8: On a first day

Bella

“Mum, let’s go check,” Henry was the first to break free from the embrace, already heading to the door.

“No… I will check,” I stopped him just as his hand reached the door handle.

Instinct pulled me toward the window. No one ever stopped by our apartment in a black Royce, never. Except, perhaps, a lost cab, and even that was rare.

Maybe it was someone who had missed his way and needed directions, though that thought didn’t sit right. Or maybe someone who…

I cut the thought off before it could finish forming.

I turned to my lovely kids, a smile on my face despite my racing heart, not letting any more thoughts out. “Can you two go into your rooms and don’t come out unless I call you out? Let mum go check who it is.”

Henry’s face turned into a frown, but he quickly eased off.

“Alright, Mum,” they both smiled when I ran my arms through their hair, then disappeared with their munched packs into their rooms.

I straightened, turning to the door. My heart was racing as the description of the car kept replaying in my head. With my kids already in their rooms, I was a little sure of their safety, peradventure this wasn’t what I thought. Yet I couldn’t shake off the growing unease as I turned back instead to the window.

But as my arms rested on the rail, a knock came from outside, forcing a sharp exhale from me.

I turned and opened the door with panting breath after several thoughts of alerting Sir Philips with a call or a text.

Two men in black suits, broad frames, emotionless, cold expressions, and black shades, stood firmly by the door.

One was a little chubby while the other was slender, but their build and posture got bile rising in my throat at the instant.

My eyes travelled on their own past them to the entrance, where the sleek black Royce with tinted glasses was parked.

“Kate Hunter?” the chubby one inquired abruptly, and I forced my breath into a slightly stable rhythm as I wondered how he got to know my name.

“Y… yeah,” I narrowed my eyes back at the car behind them. “What can I…”

“The boss seeks your presence,” the slender one cut in rudely and almost arrogantly.

My stomach churned as I clenched my fists at my sides, already looking around for just anyone in the neighborhood.

I had never seen these faces before, and then they mentioned their boss seeking my presence?

“How…”

“You would know when you get to the car. Can you move already?” the chubby one sighed impatiently, his shoulders tense and his jaw clenched. He was doing a hard job holding himself together and not pushing me already. I could see it through his countenance and then through my next moves.

I swallowed nervously and defeatedly as my hope drained. It appeared as though the once-busy neighborhood buzzing with activities had suddenly gone still and lifeless, with no one in view. And worse, my kids were in their rooms. I couldn’t trust they would remain there if they suspected I had lingered too long outside, especially Henry, the overly protective one.

I moved my legs discreetly, but with heaviness. My head and thoughts wrestled endlessly.

By the time I realized it, I was standing by the sleek black Royce, not knowing what would happen next. But as I turned to the guards beside me, the car door opened, making me look back, almost startled at the unmoving figure seated in the owner’s seat.

My breath hitched and my heart skipped as his unmistakable scent filled my nose.

“Why did you leave your work unattended?” He didn’t turn to me; his eyes remained fixed ahead.

“S… sir?” I didn’t know what to say as I clutched nervously at my tank top, biting my lips hard. His presence was always so intimidating that I wondered if it was because of his title.

He rubbed his lips angrily, releasing a frustrated groan.

“You left your duties unattended and…” he paused, turning to me quickly, running his eyes from my head down to my toes, “and you are all changed, probably even sleeping it off, when you should be at work? Who does that on a first day?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, sir.”

Were those even the right words?

“Good,” he said in a somewhat calm tone, turning back to the front. “Now get to work, and this should be the last time I get such a record of incompetence.” He spoke dismissively as the car door shut abruptly, the sound leaving me with a sharp intake of breath.

He looked so different from the boss earlier. I couldn’t stop wondering what had changed, how he was the same person who tried to have his way with me, and now he acted so cold and naive, like he was unaware of why I left the office the way I did. Also harsh and calm. Broken and scared, like someone battling something else so intense.

Who really is my boss?

I stood frozen in place when the engine of the car started, snapping me out of it, but the car didn’t move. The fact that he might be scrutinizing me right now behind those bland, tinted glass formed a cold pit in my stomach.

“Aren’t you moving already?” I turned to the chubby guard, looking all furious as he glared, rolling his eyes impatiently. For a moment, I had not even realized they hadn’t gotten into the car yet.

The slender one moved with practiced ease to the other side of the car, the owner’s seat, opening it and motioning with his eyes, to hop in without a second’s delay.

I swallowed hard, turning to the chubby one with his smug expression.

“Can I at least go grab something inside?”

“No.” He wasn’t waiting for my question to fully land. “No, you aren’t allowed inside, and you can’t keep wasting precious time like you own the world.”

I breathed hard, my fists clenching at my sides. “Move, or I would be forced to move you.”

What guts. It took everything in me to hold back, maybe because I was fully aware the boss was in there, watching. I didn’t promise I would hold back next time.

At that point, I looked ahead to the door of my apartment. It was properly shut, the way I had left it.

“The boss would send someone to get whatever you need, if need be,” the slender one spoke more calmly, but I countered.

“Never mind. I will sort it out myself,” I said to him, flashing a weak smile as I forced my legs to the other side of the car, discreetly sending Sir Philips a message to come check on the kids.

I could be a mother desperate to give my kids a decent future, but exposing them in the way of this ambiguous, unpredictable, ruthless boss was something I was never going to allow.

I slipped my phone into my pant pocket and sucked in nervous, puzzled air before hopping into the car.

My heart raced as I turned to the boss seated just next to me. He didn’t look my way, but the coldness, the heaviness, the tension, and the weight that hung around us was so suffocating and intoxicating at the same time.