Chapter 2 - Richard Ashford

Richard POV

“Dylan, I fucked up. I need your help”, she says, striding to the chair in front of him while he goes wide-eyed and tries to signal her to shut up. I clear my throat, and my daughter’s panicked eyes meet mine.

“Shit,” she curses under her breath.

“Language,” I blurt out, and she stands up immediately. I’m not close to Mia, which is all my fault. Whenever she needs something, she always asks Dylan. She has a connection with him that I could never form with her. I was twenty when I got Pamela pregnant. We were in college, and I owned up to my mistake. I decided if I was mature enough to get a girl pregnant, I had to deal with the consequences.

“Dad, I can explain,” she says. I raise my hand, and she stops speaking automatically. Her eyes meet the floor, and I walk to her.

“Ricky, come on, man,” Dylan says. I look at him, and he immediately raises both his hands in an apologetic way. He stands from his chair and walks around, kissing Mia on the top of her head before exiting his own office, leaving me alone with my daughter so we can sort out whatever it is that she needs help with.

“Sit,” I tell her, and she takes a deep breath sitting on the chair she was in before, and I sit on the one next to her. Her eyes meet mine, and I sit back in the chair. I am trying my hardest not to snap at her.

“What happened?” I ask, and she shakes her head. She looks at her hands, and then her eyes meet mine again. Mia was never out of words, and I don’t know why she behaves like this right now. If there’s something that Mia isn’t, is shy about.

“Is it something with school?” I ask, and she nods. I take a deep breath, trying to keep my cool. “What is it? “Speak, Mia,“ I say, and she swallows with her blue eyes meeting mine.

“I was suspended,” she says, and I stand up. I can’t believe she is behaving like this again. This is the third private school I have had to get Mia into, and she always gets suspended and expelled.

“Why?” I ask, and she looks at me as I stand in front of her, leaning against the desk behind me. I cross my arms in front of my chest, and she smiles softly.

“Today,” she says, and I nod. What the fuck is wrong with this girl? Why does she behave like a lunatic and get herself expelled? I wasn’t a saint when I was in school, but I never got into trouble. I always managed to get away with everything I did, and I would assume she would do the same. She is a very smart girl.

“I am very disappointed with you right now,” I say, and she laughs out loud.

“And what else is new, dad? I am a total screw-up, a disappointment, and it doesn’t matter what I do. It’s never enough,” she shouts at me before she leans down and grabs her bag from the floor.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask, and she ignores me, walking out of the office. I grab the glass of whiskey I had poured before she arrived and down it immediately. The door opens when I throw the glass against the wall, and Dylan walks in.

“Bad timing?” he asks, and I swear to God I could smash my hand against someone’s face right now and feel good about it. I really don’t understand where Mia’s attitude comes from.

“That girl…” I say, and Dylan walks to me, resting one hand on my shoulder.

“She is just desperately trying to get your attention,” Dylan says. I look him in the eyes, and he nods slightly. Is that so? Is that why she behaves like she has no manners?

“Oh, but she’s got my attention now,” I say before grabbing my phone from my pocket and dealing with the school’s number. “I want an appointment with the headmistress Santos straight away,” I bark at the receptionist that answers the phone.

“Who is this?” she asks, and I have no patience for incompetence. Don’t they have a way of seeing who is calling?

“This is Richard Ashford,” I say in my driest tone of voice.

“Mr. Ashford, I was just about to call you,” she says, and o roll my eyes as I walk down the corridor toward my office to grab my things.

“Call Nando,” I say to Esther, and she nods as she starts dialing his number on her phone.

I walk into my office. “I don’t care what you were about to do, and I want a meeting right now,” I say before ending the phone call and leaving my office.

“He is downstairs in the garage,” Esther says, and I nod before I storm towards the elevator. I am fuming, and I can’t believe this is happening again. I pay a lot of money to that school for them to suspend her like that and treat her like they do with the other kids.

“Richard,” Nando says as he stands next to the open door of my Austin Martin. I nod my head and get in the cart just before he slams the door shut and goes to his seat.

“To Mia’s school, please,” I say, and he nods before pulling away from the parking space I own in the garage. The drive is chaotic, as it always is in New York, and the school is empty when we arrive.

I open the doors, walk through the corridors I’ve known way too well, and find the headteacher’s office.

“Mr. Ashford,” the secretary says as she stands up to greet me. I nod my head and walk past her to the office. She doesn’t even try to stop me. I dated Sandra for four months before Mia attended school. We broke up because she kept trying to get me to meet her family and friends, and I wasn’t interested.

“Richard,” she says, standing up as soon as I close the door behind me. Her eyes meet mine, and she smiles. Fuck that. I am not in the mood for flirting.

“What did she do this time?” I ask, sitting on the chair she pointed me to.

“Rachel, can we have some coffee here, please?” she asks her secretary through the intercom.

I roll my eyes because this kind of behavior is just pissing me off more than anything. I just want to know what Mia did and how much I will have to pay to get her back to school by eliminating this situation from her records.