“Thank you,” Summer replied politely, then went on to say, “Are you Daddy’s secretary too? Where’s Ms. Collins?”

Thora’s face fell, her expression souring significantly.

It must have been humiliating for the president of a highly-regarded listed company to be mistaken for a lowly employee such as Stella by a kid, even if it had been merely an innocent mistake.

Who would have thought that my baby would learn to defend her mother at such a young age? Way to go, Summer!

Internally snickering, I cleared my throat and pulled Summer even closer to me. “I’m sorry, kids these days don’t know what they’re talking about,” I explained sarcastically. “You won’t take her words to heart, right, Ms. Ziegler?”

Thora quickly regained her composure and steeled her expression once more, haughtily throwing her hair over her shoulder as if nothing had happened. “Of course not,” she sniffed. “It was just a joke, after all. These things happen with kids all the time.”

I’d expected nothing less from a woman who built her career up from the ground all by herself. She’d mastered the method of getting close to people by first exchanging niceties with them before making her advances aggressively. After failing to appeal to Ashton’s daughter, she had likely decided to steal him away through brute force instead.

in Ashton was born out of calculation rather than a pure crush if

Ding!

her puzzling confidence, but the elevator had arrived at our floor. I couldn’t act too much like a bully in front

followed closely behind

around his neck and fiddled with his collar, making sure

told him, “Remember to take some time out of your schedule to accompany the kids for dinner,

turned on my heel and pulled Summer out

proud of my amazing acting skills.

tried her

ten years’ worth of emotions and the natural instinct to press close to one another was something that she, a woman who had solely been focused on

seemed perfect for each other on paper, the

her arms around me, resting her chin on my chest as she stared up

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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