Riccardo POV:"Cassie... Cassie, wake up..." I shook her shoulders lightly to wake her up when Dome stopped the car right in front of my mansion. It was almost eight o'clock by now. Perfect timing for dinner and I knew everyone must have been inside the ballroom on the first floor, waiting for our arrival.Cassie slowly opened her eyes and scanned the surroundings. She instantly realized where we were right now and started looking at her lap silently to recollect herself. After a while, she finally wanted to come out of the car. I led her inside and she looked so confused to see no one was around."Where is everybody?" She asked.Her step slowly wanted to go towards the staircase, probably having the thought to just crash in the bedroom. But once again, I held her hand and just led her to the ballroom."What are you doing?" She looked somewhat uneasy and her eyes just looked scared."It's fine. Everyone is waiting for you," I said gently and just assured her by rubbing her back a bit.
Cassandra POV: "What's wrong? Did you find Carina already?" I asked Ricky but he was just silent. "Why are you out here? You should be partying with the rest and eating something right now," he avoided answering my questions. "You haven't eaten anything for dinner yet. Maybe you should go in there and join the rest," I replied, a bit considerate about his well-being. I knew he was hiding something from me. Sergio didn't just be going to come here at night for nothing. Usually, when that lawyer came, he would bring serious news with him that needed Ricky's attention. So, I wondered if it was about Carina just now. "Why did Sergio come?" I asked more when he still said nothing. If Sergio came because of the party, he would have joined us just now. But he didn't so I knew he came for another reason. "We'll talk about it later," again Ricky avoided giving me a clear answer. He just escorted me back to the ballroom and this time he joined us too. But he didn't go all out partying and
Cassandra POV: "Ricky, you're... someone else's husband..." I reminded him of the fact that he was still legally married to Carina. "No no no..." He started chuckling a bit and stood up, walked to his desk, pulled out the drawer under it and took out a piece of paper. He brought it to me and let me read the content. Then he just knelt again. It was a divorce certificate between him and Carina that had been approved by the court and was stated to start being effective yesterday. This man in front of me right now was finally a single man again. It was really strange to realize that. I really thought he might have to stay in a marriage with Carina until she is found. This was too soon and I just didn't expect the divorce to be settled that fast. Not that I'm not happy with it, but still, I was just too perplexed to process this new information. Was that mean we're finally able to become a couple officially again? "Sergio just now... he came for this?" I asked passively. "Yes..." he
Cassandra POV:After breakfast, Ricky headed to the company. He was not supposed to work today as it was Sunday. But he hadn't been at the company for so long, so he tried to return as soon as he could. There were just a lot of matters being delayed since he was not around for two months.I pondered over his suggestion in the living room alone after he left. Get a hobby, he said. What hobby? I had been trying hard to manage my life before into a perfect routine of a career-oriented woman who had a nine-to-five job and went home to rest. Everything was in order and it was a perfect life for me before he decided to fire me from my job as his secretary. Now I was just bored. Previously, I was still allowed to go out and went shopping at the malls. Now, I couldn't even do that anymore.Two hours before noon and I noticed the sun outside wasn't shining that bright. I went to the backyard garden as how Ricky suggested with the intention of just enjoying the beautiful scenery. But then I saw
Cassandra POV:Minutes later, Ernesto showed up to help me with the paintings. Verona was there too, holding a tray of drinks in her hands. She placed it on the ballroom floor near me and started pouring a glass of water. She then just offered me the drink.I took it immediately and drank it in one go. I really felt like these people were really considerate of my well-being. Slowly, this mansion that I hated to come back to before gradually felt more like home right now."I have a question to ask your guys," I said as a thought just crossed my mind. Ernesto and Verona immediately gazed up to focus on me."Do you guys think I should marry your boss?"Instantly their eyes lit up and their faces showed intense joy. Verona caught both my hands quickly and started asking when did Ricky propose. Meanwhile, Ernesto just started to have that teary eyes as if he was really glad such an occasion finally happening. That just made me blush unthinkingly. I didn't expect them to be that happy with
Riccardo POV: The following Monday, I brought three of Cassie's paintings to the company, those that I had chosen the other night. She was reluctant to let me do it at first as she didn't feel confident to show them in public. I just didn't understand why she refused to believe my judgement when I said her paintings were good. They were the kind of sellable paintings in my thoughts and I could feel that if she kept doing a good job in this hobby, she could turn it into a business. A very convenient business since she only needed to do it at home. I knew how ambitious Cassie was. So, when I saw how she had a hidden talent in art painting, it just hit me that I should support her further in this activity. I wanted to help her raise again in a new career. That was why I took her paintings and placed them at the company. Who knew some of my clients might catch eyes on them and maybe start asking where I got them. If I could see potential clients for Cassie, I won't hesitate to invest in
Cassandra POV: If only it could work that easily. If only it would be as simple as Ricky said it would be. But I knew starting a new business especially one that you just learned wasn't going to be easy. I didn't think he would understand that since he already had millions of dollars in his pocket. Ricky had no fear at all about losing money over investing because he had more than enough for himself, maybe even for his next seven generations. It was different for me. I didn't have that much money, to begin with. It cost a lot to start my painting business and I rather did it alone than depend on Ricky's help. Besides, I also didn't have much confidence that this one idea might work. Maybe he was just joking about helping me start the business. He couldn't possibly be serious about it. He probably just trying to support me in dealing with my trauma. That would be more logical to my thought. I was not really aiming big with my painting hobby. They were just some activities that I did
Cassandra POV:I woke up the next morning quite late. Maybe because for the past few days, I had been so focused on doing my paintings, I didn't realize my body was getting really tired.Ricky had gone to the company when I came down for breakfast. I didn't know why he didn't just wake me up like he usually did. But maybe he too noticed my tiredness.As I ate my toast, my phone beeped and a message notification popped up on the screen. It was from Sergio and he informed me how my company had been registered legally this morning. Then half an hour later, I got another message from Ricky saying that my business bank account had been made and activated. Well, these two men sure worked hard to make this painting business happen. They seemed so eager to do it and I didn't know why with the rush.After breakfast, I went to the living room, bringing my laptop with me. I just opened it and let my business website appear on the screen. I started uploading more pictures in the painting showcase