Anthony shifted the conversation to her portfolio and asked, "How many of these have you sold?
She sighed, "None, Justin's set of jewelry is the only item in that portfolio that I don't still own, and even those were made as a favor."
"But why keep them a secret?
"They fall short of expectations. Since I couldn't compete with the real designers out there, it was really just a pointless hobby and a waste of time" Elizabeth replied.
"It's strange because I can hear your voice, but it sounds more like your father speaking." Anthony said
He seemed incredibly angry about that, uncharacteristically so.
"He told you that you weren't good enough, didn't he, and you believed him?". He growled.
"No- yes- I mean no. I have no formal training, so I know I'm not good enough. I read a little, printed some information from the Internet, and then I started experimenting." Elizabeth responded nervously
"I think that you should have Conner Adams or Jean-Pierre Dumas look at these." Anthony stated
She flinched a little, not quite sure what to make of his sudden interest and praise,
"They're busy men, so I wouldn't want to waste their time." She responded quickly
He had mentioned two men who shared ownership of one of the most prestigious jewelry businesses across three continents.
"I doubt that you would be wasting there. ".
"Stop Anthony Just drop it, please," she commanded angrily, and his attention was drawn to her scrunched-up face. The portfolio was slowly closed, and he put it back on her desk while maintaining an expressionless body language.
He murmured, "Suit yourself,"
then he started to wonder around the space. She observed him pick up objects, inspect them, and then put them back. She remained seated, occasionally swiveling in her office chair to keep him in view. Eventually he stopped his frantic pacing and stopped in front of her. She fidgeted with the pencil she had picked up once more as she lowered her eyes to his pricey size 11 Italian loafers.
When he gently tilted her face up while holding her chin between his thumb and forefinger, she almost jumped out of her skin and dropped the pencil with a muffled yelp. He then gently grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger. She tried her best not to squirm when he let go of her chin to stroke the back of his hand down her soft cheek, but she wasn't quite successful in hiding her reaction because his eyes froze over and his hand dropped heavily back to his side.
"I wonder what other things you're hiding from me" he thought under his breath.
"I have no secrets."She laughed, but there was no humor in the harsh and abrasive sound
he gave a gesturing look around the room before settling his eyes on her.
She shook her head angrily and added, "This was hardly a secret, You would have known about this if you had visited this location at any point in the past 20 plus months.Never do I close the door Anytime you wanted, you could come in"
"Why would I have had any reason to come up here?". He asked in his most annoyingly pragmatic voice,
"It's not the most sensible location for a workshop, in my opinion" he added
"It's also the one place I spend most of my time, so of course you've never bothered to come up here. Anthony you've never actively sought me out before. I think the only reason you're acting this way right now is because your Master Plan for this so-called marriage of ours isn't working out. Isn't this your newest attempt to keep me in line—pretending to be interested in me? " She replied sarcastically,
He gently warned, "stop trying to figure me out. You have no idea what drives or occupies my thoughts. "
"Oh, I'm sure I could say the same about you. In fact, I feel like I know you much better than you do about me!" Elizabeth yell exasperatingly
He half-reclined against her work table, crossing one long leg over the other in a pose of relaxed, casual elegance, and said, "I doubt that,"
slipping his hands into the trouser pockets of his expensive, custom-made suit.
"Fine.
As she cast a scornful glance his way, she cocked her head. And asked" How do I take my coffee?".
He scowled at the question
"Black" He said with absolute authority
"No, you like your coffee black, I don't even drink coffee"
" I don't see why that matters"He declared
"You don't see how anything about me matters" she said angrily.
"That's not true-"
She interrupted him once more before he could finish, barely able to believe her own audacity. Even though she was currently ensnared in this marriage, she had never before stood up to him in such a direct manner. She was no longer going to be a doormat and would not put up with them treating her like dirt.
"Obviously, my womb is the only thing that is not."She half-hysterically laughed.
"I'm nothing to you but a womb on legs; you have a lot of use for that."
"You're being silly. "
"When is my birthday." She asked abruptly, still ignoring him, His jaw tightened, and he remained silent, staring intently into her eyes, asking,
"When's my birthday?".