Nathan
I tried to work but my mind was preoccupied. Alyssa was home alone today as Oliver is in school. He was so excited to start at Harview Academy, the school Alyssa and I concluded on. It had a kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school so if we were happy with what he was learning, he'd probably continue his education with them.
I didn't know how Alyssa was spending her day. I had given her a laptop and encouraged her to pursue writing but I don't think she will. Writing is tied to her parents in a way and I don't think she want to try it again. Maybe I should check up on her.
Hi, Love. I sent, hoping she wasn't busy.
After waiting a couple of minutes, I went back to my work. The hotel's construction is supposed to start soon and I was looking over the blueprints and possible designs. Maybe Alyssa could help me, woman have a knack for designs don't they?
I heard my phone chime and hurriedly picked it up with hopes that it was Alyssa. Hey. It was her. Sorry, I was in the shower.
I had to distract myself from the idea of Alyssa naked. It's okay. I wanted to check on you. How are you doing?
I'm okay. Really bored though.
I frowned at that. There was so much in the house that could entertain her, why wasn't she doing them? I hope she doesn't feel like she's not supposed to. It's her home as much as mine.
I decided to call her. I knew she wouldn't mind and I wouldn't mind hearing her voice. “Hi. Is there anything wrong at home?” I asked after she picked up.
“No,” She replied. “I'm just really bored, there's nothing to do.”
I have paid for the Netflix right? I'll have to check. “Have you tried writing something?”
I heard her sigh. “Nathan, I don't think I can.”
“Why not?”
“It's nothing really.”
“Yeah, right.” The disbelief was obvious in my voice.
“I miss Oliver. The house is so quiet without him.” She diverted.
“So you don't miss me? That hurts.” I teased, a smile playing on my lips.
I could already imagine her face reddening on hearing that. “No, I do. I really do.”
Hearing that made me smile wider. Alyssa brought me a kind of happiness I hadn't had in a while. I loved that we were trying a romantic relationship, I just hope I don't mess it up, I don't want her to leave me.
“I miss you too.” I confessed. She's the reason I haven't been able to get any work done all morning, I was thinking about her. “And Oliver too, of course.”
She giggled. The sound made my heart flutter. “When are we picking him up, again? I wanna hear all about his day.”
Her excitement made me chuckle. “I'm sure he'll have a lot to say.” He always does. “His dismissal is 2pm.”
Three hours away.
“That's too long!” She whined childishly.
I laughed again. We talked casually for a few more minutes before she hung up. I still had that grin on my face when Jacob came in.
“Looks like someone had a good night.” He taunted with a smirk.
I did have a good night but not in the way he thinks. Sleeping next to Alyssa was enough to help me sleep better.
When I didn't reply, he chortled and dropped a folder on my table. “I got something for you.” I still didn't say anything and took the brown folder that better be containing the information I asked for. “Do you know how hard it was to get this info? I had to call in a few favours I wasn't planning on using till I don't know when.”
“Thank you, Jacob.” I said flatly, my smile not completely gone.
“You know, your girl is really something. She's changed you, Nathan.” He commented. I stared at him quizzically. “It's a good change, don't worry. It's been years since you've smiled like this, since you've tried to be remotely romantic for anyone. The last girl you were like this was...”
“Don't say her name.” I stopped him before he could.
I knew who he was talking about. Jodie Blake, Oliver's mother, was the last woman I even tried to be romantic for and come to think of it, it was all pointless. She wasn't half the woman Alyssa was. She was vain, selfish and manipulative. I guess I didn't notice because I was so blinded by her looks or my supposed love.
Alyssa was nothing like her and I liked it that way. She is perfect just the way she is, I hope she realises that. I asked Jacob to look further into her past away from her family, I wanted to know about her past friends this time. I wanted to know why Alyssa was tensed whenever I touched her before and this investigation was going to help me achieve that.
“Didn't mean for you to get so catty.” Jacob's remark brought me out of my reverie. “I gotta go now. Hope your happy with what's in there, it's barely anything.”
With that, he left not before I said goodbye. I was curious about what was in the folder but I felt that it would be best if I opened it after she and I got Oliver from school. I don't know what's in there and I didn't want to be in a bad mood if it was so upsetting.
Hours later, the sound of my intercom buzzing interrupted my work. It was a few minutes before 2pm and I knew exactly who it was.
“Sir, your wife is here.” My personal assistant said.
I told her to let Alyssa in and less than a minute later, my door open and she stepped in. I shut my laptop quickly and welcomed her with a hug and a peck on her soft lips.
“Ready to go?” She asked.
“It isn't even 2pm yet, we don't have to go right now.” I pointed out.
She wasn't having it and argued. “If we leave now we'll be there right on time. I don't want to be late.”
I conceeded and placed a hand on her lower back, leading her put of the room. As usual, she tensed at first. She should be use to me doing this by now. We haven't had sex yet but this was where I rested my hand anytime we walked together. It's was either here or I held her hand in mine. I did that instead. Her hand was small compared to my own and it fit so cutely.
She smiled thankfully at me and I kissed the back of her hand in return. We got down to the underground garage and I helped her slip into the passenger seat of my Audi.
We were going to pick Oliver and maybe have lunch after then Alyssa was going to use her car to take him home. She would've gotten him herself but he wanted to both of us to come for whatever reason.
The school was barely thirty minutes away from my office and twenty minutes away from our house. I parked the car and passed by kids getting picked up by their own parents as we made our way to Oliver's class.
He was playing with some toys when we got there but he didn't fail to notice us. “Dad! Ally!” He cheered, running up to us.
He hugged Alyssa first then me. “Hey, Bud, how was your day?” I asked.
With how jumpy he was and the grin on his face I'd say he had a good day. “It was awesome! Come on, I have to show you something.” He pulled us to the wall and pointed at a chart. “I got a gold star on my behavior chart today, if I get ten stars this week I get a bag of candy.”
“Good job, Olly!” Alyssa praised ruffling his hair to the boy's disapproval.
His teacher, Miss Emily, approached us shortly after. “Mr and Mrs Graham?” We nodded. “I'm here to give Oliver's evaluation.” Oliver went to get his things while she spoke to us. “Oliver is a very well mannered and smart child but he has a short attention span and o don't know exactly what to do about it.”
I already knew about what she was saying. Even in his last school, his teacher said the same thing. “We'll get him to concentrate more.” I promised.
“Thank you, Sir.” Oliver returned with his bag and lunch box, Supa Strikas themed, obviously. “I'll see you tommorow, Oliver. Don't forget to do your homework.”
“I won't. Bye, Miss Emily.” We walked out together.
Oliver was still hyper and rambling all about his day while I drove us to McDonald's for lunch.
“I made two friends today. One is Israel, he's a boy and Samantha but I call her Sam, she's a girl.” He shoved a chip into his mouth. “And she has pretty hair.”
“Ooh,” Alyssa teased. “someone's got a girlfriend.”
The way the boy's face reddened was amusing. “She's just my friend, not my girlfriend.”
“If you say so.”
“She is!” He insisted with an annoyed huff.
“Okay, okay. I get it.” Alyssa surrendered with a laugh. “She's just your friend. What about homework, do you have a lot?”
The boy groaned dramatically. “I have so many. The teacher was being really mean and gave us homework on our first day. It should be against the law to give children so much on the first day of school!”
I couldn't help the chortle that escaped my mouth. “Well, how many do you have?”
“Two.” Alyssa and I looked at each other before we burst into laughter. Oliver didn't like that at all. “Well, it's still a lot.”
Alyssa controlled herself first. “I promise I'll help when we get back home.” He simply nodded and took a bite of his burger, clearly not happy that we laughed so brazenly at him.
It wasn't long before we left McDonald's to my office after apologising to him of course. We simply switched car and I watched as Alyssa drove away with Oliver in the back seat, waving furiously at me.
I made my way back to my office ready to see what was in that folder. I was reading the contents soon after and what I saw left me completely appalled. On my table were numerous hospital records, copies of the originals at least, and they were all Alyssa's, dating back to when she was fourteen.
There was something common to all of them. She had been sent to the hospital a large number of times for bodily injuries. Fractured or broken bones, bruised organs, burns, cuts, she had had them all. Attached to each record was her statement of what happened and many of them circled around the same thing.
I was attacked walking to school.
I was on my way to a friend's house then a guy came out from no where and beat me up.
One of our workers at home did this.
I was attacked by a group of guys.
The least common ones where saying that she was clumsy and fell which wasn't completely unbelievable but with the severity of injuries she had, I couldn't help but ask questions.
Could she be lying?
Why would she?
I pushed past the hospital papers to the ones that had information about her private life. It stated that didn't have a lot of friends, in fact, it seemed like after she turned fourteen, she stopped relating with people all together. She never had a boyfriend, which I was happy about but still confused.
Why didn't she have friends?
Why didn't she date?
Why did she suddenly distance herself from everything a teenager is supposed to do when she turned fourteen?
It just wasn't adding up. Sure, Alyssa isn't the most outgoing person but she couldn't have been that reserved, could she?
Unfortunately there was still more for me to figure out. Turns out that Alyssa is Spanish from her mother's side and her maternal grandparents were still alive. Has she had any contact with them?
The final piece of paper provided the most shocking information out of everything I'd seen all day.
Author's Note:
Hey, guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. The cliffhanger was amazing, right? Guess what, today is my brother's birthday but he's in boarding school and I miss him so I'm dedicating this chapter to him.
Questions:
1. What do you think the shocking information is?
2. Do you think Nathan's going to find out the truth about her past soon?
3. Who's POV should I do next?
Bye for now. Don't forget to vote and comment. ❤️
–E