Page 21 of Fated to Them
“The answer will still be no. I have Maya. I am her legal guardian,” I tell him.
“Bring her then,” he says.
“I can’t take her from her life here or my mother. She would be lonely. No, my answer is not going to change, Eli.”
“You will change your mind. We won’t go without you.”
“I am sure you can find someone else to work for you over there,” I tell him.
“We don’t want anyone else, only you,” Cyrus says, and I shake my head.
“You can leave early. Think over what we said, Addie. Your family could use the help,” he says like that will make me change my mind.
I just don’t understand their fascination with me. It is bordering on stalkerish; no scrap that, it is stalkerish.
Grabbing my bag, I head down to my car. This is the third time they let me leave early, so I don’t understand why they need an assistant when I hardly have to do anything besides the few tasks they have set out for me. Most of the time, I sit bored in the office just answering phones.
Walking down, I see Bella. She waves excitedly, and I realize I haven’t seen her in ages because our start and finish times are so different.
“Adeline, wait up. I am about to go on break. Come get lunch with me,” she calls, and I stop at her desk. She grabs her handbag, and I wait, deciding to go with her; it will be good to see a friendly face.
Bella pulls her hair into a loose bun before throwing her bag over her shoulder, slipping her heels off, and swapping them for flats.
“My feet are killing me,” she whines, slipping them on her feet.
“How is working upstairs?” she asks, just as I see Cyrus and Eli walk out of the elevators. They stop for a second before walking over to us, so I don’t get a chance to answer.
“I thought I sent you home,” Eli says, looking at me.
Bella becomes all flustered when their eyes land on her.
“You did, but Bella is on break and asked me to join her,” I tell him, waiting for them to go.
They don’t. Instead, Eli turns to Bella.
“Where are you going?” he asks her, and she gawks at them. I have a funny feeling this is her first interaction with them.
“Over the road to Morgan’s Diner,” she says.
“Good, just where we were heading. We will join you,” Cyrus says, though I don’t believe him for a second as his eyes land on me. Bella looks alarmed, and I roll my eyes before gritting my teeth.
“Come on, let’s just go and get this over with,” I tell her, looping my arm through hers and leading her to the doors.
“Are they really joining us?” she asks.
“Apparently so,” I tell her, and I can see how uncomfortable she has become.
“But why?”
I would love to know that, too. Though I have a feeling, it’s to see what I will say to her or to make sure I don’t tell on them for the things they have done. Not that I will, knowing I can get in some serious trouble for it.
“No idea.”
She nods, looking back at them following behind us. We walk down the street toward the set of traffic lights. I press the button when a woman pushing a pram and holding a little boy’s hand stands beside me, his blond hair falling in his eyes as he sweeps it off his face. He is a little younger than Maya and quite adorable with his chubby cheeks and dimples. I smile down at him as he looks up at me, his hand tugging his mother’s shirt, trying to get her attention.
His mother is distracted by trying to answer her phone in her handbag, and she lets go of his hand for a second while she rummages through her handbag, trying to dig it out. I am about to offer to help her as she struggles to hold onto the pram with one foot when she finally retrieves her phone and answers it. She is maybe in her mid-thirties and looks quite flustered.
“Hello, just give me a sec,” I hear her say before she shrieks, making me jump and look at her to realize the little boy is suddenly gone. Her scream rings loudly as I look to the road to see he has wandered off into the line of traffic, adrenaline pumping into me as the mother slams the brakes on her pram as I rush out, ripping him by his arm back toward her.
