Danielle was a young woman, a bit younger than me and Kayla. She had long blonde hair and green eyes that scanned everything. She was sitting on the sofa with Mia, a few toys between them.
“Sean! Sean! Sean!” Mia shouted as she ran towards me. I crouched down to pick her up in my arms.
“How’s my most beautiful girl in the whole world, hmm?” I asked kissing her cheeks.
“Great. I’m playing with Danielle. Do you want to join us?”
I opened my mouth to say that I would love to, but Kayla interfered. “Mia, sweetie, you have school tomorrow. It’s time to go to bed. You can continue later.”
“But I don’t want to go to bed,” she replied with sad puppy eyes. Then she remembered something and turned to me. “Can you read me a bedtime story? Please, please, please!”
“Definitely, yeah. I’ll read you two if you like,” I said, giving her my biggest happiest smile.
Danielle stood up and picked up her bag.
Kayla ruffled Mia’s hair. “Go, brush your teeth and wait for Sean in your bedroom. We’ll say goodbye to Danielle and he’ll be in. Okay?”
“Yay!” Mia laughed and ran.
I watched her run happily as my heart warmed. Suddenly a hand was extended before my eyes. Danielle.
“Hello, sir. My name’s Danielle Rowen. I’m Mia’s nanny, as you surely know,” she said and giggled.
“Nice to meet you.” I shook her hand and smiled a bit fake. I had a strange feeling about this woman.
Now she lowered her tone. “Just so you know I’m your biggest fan.” she said as she winked.
Told ya! I could smell these kinds of girls from a mile away.
I turned to see Kayla’s expression, but she didn’t seem to pay attention. She was already taking care of the toys scattered everywhere.
I was speechless. What was I supposed to reply? Thank you? That I liked her compliments? No. That was the old Sean Coleman. This, the new one, said, “Okay. I’ll see you out.”
Perhaps it was a bit rude, but that was the only way for this woman. I opened the door for her.
“So that we keep in touch and coordinate. For Mia, you know. When you want to see her,” she said and offered me a piece of yellow paper. There was a phone number written on it. And next to it her name.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“No matter the time, call me, okay?” She exited the apartment. Just when I wanted to close the door, she turned and blew me a kiss. Seriously? What a pushy parasite of a woman! I had had enough of all these crazy women. When was it going to end? A tiny voice in my mind whispered in my ear: Never.
I shook my head and looked for Kayla. She was waiting for me.
“Come on, let’s read our… Mia a story, okay?” I asked. I was going to say something else instead of Mia, but my tongue stopped me from saying so. I guessed that I didn’t want Kayla to think that I was labeling myself as her biological father when perhaps I wasn’t. That bloody paternity test stood between us. I so badly wanted to be her father. I really did. I wished for nothing else.
Kayla understood my dilemma and only nodded. “Yeah, let’s.”
We found ourselves in Mia’s bedroom. I picked up a storybook lying on the nightstand and turned a random page.
“Any special story requests, princess?” I asked Mia winking at her.
“No. Anything.” She giggled as Kayla covered her with the blanket up to her small chin.
It was a story of a miller’s daughter I hadn’t heard of until now.
“Once upon a time there lived a miller’s daughter…” I began when Mia interrupted me.
“Can the both of you tell me a story? I’d really like that,” Mia said in her tiny voice.
Subsequently, I looked at Kayla. She was as taken aback as me. Kayla met my gaze and nodded.
“All right,” she told her daughter. “What story are we going to tell, big guy?” She turned to me and laughed.
I laughed as well, closing the storybook. “Okay… So… Once upon a time there lived a sad elf. He was bigger than the average of his kind and was very good at climbing trees.”
“Why was he sad?” Mia asked.
“Because he loved a human,” replied Kayla. “She had beautiful long hair and wonderful, warm eyes. They had met long ago, but she had to return to her world, because she didn’t belong in his.” Kayla glanced at me. Her eyes were teary.
We were telling her our own story. I was the elf and she was the human. It was a story we knew by heart, obviously. And the one we could tell in turns. Where Kayla stopped, I continued and vice versa. A huge smile appeared on Mia’s face whenever the storyteller shifted. Her eyes were alight. I had never seen her that happy before.
“… Together they married and had wonderful children. They all lived happily ever after. The end. It’s time for Princess Mia to sleep,” I said, smoothing down the blanket and leaning to kiss her forehead.
Kayla had already stood up when Mia shook our world with just four words. Her eyes were looking at me. “Are you my daddy?”
I was about to fall off the bed. My body froze completely. I did not expect that. Cray cray, right? Kayla was in shock as well. This came like lightning on a sunny day.
I started to mumble and stutter, struggling to find the right words. But I couldn’t find any. Hashtag utterly startled. That hashtag worked for Kayla as well, who was sweating heavily. Oh, what a small girl could do to two adults.
“I… He… Well…” Kayla began, but couldn’t finish.
“It’s okay,” Mia broke her off. “I really don’t care. Because I love him anyway.”
That was an even bigger bombshell for me. “You really do?” I asked in a tiny voice.
“Yeah, I do, Sean. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re my dad or not. I love you no matter what.”
I couldn’t help it but kiss her on the forehead. “I love you, too. To the moon and back. Even more than that.”
All of us chuckled and Mia went to sleep afterwards. Kayla and I closed the door.
“She’s so smart. I can’t believe it,” Kayla said, smiling.
“Yeah. We think that she’s just a kid and that she doesn’t see anything. We were wrong.” I chuckled. The kid tricked the both of us.
“I, myself, didn’t expect her to say that. But I was pleasantly surprised that she accepted you. She didn’t say a single word to me,” Kayla replied.
“A brilliant girl,” I concluded through laughs.
I stayed with Kayla a bit until it became really late.
“I have to go now, babe,” I said kissing her.
“No, please stay for a bit longer.” Her eyes were pleading. With a heavy heart I had to leave. I didn’t want to either.
“Believe me. I want to spend the rest of my life like this. Come on now, Mia could see us.”
We chuckled. I went to my place and on my way there, I felt as if I was flying. My biggest fear that Mia wouldn’t want me as her father was gone. Phew! Thank God for that! I sensed that I could do anything. That anything was possible. I was the king of the world!
As I changed into my pajamas, I remembered the nanny. Danielle Rowen. Her name meant only trouble. She was trouble. I had a strong feeling in my gut that she was a woman I should stay away from. I didn’t like her. It was that simple.
Kayla
“Wanna grab some lunch with us?” My assistant said in front of me.
I was buried in the papers and without even looking at her declined. “As much as I want to I can’t. This business proposal is a real pain in the ass.”
She chuckled and wished me good luck.
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’m gonna need it. Badly.” I stared at the proposal printed on more than a hundred pages and propped my head on the heels of my hands. “Oh my God, what am I going to do? Poor me!”
Procrastinating was definitely not an option. So I turned off my computer and put my cell on silent mode. It was only me and the proposal and a yellow highlighter. Editing and rewriting.
It was nearly lunchtime and the office was almost empty. My stomach was grumbling; I hadn’t eaten a single thing since yesterday’s early dinner. And now it was past midday. Famished.
I chased away those thoughts and tried to desperately concentrate on the redraft. It turned out that writing it was hard, but editing it was harder. Redrafting it, however, which was something like rewriting it, was unbelievably tough. I had put all of my original thoughts and ideas into the first draft. That sank. So, I was supposed to come up with something new. What that new was exactly, no one could tell me. Everything was up to me. Thanks, guys. Thanks, boss.
For sure I was going crazy. All morning long, I started to talk to myself.
“Shit, this was left out… Fewer numbers, more facts. Got it… That paragraph is too short… Oh, I didn’t think of that the first time…” I was mumbling to myself as my pen ran across the paper, leaving notes and even lengthy paragraphs in the margins.
A knock on the door.
Startled, I jumped from my seat. I was staring at my boss who had a neutral expression on his face. What the heck did he want now? What was I? A puppet? Kayla, this—Kayla that?
“Sir?” I said, bewildered.
“James is on his way. He wants to give us a second chance.”
That was enough to brighten up my mood a bit. “Really? That’s fantastic news!” I exclaimed.
“Yes, it is. But it won’t be if you mess it up again.”
“I promise I won’t,” I interrupted him.
“Good. He said that he wanted to go through it with you,” my boss told me, staring directly in my eyes. I wasn’t blinking.
Swallowing hard. “Okay. Anything else?”
“Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. He mentioned something strange. He told me that you didn’t exactly want the proposal to go through. I thought that you’d be the one to explain it to me. I mean, what he meant by that.”
“I-I-I don’t know…” I began, but was cut off by his raised hand.
He came closer to me. His huge stomach touched the edge of the desk. “This,” he said and placed his sausage-like fingers on the papers on my desk. “This is the most important proposal in the history of the company. You understand?”
“Mhm.” I nodded.
“We’re making history here. You hold the destiny of the whole law firm. And if something doesn’t work…”
“It will. I assure you,” I said with my teeth clenched.
“If something goes wrong, if you don’t make sure this proposal passes, you can clean out your desk and be gone from here. There won’t be a place for you here. Mark my words,” he said, turned shut the door with a bang. Ouch.
After he was left, the only question in my mind was when had everyone started to go nuts? First, James, then my boss. What was wrong with people? My boss had always saved a smile for me and encouraged me when I was working. He pushed me to be better. And this… This was far from that. I thought to go to his office and tell him everything face to face, but decided not to. I was going to push this damn proposal through once and for all, come hell or high water.
I was putting the final touches on what was hopefully the last redraft when a knock on the door came and my boss’s head popped in. “He’s coming.”
Against my will, I stood up and curved my lips in a fake smile. With steady steps I went out to greet James Clarke. Ugh!
He came with a black Mercedes and left the key at the reception to be parked. He shook hands with my boss first. Then he approached me. He was dressed in an ugly green tuxedo that looked silly on him. Short and horrible that he was.
I extended my hand, but he hugged me instead. I thought that I was going to vomit.
“Hello, Kayla. How are you?” he said.
“Welcome,” I replied coldly. “The conference room is this way.”
“Lead the way,” he said. “you sexy girl,” he whispered and I shuddered. How long I was going to put up with this was beyond me. As a matter of fact, I could turn to him now and slap him in the face. But I controlled myself. Inhale. Exhale. I imagined the consequences and stopped. Instead I balled my hands into fists.
As I walked towards the conference room I could feel his eyes on my butt. There was something wrong with the son of a bitch. And I was going to send him either to an asylum or to a morgue. A third option didn’t exist.
We entered the spacious room and my boss left me alone with him. Just as Mr. Clarke insisted. Thanks again, boss. I would never forget this.
“Can I have an espresso?” he said to me, licking his lips. I hated it when he was doing that.
My fake smile was still on. I shouted after a secretary and closed the door. May God help me!
After we sat, I immediately began with the proposal. I would never engage in small talk with him. Point after point I explained and broke down every sentence of every segment. Looking into his eyes, I imagined my boss before me with his threats of firing me. It was the only way I could remain talking to this moron.
“It’s not acceptable. No. That’s too many neighborhoods and too many women. We don’t have the manpower,” he said with coldness in his voice.
“What does your party suggest?”
“Lower down the number of victims,” he replied firmly as if he waited all his life to say that.
“Eighty percent of all the victims of domestic violence? Does that work?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Sixty-five,” he answered with a sneer.
“Seventy-five.” I clenched my jaw.
“Nope.”
“Seventy-three percent,” I said. “Final.”
“Done.” he smiled. I sighed in relief. Phew! One down, a million more issues to go!
We continued with the proposal which went on and on for around three hundred pages. I made sure that every teeny-tiny detail was included.
I looked outside. It was pitch black. I hadn’t even noticed when the lights went on in the conference room. I turned to look through the glass walls. We were alone. There was no one in the offices anymore. It was already past quitting time and everyone had left for home. Only James and I remained. I couldn’t help but shudder.
“And the manpower?” He said all of a sudden. His eyes still looked as if they were undressing me. How the hell had I had sex with this stupid ass?
“It-it’s right here. Half from your company and half from ours. That’s even, right?”
“Hmm, I don’t know about that…” He was stroking his chin and pushed his glasses from the bridge of the nose.
“It’s in the deal. I think that we settled that during the dinner.” I raised my voice. I was known for not having an endless supply of patience. My fuse was short, there was nothing I could do about it.
“Well, I’m not so certain about that now. I don’t like it,” he replied, grinning.
I closed the manila folder and pushed it across the table. “Okay. You know what I don’t like. You! I don’t like you. And yet I’m still here negotiating this stupid deal. I’ve had enough of all this.”
“Kayla?”
“Don’t Kayla me. I will push this proposal up your nose if I need to. You will accept this offer. Full stop. I spent the whole day, the whole week on this. We went through the whole of it and you still don’t agree with all of it. You always come up with excuses and reasons your firm won’t accept.” I stood up now, ready to leave. James wasn’t my boss or the president of the world. Just a scumbag and nothing more.
“Okay,” he said all serious and stood up. “Sleep with me.”
Oh my God, here we go again! “No! What the fuck?”
“Sl
eep with me and the proposal will go through. If you don’t, then you can say goodbye to your career and the business proposal you worked so hard on.” He waved at me sarcastically and laughed like a maniac.
I couldn’t say anything. I remained silent as he approached me. With each step, I could see the encouragement light up on his face. He was obviously thinking that I had made up my mind. We were inches apart. And then he placed his hands around me.
“Let go of me!” I screamed and wiggled out of his grasp. “Dickhead!”
And then I ran. I opened the door and ran as fast as I could, considering my heels. Then I thought what the hell and pulled them off. I was now racing down the floor barefoot. My heart was beating loudly. So loudly that I could hear it in my ears.
Eventually I came to the lobby where I saw the security guy. “Hey,” I yelled after him. “Get me the security tapes from the conference room. Now!”
“Right away, madam,” he replied and clicked on the keyboard.
I exhaled. Relief flowing through all of my body. Had I finally managed to escape that asshole once and for all? I still couldn’t believe it. I guessed that was a result of the adrenaline.
Satisfied with myself, I put on my heels again and went out of the offices. Suddenly I didn’t care about anything anymore. I felt nothing.
But there was one last thing I had to do. I fished my cell from my bag.
“Hey, boss. It’s Kayla,” I said, colder than I intended in the first place.
“Oh, hi, Kayla. How are you? Is everything okay? What happened with the proposal? He accepted?”
I sighed. Did I really want to do this? Did I have to? Yes and yes. It was just the right thing to do. What Sean would do. What the real me would do.
“I quit, boss.”
“What? Are you crazy?” he shouted over the phone.
“Perhaps I am crazy, yeah. But I also have evidence of James Clarke, the man you so kindly welcomed today, trying to rape me,” I said resolutely.
I pressed the red button, before my boss could continue to shower me with questions. He was already panicking and screaming on the phone.
One Night With The Tycoon (Billionaire's One Night #1) Page 21