CHAPTER 1

TORI' POV.

I was exhausted. I've been cleaning and serving for about 7 hours straight without a break. I needed a bonus so I could pay Clyde, my landlord. I needed to pay rent for two months since I skipped paying it last month. Then I had to pay the bills. I also needed money for groccery since i was running short. I also needed money for Dahlia's upkeep. I needed a lot of money and I know being a waitress could never pay well enough for all this. I had to find another job as soon as possible. For now, I just have to work extra hours so I could get a raise in my salary. Working at RICO'S was good. At least I was guaranteed of free breakfast and lunch. This helped me to save enough money. Thank goodness my baby Dahlia wasn't a materialistic child. She understood at a young age that things never came to lazy people. I was blessed with the sweetest child ever. A smile made its way to my lips as I thought of my baby who was fast asleep. She was the only family I had. She was my everything. All this hardwork was for her. I was determined to give her the best in life.

"Tori sweetheart, could you do me another favour?" I turned around and met Rico, the young owner of this restaurant. He was charming no doubt.

I smiled up at him. "Sure thing, sir."

He gave me an intense look. "I've told you one million times to call me Rico. What's up with this sir bullshit?"

Okay. Rico has been asking me out for some time now. He's a great guy but I'm totally not interested in dating. My number one interest is giving my daughter a good life. Rico told me to call him by his name but I know I can't since it'll raise a lot of suspicion on me by friends. My co-workers were the only friends I had since they were the only people I spent time with. I never had time to waste on frienship outside work.

"I'm not calling you by your name, sir. What can I do for you?" I asked. He needed to see my determination so that I could get a double raise.

He scoffed. "Fine. When you're done with cleaning this room, go to H&M and get the shoes I purchased. I already paid for it under my name." He said sounding professional.

"I sure will." I replied and watched him walk away. He was such a good boss. I felt bad that I had to look for a new job since the money I got from this one wasn't enough.

I hurriedly mopped and got ready to go. I walked over to the makeshift bed I made for Dahlia and tapped her lightly. "Sweetie."

She yawned and rubbed her big baby blue eyes, smiling at me. "Mommy is it time to leave already?" She asked in that sweet and innocent four year old voice.

I smiled down at her. "Nope,but we're going somewhere. When we come back, we can go home and I'll make you some mac 'n cheese."

This seemed to get her attention as she quickly stood up and hugged me. Oh, my sweet baby. "Thank you mommy."

Together, we walked down the street to H&M. Once I got there, filled in all the required information and got Rico's shoe. I noticed Dahlia looking at the ice cream shop across the street.

"Do you want some ice cream sweetie?" I asked her.

She shook her head sadly. "No mommy, we need the money to give Clyde."

My heart melted at her words. She understood our financial situation and was less demanding. I fake laughed. "Who said so? We don't owe Clyde a penny. Come on, let's get you some ice cream."

I got her her favourite flavour of ice cream. Vanilla. I never had enough money for two cones. We slowly walked back to RICO'S and he gave me $50 for running his errand. Rico never minded that I brought Dahlia to work. As a matter of fact, he loved her. I thanked him a lot then packed my stuff and headed home.

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I looked at Dahlia's sleeping form and refused to let the tears run down again. I wasn't going to leave her like he did to me. He hurt me so bad and it was even worse since Dahlia looked a lot like him. He was history. He was a closed case. Dahlia and I are fine without him or anyone and we'd always be fine. I curse the day I met him.