Enzo almost made the impossible come true. Whether it was saving me from my past or hunting my father down and fixing an appointment with him, there seemed nothing he couldn’t do.A week ago when he told me about this, I could hardly believe it. After my mother managed to let me believe that my father was in a foreign country getting treatment for his ailment, I made peace with the fact that she would perhaps never let me meet him. Hence it took me a while to believe that Enzo had managed to find him. However, it wasn’t until now, where I’m standing outside a hotel, staring up at what could possibly be my father’s room, that I realized that this was real. I was indeed going to meet my dad. “What are you waiting for?” Enzo said, his arm coming around my body in a side hug.“I’m not ready.” I said, “What if he’s sick, Enzo? Really, really sick?” “Then he’d be glad to see his daughter.” He said, kissing my forehead. “Go on in. Make him happy. I’m sure he was waiting for this day.” “
As the weekend rolled, Mr and Mrs Ashford invited me to their estate to spend a night there. Work was beginning to take up most of my time, and so was Calvin. I was sure that if I stayed in the city for longer, he might show up at my doorstep. Hence, I reluctantly accepted Ashford's invitation. But it was a bummer that Enzo could not accompany me there. “An old friend of mine is flying from the UK to visit me.” He said, “I haven’t seen him in a year, Cassie. I need to be here.”I couldn’t even fight him on this. Maybe I should have consulted with him before giving my commitment to the Ashfords. It was too late to cancel now. So here I was on a saturday, making my way to the Ashford’s estate alone. As expected, the Ashfords received me outside like I’m some child and ushered me inside. Once lunch was served, Mr Ashford began talking. “So, Cassandra.” He started, “When are you getting married?”The spoon I was holding fell down on the plate, breaking through the silence of the plac
Enzo’s POV I watched as Raymond pushed a shot of whiskey in my direction. “Cheers, brother.” Smiling, I took the glass and clinked it against his. Raymond was an old pal of mine back when I was studying in the UK. While I flew back to the states to work here, Raymond took over his family business in London.We both led busy lives, so meeting each other frequently was no longer feasible. Unfortunately, we only made the time to meet each other when we desperately needed the other person’s help. I downed the drink in one go to kick start the evening, Ray following my cue. As the bitter liquid passed through my throat, I couldn't help but wince. “So what gets you here, Ray?” I asked, asking for another drink. Ray gave me a smirk, “Well, to meet you, of course.” I cocked my brow at him. “I know you only meet me when you need me for something.” “Can’t deny that.” He said with a hiss. “We gotta correct that man. Some might think we’re using each other.” I shrugged, “So let them. We’r
Enzo’s POV I looked up at him in surprise. “How do you know that?” He sighed, “It’s precisely why I’m here, Enzo.” I waited patiently as he took another sip from his whiskey, perhaps to knock the edge off of what’s coming. “Calvin Anderon is our biggest competitor right now.” He said, “And not just that. He was a partner with us before he decided to screw us over and send our company into losses.”“How did that happen? Did you not do a background check before signing with him?” “It was clean.” He said, “You see, when he was entering the Europe market, his was already an established player here in the states. Everybody was eager to sign a deal with him, and we were one of them. He had funding from Arnold Harper, one of the most trusted investors. So it was a no brainer. But things didn’t work out, and his company suffered huge losses. Harper pulled his investments, and Calvin was desperate to stay afloat. So he decided to screw us over, and took us down with him. This is probably
Cassie’s POV After the not so pleasing lunch, the rest of the day did get better. Perhaps because I only spent most of it with Mrs Ashford. She was a sweet and patient woman. She had an answer to every question I asked, and she did plan the day well to keep me entertained. However, the Ashfords went to bed early, so after having an early supper, I was ushered into my room. I was offered to sleep in my mother’s room, but I was too weirded out by the idea to accept it. Hence, I found myself mindlessly scrolling instagram in the guest bedroom at nine thirty. Right then, I realized that I missed Enzo terribly. He was always around to keep me entertained or atleast to give me a nice orgasm at the end of the day. I didn’t know who I missed more, him or his fingers. I opened Whatsapp and shot him a message. ‘What are you doing?” - CassieHe instantly saw the message and sent me a picture. As I downloaded it, I saw that it was a picture of a whiskey glass on a bar table. ‘Nice. Wish I
“Bye, Cassie. See you at the office tomorrow.” Calvin smirked. He got up from his seat and grabbed his bag, making his way toward his car. And within a minute, he was out of my sight. And as if on cue, Enzo’s car drove in. I could not help but sigh with relief. I was not in the mood to explain to Enzo what Calvin was doing here. I had given him enough reason to be upset about my working arrangement. He didn’t need to know that Mr Ashford was also on Calvin’s side. We didn’t spend long after breakfast. I didn’t want to, so I made up an excuse that I was feeling sick and let Enzo drive me back home. “You seemed eager to get out of there.” Enzo mused, reaching for my hand in my lap. “Yeah, it was a bit too much.” I said, “I needed a break.” “Is that all?” He said, “Or has it got to do anything with the fact that Calvin was there?” I stiffened, glancing at him slowly. As soon as he registered the look on his face, his question was cleared.“Right, so it was him.” Enzo said, “What
The next morning, I looked at Enzo expectantly. We barely spoke yesterday and he spent most of his time inside his office room. So when we were getting ready for work now, I hoped that he would be the first person to break the ice. But now, it seemed like he had no intention. I wondered why he was so upset with me. Was Calvin really such a trigger for him? Was I pushing his buttons by hanging out with Calvin? Whose mistake was it? “I need a ride to the office this morning.” I said, having had enough. “Would you mind?” “Of course, not.” He mumbled, straightening his tie. He didn’t even look at me as he spoke. “Enzo, what’s the matter?” I said, “Are you still upset with me?” He didn’t say anything for a while, “Just something on my mind.” “Well, what is it?” I said, “Tell me. Maybe I can help.” He let go of his tie then and walked to his desk. And then, he grabbed a file from it and brought it to me. “What is this?” I asked. “It’s a file from my friend Ray’s company. He wants
For the first time ever, Enzo didn’t show up to pick me up. I waited for an hour before I decided to take a cab to my venue, after several of my messages went unanswered. If he had no intention of showing up, why did he promise? I felt tears prick at my eyes then. It was going to be so embarrassing for me. Stood up by my partner after the team was so excited to meet him. How could Enzo be so negligent? He could’ve dropped me a bloody text! “Hey, guys!” I said, spotting Melissa by the table. Her partner was by her side and a couple others from my team. “Cassie, where’s your date?” I gave her a sorry look, “Sorry to disappoint you, Enzo is-“ Right then, I felt a hand snake around my waist. And the touch was too familiar. “Sorry, I’m late.” Enzo’s voice chimed in my ear. “Oh,” I said, turning around in surprise. “Wait, you guys didn't come together?” Melissa asked in surprise. “No, I was running late because of a last minute meeting.” Enzo said with a polite smile. “I’m Enzo, b
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