(Red’s POV)“Did somebody die?” Liam asked as he walked into the dining room to join us for dinner.Ariana’s nostrils flared, and looked at me accusingly. “Nope, but someone fired the beautiful nanny supervisor.” She sighed as she watched him pull a chair and sit in his usual seat.“You fired Aya? Why? Where are the kids?” His forehead creased, glancing at the empty chairs.Ariana shook her head, giving him a signal that I didn’t want to talk about it. Liam shrugged and changed the topic, but this time his questions were mostly about the company my sister was managing. I ignored them, eating my steak in peace. When I was done, I rose to my seat and left them in the dining room to attend another online meeting. Although I told Aya I would talk to the kids, I still did not ask Cora to cancel it. It was a short meeting, and when I was done, I decided to check on my kids, fulfilling my promise of talking to them tonight.When I reached Violet’s room, her door was locked. It was still ea
(Red’s POV)“You should go and ask Aya yourself.”I told Ariana a firm no last night, but my sister said I would never know what happened today unless I asked her. I could not rely on my kids’ stories when Violet and Green didn’t like to talk to me, Blue was Switzerland, and the twins tended to make up stories. This morning, I had to see her, so here I was in the backseat of the car, unsure if she would talk to me today.“Dante,” I tapped my driver’s shoulder to stop the car when I saw Aya walking.It was only seven-thirty in the morning, but she was dressed like the one she had yesterday, only now she was wearing a pink t-shirt and faded denim pants. I wondered where she was going at this hour.My driver opened the window and smiled at Aya when he stopped. She bent and peeked inside the car.“Good morning, Aya,” greeted Dante.“Oh, hi, Dante! What are you -” When she saw me, she sneered and walked away. I had no choice but to get out of the car.“Aya!”She turned to me, looking unhap
(Red’s POV)This wasn’t the first time I went to my children’s school, but as I got busier at work, I hardly remembered the last time I walked this hallway. I tilted my head, wanting to hold Aya’s hands to stop her from fidgeting, but I hadn’t fully recovered yet from what had happened in the car.“What exactly happened yesterday?” I asked, remembering she wanted to talk to me about something, so maybe this was it.“When I arrived here yesterday, I saw Arnold push Onyx and Sapphire. The twins ran to me, and well…” she wrinkled her nose. “They called me their mommy. I guess he’s been bullying them for quite some time. Onyx pushed him, but hey! Dudley, I mean Arnold did not even budge an inch.” She looked at me. “You should have seen how big Arnold was compared to Onyx, but I did not tell him or bragged anyone here that I was your wife. Why would I do that?” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.“Let’s just have this settled so we can leave immediately,” I muttered and pressed my lips.She nod
(Red’s POV)“I’m sorry, Red. I didn’t mean to overstep again, but that was cool,” Aya shrugged her eyebrows before walking past me after we exited Mrs. Archer’s office.Mrs. Castelo left ahead of us, upset with how the meeting went. At first, she did not want to back down from what she had started, but after receiving a call from her husband, she didn’t seem to have a choice but to accept her defeat. Mike knew why I was in school today, but when I called and told him the situation, he promised he would handle the situation. I just had no idea how he did it, but it was not my concern now.I wanted to follow Aya immediately, but Cora’s message to read an urgent email made me stop walking, taking me a few seconds to read and reply to her. When I reached the parking lot, Dante was outside the car.“Where’s Aya?” I asked Dante and wondered why he had given me the car key.“She’s inside,” he answered. “Umm, Red, is it okay if I go to the restroom?”I nodded, pressing the remote key to unloc
(Red’s POV)The Sherrilyn news was not a joke because after Mike’s call, she reached for me, calling about my children’s ‘new mommy’. She wanted to meet her… more like to scrutinize her the way she said it.I was never afraid of Sherrilyn, not even when Scarlett and I eloped at the young age of eighteen. Cupid hit my heart with his arrow, that I didn’t let go of her when I met her at the party. It was love at first sight, a beautiful and should have been never-ending love, but she insisted on visiting her mother five months after she gave birth to our twins because she missed her. Scarlett promised me she would return immediately, but she never did. I could not deny that I blamed Sherrilyn because if she had given her time to visit, my wife would never think of going to her.The kids were all I had, and if Sherrilyn took them away from me, it was worse than taking my heart and tearing it into a million pieces. Three pairs of eyes from adults and five pairs from my children were gawkin
(Aya’s POV)“You did what?” Addie turned to me as if she heard me wrong.She peeked her head from the kitchen door, furrowing her forehead as if I had said incomprehensible words. Leslie could not stop laughing, almost falling from her chair as I told them how I got the job to the time I lost it and rehired this morning.My cousin went out of the kitchen with three cups of coffee on the tray, and I had to stand immediately from the couch to help her. Leslie is working on Addie’s tutorial center website at the dining table. I took the cups, gave one to her partner, got one for me, and placed the last cup on the table.“Why? Is it a mortal sin to tell them I was a lesbian?” I asked, pouting my lips.She pulled a chair, peered at the screen to see what Leslie was typing, and then looked at me. She shook her head.“You’re just crazy! A disgrace in the family,” she rolled her eyes and smirked at me.I scoffed, pulling my feet up on the chair and hugging my knees. “Because I lied?”“Because
(Aya’s POV)“Come on, Red! Answer the phone!” I grunted as I bit my thumb.If Addie’s apartment floor could speak, it would probably scream and tell me to stop pacing. I wondered how many calories I had burned from moving, but unless Red answered the phone, only then could my soul rest.After almost an hour of crying, Violet had finally fallen asleep and was now on the couch. Addie had to sit on the loveseat to watch her, making sure that the child would not fall to the floor, and Leslie had stopped working and helped me call Ariana, but none of them answered the phone.I tried again, and this time, I got lucky. He finally got my call.“Aya, this is not the best time to talk. Violet’s missing and -”“I know!” I growled but pressed my lips tighter when Addie glared at me. “I know,” I whispered this time. “She’s here.”“What do you mean she’s there?” He asked frantically.“She’s here… We’re here in Addie’s, and she’s finally asleep, thanks, God. What on earth happened?”“We’re coming to
(Aya’s POV)If Red were not holding Violet in his arms, I would not care that he was my employer. My blood boiled and exploded, shooting every part of my body, and when a portion of it hit my heart, the small organ inside my chest hammered my ribcage. I had never been this mad before that I balled my hands into a fist, ready to punch him in the face.Red seemed not satisfied with humiliating me. He turned around and smiled at me, blinking his eyes like he was trying to look cute. He was not slightly drunk, but a man intoxicated with the alcohol he drank that he was losing his control and sanity altogether.“Aya, will you marry me?” He asked.“God, I knew this would happen, but this is not how I imagine him doing this,” Leslie chuckled and nudged Addie. “Get Violet,” she said.I didn’t know what got into my cousin’s head, but she followed Leslie and took Violet from his arms. To my surprise, Red gave his daughter to her, and my insane boss knelt on one knee.He panicked, groping someth