He walked into the dining area and there she was, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and it was the truth. She was helping the maids lay out the table for breakfast, Asher was strapped securely to his baby seat, a bowl of food in front of him that he was making a mess of. She held his gaze for only a brief moment before she went back to what she was doing. The maids mumbled their greetings but he didn’t say a word. “Thank you," one of the maids said to her. She smiled in response. She walked up to Asher. “Look at the mess you made Asher," she said in a playful tone, she looked at the maids with pleading eyes. “I am sorry I am going to take care of this" Henry pulled out a chair. “Thank you” They merely nodded their acknowledgement. “No, no do not worry about it...” “No I can’t" she insisted. “Just go take care of Asher, I think he is going to need to take a long bath to get all these food soils away,” one of the maids said with a chuckle. They left the dining area. Ashley

Henry wasn’t fine without her, far from it. It didn’t help that he had to see her every day. It sucked to have her near yet so far away. Things went back to the usual, she continued to care for Asher whilst he went about his duties. The first few days had been harder for her, she had tried to talk to him but he put up a wall, a defence sort of, he couldn’t be hurt again. The year had been rough, a lot had happened in a short time, he needed to tidy up and by tidying up, it meant completely cutting off his family, he wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Angela was a thing of the past and it meant completely avoiding her, luckily for him, she was making his job a lot easier by staying away and hiding in the shadows. Tidying up also meant putting the chapter with Ashley behind, she didn’t love him, definitely not as much as he had thought, even if it hurt so much to be away from her. He would have to manage. He couldn’t be a good father to Asher if he wasn’t in the right frame of mind

Henry had been having a great day, okay technically not exactly great. He couldn’t concentrate at work at all and so he had come back earlier to work from home. When he came back he had seen Asher with one of the maids, he had not thought much of the fact that he was not with Ashley. He assumed she was in the kitchen helping or maybe in the bathroom. The latter was a bad idea, he was left at the mercy of his tortuous imaginations of her in the bathroom, water dripping down her luscious body... She was the reason why he couldn’t work, she was in his thoughts every moment, and it was maddening. He didn’t think it wise to go look for her and so he had gone to his study to work. Work turned out bland too but he would prefer bland over this torture he had to endure right now. He was still thinking about Ashley, she was in his dreams and his waking thoughts, he was still thinking about her the moment Adam ran into his study, his chest heaving. It would be the first time he would see the ma

“Adrian" “Hop in my man!” Henry did, he looked behind him, rolled his eyes and let out a huge sigh. “Adrian, what did I say about just wanting to talk?” He shrugged. “You didn’t say don’t bring the company” They drove out of the compound. “I assumed when I said I want to simply talk I thought you understand that I meant no violence...” Adrian scoffed. “Who said anything about violence?” “I don’t know...” Henry turned around and stared at the large men, with scary tattoos covering their whole arms, one of them was pumping his chest, another had a scarf tied around his bald head, and he faced forward. “I think it is pretty clear these men are violent, no offence boys...” They merely shrugged. “None taken” one of them mumbled. Adrian groaned and hit the steering wheel dramatically. “Okay fine, fine, fine...dad!” “You need to behave son” Henry replied. Adrian gave him the stink eye. “Slow down...” Adrian looked at him quizzically. “What?” “Just slow down”. Henry said aloud. “

The birthday celebration was already underway, Henry’s residence was the venue, and the poolside had been reconstructed into a water-themed park suited for kids. There were a lot of guests. Ashley tied her hair in a high-up ponytail and had on a simple black dress with a thin strap, stopping just below her knees, it clung somewhat loosely to her body. Not undersized nor oversize, just perfect. She carried Asher on one hip as she hurriedly descended the stairs. He had on a beautiful blue bathing suit. Henry stared in admiration as she approached them, he was always awed by her beauty anytime he laid eyes on her. He feared she would fall even though she had on low-heeled sandals. Adrian whispered in his ears. “You won man" Henry was beaming with smiles. Adrian walked up to them. “How is my favourite God son in the whole world doing?” he took Asher from her. “Hello beautiful" he kissed her cheeks. “Hello, Adrian. It is nice to see you” “Hey I wouldn’t miss this for the world" he re