Ryat? Ryat please... please I need your-."

"He hung up and he authorized me to tell security to kick you out if you cause any trouble. Seriously, did you just think you would barge in here and the boss would spare a minute to see you? You are not even his fiancé; you are the whore he fucks when he wants something cheap and available. I'm saying this because I pity you, leave for your own sake."

I'm not a whore.

I wanted to shout but wasn't it true what she said?

Ryat Winchester wanted me for one thing and thing only. Sex.

If he loved me, he would have listened to what I had to say tonight, he would have wanted to see me.

The truth constricts my air and eats away every single reality I had built for two years.

I turn around and leave.

When I get to the elevator and the elevator doors close, I fall to the floor sobbing.

"Don't cry and try to console yourself that you were better than me. You were no match for me when it came to winning over Ryat's heart", a feminine voice hits me from above and I raise my head noticing I'm not the only in the lift.

In a crisscross halter cut-out dress that shows her stomach and showcases her cleavage, wearing a perfume that fogs the air and chokes me, the blonde woman who smells and looks like sophistication at its finest looks down at me with a sly smile.

I know her.

I saw her on my phone while I was riding the cab to here.

She's Ryat's fiancé. Irina Buchanon, daughter to business tycoon Bono Buchanon, a model, a socialite and the object of every man's desires according to news outlets.

"He is all yours", I mutter, gritting my teeth.

"Really? Then why you are here in the middle of the night begging like a dog for his love?"

"I came here for my father! I only came here... because my father... my father is dying and I needed his help."

"How much? How much do you need?"

"Two hundred grand", I mutter because that's how desperate I am to get the money.

She chuckles and her eyes narrow into slits.

"Show me how bad you want the money. Kneel, kiss my heels and say the words 'I'm nothing but a whore, that's all I'll ever amount to. I don't deserve a man like Ryat Winchester because whores like me don't get men like him'. Say it!"

I kneel.

I kiss her thousand-dollar heels.

All that for my father.

I look her in the eyes, my dignity already in the mud.

"I'm nothing but a whore, that's all I'll ever amount to. I don't deserve a man like Ryat Winchester because whores like me don't get men like him."

Irina Buchanon drops to meet me, then she grips my chin, taking a few wads of cash from her purse and hitting my face with them.

---

The rain pours over me heavily as I run inside the hospital.

It doesn't matter whether I'm soaking wet, it doesn't matter whether my body is so weak, I feel like I'll die on the spot.

Dad is going to be okay.

I have the money.

Getting to the waiting room has me feeling hopeful that tomorrow things will be better but when I get there, my mother is on the couch holding a coffee cup but her eyes are hollow and her cheeks are pale.

"Mom, I got the money. Dad is going to have that surgery; he is going to be okay."

She doesn't hear me. She doesn't look like she's really in this world.

Jules, who's seated next to her stands up walking to me with a look that has my heart sinking.

"Liv-."

"I got the money, Jules. My dad is going to live. I have to pay the bills before they perform the surgery, right?"

"Liv-."

"Why does mom look like that? I said I have the money; she should be happy dad's going to live!"

"Liv, the doctors came... they said they tried to keep your father as stable as they could but without performing the surgery asap, Liv, your father-."

"No!" I sob, covering my mouth.

"Your father is dead, Olivia."

OLIVIA CABELLO

Death was unfair. It has and will always be unfair.

My mother's wails can be heard all over the cemetery we are in. I hold an umbrella for her and I feel so broken that no tears come to my eyes.

Girls were supposed to be close to their mothers.

Not me though.

I was close to my father. His little princesa. His muse. His only daughter.

And now, the person I love the most is dead because I couldn't save him. I couldn't save my father, my best friend.

I don't deserve to shed tears. I don't deserve to mourn for him.

The rain roars back with a vengeance, pouring over the umbrella I'm holding frailly. My abuela and the rest of the family are standing by the other side of the casket sobbing as my father gets lowered into the ground.

They shouldn't cry for him. They abandoned him a long time ago. They shouldn't be here.

"I can't live without you, Hose. Plea-- please come back to me. Please come back to me!"

We all know my father isn't coming back.

We all know my mother is losing her mind but none of us speak.

I don't speak when the family come to offer their condolences.

I don't speak when we bury my father.

I don't speak when...

"I don't want you in the house. I can't bear to look at you after everything. Hose would still be alive if you hadn't... if you hadn't..."

Killed your husband?

That's what my mother wants to say and I can't blame her.

Her eyes look at me one more time before she says, "I want to heal and I can't do it when you are around."

Because I look like my father and I'm the reason he'll be rotting in a six feet deep grave.

I don't speak as I watch her walk away.

I stand with an umbrella in the rain, my best friend consoling me.

"She doesn't mean it, Liv. You've gotta know that. She's hurt but she'll come around."

She won't. My father was the only one linking us together and now he's dead.

"She just cut me off, Jules. I don't... I don't blame her."

The phone that has been in my dark jeans since morning rings.

It has rung more than five times and I haven't answered it. I know who it is.

I know what HE wants.

I pull it out and the called ID has Ryat's name and number on the screen.

"Olivia", Jules warns.

I offer a reassuring smile to her.

"Give me a minute to talk to him."

She nods then she walks away.

I look at my father's grave. At the tombstone that will be the only reminder of who he is, who he was.

Hatred courses through my veins as I slide my finger across the phone's screen taking the call.

"I hate wasting time, Olivia. You never came yesterday but I expect you tonight, curvy. Don't be late."

The voice that used to make my heart skip and my breath catch in my throat now sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

The coldness in Ryat Winchester's heart that I thought I would be able to melt is nothing but a forgotten memory in my mind.

This man never saw me as anything other than a sex toy for him.

My father died. Ryat doesn't even know and if he knew I don't think he'll care.

Just like he didn't care when I begged for his help in his office.

I've accepted what I am.

I am Ryat's plaything. But tonight, I won't be anymore.

---

I take the elevator to the penthouse and as soon as the lift doors part, I step into the penthouse that Ryat bought for me.

No. Not for me.

This place is where he hides me and fucks me behind closed doors.

This place is where he takes his whore.

His musky cologne fills the air, his six-feet two height that's almost felt intimidating does nothing to me. The muscles that are stretched by the dark office shirt he has on comes to sight as his emerald eyes pierce mine.

His face is neutral. Like always. Cold, hard, murderous.

The distance between us feels like a chasm as I stare at him with the same cold eyes he gave me for two years.

"Come here", he growls.

I don't move an inch.

He gets angry.

I grab my Diamond Birkin bag throwing it in his direction.

It falls near his feet and he picks it up with ease, his questioning eyes on me.

"What's this supposed to mean, Olivia?" his voice drops to an octave low but I don't fear him. I don't feel anything for this man.

"There. That's everything you ever gave me just so I could warm your bed, Ryat. Your money is in there, your phone is in there, your clothes are in there and whatever we had is in there too. Find yourself another whore who'll spread her legs for you. We are done, Mr. Winchester."

My heart heaves and the strength and devastation gushing through my veins taps my back for doing what I failed to do years ago.

To leave this man.

Ryat throws the bag somewhere across the room and it smashes a couple of glasses.

I don't flinch when his jaw tics and the pulse on the side of his neck becomes visible.

I don't cower when a smirk litters his face and his eyes turn a stormy almost grey color.

"Your little attitude turns me on at times but this isn't one of those times, Olivia. Bring your ass here or I haul it over my shoulder and I won't be blamed for the consequences there after."

"Goodbye, Mr. Winchester. I'd tell you to have a nice life but I've never been a liar."

I turn to walk away but in mere seconds, Ryat's hands wrap around my waist, my body knocking his hard chest in an instant.

His hand cups my face, he pushes some of my hair from my eyes and his thumb traces my bottom lip tenderly.

"Let me go", I bark.

He smirks.

"Never. You want to cause drama, do it. You want to scream, do it. You want to hit me, do it. But thinking this is over? That will never happen, curvy. As soon as you opened your legs for me, you were mine. These lips are mine. Your cunt is mine. Your ass is mine. All mine."

"I was never yours, Ryat Winchester. I will never be yours. You deserve someone as cold as you. You and your fiancé deserve each other. Let me go!"

"No."

"You are going to force yourself on me? You are going to make me kneel for you? Do it! I'm already broken, there's nothing that you can do right now that will make me feel a thing, Ryat because you did that! You broke me. You broke me, you bastard!"

I slap him and the tears I promised I won't shed come falling in hot fat chunks.

Ryat lets go of me.

And I turn around and step into the elevator.

When the elevator doors start to close, Ryat's face comes into sight and with enough anger and violence to rival an MMA fighter, he mouths the words;

"We will never be over."