Chapter 162: Ademia

Mark's POV

Gray and I had s^x for the entire night because she wanted to fall pregnant again. This is what I wanted before we compromised. She just surprises me. Lana would cry during the night and then we had to stop too. Gray is feeding her now while I get documents together. I will be checking up on Sternpoint and Ademia today.

"I always admire you in your suits, you make them look good." Gray says in the doorway as she holds Lana in her arms.

I smile at her. "How is she?" I ask.

"She is sleeping." she says as she looks down at Lana. "I'm sorry that our s^x gets disturbed because of her." she says as she looks up at me.

"She does quiet down when she is with me." I smirk at her.

"You just want to prove that she is a daddy's girl." she smiles.

"She is." I return her smile.

"I will be seeing how your company is doing today." I say as I take my laptop bag and I walk over to her. I place a chaste kiss onto her lips. I pull away.

I lean forward and I place a kiss on Lana's forehead. "Please let me know how Ademia is doing." she says.

"I will." I give her a smile."I will see you later."

"I love you."

"I love you more." I say and then I leave.

I arrive at Ademia and as I walk down the hall, eyes are on me. This isn't new to me. I continue to walk down the hall until I get to Gray's assistant's desk. This is unbelievable. Stacks upon stacks of files are placed on her desk.

She looks up at me, nervously. "Hi, how may I help you?" she asks as she stands up from her chair and she pushes her black framed glasses up.

" I'm Mr Stern and I will be here for the day." I say.

"Oh...Mr Stern. I'm Donna, Mrs Stern's assistant...Her office is right behind me, the door is unlocked."

"Thank you." I say and I walk towards the office without saying another word.

When I enter Gray's office, I admire it. It is the first time that I have been in her office. I was only in the boardroom. This office is a bit bigger than mine at Sternpoint. I walk towards the desk and I place my laptop bag on it. I take out my laptop and documents. There is a knock on the door. I turn around to look who it was. "Mr Stern, would you like anything to drink or to eat?" Donna asks.

"I would like coffee, please." I say. She smiles before she walks away and I smile to myself. Gray has a funny assistant, not what I had expected. The poor woman is swamped with work. I can understand now what Gray meant about employees working hard and they deserve better.

I set up my laptop and I take a seat on Gray's chair. "You are not supposed to be in here." I look up to see a man walking towards the desk.

"And you are?" I ask.

"Mr Brian." he says as he comes to a stop in front of the desk.

"Are you the boss?" I ask, furrowing my brows.

"No, I'm the financial manager." he says.

"Well, I suggest that you be a financial manager instead of walking around. I'm sure that you have work to do." I say.

"You cannot be here and take over," he says.

"Mr Brian, I am Mrs Stern's partner. I am keeping an eye on this company. Consider me your boss for the duration that she is on maternity leave. You do not get to boss people around with your sh^tty attitude. Consider this your final warning." I say with a glare.

"You cannot do that-"

"Oh, I can. The more you talk, your next step will be out of this building and we can replace you with a click of a finger." I say. He turns around. "Oh and Mr Brian, please give Miss Donna a good raise in her salary." anger boils within him and he walks out of the office as if he was on a mission. I can't believe that Gray has to put up with these kinds of employees. I will suggest that she makes changes to them.

"Mr Stern, here is your coffee." Donna places it gently down on the desk. "I hope that it tastes good, I know that not many people like the way that I make it. Mrs Stern hasn't had coffee yet and I understand that she was pregnant but I will be the assistant that I can be." she says nervously.

"Thank you. Please, have a seat." I gesture with my hand to the chair across from me and she looks at him.

"Uh, okay." she says, and then she sits down.

"Do you get off enough?" I ask.

"I work straight and I do take home work to get it done." she says. That is a good thing that I told Mr Brian to give her a raise.

"You need a break, you have a lot of work. I will suggest that when Mrs Stern is back at work that you take off. I already asked Mr Brian to increase your salary for your hard work."

"I don't know what to say." she says.

"You deserve this. We cannot work non-stop and forget that we have a life too." I say.

She was happy about it and she seemed hesitant, but this is the type of environment that I want to create for the employees. I want them to feel refreshed and for them to enjoy their work. The others are a big issue for me. I want to get rid of Mr Brian. I would rather have Jared work with Gray further. I don't want my wife to have added stress on her. I know that I shouldn't take over completely, but that man gets to me.

Gray's POV

I end up cleaning the house while Lana is asleep because Mark's mother is visiting today. I am still not a fan of her and I am still keeping my distance, but I will not keep her away from Lana. It was hard for me to just accept her apology, but I had to because life is short and she does seem genuine.

There is a knock on the door and I open it. "Gray, it is lovely to see you." she says, and she places a light kiss on both of my cheeks that I can barely even feel. She walks further inside of the lounge.

"How are you?" I ask as I closed the door and I turn my attention to her. She takes a seat on the sofa as I walk towards her.

"I cannot complain and how about you?" she asks.

"I'm good. Lana is asleep, when she wakes up, you can spend time with her." I say. "Would you like anything to drink?" I ask.

"No, Thank you." she says. I take a seat on the recliner.

"I didn't think that Mark would ever want kids." she says. "He was way too busy with the business, he only had Ivy." she says.

"Why does Ivy have to be brought up all the time?" I ask.

"I loved her, I saw so much of myself in her. We had a bond and she was like a daughter to me." she says.

"You weren't a good mother to Mark for his entire life, but you are saying that Ivy meant more to you than Mark ever did." I state.

"That is why I am making it up now to him."

"What you are doing is just being a grandmother who is spending time with her granddaughter. You want to make up that time of your life with Lana. We want her to have that bond with you, but don't think that this is actually making it up to Mark for all of those years. I know that this isn't your style, but I believe that you will adapt." I say.

"You are far more mature than your age." she says.

"I am. That is why Mark loves me. He needed someone like me, not someone that is after the glints and glamour. He needed love and someone that cared for him deeply. Ivy didn't have that. I'm glad that you are around though." I say. Lana starts to cry "I will go and get her." I say as I stand up from the recliner.

I get Lana and she stops crying when I pick her up from her crib. I walk down the stairs with her. "Grandma is here to visit you." I say to her. Her green eyes are just looking at me. she has Mark's eyes.

I give her to Rose. Lana is just peaceful by anyone. She likes the attention. I cannot help but smile as Rose interacts with her.

Amber's POV

I have a privileged life, I always got what I wanted. I am the youngest daughter. My two older sisters live in London. They are both married with kids. I never saw myself having kids because I'm a carefree and outgoing person. I don't like to be tied down, I like to be free to do whatever I like. I love traveling. I have always traveled around with my parents. They moved to Los Angeles due to business, according to my father. I got the house.

When I started to work at Sternpoint, I always had this crush and dream that perhaps I would be the next Mrs Stern, but that didn't work out. The man was hot and all eyes were constantly on him until Gray walked into his life. I knew that Mark wouldn't be interested in me, he had that intimidated look until Gray.

My crush faded and I thought that I would be a nun for the rest of my life. I never did that one-night stands. I wanted something stable and long term and then Mariko walked into my life.

Mariko is the most amazing man in my life and I believe that my dreams eventually came true. "How was your day?" he asks me as he takes off his suit jacket.

"It was okay." I say as I sit down on the sofa just staring at nothing.

"Something is bothering you." he says, he knows me well. I didn't want kids at this moment. I don't even know what he would say. I was going to look at the other options because my life would be ruined and no travelling, until Gray spoke to me at the hospital.

Mariko sits down on the sofa next to me. "How do you feel about kids?" I ask and I turn to look at him.

He looks taken aback by the question "Well, I want two kids but I am patient." he says as he looks at me. "Why? Why the question?" his brows furrow.

"Well, you know that I have been sick lately, I missed my period and I went to the hospital today." I say, looking at him. The next words might change everything for the worst or better.

He thinks a bit and then his eyes widen. "You're pregnant?" he asks softly.

I nod but then tears fall, I wipe them away with the back of my hand. " I'm sorry. Doctor Fairman said that contraceptives aren't one hundred percent effective."

"Amber, I want this. I always wanted this and I'm happy even if it's now that we are parents. Dont be upset about this." He takes me inside of his embrace. "I know it might have come at a bad time but for me, it's perfect," he says as I shed tears.

I am going to be a mom at a young age. I guess that I will make this work with him. We have everything. We have each other.