{Frank}

After I started the affair with Quinn I started plotting a way for me to get Victoria to accept my family so I can help her out. She needs a powerful ally in the business world and I'm the one who's going to give her that. I have no ill intentions for her and all I want is for her to live a better life. If that means helping her pay her medical bills and whatnot I'm willing to do it.

Although from what I've seen Victoria seems a bit too humble for her own good. She's making enough money to pay whatever bills she needs to pay and I'm sure there's plenty of money for her to upgrade her house and whatnot. She just doesn't want to upgrade her house for whatever the reason.

I thought of inviting her to dinner and she said she would go only if Jaxon and Jenny agreed to go as well. I'm going to assume it's for moral support because Delilah's going to be there.

That's exactly why I called Jaxon and Jenny and set up an appointment with them at my office to talk about it.

"So what's this about Mr. Randal?" Jaxon asked when he took a seat across from my desk.

"Well, I want to have Victoria come to dinner on Sunday evening and I want you and Jenny to come along with her," I said.

Jaxon smirked. "Let me guess, Victoria said she wasn't going to come unless Jenny and I came with you?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"I'm in, if Victoria needs me to be there for her I'm going," Jaxon said.

Jenny nodded in agreement. "Yup and I'm going too. I'm not letting Victoria be alone around Delilah."

Jaxon paused and looked at Jenny. "So you're calling her Delilah instead of Mom too?"

Jenny nodded again. "Oh yeah, I agree with Victoria. Delilah's lost her title of Mom after the way she treated Victoria. I mean she assaulted Victoria out in broad daylight! Why should I give that woman any type of respect at all?"

"Mom's not going to like that very much. But okay then," Jaxon said. He looked at me again. "As I said before I'm in. If Victoria needs me to be there for her I'm going to be there."

"Yeah and I'll get to eat some fancy free food!" Jenny said.

I smiled. "Okay then it's settled. You'll come to the Randal Mansion on Sunday at 7pm. I'll let Victoria know this as well."

"Oh another thing, um Victoria has a service dog now. She'll need him to come along with her," Jenny said.

"Oh that's right! What about her caretaker Walter?" Jaxon asked, "I think he should be allowed to come too."

"Yeah sure Walter can come along with Victoria's service dog, anything else?" I asked.

"Is there any type of dress code we need to be in?" Jenny asked.

I shook my head. "Nope as long as you're wearing clothes and it's not too skimpy then everything should be good."

Jenny gave me an evil smirk. "I know exactly what's going to piss Delilah off when it comes down to dress code."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Wearing pants to a sit down dinner instead of a skirt," Jenny chuckled. "Oh this is going to be good. I can just picture the sexist comments coming out of her mouth when she sees that."

Jaxon laughed, "Oh yeah, remember that time I wore a dress to prom because I didn't like the tux that Mom picked out for me?"

Jenny snorted. "I remember that alright! I still can't believe you did that."

"Yeah, that was actually kind of fun," Jaxon said. "When my friends found out why I did it they couldn't stop laughing."

"Oh but I remember the sexist comments coming out of her mouth when you did that. Where did I go wrong? I know I raised a boy to become a man and not a woman! Men aren't supposed to wear dresses! Jaxon, are you gay?" Jenny said.

I laughed, "Why does that not surprise me considering Delilah's homophobic? I would've loved to see the look on her face for that. My son, Maverick is gay. I can't believe I've been married to a woman for two years and it took me until to figure out how she feels about gay people and how she really feels about me."

Jenny groaned, "Great, she married you only for your money didn't she? That's such a Delilah move."

My jaw dropped. "How did you?"

"The only thing she talks about nowadays is money. Money to buy this, money to buy that," Jenny said. "I'm sorry about that if you'd come to us sooner we would have warned you about her. But you didn't so it is what it is. So the question is are you going to stay faithful knowing this?"

I didn't hesitate. "Nope, not anymore. What's the point? Because I'm pretty sure that once something better comes along she'll go that way and drop me like a hot potato."

"I see," Jenny said. "Well, good luck with your affair and I'll be at your house on Sunday evening at 7pm."

I nodded. "Yeah I'll send you a driver to come pick you up so just text me and let me know your address okay?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me!" Jenny said.

"The same thing goes for me!" Jaxon said.

After they left the office I gave Victoria a call. I rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I thought her voicemail was funny because it said, "Hello you've reached the voicemail of Victoria Lee, if I'm not answering the phone before noon then it's because I'm probably still asleep. If I'm not answering the phone in the afternoon and you need to get a hold of me please message me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

I chuckled at that. From what I heard Victoria tends to stay up late at night especially if she's working on a painting and gets up at noon. So I left a voicemail explaining to her that I had talked to Jenny and Jaxon and they agreed to come to the dinner and what time the dinner was. After that I messaged her and looked at the clock. It was only 11am.

I smiled and shook my head. This is going to be an interesting dinner for sure.

***

{Victoria}

It was Saturday evening and Jaxon and Jenny were sitting in the living room with me talking about the dinner that's going to happen on Sunday. Walter doesn't usually work on the weekends because he's with his family so I wasn't surprised when I told him about the dinner that he said he couldn't come. I told him that fine because Jaxon and Jenny would be with me along with Cody.

"So what do you plan on wearing to dinner tomorrow?" Jenny asked.

"Something with pants considering Delilah's going to be there just to piss her off!" I said.

Jaxon laughed, "That's the perfect way to get under her skin. Mr. Randal did say as long as the clothes weren't too skimpy anything goes."

"Well that means going to the dinner in your birthday suit is out," I said.

Jenny and Jaxon burst into laughter at that. I frowned. "What's so funny?"

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Dude, your sense of humor is funny!" Jaxon said.

I blinked. "Huh?"

Jenny snorted. "Seriously? Of course going to the dinner in your birthday suit is out because yeah that would for sure be too skimpy!"

I don't know why it took me a moment to process what Jenny said but it did and when I got it I laughed.

Jenny smiled. "It's good to see you laugh like that. How's your nightmares? Did you have any last night?"

I hesitated because my nightmares have been nothing short of intense lately and I don't know how to get rid of them. Jenny frowned. "That's what I thought. Maybe facing those dreams would be the first step to getting past what happened with Wyatt?"

I sighed, "I don't know. But what I do know is that dinner tomorrow is going to be interesting."

Jenny and Jaxon nodded in agreement.

***

The Sunday evening dinner came around and I was a nervous wreck. Mostly because I knew Delilah was going to be there. I wouldn't have gone to the dinner if Jaxon and Jenny hadn't come along with me.

When the driver pulled up into the driveway it didn't surprise me that Frank lived in a mansion. I knew the place was going to be big but instead of being in awe of the place I was wary of it. Wyatt lived in a place similar to this before I escaped from him.

Jenny grabbed my hand as we walked up to the door and the butler greeted us. She gave me a small squeeze and even Cody seemed to notice I was on edge because he stayed right by my side in a protective stance.

Then the most unwelcome sight greeted us as we followed the butler to the living room.

"Well hello everyone!" Delilah said and she came out of the living room to greet us. She gave Jaxon a hug and he halfheartedly hugged her back just to be polite. She smiled at Jaxon. "It's so good to see you again Jaxon!" She turned her attention to Jenny and hugged her and then when turned her attention to me, she tried to be friendly and hug me but I stepped back and refused.

"No thanks, I'm good," I said.

Delilah frowned. "Well this is my house, at least be polite. I thought I taught you better manners than that. Show some respect!"

"Show some respect?" I repeated. "Like the type of respect that you show me out in public?" At that moment I started shaking with anger and Cody stepped in front of me growling at Delilah.

Delilah growled, "And tell your mutt to calm down."

I shook my head. "Nope and be glad that he's only growling at you and not doing something else. He's doing his job. Fuck you Delilah!"

Jenny and Jaxon gasped at my boldness to call Delilah, Delilah instead of Mom right to her face.

Delilah gasped, "Excuse me? I am your mother and I deserve to be treated as such!"

"No you fucking don't!" I snapped. "What kind of mother goes and assaults their child out in public? You lost that title a long time ago. woman!"

If I was outside I would've spat on the ground just to show how disgusted I was with her. But I didn't because I was trying to regain my composure.

"That's enough Delilah!" I heard Frank say. I turned and saw him glaring at Delilah.

Delilah looked at him. "Why are you glaring at me? Victory is the one with no manners here! You should be scolding her!"

Frank snarled, "Don't tell me what to do in my house! Now Delilah if you can't be civil with your own children then maybe you shouldn't be allowed to eat with the family tonight?"

Delilah cleared her throat and regained her composure. "Alright then, fine." She turned her attention to me once again. "Victory? Can you please tell your service dog to calm down? I'm not a threat okay? I was just trying to be polite."

I shook my head again. "Nope. He'll calm down when you get out of my face."

Frank gave Delilah a pointed look and said, "Delilah go sit down on the couch I'm sure dinner will be ready shortly."

"But-" Delilah started.

He cut her off, "Go. Sit down and be civil or you're going to regret it. Understand?"

Delilah nodded and did as she was told.

Jaxon chuckled. "Well at least someone finally put her on a leash."

Jenny nodded. "It's about time too! I'm surprised she hasn't said anything about our outfits yet. They're not what the stereotypical woman should wear but they are modest!"

Jaxon snickered. "Yeah she's lucky I didn't wear a skirt to dinner instead of pants and embarrass her just to be spiteful! Oh well, maybe next time?"

I knew Jaxon wouldn't do something like that but it did make me laugh and Cody had calmed down but he still sat by my side in a protective stance.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late, John had to make a quick stop at his sister's house on the way here," I heard someone say.

"Ah, Maverick! It's good to see you!" Frank said. He went up to a man that looked like a younger version of him and hugged him.

Maverick had another man standing beside him who was white and light brown hair and green eyes. They were both wearing similar outfits that consisted of black suits with white shirts underneath the suit jacket and black dress shoes to complete the outfit. I'm going this guy's name was John and John was Maverick's boyfriend because they were holding hands and standing close to each other as if they were a couple.

Frank turned his attention to John and gave him a hug as well. He seemed sincerely happy to see them. Frank leaned in and whispered something into Maverick's ear. He smiled and laughed as he pulled John into his arms and kissed him and he made sure Delilah saw it when he did it.

I chuckled when I saw Delilah glaring at Maverick after he kissed John. Jaxon and Jenny were snickering at Delilah and she saw them and glared at them as well.

"Maverick," Frank said. "I'd like for you to meet Jenny Tyler, Jaxon Lee and Victoria Lee. These are the people that I want to be a part of this family."

He pointed at us as he introduced us and Maverick smiled and said hi. John followed suit and said hi.

Shortly after that a maid came in and said, "Dinner is ready!"

We followed the maid into the dining room and I took a seat next to Jaxon and Cody laid down on the floor next to me.

"Well I see that your service dog is well trained," Maverick said.

I nodded. "Yeah I trained him so he sits down while I'm at the table eating because I don't want him to get into the habit of begging for food."

"That's good," Maverick said.

He was getting ready to say something when Delilah said, "I don't think dogs should be allowed inside the dining room considering it's not sanitary."

John's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Wow you're heartless Mrs. Randal! My sister has a service dog and the dog is to help her and others around her to detect if she's getting ready to have seizures. She needs her dog at the table with her just like Ms. Lee needs hers!"

Delilah opened her mouth to say something but then shut it when Frank glared at her. "You just can't help yourself when it comes down to Victoria can you? Tsk. Sad that a mother hates her child so much that she's not willing to give her child the proper medical care that she needs. But yet she has no problem using her debit card to buy that $26,000 dress that you're wearing to this dinner today. What did you say to me just a couple weeks ago about Victoria?"

He gave a dramatic pause and said, "Oh yeah that's right! You're happy you destroyed Victoria's life while you live your life to the fullest! Oh and I forgot, you're homophobic as well. Isn't that why you assaulted Victoria at the art exhibit? Because she's Bi?"

Maverick and John gasped. Delilah glared at them and then glared at Frank. Since the dinner consisted of steak and sausage, with a small salad on the side for whatever the reason out of nowhere a piece of sausage went flying over the table and landed on Delilah's dress effectively ruining it. Whoever launched it made sure to add a lot of sauce to the sausage because that was rather messy.

I looked at Jaxon because the piece of sausage came flying from his direction. I snickered when that happened. Frank was trying so hard to keep a straight face.

Delilah shrieked, "What the hell?"

"Oops! Sorry I guess the universe is against me eating sausage today," Jaxon said. "What can I say? It just flew off my fork, my bad!"

"You little prick! You better be grateful you're the favorite child because you ruined a $26,000 dress!" Delilah snarled.

Jaxon gave her a pointed look. "Good. You deserve to have that dress ruined the way you ruined my sister's life! I think $26,000 is nothing compared to what you did to Victoria!"

"Why you little-" Delilah got up and walked towards Jaxon but Frank stopped her before she got near him.

"Delilah, you must be proud to be the most hated woman in this family! If you lay your hands on him, you'll be sorry!" Frank roared.

"But Frank! I'm your wife, you should be defending me!" Delilah whined.

"Again, don't tell me what to do in my own house!" Frank snapped. "Return to your seat now!"

"Can I at least go and change my dress?" Delilah asked.

Frank shook his head. "Nope. Return to your seat. Do it now, because if I have to repeat myself…"

Delilah pouted, "Fine."

She did as she was told and the rest of the dinner was eaten in silence.

I noticed that after dinner Frank pulled the same maid that announced dinner was ready off to the side and said something to her and she didn't look too happy about it. But I did manage to hear Frank say, "Don't worry we'll do it another time just not tonight."

Once Frank said that the maid smiled and nodded. I don't why it made me wonder if Frank had something going on with that maid. That would make sense that Frank would be dissatisfied with his marriage now. I'm surprised that he was actually satisfied before with Delilah.

Now that I think about it in her marriage to Howard I overheard them talking about how after two years of marriage they stopped having sex for whatever the reason. That was right before Howard beat me half to death. That also made me wary. Although I did console myself by telling myself that Frank's fucking the maid so he'll never look at me that way, right?

From what I know of, Frank and Delilah have been married for almost two years now. I shook my head, scolding myself for overthinking things.

After that thought Frank called Jaxon, Jenny, Maverick, John and I into his office. Little did I know that Frank had in mind for Jaxon, Jenny and I would change our lives forever.