Cassie’s POV “Here you go.” I grinned as I handed Mrs Price her credit card. She just made a purchase of three of my paintings, rather expensive ones. I couldn’t be more happy. “What a lovely start to the day.” Kelly said as she looked at the receipt. “I know right?” I beamed, “The business is slowly picking up, Kelly. I feel like this was not a wrong move now.” “Well, you ought to give it some time before you see anything fruitful.” “I know, but I wonder if it is going to be sustainable in the long run.” I said, “You see, things were different when I started the studio.” “Yes, you did not have a baby waiting to come out.” She said, “Speaking of which, how’s the morning sickness?” “It’s awful. I can’t keep anything in, Kelly. Thankfully, the doctor gave me some medication for it, and it did get better after taking that.” “Oh, yes. You went for a check up last week, right? How did it go?” I shrugged, “Enzo was being Enzo. He still hates me for everything.” “Oh, come on. Don’
After a long day at work, I was just drifting into sleep when I heard someone thumping on the door. I got up at once in surprise, wondering what it could be. When I glanced at the clock, it read eleven. Who was at the door at this ungodly hour? Pushing the duvet off, I got out of the bed and walked to the door. “Who is it?” “It’s me, Cassie.” Enzo's voice came. “I need to talk to you. Open the door.” Widening my eyes, I unbolted the door. Despite the darkness, I could feel his piercing gaze on me. He didn’t wait for my invitation before he walked in. Closing the door behind us, I turned on the light. “What’s the matter?” I asked, “Why are you here, Enzo?” He turned around to hold up a paper in his hand, “What the fuck is this Cassie?” I frowned in confusion, but as I caught a glimpse of it, I realized what it was. It was the legal document my lawyer sent to him. “It’s to protect our rights.” “Protect our rights?” He spat out, “From who? Who is walking out there in the stree
“You won’t get it,” Enzo said, disappointed all over again. I wanted to say something. Anything. To reassure him that I understood him. That I’m open to his love. But I couldn’t. Something held me back. Maybe it was my own shame, or the fact that it might be too late. His shoulder slumped in defeat. Glancing at the watch, he said, “I better get going.” “Wait.” I said, desperate to make him stop. It didn’t feel right to let him go. Not like this. I needed an excuse to make him stick around for longer. “It’s raining outside.” I said, looking at the window. “There was a storm warning earlier. I think you should wait.” He sighed, “I’m exhausted, Cassie. I haven’t had dinner either. I-” “I’ll cook for you.” I said, “Or if you can’t wait, I have leftovers. I can heat that up for you.” He considered it for a moment. Perhaps the gods were on my side today, that Enzo begrudgingly agreed. I could tell that he was still irritated with me, but it was fine. I knew his anger wouldn’t last v
I let out a shaky breath, wondering how I got myself in this situation. Enzo was just coming around, and revealing the truth to him will anger him further. Plus, he was drunk. “Why don’t we go to bed, already? We can talk tomorrow.” I said, and walked to the switchboard to kill the lights, but Enzo caught my hand. He pulled me back to stand before him, fixing me with a stern look on his face, “You’re trying to escape the conversation. You’re hiding something from me.” “I’m not hiding anything.” “And now you’re lying.” He said, getting up. “I knew that there was more to the story than what you were letting on, Cassie. It wasn't like you to randomly leave me like that. Tell me, what was the real reason?”“I told you what the reason was. That is all there is to it.” “I don’t buy it.” He said, “I can see it in your eyes that you didn’t mean it. I can see the regret in your eyes. You’re not proud of how you handled things. Why would you regret things if you truly wanted to do it in t
I never truly gauged the depth of his emotion. I knew he was an intense person, and whatever he felt, he felt deeply. It was evident in his acts of service. But there, seeing him so weak and fragile made me realize that there was so much to him that I was unaware of. “Fucking hell, Cassie.” He said, letting out a grunt. “I could not forgive myself for it till this day.” I said, “But what could I have done? I had no choice.” “You should have come to me.” He said, “You should have told me. I could have helped you. Heck, I could have hunted your father down and put him in front of you.” I shrugged, “I don’t know, Enzo. I guess I was scared for him and didn't want to take any risk. I was desperate to meet him, and they took advantage of that.” “No shit.” He said, “I’m not going to spare her.” “No, please.” I said, putting my arms around his shoulder. Turning him to face me, I said, “I've had enough with her. I don’t want her anywhere in our lives now.” “She won’t come as far as a
A phone call woke me up the next morning. It was eight in the morning, and the person calling me was my professor, Michael Clark. “Switch it off.” Enzo said, pulling my body deeper into his embrace. His voice was thick with unfinished sleep. Sighing, I gently pulled his hand away. “Sorry.” I quickly mumbled before I hurried into the kitchen to take the call. “Mr. Clark. Good morning.” I said. “Good Morning, Cassandra. I hope I haven’t caught you at the wrong time.” “Not at all.” “Right, then I’ll cut to the chase.” He said, “I called you to ask if you’d be interested in working for me?” I frowned, “I’m sorry?” “I heard you’ve resigned from De Luca’s firm. If you are looking for an exciting job, we have an opening for you. If you’re interested, I’ll email you all the details.” “I…” Wow. “Mr. Clark, I’m not sure if… I didn’t really think about-” “It’s alright. I don't need an answer right away. Think it over, I’ll send you an email in the meantime. Just, write back to me in a
A week later, I was standing in front of Clark and Mason Corporation. Despite Enzo’s reluctance to let me work, I signed with them earlier this week. I would be one of their programmers, and if all went well, Professor Clark said there would be bigger roles for me to fulfil. “All the best.” he mumbled as he lowered the window of his carLeaning in, I planted a kiss on his mouth. “Thank you.” “I’ll pick you up in the evening.” he said, “or worst case, I’ll send my driver.” “Okay.” With that said, I walked into the building. It didn’t take me long to find their office, where Melissa, one of my teammates, took me inside. “Hello, Cassandra. I’m so glad to finally see you.” She said, “You can imagine how difficult it was for us after our programmer resigned last month. The entire team has been eagerly waiting for you to join us.” “I can’t wait to meet them either.” I said, “Although, we’re supposed to meet our client today. Isn’t it?” “Yes. He’s already waiting for us.” She said,
I rolled my eyes, “Don’t try to deny it, Calvin. I know you’re having a baby with Becky. And you know what? Go ahead. I don’t care. We’re divorced, and let’s not forget that.” He was enraged with my words, “Shut up, Cassie. I’m not having a baby with Becky.” Oh, my God. This man. He was insufferable. How could he lie to me about it after everything? “Yeah, well, then, someone else is. Because I saw her at the hospital the other day when she came for her checkup.” Calvin widened his eyes, sinking back into his chair as though realization just struck him. He grabbed the water bottle and chugged it, his hands shaking. What was happening? Did he really not know that she was pregnant? “Who was she with?” He asked. “Alone.” I said, “Did you not know?” He shook his head and abruptly got up. “I need to go.” “Wait, what about our meeting?” I asked, but he didn’t stop. He stormed out of the room. “Bloody hell.” I muttered to myself. “What was that about?” I instantly dialled Enzo’s nu
She started crying. No, she started screaming in pain. “Oh fuck,” I said, “Emmy, are you OK?”Since her only response was more crying, I realized I fucked up. There you goI was not safe. I just hurt my daughter while I tried to bring her out of the crib. What the fuck was I supposed to do now?My first instinct was to call Cassie and that’s what I did but to my dismay, she did not pick up the call. “Fuck this,” I said, “Pick up the damn phone, Cassie. But she wouldn’t. It just just kept going to voicemail. I called Sarah and Mark, but they would not talk to me either.Helpless, I stared at my wailing baby. I realized that I had only one option left. ****The ER was not a pretty place to be in, especially if you are a parent, but I still found myself in it. I waited outside the room as the Pediatrician was seeing Emmy. She allowed me to stay inside with her, but I chickened out. I couldn’t see Emmy in pain, knowing very well that I had caused it to her. After what felt like hour
Enzo’s POV Cassie was going to be the death of me.I knew that this was her scheme. She purposefully made sure that I would stay home by trapping me with Emmy‘s responsibility. I did not mind taking care of my daughter. I loved her. It’s just that I no longer trusted myself around her. I barely recognized myself and my daughter shouldn’t have to be in the hands of a person like me.I was not proud of it, but I knew that I had no idea how to handle her. For the past few days, I’ve made zero contribution towards taking care of her. It was all Sara and Cassie who were doing it. Hence, I could not be trusted with her. Why couldn’t Cassie understand that?After hours of negotiating with her, Cassie even stopped replying to my texts. Sarah and Mark were also unreachable and it finally dawned on me that today, I had to be taking care of my daughter. All alone.Right now, Emmy was asleep, but I knew that the moment she would get up, she would start crying. She needed a familiar figure to so
That night when I came home, another disappointment was awaiting me.Enzo was nowhere to be seen, yet again.“I found a lead and I told Enzo about it.” Mark said, “But he simply didn’t care. He said he had something to do outside and he just left.”I frowned, looking at Sara, but she just raised her hands up in defense. Before she could explain herself, Mark came to her rescue. “No, Sara tried really hard to stop him and I did too, but he simply wouldn’t listen. It was either that or physically block him but none of us had the courage. Sorry, Cassie. We couldn’t do anything.”I shook my head, closing my eyes. I should’ve known this. Why did I think he would change so soon? Of course, he was gone drinking again. What do I do with this man?“It’s fine, Mark. I know it’s not your fault. And Sara, how is Emmy doing?”“She’s fine, just fast asleep. And I made dinner.”I sighed in relief, “Thank you so much. Do you guys wanna join me?”“No, we already ate.”“All right, I’ll see you guys lat
I pushed him off of my body at once. “How dare you?” I demanded, fixing him with an angry glare. “I met him today.” He said, “He came to meet me at the bar. He even bought me a whiskey, since you know, he thought I can’t afford it. Generous guy.” He laughed. “Anyway, he told me about your little meeting today. And what you told him.” “What I told him?” I said. “I didn’t say anything.” “Which was precisely his point.” He said, “Said you were reconsidering things in the wake of everything.” “I can’t believe you bought that shit.” I said, “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” He shrugged, “I didn’t think you’d be honest with me.”“When did I ever lie to you?” I said, “Did you really think I would leave you for a scum like him?” “Well, the way he said it…”“He’s Calvin. He’ll say anything to get to you.” I said, “He’s the same man who abducted me. The same man that put me in jail. And you decide to believe his word over mine just because you want to feel pain? You want ever
That night when I went home, things couldn’t have gotten worse.Enzo was missing yet again, and I was afraid that it was slowly becoming a habit of his. I couldn’t understand what it was about him disappearing without letting any of us know. I knew he was having a tough time but this was unreasonable. He was punishing us with his recklessness and that did not deserve my kindness. I was patient with him till now. But not anymore. Sara had already gone to sleep while Emmy refused to retire to bed early. Since I needed that distraction, I played with her for a while before her eyes drooped. She fell asleep as I fed her, and I took her back into her room to place her in her crib. When I returned, I could hear the knob of the door twist. I glanced at the time. It was way past midnight. As soon as Enzo walked in, I could tell that he had been drinking yet again. He was reeking of whiskey from a mile away. “Where were you?” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips. “At the bar. Can’t yo
I realized a few days later that the only silver lining amidst this chaos was my work. I was thriving at the professional front. Despite what was happening at home, I managed to bag a couple of very good projects, and my team was extremely impressed. I had just finished a meeting at one such client's office and was heading back to my own when I spotted a hotdog stand by the sidewalk. It was way past my lunch time, so I decided to take some much needed break while I sat outside. Right then, Sara called me on facetime. Taking it, I was amused to find Emmy’s face hovering over it. “Oh, Emmy.” I cooed, “You silly girl, what are you doing with Aunt Sara’s phone?” “Arrr…” She made some weird noise and the camera faced the sheet on the mattress. “Emmy!” I said, “Are you chewing on the phone?”“Oh, shit!” I heard Sara’s voice and her face came into view. “I’m so sorry. I was in the shower. I don’t know how she managed to call you.” I laughed, “Perhaps because I was your last call.” “Ye
As I walked in, Enzo had already discarded his clothes and was preparing to go to bed. “What the hell was that, Enzo?’ I said, “You were way out of line.” “About what?” He asked lazily. “Don’t try to play the fool with me. You know what I’m talking about.” I said, “What is your scheme really? Is this your way of pushing us away?” “Think whatever you have to, Cassie. I don’t care. I’m just doing what I feel is right.” “Oh, really?” I said, “This feels right to you? Worrying us until we’re sick and showing up this late? Not to mention drunk out of your mind?” He groaned, “So now I don’t have the freedom to do what I want to?” He said, “I didn’t know that the rules change when we’re living in your house.” That made me shut up. I couldn’t believe he said that. He was definitely trying to rile me up, so I desperately needed to distract him. There was no point trying to argue with him now. “Don’t you want to shower?” I asked him, eyeing his body. He could definitely use one. Maybe t
After a long, distracting day at work, all I wanted was my bed. I was hoping Sara had already cooked us some food like she had been for the past few days. But if she hadn’t, we would have to place an order. And I had no energy for that either. As I entered our apartment, I was relieved to smell the aroma of freshly prepared food. I walked into the kitchen, ready to thank Sara for her help. However, before I could do that, she walked out of the kitchen all tense. “Oh, Cassie. Thank God you’re back.” She said, “Why were you not taking my calls?” “Oh?” I said, quizzically and opened my phone. As she said, there really were four missed calls from her number. “My bad. It was on silent. What’s the matter?” “Enzo hasn’t come home since afternoon.” She said, “He said he was stepping out for lunch and he still didn’t return.” “What?” I asked, “Why did he go out for lunch? Was he going alone?” “I have no idea. He wouldn’t answer me. He got so angry when I tried to push him… I just kept
Enzo watched me as I got ready for work.It was my first day back at the office and I couldn’t be more relieved. To say the past few days have been difficult would be an understatement. I needed a distraction from everything, and what was better than going to the office? With Enzo unemployed, I had to make sure that I could put some bread on the table. Although my grandparents have been continuously calling me, offering me help, or in their words - letting me have what was mine, I simply could not let them. That would be the last straw for Enzo. He was already beating himself up as he saw me working day and night to make ends meet. “Did you speak to that friend of yours you were talking about?” I said, “The lawyer. He was offering you a job, wasn’t he?” “I lost my license to practice, Cassie.” He said, “I can’t practice law anywhere else.” I turned around, puzzled. “But Raymond told me that he offered you a position of a legal advisor. You can’t be an member of the bar, but surel