Cael strode purposefully up to the mansion door and pressed the doorbell. The faint sound of the bell filtered out from under the massive door. The door was freakishly heavy, a fact he knew too well considering how much time he'd spent in this very house over the years.Armani's house had become something of a second home for him. Their fathers were very close friends and business partners and so naturally, they'd grown as friends, siblings even. He knew every nook of this place as well as he knew the back of his hand.How many hours had they spent running around the house, sometimes just the two of them and sometimes with other childhood friends?Only a few seconds passed before the door began opening slowly. Cael added his weight and pushed the door open. The door was still quite heavy, unnecessarily heavy, in his opinion but it didn't feel as heavy as it did when he was younger.Sadly, for the man revealed in the doorway when the door finally opened all the way, it had become incre
Cael followed Armani through the familiar halls. He even knew they were headed. It was the one place Armani would unconsciously pick to go to inside this mansion. They'd spent so much time in here as kids.They arrived at the Solarium and Armani immediately beelined to a plant. One of the leaves was drooping slightly. Cael sighed. The fact that he even recognized that face was enough to remind him that he spent way too much time here.The Solarium was beautiful. It held a variety of plants and flowers that Armani had carefully tended over the years, continuing her mother's legacy. As far as Cael was concerned, the entire set-up was more trouble than it was worth.The plants needed constant tending. It was a good thing Armani never needed to work a regular job otherwise, how would she keep up with all this? Well, he supposed she could work as a gardener or something.The glass room itself required a lot of maintenance. The glass needed to be constantly cleaned. Constantly! She sometime
Mikayla smiled patiently at the elderly woman across the table from her. She was awkwardly bent over the table to see what the woman was so excitedly showing her on her phone."And this was little Tommy's graduation just last week. Except he's not so little anymore if he's already going to college, right?" She laughed. Mikayla laughed too, "Yeah, he's not so little anymore.""I would have invited you to the ceremony except we haven't seen each other since my last checkup last month. It would have been lovely to have you there," Mrs Durall, the elderly patient, said.Mikayla smiled politely while thinking that she would never have gone even if invited. Even though she knew quite a bit about the family already, it was because Mrs Durall couldn't ever stop talking about them.At every checkup, she took her time to bring Mikayla up to speed on the going-ons of her large family. Mikayla didn't actually know any one of them herself. And judging from those pictures, it was a family affair.
Throughout work that day, Mikayla's mind was constantly on the text message she'd received last night. Even as she consulted with her patients, smiled, laughed and gisted, it continued to niggle at the back of her mind.Thankfully, she couldn't focus too much on it or she may have dissolved into a ball of anxiety. Patients kept on coming and whatever the case, the hospital must go on running. Mikayla's next patient came in. Mikayla rose with a smile to receive her. "Mrs Smith, welcome!""Hello, Dr Wall," Mrs Smith said sweetly. "How have you been?""I should be asking you that as your doctor instead," Mikayla teased. Mrs Smith took her seat and Mikayla followed suit. "I wanted to apologize for leaving so abruptly at the fundraiser event. Something came up urgently and I had to leave. I was going to call you but it's been a bit hectic since then.""Oh, it's no problem. I understand, dear. I hope you were able to sort out whatever it was," she said kindly.Mikayla cleared her throat. "
Mikayla stopped in her tracks. "Did you just say Armani Granger?" She asked."Yep," Anna said happily, oblivious to her friend's discomfort.Mikayla's mind raced a mile a second. This information changed everything. She'd spent all day and all night trying to think of business-related reasons for the emergency meeting but she hadn't thought of personal ones.She'd had little interactions with most of the investors in recent time apart from Mrs Smith who was a sweetheart and would have informed Mikayla about this if she were involved. Because of that, she'd completely left out the fundraiser as a possible catalyst. Only Cael and her knew what happened at the event but it was Armani's party, so it wasn't impossible to think that she might know too.She suddenly remembered that Cael had been with Armani before he came to her. He only approached her after Armani went up the stage to give her speech. Had she inadvertently slept with an investor's boyfriend? Mikayla face-palmed. Enough pe
Cael Lautner strode casually into the boardroom like a panther on the prowl. His eyes immediately went to Mikayla who was looking at him slack-jawed. He pinned her with his glittering black eyes.He saw her mouth open in a gasp when he stepped out of the elevator but it was drowned out by the gasps of everyone else in the room. "Young Lautner!" A voice called in exclamation. He turned around to see Mr Rogers walking up to shake his hand. "What a surprise to see you here. So you will be investing in the hospital?" "That's right, sir," he answered. Mr Rogers was another acquaintance of his Father. He'd never known them to be especially close but their paths had crossed a few times for business-related reasons.Mr Rogers was a shrewd and sharp businessman with a wide portfolio but he majored in business acquidition unlike the Lautners. His nickname in the business world was "the shark" because of how he'd sink his teeth into a business and shake loose every possible thing it had to of
Mikayla was trapped under Cael's massive body. She couldn't trust herself in this position. Looking up at him, it was all she could do to not reach up and pull his face down to hers.She looked around wildly, hoping that someone would appear to rescue her. She tried to escape from between his arms but his grip was firm. There was no chance for escape. She swallowed."How did you find me?" She muttered."How indeed," he said. "It didn't take much to find you. First off, you were at Armani's event. There was a list of attendees. Also, I have the resources to trace you to any corner of the earth if I want to. But most importantly, just like Cinderella, you left me a very nice glass slipper."Mikayla frowned. What was that supposed to mean? What glass slipper did he leave him?Cael reached into his pocket and pulled out something. Because of her blasted curiosity, she didn't immediately make a run for it the moment his hand came down. Plus, where would she go anyway?.The elevator would t
Mikayla stood stunned in front of the closed elevator door. She was now alone on the boardroom floor. In the silence of emptiness, she could pause to think about everything that had just happened.Too many thoughts warred for space in her head at the same time so she couldn't make sense of anything. "Okay, okay, let's take this one at a time. Let's start at the beginning," she said out loud.One, Armani was no longer an investor because she sold her shares to someone. Two, that someone was no other than Cael Lautner, the very man she hoped to never see again. Three, Cael Lautner had no intentions of leaving her alone, spending millions of dollars just to be close to her was a good enough indication. Four, she couldn't resist Cael Lautner any more now than she could the night of the event.In simple terms, she was screwed. Actually, she'd been screwed ever since that day she met him.She'd known it deep inside that once you meet a person who affected you so much on such a deep leve
Mikayla watched as the maid diligently turned the pot of soup. "I think you should add some more water," she directed."Yes, ma'am," the girl said and went to grab a cup of water from the tap."Mummy! Mummy!" Mikayla looked down at the kid pulling frantically on her cloth. "What is it, Abe?" She asked."Can I turn the soup too?" He asked, giving her a big smile. His adorable face made her smile. She shook her head. He knew exactly what he was doing! The boy was too aware of his own good looks. He thought it could help him get away with anything and get anything he wanted."No, Abe. You can't and you know it," she said."But mummm! I'm a big boy now. I'm seven years old," he argued.He'd only turned seven three days ago and already they'd heard that fact at least a million times. It came up in every argument including when it was his bedtime, when he needed to eat his vegetables and just any other time he could squeeze the argument into."Seven is too young to play around the sto
Mikayla looked at herself in the full length mirror and smiled. 'You look very beautiful,' she thought to herself. 'And I'm so proud of you.'She'd come a very long way from the scared little girl who lived everyday in fear of people finding out her true identity.Now, she was a strong, beautiful woman with a thriving career and an amazing boyfriend.And today, she would be celebrating another incredible milestone in her career at a beautiful ball.What more could a person ask for? Mikayla's heart was filled with gratitude."What's up? Are you ready," Anna asked from behind her, coming to stand with her.Mikayla looked at her friend in the mirror. "Yes, I'm ready. You look incredible." Anna wore a long velvet dress with dramatically big sleeves. "Thank you! You look wonderful too," she answered.Mikayla nodded, turning back and forth as she looked at herself in the mirror. "Yes, I do," she said."Oh," Anna's eyes widened. "That is the first time I've ever heard you acknowledge that
"Hello?" Mikayla said tiredly into the phone. "What's up?" "Hi, love," Cael's voice said over the speaker."Oh, hi, Cael! Sorry, I didn't look at the screen when I picked the call!" She was barely keeping her eyes open so she'd simply swiped without looking.Cael chuckled. "That tired, Hun? Well, you're about to come wide awake. I have good news."Mikayla perked up immediately. "Really?" She said, sitting up. "What is it?""Remember that call I got at your house?" He asked."Yes," Mikayla answered. How could she forget? She'd found herself thinking about it from time to time. He'd managed to distract her that night but she'd been wondering about it since then. Especially because Cael seemed to be in a perpetual good mood since the call. He walked around the house whistling. She'd even caught him smiling to himself a few times. The horror!"Well, you remember that meeting we had withr Marcus a while back about expanding the hospital?""How could I forget?" she said."Well, I got
Mikayla stood in front of the door to her beloved home. It'd been two weeks since she last stepped here. During those two weeks, she was staying with Cael at his mansion. She'd finally summoned the courage to come back and pack up Abe's stuff.She took a deep breath and turned the key. Suddenly there was a revving sound behind her. Mikayla turned around to see Cael's cars pulling into her driveway. "What are you doing here?" She asked in surprise."I couldn't let you face this alone. I'm here to help," he answered, walking up to her.She smiled. "But you didn't tell me you were coming! We spoke about me coming here this morning."He smiled back. "I wanted to surprise you," he said. "Are you ready to go in?"Mikayla nodded. "I was just psyching myself up to go in when I heard your car pull in. I guess I just have to rip the band-aid off and get it over with."He nodded. "I'll help you." He opened the door and entered first. Mikayla followed behind him.She looked around her house.
"Good morning, boss," Nurse Rachel called cheerfully to Mikayla as she came into work that morning."Morning," Mikayla answered quietly and headed into her office.Rachel caught Kim's eyes and raised a brow in a silent question. "What now?"Nurse Kim shook her head and nodded towards the office. "Go do your job," she said.Rachel sighed and went after Mikayla. She met her putting on her coat. "Dr Wall, is everything okay?"Mikayla gave her a tight smile. "Everything is fine, thank you."Rachel raised a brow. Obliviously everything was not fine. But she didn't press the issue. She decided to ask a different question."And how is Abe doing this morning? We've missed him a lot! The night shift nurses were shocked to hear that he'd been discharged. They made me swear to ask you to bring him in one of these days do they can say hello."A lump developed in Mikayla's throat. She swallowed thickly. Her eyes watered. She turned away from Rachel so she wouldn't see. "Abe is no longer with me
After Cael handed Abe over to Michelle, Mikayla fell into a pool of grief. She sat listlessly on the floor for what could have been minutes, hours or seconds. She was completely unaware of Armani's gentle presence, rocking her gently. At some point, Armani left to go home and still she didn't notice.When Cael decided that she'd been on the floor long enough, he picked her up to take her to the bedroom. At that moment, something inside of her snapped. With a snarl, Mikayla launched herself at Cael and began pounding at him.He fell on his butt in surprise. She pounded him with every ounce of strength in her body. She hit every inch of skin she could reach, growling like a wounded animal with each punch. There was so much pent up fury in her head with no exit route. So she pounded it out.Cael took the beating like a champ. He sat rock still and waited for her to finish, pinning her with those black, glittering hawk-like eyes. "How could you! How could you!" Mikayla snarled in
Michelle stood in Cael's doorway, clad in an expensive designer coat that barely reached halfway to her thighs.She also spotted glittering silver shoes that probably cost more than Mikayla's phone!"What the hell are you doing here?" Mikayla exclaimed.Cael heard the sound of her voice and came running to the door, Abe in his arms. "Mum!" Abe squealed as soon as he saw her and reached for her."My sweet boy!" She cooed, taking him from Cael. "Did you miss me? I missed you a lot.""I asked you a question," Mikayla repeated through clenched teeth. "What the hell are you doing here?""Is that any way to talk to your mother?" Michelle chastened and walked into the house, almost shouldering past them. She headed straight to the living room as if the place belonged to her."Do you know how difficult it was to find you?" She demanded, oblivious to the shock and discomfort of the rest of them. She sat comfortably. "I went by your house and there was no one there. It didn't seem like anyo
Armani pressed the doorbell again. The sound caused Mikayla to jump. She self-consciously ran her hand over her hair and body, making sure everything was in place. Armani often had that effect on her. She was always so beautiful, well put together and chic. She made Mikayla feel like a slob.She opened the door and smiled nervously at Armani. "Hi.""Hello," Armani said. "Can I come in?"It strick Mikayla as odd that she was asking her if she could come in. From what she knew, Armnai frequented Cael's house as often as she wanted. They were that close. So why did she feel the need to ask her?"Yes, of course," she answered and stepped back for her.Armani walked in and stood waiting. Mikayla blinked. "Erm...this way." She shut the door and led Armani to the living room. "Cael is asleep right now but I can wake him up if you want..." Armani smiled and shook her head. She sat down. "Don't bother. I didn't come to see him anyway. I came to see you."Mikayla sat down slowly. "To see
Mikayla was embarrassed!She was in the middle of a small crowd that had gathered in front of the hospital to see Abe off. In three days, he'd managed to become the hospital sweetheart. Every time she went to see him in his room, she met at least three hospital staff at a time fawning over him.Meanwhile, Abe basked in the attention he was getting in the hospital. The little celebrity had been showered with so many gifts that there was hardly space left in his room. So much so that he kicked off a fuss when she told him he would be going home today. At least his new friends had come out to bid him goodbye!Right now, he was in the arms of one of the nurses while the other crowded around him. They were waiting for Cael to pull the car around. Sweet Cael! He's been on ground these past three days, taking care of Mikayla and Abe simultaneously.It was Cael who'd brought her change of clothes each day. It was Cael who'd ordered food for her and made sure everything was fine while