Chapter Two _You're employed

Sebastian Halloway.

The men wanted to be him or kill him. Whichever one came first.

The women wanted to wife him, bed him, love him.

Sebastian Halloway was an enigma. A delicious mystery.

From the young age of twenty, he had amassed great wealth to rival even the wealthiest of businessmen.

And the only thing that rivalled that wealth was his body. His body was published in magazines from New Zealand to England.

No one knew if he had a kid. No one knew if he was married. No one knew if he even had parents.

And most would love to keep it that way.

*****

Elena.

"They're disgusting, the lot of them," The woman who looked like she stepped out of a mean girl movie scoffed, her lips caught in a sneer.

She turned to look at me, "Don't you agree?"

The cupcakes I made weren't going to win any award, but at least no one would call me a 'deadbeat mum'.

I watched the other mothers going around, picking each and any snack they could find that looked edible enough and stuffing their mouths with them while also trying to sell theirs.

There was a redhead who thought she was doing hers discreetly, even going as far as hiding the snacks in a fancy green handkerchief.

But I found amusement in watching them behave like that. I had no desire to judge any of them. If they ignored me, I was okay with ignoring them.

"I don't really care," I turned to look at her, then shrugged, "They're happy doing what they do. I can't judge them."

She didn't say anything after that. Just did a little 'ahh' sound and went back to whatever she was doing on her phone.

I wondered who she was. I knew the other women, from my time coming here whenever they did this little 'bake sale' stuff. I knew their kids. Charlotte was friends with some of them.

But her. I did not know her.

Perhaps her kid was a new one.

The redhead caught me staring at her, and she walked to the other side of the room.

"That one doesn't even know everyone can see her. She'll pay for everything she takes," the lady said, another scoff, another sneer. She looked like she didn't want to be here.

I couldn't help myself at this point. The laugh escaped from my lips before I realized, and then I had to disguise with a cough.

I caught the look of amusement on her face. Her lips had left the sneer behind and spread wide in a smile. Though her eyes were covered with the dark shades she decided to wear indoors, I knew when someone was impressed.

But I had done nothing to impress her.

"You're not so uptight then," She commented when I was done fake coughing to hide my laugh, "I like that."

My eyebrows shot up due to how confused I felt at that moment.

"What do you mean?"

This time, her smile held a wicked glint to it, "Oh, don't worry about that."

So, of course, I was very worried about that. I hoped my jerk of an ex had not done anything to upset anyone, and then I would have to suffer the consequences.

I took Charlotte to the park after we got ice cream, contented with just watching her eat the cold snack while playing with some other kids.

I dreaded going home. The stack of bills on the table were not to be ignored once one was in the house.

I hated being at this stage of poverty.

And without looking around or thinking, I turned around and slammed into an obstacle. A tall, muscled obstacle who held unto my wrist so I wouldn't fall and slam my butt on the hard and extremely wet floor.

"Well, it's not every day a beautiful woman fall for me," The man chuckled cocking his head to one side while flashing me the most arrogant of smiles.

I snatched my hand from his. I tried my best not to look at him as my cheeks burned in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I'm not clumsy. I just didn't see you there," I hoped that apology was enough for a man that had half of his face covered.

He wore a cap and dark shades. Almost like the one the blond woman I saw back at Charlotte's school wearing.

He chuckled. Again.

Was I such a comedian today?

"I would never think that about anyone," He said it in such a way that I had no idea if he was joking or just outright being sarcastic.

I couldn't focus on that, though. My only focus should be on Charlotte and not some man with the most beautiful baritone voice and smile that I had ever met.

His eyes followed my gaze, "Your sister?" He asked, like we were friends and having a nice conversation.

"My daughter," I answered offhandedly, "Do I look too young to be a mother?"

He shrugged, "Kind of. How old are you again? Seventeen? Twelve? Thirty?"

And the same thing happened with him. A chuckle fell out of my mouth at the absurdity of his words. Why would he even think about such a thing?

"She's my daughter, I just lost my one good job because I am an idiot and I don't know how we are going to survive because getting a good job without some sort of good skills is hard," I had no idea why I was telling this stranger every single thing about me, "But I want her to be happy so I would get a job, and I would give her everything she wants."

I didn't expect a reply. Honestly, I half expected him to walk away, thinking my words were some sort of plea for help or handouts.

But he was still there.

"Where's the father?"

"The father?" I squeaked, "He's out of the picture, in a way. He's still in the picture, in another way. It's a complicated mess."

He nodded like that was all the information he needed. We stayed that way for a few minutes, just watching Charlotte.

For some reason, his presence seemed to calm my nerves down.

And then, he walked away quietly. Probably to never be seen again.

***

"Miss Blythe, we would very much like you to come to the school quickly," Mrs Brown's took over the conversation the moment I answered the call, "Charlotte has done a terrible thing and a parent is needed..."

She refused to tell me what Charlotte did. I hoped the owners of the mansion I was supposed to clean would understand.

The principal's office was at the other wing of the school, quite a distance from where the bake sale stuff normally took place.

"Mummy," Charlotte hugged me the moment I stepped into the secretary's office. She was previously standing at the side of the office, while her teacher, Mrs Brown sat on a chair.

I ruffled her hair and tried my best not to allow my anxiety to seep out of my pores.

"What happened? What did anyone do?" I questioned, my eyes now focused on Mrs Brown whose smile looked dangerously close to the hiss of a snake at this moment.

"Charlotte here slapped a child, another girl who just wanted to be her friend," She explained, "..slapped and then stabbed her hand with a pencil. Extremely violent."

My Charlotte had always been a sweetheart. She would never do something like that to anyone, not even the children that offended her when she played at the restaurant while I worked. This was something new.

I released a huge breath, and my eyes felt a bit teary, "Where is this kid?" I asked, "I want to ask some questions."

And there it was. That snake like smile again.

"He's in the office. Let us go in."

Showing my anger to Charlotte would be quite a dangerous thing. She was a child, she didn't know better. I was an absent mother, and I allowed my daughter to pick up fighting tendencies because I was so absent that I allowed a thirteen year old to take care of her.

"You'll be with me every minute of the day for the next month so buckle up for the ride," I told Charlotte as calmly as I could, my knees on the floor so our eyes would be focused on each other, "You shouldn't do such a thing again, if you have a problem with anyone then come to me and tell me....."

The knock on the door interrupted the rest of my sentence. I thought it was a fluke at first because no one knocked on my door aside from my landlord, and my rent wasn't due yet.

"You.."

The knock came again. Harder this time. More frequent.

I told Charlotte to keep herself hidden. Since I had no peephole, I had no way of seeing who it was until I opened the door.

"Hello," My wave came out a bit awkward when I opened the door and discovered the blond woman I had seen at the bake sale.

She had two other guys by the side, their face stoic, and lips unmoving. She wasn't wearing any shades today.

"Hello, Miss Blythe. Congratulations, you are employed now."

I had no idea if that was the way people ran jobs and employment agencies now.