The Billionaire's Authentic Daughter ▶️

7 7 | J U L I E T

"I'm actually quite impressed," I told Colin.

"I knew you'd be!" He said and I knew he looked proud of himself even without looking at him.

I was more busy looking at Murat–huge, intimidating, all muscle no brain giant sporting a tiny black eye matching the size of Colin's tiny fist. Josiah had walked into the cafeteria with a slight limp and Colin told me how he had swept him off his feet, a little clumsily but it had still worked in bringing all his weight down on his left knee after which he had to he helped up by his friends. Mike hadn't suffered any visible injuries but he said he had managed to get a punch in his stomach. Only Kaan and Maira weren't harmed. I hoped Colin had hurt Kaan a bit because I didn't want them to wonder why he was the only boy who had not been attacked.

Colin had suffered the most in the fight but I was proud of him that he at least fought back, no matter how little damage he managed to inflict. My main goal was to make them capable of doing something at the very least. It would take a lot to get Frida and Eli to that point because fear won even if you had all the strength in the world to defeat them.

Before I could compliment him further, Boonsri sat down next to him, already occupying his attention. It was like that girl was stuck to him all the damn time.

Abeo plopped down next to me with a huge grin. He wrapped an Anne around my waist. He stared at me expectantly until I was forced to acknowledge him.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you remember what's tomorrow?"

Before I could say I couldn't care less to remember, Boonsri cut in. "It's his birthday."

I looked over at her to see she looked smug as if remembering her ex's birthday told us a lot about how she moved on from him. I threw a pointed look at Colin but he was too stupid to notice that this was evidence that she still had some feelings for him or else why would she try to show off that she knew Abeo better than I. She wanted to show Abeo that she cared.

At my blank gaze, she looked back at me in disappointment. "Did you not know that? What a shame. I know Colin's and we aren't even dating yet." She winked at me. "Soon."

Colin, not having expected to hear Boonsri's intentions from her directly, sputtered over his food.

"Did you forget even after I'd told you at least a thousand times?" Abeo whined.

"I wouldn't remember it even if you told me a thousand times more." I said, not adding that I didn't bother to keep useless information like that in my memory. It was selective exclusion. As were the many times he yapped about his good looks and his talent in soccer.

He pouted. "There's a birthday party tomorrow night, more like a business party but all of you are invited," he said, sweeping his hand over the entirety of the table. "The party will be pretty boring but at least you'll get good food. And it's free!"

"Count us in!" Aurelio bellowed, ever the foodie he was. Then he turned to Frida. "We'll try everything on the menu."

It seemed food was mainly what they bonded over. They've had a lot of dates which almost always involved something with food.

"Like a business party, you say? Is it always like that?" I asked.

"Yeah, my birthdays have always been about extending the business, maintaining good relations with suppliers and investors and how I'm going to take over the company one day."

"Must be a big party."

"Of course, gets a lot crowded sometimes."

Which meant his dad will be busy attending to the guests at all times providing me with the perfect opportunity to take another look at his office. I needed to get into the secret compartment but it was password protected. Which was why I was going to have to dust it for his fingerprints.