With Love

Chapter Eight

Hello Everyone!!

I'm not going to lie to you, most of my focus this week has been on keeping up with the Little Mix drama and I'm not even sorry. I know my flaws.

Who's your favorite band/singer/group?? Let me know on this line!

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My fingers pressed into the sides of my head, hopefully, if I pressed hard enough I'd crush my skull and be done with this conversation.

"I cannot believe you agreed to go to their gala," Jasper stated for the third time this morning. He paced the length of my office, his dress shoes sliding across the floor.

I hadn't seen him for the last two days he'd been home, making sure to keep myself so busy and out of reach that he would think ignoring me was his idea. It worked like a charm.

My nails dug into my scalp for a fraction of a second and then placed them on the desk in front of me. "We can't afford to miss something like this, Jasper." He threw his body into one of the chairs in front of my desk.

"The last thing we should be doing right now is going out in public and showing our faces, how thoughtless are you?"

I slammed my hand on the desk and pushed out of my chair, glaring down at him. "The last thing we need is more enemies which we will no doubt have if the Love's don't attend this fucking event."

"So you're willing to shove us all in one room for business? Our reputation is more important than our actual lives?" He demanded, not bothering to stand up against me. If he did, it would look like a challenge, something he knew he couldn't do.

"I'm not forcing any of you to attend. If you don't want to go, then don't. If you don't want Atticus or Amari there, then they'll stay home. And if Elijah doesn't want to be there then so be it but I'm going. Father would have my head if I disrespected the Xiao family."

Understanding slowly dawned on his face and he looked down at his lap, his eyebrows furrowed. "Business first, family second, just like Father."

I slumped back into my chair, finally feeling some sort of common ground with my brother. "Father believed his family was business, you couldn't convince him otherwise," I supplied, leaning my head against the back of my desk chair. Jasper failed to understand that I did this for my family.

He sighed, "Fine, go to the gala then."

My eyes narrowed on his face. "I don't recall asking for your permission. You need to watch your words, Jasper, I'm getting sick of listening to you berate me every chance you get," I said calmly, linking my fingers together across my stomach.

His eyes flared. "I'm just trying to help-"

"No, you're not." I quickly cut him off. "You're trying to act like you're the voice of reason by second-guessing my decisions." His brown eyes stared into mine. "I'm going to politely ask you to step off before things get worse between us. We're supposed to be a united front."

"We are."

I gave him an unconvinced look. "Then you've gotta act like you're on my side once in a while."

A knock on my office door cut through our conversation. "Come in."

Lorenzo stuck his head in the room and regarded me quietly. "Someone's here to see you," he said, his deep voice soft.

I sighed, catching onto his silence. "Do I even want to know?" His lips thinned. "Send them in." He disappeared. "Honestly, if one more person shows up unannounced, I'm going to lose my shit."