Chapter 45 Unexpected Guests
Mariko's POV
I am back at work today. Maddie had moved into my apartment and I wanted her to rest. I dropped Bella off at Margaret's house for the day so that Bella wouldn't bother Maddie today. Bella was very happy that Maddie had moved in and so was I. Things were starting to fall into place slowly but I wanted Maddie to get better first before I thought about the next step.
It seems like it is soon but I know Maddie, she is the one for me. I caught up with my work. Luckily there were no meetings, so that I could do Maddie's piled up work too. Maybe I should take it back home with me so that it can keep Maddie's mind busy tomorrow.
"You busy?" Bradley walked into my office, he seemed chirpy.
"Not that much. What can I do for you?" I asked as I leaned back in my chair. He came to a stop in front of my desk, his hands in his pants pockets.
"I was here to see Lana about something. I also saw that Maddie wasn't there. I heard what happened. Lana told me," he said.
"She is okay, she will be off for a few days to recover."
He nodded and looked out of the floor to ceiling windows behind me. "Do you still like her?" he asked, as if he was dying to ask me that.
"Of course, I do. In fact, I love her. It is time that you accept that if you haven't yet. There are plenty of women out there and I hope that you are making the right decisions when it comes to work purposes," I said.
"You are looking at the new manager at Leonard Corporate," he said.
I nodded because he didn't listen to me. He did his own crap, "Congratulations," was all that I said.
"Thanks, dad. I can clearly see the disappointment on your face."
"Well, what did you expect? I was always a good parent to you. I am not at fault for the decisions that you have made. Blame your mother for driving you to hate us. There are issues that you need to deal with, and that is your mother. Your mother could care less about Bella too. Why do you think that Bella is living with me? She doesn't care. Now that I am dating the woman that you like, you can't even be happy for me after all the sh^t that your mother put me through...our little family through."
"Just let me do what I want because you stole the woman that I want. How am I supposed to be happy knowing that my father is my competition," he snapped.
"There is no competition," I said as calmly as I could. I held his gaze.
"If there is no competition and if you love her...better yet, if you love me, you will break up with her and encourage her to be with me." I burst out laughing "Do you think that this is funny?"
I took a deep breath to calm my laughter. "Yes, I do. On a serious note, you will never talk to me that way again. I am your father and you will respect me," I said sternly, holding his gaze. "You will leave Maddie alone, she is happy with me. You will lose her either way because you are hanging out with men that destroyed her. They are reasons why she ended up overdosing. They broke her spirit and you think that you will make it all sunshine and roses for her when you are friends with those people? Forget it and move on. If you will excuse me, I have work to do," I said as I now took my pen and started going through the rest of the documents that were on my desk.
"You are pathetic," he said under his breath. I looked up, scowling at him as he walked towards the door and he kicked the little trashcan. Reggie stood outside of my office, watching him leave.
"What the f^ck?" he said as he entered my office.
"Don't even ask," I let out a sigh.
"That boy has some serious anger issues," he stood in front of my desk.
"I know, but I am done with talking to him. He wants me to break up with Maddie so that he can have her. That will never happen."
Reggie laughed, "Good luck with that. He needs to deal with that anger."
"Trust me, I know," I replied. "I need to finish this up and get Bella before heading home."
I am officially done with my day because of my son. I am done talking to him and he can do what he wants. I have my own things that I will be focusing on now. As pissed off as I am with him, he is still my son and I still love him. I just hope that he deals with his issues and becomes a better person than he currently is. It does break my heart as a father that he turned out this way.
Maddie's POV
I had been bored in this apartment with no Bella to look after while Mariko went to work. All I could do was nap and sit in the lounge, watching movies. Moving in with Mariko was the best thing for me to do because I felt more at peace. Mariko cared for me so much that he didn't need to, but that is the person that I love. He is always there and he would be there for anyone else that needs him. I never thought that I would ever be with him, but we were meant to be together and we are having a baby which binds us even more together.
He would send me some texts to check up on me. Those texts made me smile because they were from him. I have therapy tomorrow, so I hope that things do get better in my life....well, in my head.
There was a knock on the door and we weren't expecting anyone today unless that was Margaret bringing Bella back. I furrowed my brows as I stood up from the sofa and I walked to the door, opening it, "Hi, is Bella here?"
"Amber...um, no she isn't, she is with your mother and Mariko is at Sternpoint if you want to see him," I said.
"Do you mind if I get some water please? It is scorching outside," she fanned herself.
I stepped out of the way and she walked all the way to the kitchen. I followed after her, "Do you want to wait until Bella gets back?" I asked as she took a bottle of water from the fridge, uncapped it and gulped the water down. She finally stopped.
She checked the time on her wrist watch, I can wait a few minutes." she smiled. "I take it that you moved in?" she asked.
"Yes and it has been great," I smiled.
"Is Bella adapting okay to you?" she asked.
"Yes, she is over the moon to have me here," I replied, not sure where she would be going with this.
She nodded, "I want Bella to have someone that is loving and who will always be there for her. You are the perfect example of that," her eyes glazed over. "I screwed up in my marriage because I wanted to have fun, my young days were ruined because I fell pregnant. We grew out of love and Mariko is an amazing man and he will do absolutely anything for the people that he loves. I am not fit to be a mother. I hate everything about it, but I do love my kids, I just can't have them around.. well, Bella. Bradley is all grown and looking out for himself. I know that you are perfect for Mariko and my daughter. I won't always be around to visit her and I am going on a vacation soon and I just wanted to spend some time with Bella. I will arrange that with Mariko for tomorrow." she smiled. I was taken aback by this.
I snapped out of it, "I will always be here for her and Mariko. They are great," I smiled.
"Thank you," she returned the smile and then she checked her wrist watch again, " I better go, but I will contact Mariko later. Have a good evening," she said as she walked around the kitchen counter and out of the front door with the bottled water that she took.
I closed the door behind her. What the hell just happened? Maybe she does feel guilty for what she has done to her kids too. I went back to watching movies. Soon I will hear the laughter of Bella and see what she had sketched. I smiled at the thought and as I lay on the sofa, I placed my hand on my flat belly. I wonder what our baby would want to do. Perhaps he or she will be talented.
There was another knock on the door and I got up. Perhaps Amber changed her mind about waiting for tomorrow to spend some time with Bella. I opened the door and I was not expecting to see this one person who was in the company of bad people.
"Bradley, what are you doing here?"