ADAN POV
I and Ava clean up Grace's wounds. I give her a month off assuring her her pay is still intact so is her bonus. The young lady couldn't stop blushing and Ava was sad that the red blush didn't want to go away. She thought it was a permanent bruise. It was cute to watch.
“Daddy I'm hungry”, Ava says as she picks up another color to paint on the picture. We were in her playroom at the moment.
“Okay I'll tell chef Daisy to whip something up for you”.
“You. You cook”
“You want me to cook darling?”
“Yes,” Ava clarified.
We head to the kitchen. I instructed the head chef and chef Daisy to chase everyone out of the kitchen. Only 3 servers should be inside with me and the head Chefs. I'll be cooking everyone's meals tonight.
I prep on the ingredients needed for a spicy Chinese pasta. It is Ava's favorite and some chicken-salmon soup. But first I grilled two buns to make a cheesy burger for her while she waited for her meal.
“I'm sorry daddy. I don't mean trouble tonight”.
I sigh rounding round to kiss her forehead, “stop apologizing baby. It's not your fault. It's okay”
“I just wanted to trade his fairy for some money”.
“Huh”
“He had this golden fairy hanging down his hand. He is a very beautiful daddy. I wanted it. I remember you gave me cash to buy anything. That is why I sneak into the food trolley so that I can get to him faster. I offered him all my cash but he laughed at me. I offered him my earrings too but he called me a thief”.
For Ava to give up that means the golden fairy is worth it. “Don't ever give up your earrings mi casa. Those are Nana's gift to you”.
“I'm sorry daddy. I just wanted it.
It's okay love”.
“Boss” Marcello is waiting for you out back”, Angelo says, giving Ava a fist bump.
“I'll be back darling. Here, have a burger and listen to Angie”.
I walk out back to see Marcello dispersing my men.
“Look man Marcello…. I didn't mean for things to escalate like this. I have taken care of Contallzo, especially Diego. I'm so sorry that Ava is caught in this mess”.
“It's good”, I reply
“You sure? Marcello looked at me skeptically.
“Yeah. She's calm now”.
“Thank God!”
“Yeah, so let's hug it out”.
“Umm…okay sure”.
I ball my fist hitting Marcello repeatedly as he closes in for a hug.
“You don't fuck with my little girl and expect it to slide. Family or foe. Not even me”.
I punched his face repeatedly till I was happy with the red color on his face.
“You are lucky he didn't lay his paws on my baby. I was already prepping the ingredients for you dick.
This should never happen again. There is a gold fairy dangling down the wrist of Diego. I don't care how you get it but I want it wrapped in a nice pink box by tomorrow morning. I conclude, giving a hit to his dick.
“Yes Boss”
I open the three top buttons on my shirt as I walk back into the kitchen. Took three deep breaths to reel in my anger. Ava knows when I livid. I don't want to worry her any further. She's been through a lot today for her small age.
“Yay!! Daddy's back”
I smile at her cute little face.
“What's that on your hand daddy?”
I look at Marcello's blood stain on my hand.
“It's raspberry sauce” I say
“I want to. Pretty please”
“Anything for you mi casa”.
Anything for you.
MILLIE’S POVLife kicks you in the teeth, then it has you laughing while you're bleeding from your gums. Yeah, well, that's where I'm at, right to the edge of the world, clinging with what little I got left, smiling all the while for Jay, my boy, my heart. The courts are breathing down my neck, all set to snatch him away from me, but I damn sure am not gonna let them see me break. Not in front of him.Jay has got all his Legos all over the floor, building something—a spaceship or a castle or something. I don't know.I just sit there watching him, so focused, with his little tongue poking out the corner of his mouth like he is the king of the world.To me, he is my king, my baby boy, the only good thing in this rotten, godforsaken mess."Mommy, see! I made a dragon!" Jay's eyes shine, and for a moment, everything—all the crap swirling around us—just goes away. I forget the lawyers, the social workers, the stone-cold-eyed judge who thinks he knows better than me what my son needs.I
MILLIE'S POVI was woken up by the loud alarm I sent on my phone. The clock on my phone seemed to blink at me as if it knew how late I was running with each stride out of my shoebox apartment. Already five minutes behind schedule, my anxiety made it feel like lead in my feet.Fingers fumbled with keys while I locked the house,"Fuck! "I swore under my breath at that cab screeching into position.I quickly got in and settled in the backseat."Where to?" he asked, eyeing me in his rearview mirror."Just get me to the restaurant,” I said, tossing a few crumpled bills onto the seat. It wasn't nearly enough, but I had no choice. "And step on it. I'm already late."He nodded, and the cab lurched forward down into the morning traffic, honking here and there.I was a mass of anxiety inside my head. Cassie would kill me if I was late, not to mention I had to collect her damn coffee.Ah, well, the coffee definitely ranked last in my thoughts right then.The cab finally pulled up outside the r
MILLIE'S POVI sat perched on the edge of my bumpy bed and stared at the wall like all the answers were on it.Again late, but I really didn't care. My mind strayed to Jay, as my mind has for days now—to my baby boy, sweet little guy who did not have any idea his whole world was about to turn upside down.I wouldn't lose him—but, damn, it felt like everything was stacked against me.I gripped the thin blanket, causing my knuckles to turn white as I tried to calm my racing heart. I had to figure this out. I had to.They can't take my baby away from me.Fuck why is life so unfair…The lawyer's papers, on the bed beside me, reminded me of what all this had to do with.It was the kind of sick joke where everyone else laughed and you stood there unable to do anything.
I visited one of my companies, a modeling agency. By then, I was already boiling with anger because all their models were too skinny and very ugly. I needed bitches with big fluffy asses, sexy-looking bitches not broomsticks. Something clients would see and want to smash. That's how the brand sells and how I attract my top-class clients.My eyes skimmed across the office space: bright walls, polished floors, and beautifully designed interiors.Yes, this was perfect, beauty was my second name.Indirectly inviting clients or impressing them-a totally different story compared to the contents of my head. Here, there was a grave issue, and there wasn't anything that was going to make me sugarcoat it.The faces of employees whom I passed in the hallways turned toward me with smiling eyes, they have no idea how pisses I am at their stupid faces.Their faces changed when I returned their smiles with a scowl.They all knew what was about to happen. They'd seen it before. And to be honest, I
ADANMaybe she stood out so much amidst all that beautiful, polished, glittery world of the modeling agency.Maybe it was just the way she seemed so original—so beautiful in her awkwardness.I shook my head to get her off my mind and then headed for home. ****The ride home to my penthouse apartment was silent, save for the purring of the engine and maybe an occasional honking from the impatient.I still fumed at the chaos that had erupted back at the office. Frustration simmered, not too far from the surface.Lights of the city whizzed by as I gripped tighter on the steering wheel to try and push my anger away.Work was one thing,
ADANI drummed my fingers across the cool surface of my mahogany desk as my mind circled time and again to the fiery redhead who had stormed into the ops room earlier.There was something about Millie that I just couldn't seem to shake.It wasn't just her looks—those certainly didn't lack, either. No, there was something in her that nailed me with pure, wild energy. She was unplugged, not wired to impress people. It alone set her apart from the people bathed in an aura of perfection.I needed new faces, models who could really catch the eye of my elite clients. I'd got too thin, generic girls, nothing that screamed luxury, nothing which would make any to sit up and take notice.But Millie? She was exactly what I needed.That 'it' factor, indefinable and unable to be trained or bought, sat there in her. I could already picture her doing some of those more out-of-there shoots in my head; these were precisely the types that would set my agency worlds ahead of the competition.First, t
MILLIE'S POVIt was supposed to be a chill day today—a very seldom, much-needed day off where I had nothing planned.Not running errands, no shifts—none of that crap dealing with stupid people asking stupid questions. Just me, myself, and Netflix.I was halfway through some cheesy rom-com I'd seen a hundred times, legs crossed with my feet propped up on my coffee table, bowl of popcorn in my lap. Life was good.That is, until my phone buzzed on the couch beside me. I groaned, half tempted to ignore it, but the screen flickered to life with Dean's name, and my stomach did this weird little flip.What the hell does Dean want on my day off?Sighing, I snatched up my phone and swiped to answer."Yeah?"Millie, it's Dean. Listen, I know it's your day off, but Mr. Serrano is asking for you at the
MILLIEThere will be days when you feel as though you're reaching rock bottom, and then there is a day like you find out this is just the beginning of that long descent into madness. Today was that day.I laid sprawled on my couch, eating a bowl of cereal like some crazed woman who hadn't seen food in weeks. The TV was going on about something stupid, some reality show garbage, and I was about two seconds from passing out when my phone rang. Dean. Of all people. On my day off.It crossed my mind very briefly to fling the phone out of the window; but then there was Cassie. If Cassie's assistant, Dean, was calling me then that could only spell trouble. I reached for the pause button on the TV and groaned as I picked up the phone."Mr. Adan wants to see you, now," he rasped over the line, his usual monotone laced with something I'd never heard from him before—panic."And who the bloody hell is Mr. Adan?" I asked, my head still reeling from shock for being dragged to work on my holy day