The Designer and the Model

Chapter 11 - The Versace Mansion

Charlottes Point of View

The sunshine state was no joke, the weather was beautiful and warm. It added to my state of euphoria. The Versace Mansion was hands down the most beautiful place I'd ever seen in my life, a complete mansion of art. My bedroom looked that of a queens, detail was put in everywhere I could see and everywhere I went. I felt like I was in awe of the palace but it just didn't compare to Bethany, Drake, or especially Lucinda.

After I had enough of looking around I decided to try out the fancy-looking pool of marble. Floating on my back I watched the sky as I reflected on how my life has exploded so rapidly so quickly. Parts of me missed my room at home with mom and dad... but not a lot of me, in that house I could disappear and forget I existed but I also felt lower than pond scum there. It hurt to think how keen and nice mom was to me now that I had something to offer.

When I lived with her my only goal was to have some worth, something to give back. But after getting it and being able to look after them now, she acts like she's always loved me as much as she does now. I couldn't forget how horrible she had always been to me all throughout high school. The better my marks got the worse she was to me. She said she just wanted me to be successful but the closer I got and the harder I worked for it... It's like it was offensive to her that I wanted to be more than just a cleaner.

Then there was after graduation. She's the one that pushed me into a depression.

Constantly, every day when she came home from work she would deflect everything onto me. If that day someone spoke to her poorly, she would come home to tell me how worthless I was. One day she came home and ranted like a psycho about how someone shoved her, while I was showing her sympathy and hearing about her day she thought it'd be funny if she "pretended" to hit me in the face with a solidly frozen loaf of bread. I saw the sick satisfaction on her face as I started to tear up even though she swore it was an accident.

It's no wonder why dad can't get better, he had to take a lot more than me from her.

Upset I swam over to the marble steps and rested against the wall as I watched the floating flowers in the pool.

I missed my dad.

"Everything alright?" Drake appeared walking down the marble steps and sat near me in the pool, I nodded and smiled willing my eyes to clear up.

"Have you been here before? It's beautiful." I enquired as I observed his built physique, he didn't look huge but he had a broad build and thickly muscular shoulders that made me think he may have done powerlifting in the past. His kind eyes found mine and he smiled lightly as he leaned back on his elbows.

"I haven't surprisingly. It is truly glorious, I'm pleased Donatella chose this place. I was seated by Bethany on the journey here, she mentioned... Perhaps more than once, how you weren't familiar with Donatella or her work?"

I was honest with Drake and I felt lighter as he didn't seem one bit disappointed and that his question was asked because he felt as though he didn't know me very well. I shared as much as I thought was appropriate for telling a boss and he surprised me by returning my openness. Drake explained how he didn't come from much either and that he had to risk losing everything he had into becoming who he was today. I found myself becoming very fond of Drake. He wasn't who I expected at the start of all this, he had to be one of the most humble people I've ever met. I could tell if someone else was to describe the things he has done it would be 1000 times larger than what he was downplaying it to be.

After rinsing off the chlorine from my skin I checked the time and found I had a lot of it until I needed to get ready, so I took the opportunity while everyone was looking around to pop into the spa. First on my list to try was the sauna I had my eyes on. It smelt like roses as I lay on my towel, watching the condensation building in the air. The entire sealing was a massive painting, I'd seen something very much like it in movies and such with the baby-looking people touching fingertips with a robed man but this was different. In the center of the sealing were two finger-touching women, naked and looking in each other's eyes.