For those of you who don't know who Salvador is, read chapter 8 and 9
As for Aubrey Simmons, she is just a neighbour.
PLEASE READ THE CHAPTERS THOROUGHLY.
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Sophia was sitting on her chair with her head resting against it. She looked at the clock in front of her eyes.
Tick tick tick.
The sound of clock was not soothing at all, but pain to her ears. She did not want the day to end, she wanted it to go on and on and on and the night should never arrive.
Tonight, Conner was supposed to come over for dinner again. Serenity invited him over over the call last night and she wanted to stop him, but she didn't know with what solid reason.
She sighed as she pushed herself off the chair and stood up abruptly. She needed to discuss a few things with this man. Yes, he was allowed in her daughter's life, not hers.
She walked out of the cabin but did not forget to carry a file. She didn't need the gossip mongers to call her a slut who goes into the boss's cabin without any work.
Yes, her office was that bad.
She made her way towards his cabin door and knocked loudly.
"Come in" His deep voice called from inside, his voice alone gave Sophia nightmares.
Some good ones too.
Sophia took a deep breath as she entered the large door and then closed it behind her. The interior was same as always, dark and cold.
Why won't he ever turn on all the light? Just the lamp beside him.
"What's the matter?" He asked never taking his eyes off the blue file in front of him. It looked like he was studying something. She sighed as she walked right up to him and sat in front of him, not waiting for him to speak.
"Conner, I need to set some boundaries" She spoke with so much conviction, even conner had to stop and look up at her.
He stared at her for a second, then intertwined his long slender fingers and leaned back on his black leather chair.
She looked at his face, the dim light showed just how perfect his each side was. The one which was lit, was making his dark blue eyes seem like the sea were being enjoyed by the sunrays. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he gulped.
"Stop staring and speak" He told her, making her eyes widen.
"Yes, that. I just wanted to remind you that you are allowed only in my daughter's life, not mine. If you want to spend time with her take her to some park or anything but refuse her if she invites you for lunch dinner or whatever. I don't want you anywhere near me. I hate you and I think you know that so I don't think I need to say anymore. That's all I wanted to tell you, now I must leave." Sophia grabbed the table in front of her and was ready to get up when suddenly a chuckle made her stop.
"So you think you can get away by odering me around like this? You think I'll follow your command? Who am I your dog?" He did not move but the twitch in his eyes was not ignored by her. She gulped as she looked at him and then the large window behind him. The clouds were grey, almost black like it always was.
"Sophia, let me make it clear for you. Yes, I'm only allowed in my daughters life, but clearly you did not read our contract properly before signing it, did you?" He smiled at her before bringing his hand up from under his desk and keeping the paper in front of her. "Rule number 4 under section 4 says that anything negative related to Serenity if not handled by you properly would be taken care of by me. Your lap dog and you have disappointed me not once but twice. I do not care for you, I care for her. I want to make sure Richard does not harm her in any way and for that i need to keep him away from her. And to keep him away from her, i need to keep him away from you. You are not a priority to me but a mere liabilty. So i suggest you to read the contract properly" He sighed "it would all be so easy if you were not there" He said the last part more to himself but it was like a slap on her face.
It would all be so easy if you were not there..
If you were not there..
Not there..
You... not there...easy...not there...
This was all that she was think about.
It hurt. It hurt so bad.
Sophia got up from her seat and walked out of his cabin ignoring his voice that called out to her.
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Sophia sat there as she looked at the watch. 4:13pm it said. She knew it was way too late for her to stay here, but she didnt want to go. She didn't want to leave, she didn't want to go outside. To go out and face the world.
"Oh look whose here" Sara, a girl from Sophia's class stood in front of her with her friend behind her.
"The orphan!" They all yelled in unison and laughed. Sophia looked down at her feet and tried to walk away but was stopped when Sara grabbed her arm.
"Where do you think you're going orphan? Where is your daddy? Left you?" She snickered. Sophia closed her eyes desperately trying herself from crying. She was shaking by now.
"It would be so easy if you were not there. Your father left because he had to see your ugly face everyday" and then they all laughed.
Sophia sucked in a deep breath. It still hurt. All those words, the bullying the bad memories. Everything.
"You're a slut a cunt! I never loved you!"
"A bitch!.. how dare you!"
"You should die!"
"You ate your father"
"Did you fuck your father too?"
"Hey baby how about you come to my place tonight?"
"You just want my money"
"Went through plastic surgery "
"Killed her father for money"
Sophia closed her eyes shut and she brought her trembling hands up to her face and rubbed it slowly. Why was it so hard? It felt so bad. She had to endure everything alone. Every curse every lie every damn thing.
She looked at the clock again it was almost 7. She had asked Ciel to prepare dinner and her maid to dress Serenity up. She didn't want to deal with any of this right now.
Slowly she got up and pulled her purse over her arm. Looking at herself in her front mirror one last time she walked out of her cabin ready to face another night.
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"Con-Con" Serenity smiled as she ran over to him and hugged his legs. He smiled and bend down, scooping her up in his arms. "Hey" He whispered.
Sophia stood there leaning against the door frame just glaring at him with a blank expression.
"Ciel guide our guest in. I'm heading upstairs" She was about to turn when suddenly Sophia stopped her. "Mommy won't you be eating with us?" She asked her voice soft and sad. Sophia looked at her and smiled sadly, "No mommy is tired" With that she turned around and left.
As he said, it would be easy if she was not around.
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"Erica I'm telling you it's fine!" Sophia groaned as Erica yelled over the phone threatening to kill Conner if he had done something.
"No he did nothing! God you're so loud bye idiota!" Sophia yelled back and hung up, knowing Erica would let this slide just for a few hours and would probably call in the evening.
She had been avoiding meeting Erica and Xavier for the past few days. She feared they would at once be able to tell something was wrong. She just needed some time alone.
She had made sure Serenity had enough time to spend with Conner every once in a while. She made her time table for her piano and art classes and whatever time she had she would give it to him.
She had very little or almost no time to herself and Seremity anymore. It's not like serenity complained. She as a child was happy to visit new fancy places where Conner and did not ask for her mother much. Sophia too, did not interfere.
She was doing all this on purpose. She wanted to spend less time with her daughtet, so she could get rid of her own insecurities. She knows at some point of time when she grows up, she will ask why Conner is always near her treating her like his own child. She wouldn't be able to lie to her then, and maybe Serenity would leave her. Her good for nothing mother.
She did not have much hope left in her infact she had nothing left in her. She was tired and nothing is more deranged, more harmful, more broken than a woman who is tired.
She sighed as she picked up the phone that was ringing for the second time. The first one she had ignored. "Hello?" She asked her voice small. It was funny how she wanted to sound strong but was not even able to speak properly.
"In my office. Now." With that the phone got disconnected. Sophia looked at the receiver in her hand and slowly kept it down.
She got up from her seat and started moving toward the office. She had been avoiding him since the day they last spoke. She would just nod at his commands or give him the files he asked for. Nothing more. He had tried talking with her but had failed miserably.
She knocked on the door and went inside not even waiting for him to tell her tom come in. To her surprise, he was not sitting on his usual position instead he was pacing back and forth in the empty space near his desk.
Once he saw her, he stopped. His eyes looked as blue as the ocean, like they always would. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it. He tried again, but closed it again.
She stood there, looking at him trying to fight his own battles. At last she sighed,"What do you want?"
Conner looked at her, he really looked at her. For the first time, she made him nervous. He wanted her to talk to him to fight back but she had been avoiding him and he knew why. So this is why he came up with the prefect plan.
"Pack your bags. We're going to Paris"