Chapter Three

Emma's POV

"Emma?”

He called my name and although the way my name rolled off his tongue shouldn't affect me, I couldn't deny that it did, it affected me more than it should have.

I closed my eyes and composed myself before opening them again to look at my children, "Jason, Anna, come here my darlings. I told you wandering off is not good, you make mummy worry when you do that." I cautioned them.

They ran into my outstretched arms immediately, "We're sorry mummy, we didn't run away, we only missed you and that was why we came to look for you."

"I'm not mad. Let's go." I answered, tugging their hands and pulling them with me.

"Emma wait!" I heard his voice again and my heart clenched in my chest once more.

I never thought I'd be seeing him again so soon, it was all too much for me, all I just wanted was to crawl into a hole and disappear.

"Mummy, is this daddy?" Anna's little voice asked me and it took all of my willpower not to break down and cry but I stayed strong.

"No baby, this isn't daddy, let's go." I told her and took their hands, about to start pulling them away again.

"Stop right this instance, Emma." He suddenly yelled out and I remembered this was how he usually behaved, he always resorted to shouting and throwing tantrums when things didn't go his way.

"Mum, take me away from the scary man." Jason whimpered and hid himself behind my legs.

Jeff must have heard him because his face softened immediately and he took a step forward but I instinctively took one back, he had always scared me and that hadn't changed still.

"Emma, I'm sorry but we have to talk." He said again in a more softer voice.

"No Mr Anderson, I have nothing to say to you. If you'll excuse us now, we have to get going." I finally said, not looking him in the eye one time and I all but ran out of out of the lobby.

I saw Mrs. Williams looking at me from a distance and I knew she was my boss and I should have waited and said something to her but I couldn't, not at that moment.

I just ran out of the hotel, stopping the first cab I could find and jumping in, hoping Jeff didn't follow me and hoping I would still have a job by tomorrow.

The rest of the evening, while I was cooking dinner, helping the twins with their assignment, giving them a bath, I was in a daze. I couldn't believe I saw Jeff Anderson.

The twins were now ready for bed and they called me to come and read them a bedtime story. I cuddled in Anna's bed and got right to it, I was halfway into the story when I noticed their eyes were already closed.

I slowly and quietly as possible slid out of her bed and just as my feet touched the floor, I heard Jason's little voice, "That was Daddy today right?" I turned to him and I saw him looking at me with his big brown doe eyes.

“No baby, that's not daddy,” I answered him.

"He's scary," Jason admitted.

I chuckled lightly and inched closer to Jason, "He's not scary baby, he was just surprised to see how big you've become, you were so little the last time he saw you." I explained to him the best possible way I could think of.

"He won't take us away from you, will he?"

"Of course not baby, no one is taking you or your sister away from me, I promise," I told him and got back into his bed, throwing the blanket over us, making sure he was deep asleep before I left again.  

I got dressed and prepared for work the next day, since I hadn't gotten any message telling me not to come to work, I assumed my work was still intact so I got dressed.

I dropped the twins off at school and made my way to the office afterward. When I got there, I was the center of attention, I could hear people whispering and pointing at me, I guess the little incident of yesterday must have spread like wildfire.

I didn't pay them any mind though, I just went my own way.

When the elevator got to my floor, I all but dragged my feet out of the elevator and made my way to my office, I hadn't even gotten any work done and I was already exhausted.

As soon as my buttocks made contact with the chair, a knock sounded on my door, I took in a deep breath before telling whoever was on the other side to come in.

The door opened and Mrs William's secretary poked her head through my door, "Good morning Emma.” She greeted me and I returned her greetings.

"Mrs Williams request that you see her in her office." She told and I knew what was coming already.

I didn't bother to unpack my things because I already knew what was coming, after the scene that happened yesterday because of me, I wouldn't want to work with myself either.

I stood up and made my way to her office immediately. On getting there, she was on a call but she offered me a seat, one that I gladly took, the fact that she offered me a seat was a good sign and I hope it meant that I wasn't going to lose my job.

"Good morning Emma." She greeted me as soon as she was done with her call, I on the other hand was so embarrassed that I couldn't look her in the face.

"Do you mind explaining to me what happened yesterday?" She asked politely.

I sighed before looking up at her, "I'm sorry Mrs William, I'm sorry I caused such a huge scene yesterday but what happened yesterday has a long story to it and I wouldn't like to revisit it." I explained to her as politely as possible.

She nodded her head, "You don't have to talk about things like that if you don't want to but I clearly saw yesterday that you both are not on good terms, I hope that won't cause any problem for you in the future?"

I mulled internally over her question and the truth was that even I couldn't guarantee that Jeff wouldn't cause any problems in the future.

"He won't cause any problems ma’am," I assured her and myself too.

"Alright then, you can get back to work." She told me and I thanked her before jumping up and going back to my office.

It was around lunchtime when I received a mail in my office, on opening it and reading through the contents, all I began to see was just red. I couldn't believe what my eyes had just read.

So I stormed out of the office and took a cab to Jeff's company, I knew it was still in the same location. I barged in through the doors and I noticed that nobody even tried to stop me.

When I got to the topmost floor where his office was, I didn't bother to greet anyone, I just beelined straight for his office, "How dare you?!!" I yelled at him, reaching into my bag and pulling out the mail I had received.

"Explain this." I told him, dropping the mail in his lap.

"Can't you read?" Was his snarky response.

“How dare you buy my apartment building and force me to evict? Where am I going to go with my kids?” I yelled at him.

“You all will be living with me.” That was the simple explanation he provided.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me Emma, you're moving in with me.” He said again and by the tone of his voice, I knew it was not up for debate.