Resisting The Billionaire

32. Lunch or Bribe?

Polly encircled her eyes around the luxurious interior of the restaurant in which she sat and gawked the expensive marble floor that were so incredibly shiny that they reflected her face back to her.

The large glass windows allowed sufficient sunlight to enter the restaurant and illuminate and enhance the white and sleek interior of the entire place.

She remembered that the restaurant where Adrian had brought her was a three star Michelin restaurant, where only the richest of the celebrities and business men ate and she only saw that restaurant from afar on her Snapchat or i********:. So for her, to be sitting inside the place was something that was completely not on her bingo cards, of not just that year but her entire life.

Adrian watched in amusement the way Polly ran her eyes all around the restaurant and admired the exquisite furniture and design. He could tell that she was surely moved and intimidated by how expensive and eloquent the life was, in which Adrian was welcoming her and he thought that perhaps Jared was right.

If they get Polly and her mother accustomed to the rich and comfortable life, they would push Diana to move closer to Adrian.

Soon the waiters walked towards Adrian and Polly’s corner table and served them with their first appetizer.

“It’s a sea cracker that is made with our most exotic sea captures and…”

The waiter was in the middle of explaining the dish to the guests, when Polly simply picked up and began chewing on the elongated crackers, over which the saucy seafood was displayed.

Adrian held back his laughter, as he found Polly’s actions to be amusing and simply gestured at the waiter, who on the contrary was offended.

“It’s fine! just bring the rest of the dishes together.” He ordered and the waiter left.

“I am sorry, I was having beans and loafs in my lunch room only fifteen minutes ago and now I am having the most expensive thing I have ever seen.” She cracked up a good laughter and Adrian couldn’t help but chuckle along with her.

“I get it! even our school cafeteria used to serve the worst foods.” Adrian told her.

“Yeah! Diana tells me that all the time. You guys went to the same school, right?”

Adrian nodded, “Did she ever mention me to you?”

Polly shook her head back in a negative tone. “No! but don’t take it the wrong way. She doesn’t talk about anyone from her past.”

“Really? You never felt curious or anything?”

Polly shrugged, “There isn’t much to feel curious about. Her Dad was an asshole. My mom tells me all the time how even my Aunt, whom he married, was never happy with him and then he was also very abusive towards Diana.”

“Abusive?” Adrian knitted his eyebrows together as he heard that word being associated with Ross, his mentor and Diana’s father.

He knew that Ross was never a loving father or a caring one and he never gave Diana the due time but to learn that he was abusive was an existential shock that Adrian didn’t think about having on his bingo cards of his entire life.

It came to him as a grave shock that a man like Ross, who was so meticulous, calculative and above all gentle towards the children of the Sarmiento corporations, was abusive towards his own daughter.

Polly gasped as she realized that she may have inadvertently slipped out a piece of information that she should not have to begin with.

“Wait… you didn’t know?” she asked in sheer confusion and Adrain shook his head.

“I guess… that’s why Diana had such a tough time staying in New York and made the right choice by coming to Los Angeles. You see, even though my uncle is dead and it is said that you should not curse a dead man but he was a bastard. I was only five years old when my cousin came to us but she was all covered in bruises and scars and even though some of them faded away with time but there are still many marks on different places all over her body that are still visible, most of them are cuts that she got when Uncle would hit her and throw her down and she would end up on sharp glass or something.”

Adrian’s heart sank for some unearthly reason. He couldn’t place exactly what made him feel so pierced through the heart as he came to learn that Diana was being abused by her own father in such a vicious manner and all these years, she took it silently and never showed her pain to anyone.

Even at school she was brutally bullied, as far as he could remember and it only meant that her life was a living hell.

“When did Diana come to Los Angeles exactly? Because after her father passed away in that accident, I didn’t see her at all and my Mother went to meet her one day but she told us that she couldn’t find Diana. She even had her searched everywhere in the city but Diana just disappeared.”

“She actually didn’t take any train or bus. I remember Mom was telling me one day that Diana contacted her from a police station in New York and that was around a few days after her father passed away and then my Mom asked her then husband, I mean my Dad to help Diana move to Los Angeles. My Dad was an operations manager for a courier company back then. So, they had Diana hitch hiked to Los Angeles by moving her in one of his company’s truck.”

Adrian couldn’t help but be moved and feel completely awestruck after learning the method that Diana and her family used to help her move from New York to Los Angeles.

It was almost obvious that she moved in an extremely sneaky manner, concealing her migration and keeping it a high profile secret. But it also did work because Joy was not able to locate Diana even though she searched for an entire year and they just assumed that the girl had either been killed or simply gave in to the life of temptations and drugs and probably became a homeless nomad.

But Adrian only wondered what made Diana run away from New York in such a vague and obscure manner. She moved, keeping her migration a secret, as if she was in danger and protecting herself from someone. She migrated from New York, in such a deliberate manner, that she did not want to be found at all.

Was she running away from someone? Whom was she running away from?

“Hmm… I didn’t know that Diana was abused. So, how did she settle here in Los Angeles?” he asked, curious to know how she moved on from the past.

Polly on the other hand shrugged, all the while keeping her main focus on the pasta in front of her and spoke mindlessly. Adrian realized that he didn’t need to make much effort in front of the girl and simply extracted information without much dexterity or the use of diligent manner. The girl simply gave in, impressed and dissolved in the awe of getting to each at a luxurious restaurant.

“Well, as I said she was quite young. Mom always says one thing about Diana and that is that she was not much of a complainer. If anything, Mom felt quite helped by Diana’s presence and Diana made herself useful. She never liked that she had to be a burden on Mom and being used to having to take care of cooking and cleaning, like she already had to do all of that in New York as well. She made herself useful for Mom, helped her around in kitchen, while Mom worked at a salon and she also took care of me, along finishing her studies. She made Mom feel like she was dependent on Diana and that’s why even after Mom separated from Dad, she kept Diana to herself, even though Dad wanted to take Diana with her. he was very attached with her and treated Diana just like his own daughter. My Dad really hated the fact that she was abused so viciously…”

“How viciously?” Adrian asked, not being able to help himself but ask how badly was Diana abused in her past by her own father.

“Well… let’s just say, when she showed up, she was starved, malnourished and Mom says that she could even count her ribs by simply looking at her.”

Adrian chose to remain tacit, remembering that Diana was quite skinny when they were young but he only assumed that it was so because she was naturally skinny. He never thought about her condition the other way, that her body and her condition was a result of pure and malicious neglect.

“So… how did she change? I mean, she must’ve had a hard time adjusting?”

Polly shook her head, “As I said, she was just glad that she wasn’t getting hit by anyone.”

Somehow, it saddened Adrian’s heart that Diana had to survive and compromise on so much in her life, only because she didn’t know what a normal life was like and to her, not being hit alone was considered as a safe and normal choice.

“Did she ever go see a therapist?” Adrian inquired and Polly shook her head.

“Maybe she did when I was young but as far as I can remember, she never went to a therapist. Honestly, my Mother couldn’t afford one back then…”

And she wouldn’t dare to afford one now… even though she had money. She is just a scrooge.

Adrian noted mentally but continued listening to Polly.

“… but Diana also never created any issues with my Mother and she was a very reserved child. In fact, in school she even topped her class, was great at studies…”

“Wait!” Adrian stopped Polly in the middle of her sentence.

“Great at studies? That also Diana? She used to flunk ever subject and fail even in English.” He scoffed and Polly shook her head.

“That was because her step mother was also a wench. She never let Diana study and made her do all the chores and run errands for her all the time, that’s why Diana always failed in school because Venessa never let her study. And here, my Dad always encouraged Diana to study hard. He even wanted Diana to go to a proper college but Diana had social anxiety back then and her interest was more in arts and makeup, since she would help Mom around her salon and picked up a things or a few. So My mom and dad put her in beauty school…”

Somehow listening to Diana being helped by someone, made Adrian feel anxious and belittled.

He had all the power to flex in the world but he couldn’t help Diana live a peaceful life. She failed when he was right there and succeeded in studies only when she went away from him and his life. And to top it all, he remembered the way Diana used to buzz around him like a bee and do his chores. She would do his homework for him, while he got trained by Ross and even stood back and watched as Diana got pushed over and bullied at school, thinking that it was not his problem and if he was being completely honest to his own self, then he couldn’t deny the fact that each time someone hit Diana at school, he felt at peace and good because he believed that Diana was pesky towards him and wouldn’t take a hint and just leave him alone.

So, it only made Adrian question his moral compass. He hated the attention she gave him and at the same time, took advantage of that attention.

It somehow, made him like a completely unscrupulous and devious man.

But again, he was getting trained by Ross, someone how was a hypocrite. Who treated Adrian with care and hit his own, weak daughter at his house.

His moral compass, was to be a questionable once.

“Okay! So, tell me what does Diana like and what does she enjoys?”

Adrian immediately jumped up to the conclusion, wanting to know the ways that he could feel Diana better.

Somehow his heart felt heavy and he instantly knew that the way to make himself feel better would be if he saw Diana smiling at him or at least if he saw her being happy whole heartedly.

“Umm… honestly it is really hard to please Diana. She is not an easy person to please. That is also something that her ex boyfriend always complained about.”

“Ex boyfriend?” Adrian asked, alerted at the mention of the presence of another man in Diana’s life.

“Oh! Now this is something you definitely didn’t ought to know, right?” Polly once again bit her tongue, realizing that she may have spoken up a bit too much and Adrian disagreed with her, keeping his cool and remaining calm.

“No, it is fine! of course Diana ought to have a past of her own. She lived a life as well and it is normal to have a relationship.”

He stated, trying to act calm in front of Polly but deep down his heart was in turmoil for some reason and the thought of Diana having another man in her life made him feel uncomfortable.

He picked up the glass of water and began drinking on it.

Polly on the other hand couldn’t help but laugh at her host’s notion, “You don’t have to worry about a thing actually. It is funny because she didn’t do anything with her boyfriend. She made him wait, telling him that she wasn’t ready until one day she found him banging another girl. So, you are fine. My cousin is still a virgin.”

Just as Polly stated those words, water spit out of Adrian’s mouth, as the one in his mouth slipped down but he couldn’t engulf and began choking on it.

Polly felt worried and confused as large man right in front of her began choking.

“Oh My God! Are you alright?” she asked but Adrian held his hand out at her and brought his nerves down to calm. He took in a few breaths before he composed himself and recollected the words that Polly had informed him about.

“What did you just say?”

“I asked if you are alright?” Polly stated monotonously.

“No, before that.”

“That Diana is a virgin… why is that a problem for you?”

Adrian immediately held his fist around his mouth, hiding his smirk.

“So, that’s what she’s told you?” he asked and Polly nodded simply.

“Again… did I say something that I shouldn’t have…”

“No! you said just the right thing. It is not a problem for me but let’s just go back to what makes Diana happy…”

He immediately changed the topic, not wanting to discuss those things with a high schooler, or else he feared that the conversation would turn creepy.

“Umm… I think one thing Diana thoroughly enjoys is amusement parks.”

“Ahan…?”

Suddenly Adrian grabbed a dish and began filling up his plate, somehow, something that Polly told him increased his appetite and he seemed to be interested in finishing up his food.

Once he was done collecting information that was required – actually even Adrian didn’t know how badly and severely he required all that information that he had just acquired from Polly but once he was done, he took Polly back to the school and dropped her off.

He personally got out of the car and saw her off.

“It was really nice having lunch with you. I had a great time.” She told and Adrian smiled back, actually glad that Jared gave him the idea because it really helped him get his hand on much needed information.

“Well, it was a great pleasure honestly to have lunch with you.”

“Okay then, thank you for dropping me back and the lovely lunch.”

With that Polly turned to leave but stopped when Adrian called her off.

“Wait! Umm… can you do me a favor?” he requested and she nodded back.

“Can you keep our today’s little adventure, just to your own self? I just wanted to get to know more about Diana and I don’t want her think of me as a lousy person who didn’t even know her well and…”

Polly lifted her head and stopped Adrian from speaking any further.

“You don’t have to say a thing. Don’t worry, even if you wouldn’t have asked, I still would never tell anybody. I think it is actually kind of really cute that you are making all this effort for Diana. She is actually a very nice girl and for me to get to watch some guy put this much effort for her, makes me really happy. In fact, if you need help with anything at all. Just let me know, I would be more than glad to be of help to you.”

With that Polly waved her hands at him and sprinted back inside the school, catching up for her next class and Adrian hopped back and inside his car, snickering to himself, as he realized that Diana had indeed lied to the family or perhaps hidden a part of truth.

But nonetheless, he had collected all the information that he needed – actually more than he required.

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