Chapter 2
"Go ahead," I said. "Explain. I'm listening."
Leonard was quiet for a few seconds. Then he finally spoke, "Her name is Rosalind Winters. She's a florist the company is planning to sign.
"Her family's struggling, and she's sensitive. She's been in a bad state lately because of a competition. I just went to check on her."
"Going to check on her? That's why you had to stay up all night waiting for her roses to bloom?" I shot back.
"There was something wrong with her roses."
"So you went to help her adjust the climate control system?"
"Natalie, do you have to make everything sound so ugly?"
I smiled, "What's ugly isn't my words. It's what you did."
His jaw tightened. He spent a long moment reining in his temper before he spoke, "I admit I should have told you. I was wrong.
"But it's not as dirty as you think. Rosalind is talented. I just wanted to help push her career. Don't go making a fuss over nothing but hearsay."
Nothing but hearsay? The 400,000-dollar additional payment. The keycard that said "For Rose. Private."
The photos of him and Rosalind way too close in the conservatory late at night.
And yet, he called it nothing but hearsay.
I nodded. "Fine."
He froze, probably surprised that I let it go so easily. "You believe me?"
"If you say so, I'll give you that," I said.
Leonard stared at me, his eyes darkening. "Natalie, don't get all passive-aggressive."
"Why would I?" I reached up and smoothed his collar. "Mr. Rivers, you've been so busy today, you still managed to squeeze in time to keep a florist you work with happy. I'm too busy feeling sorry for you to be upset."
He was left speechless.
I pulled my hand back, picked up my hem, and walked out. "I'm going home."
"I'll drive you." He offered.
"Don't bother," I replied. I didn't even look back.
When I got to the hotel entrance, I texted my assistant, Nina Olson.
I typed: [Check the ownership and accounts of the Rose Conservatory on the west side. And look into Rosalind. I need it tonight.]
Nina replied almost instantly, just two words.
She wrote: [Got it.]
*****
As I drove onto the overpass, Leonard called. I didn't answer.
He called again. I still didn't pick up.
When he called a third time, I put him on speaker.
His voice was low. "Natalie, what exactly are you trying to do?"
I watched the streetlights pass by, one after another. "I want to see what you really take me for."
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "You're my wife," he said.
"Then what's Rosalind?" I pressed.
He seemed stuck for a moment. Then he said, "Someone who needs me to take care of her."
I hung up without a second thought.
Someone who needed him to take care of her. That sounded so familiar.
Back then, when my mom was diagnosed with uremia, I spent my days at the hospital and my nights rushing to finish design drafts. I was so exhausted that I once fell asleep on the floor of my studio.
That was when Leonard held me and said the same line. "Natalie, from now on, you don't have to carry anything anymore. I'll take care of you."
I actually believed him back then.
Turned out, when a man made a promise, it was not about whether he'd keep it. It was about how many people he planned to feed the same line to.
*****
Nina worked fast. By the time I got home and hadn't even changed, her files were already in my inbox.
Rosalind. 25 years old. She started as an intern at Natalie's Florist two years ago. I trained her myself when she first joined.
My hand paused when I saw that line. Of course, I remembered that name.
She was painfully thin when she first came to the company. She always wore washed-out jeans, spoke in a low voice, and had a face that was so clean that it almost seemed unreal.
I trained her in floristry myself for three months. I even gave her a set of imported pruning shears.
Because the first time she finished a wedding flower arch on her own, her eyes lit up with joy. She stood in front of me, her face red.
She said, "Natalie, I want to be as awesome as you someday."
She was so sweet back then. At least that was how she seemed.
Nina also found out that the Rose Conservatory on the west side wasn't under Leonard's name.
It was held by a newly registered shell company. The legal representative? Rosalind.
But the initial funding came from the project reserve account of Natalie's Florist.