Page 27 of Falling for Them (Cinderella’s Daddies #1)

Twenty-Four

Kingston

I’m in the office because I don’t know what the hell else to do. Bash and I are planning on going to the pub Ella works at in the evenings. But it’s killing me to wait.

My phone rings and I snatch it up. Jaxon Marsel flashes on the screen. It takes me a minute to recall the name, then I remember meeting him and his business partner and a young woman at the gala. We exchanged numbers before I left that night.

“This is Kingston,” I say.

“Hey. Jaxon Marsel here. We met at your gala.”

“Yes, I remember. What can I do for you?”

“Actually…this is fucking weird, so I’m just going to say it.”

Intrigued, I say, “Okay, go on.”

“Your friend left with a young woman that night, and you left shortly after.” He clears his throat. “You can tell me to mind my own damn business, and I probably should, but—”

“If you know something about the woman, I need to know,” I interrupt.

“Is she in some kind of trouble?” he asks. “Do I need to worry about her safety?”

“Fuck, no. She’s not in trouble with me. At least not the kind she won’t enjoy,” I mutter to myself.

He laughs. “She works in my building. Ryder and I saw her the other day, and she looked really unhappy. Same thing happened this morning—she’s here now. We didn’t approach her, but it’s been bothering us. Our fiancee, Olivia, wanted me to call you. So, here I am.”

I knew they had to be a throuple. But the satisfaction of my rewarded nosiness is short-lived. “She works in your building,” I repeat. “I’ve been trying to track her down without full-out stalking her.”

“You’re not stalking her, are you?”

“Trying not to. But she keeps disappearing on us. Please. Where do you live?”

“Dorado Terrace.”

Ella

The Dorado Terrace hallways are largely empty at this time of day.

Other than a group of three people—a woman with two men who walked through the lobby toward one of the private elevators—I’ve been alone.

The midmorning sun angles through windows at the far ends of the hall.

It doesn’t do anything to warm the building, but the AC is still cranked up as high as if it’s summer.

I mean, I know San Esteban doesn’t get super cold in winter, but the building owners should relax on the AC.

Goosebumps rise up on my arms every time I pass beneath one of the many vents generously pumping out chilly air.

Gail and Brent are working on different floors. I get floors one through six, Gail gets seven through twelve, and Brent the upper six. It’s so mindless and boring that I could scream, but it beats working anywhere near Joel Tyler.

After not sleeping at all last night, I’m a fun mix of tearfulness and rage. I’m angry at Joel, of course, for being a lying, cheating, deceptive asshole. And I’m angry at myself for trusting him.

Every time I think about it, I start vacuuming faster and harder.

The end result is that I’m finished with work much earlier than normal.

But I may as well stick around. I’m getting paid by the hour, after all.

Today isn’t my usual day to mop the marble edges of the hallway, but I get the mop and fill a giant bucket with water and cleaning solution and set to work.

My back is to the elevator door, so I hear it chime when the doors open, rather than see it. Whoever steps out is silent on the thick carpet. My senses prickle with alarm, and I spin around.

Joel stands there, hands jammed into his pockets, his blue eyes intense as they rake over my body. More goosebumps form on my skin, but these aren’t from being near an air conditioning vent—they’re from being in such close proximity to a total snake.

“What do you want?” I ask, propping the mop against the wall.

“Just wanted to say hi.” His voice is casual. Almost friendly.

“What the fuck?” I say.

He shrugs. “Have you thought any more about getting back together?”

I can only stare at him. Is he for real? Is he on drugs? “In what universe would that make sense, Joel? You filmed me without my knowledge or consent. Then you sent the video to the entire workplace. You betrayed my trust in the absolute worst possible way.”

“Yeah, well you went and fucked my dad and Sebastian,” he says, frowning. “I’m willing to forget what you did, if you can forget about the video.”

I can’t forget it, though. I don’t know how I’m ever going to trust anyone again after this.

Every time I get naked with a guy from here on out, I’ll be worried that I’m being filmed without my knowledge.

And even if I can manage to trust the guy in that respect, I’m always going to remember this violation.

“It doesn’t make sense,” I say.

“They took you from me. You should belong to me.”

I can’t help my snort of disbelief.

Joel’s face hardens. “You aren’t going to back away from my dad, are you?”

I throw up my hands in exasperation. “I haven’t spoken to him or Sebastian since you threatened me with the video. Which is blackmail, by the way. But I haven’t seen them, all right? So just leave me the fuck alone.”

“How about I give you some more time to cool off?” he says. “Obviously you need it, because you’re overreacting. Crazy bitch.”

My pulse thunders in my ears and my entire body goes rigid with anger.

“Crazy what ? I can’t believe you—you need to leave, like, right now—” I stop speaking, because the elevator opens again. What fresh hell is coming next? This whole week just keeps getting worse and worse.

Two men step out of the elevator, and they’re so handsome that my heart shifts and shudders in my chest.

Mr. Tyler and Sebastian. Intellectually, I know those are their names.

But my heart? My heart recognizes them as Daddies .

The relief I feel at seeing them is false, though. Because by now, I’m sure they’ve seen that video of me and Joel.

They’re probably here to tell me everything is over between us.

I can’t fucking bear it. Not today. Not ever.

Kingston

Ella’s cheeks are pink, probably with anger, given the rigid way she’s standing in front of Joel.

Her curls are coming out of her messy bun, like she’s been exercising or rushing around cleaning.

If she weren’t facing Joel, I’d think her red face and dishevelment were caused by the cleaning—maybe hauling around that mop and the bucket of water.

But because Joel’s here, I’m pretty sure she’s pissed.

I want to gather her in my arms, kiss away her heightened emotions, help her transform that anger into something else. Something more pleasurable.

But first, I have to deal with my son.

Bash looks like he’s fighting his own urge to embrace her.

It’s causing us physical pain to hold back.

Before I can say anything to Joel, Ella looks between Bash and me and says, “How did you know I was here?”

“We got a tip from a friend,” Bash says. Then he looks at Joel. “How did you know she’s here?”

“My buddy has a place across the street. I saw Ella coming in to work a few days ago.”

“Sorry to break up this delightful reunion,” Ella says, her voice cutting, “but I have a job to do. And I don’t want to see any of you, ever again.”

Before she can turn to go, I reach toward her. I don’t touch her, because I don’t think my touch would be welcome right now. But I do hold out a hand in a silent plea that she remain here.

“Actually,” I say, “what I’m doing right now, I’d like you to witness, Ella, if you wouldn’t mind.”

She purses her lips and looks down. “Fine.”

She looks as if she thinks I’m going to chastise her.

“Joel,” I bark.

My son looks up in surprise. He thought I was going to chastise her, too. Fuck’s sake. My kid doesn’t know me at all, if he thinks I would take his side after he posted a sex video of an unwilling participant to the company communications system.

“Joel, you’re fired from Tyler Analytics. Effective immediately.”

Now Ella looks shocked.

Joel sputters. “What—you can’t do that! I’m your son. Our family name is the company. You can’t cut me out of it like that.”

“I can, and I will. Your behavior since meeting Ella has been shameful.”

Ella looks down, her cheeks flushed.

“Ella herself is beyond reproach,” I add, just to make that clear to her.

“Joel, you’ve been in the position of power from the beginning.

Had you taken Ella on dates and treated her with respect, I honestly wouldn’t have minded.

Instead, you engaged in sexual intercourse while you were supposedly ‘working’ for our company.

Even then, it might not have been a problem had you treated this woman with respect.

But every time I turned around, you were acting as if she wasn’t valuable. ”

“Because she’s not ,” he says, sneering. “She’s just a fucking maid, and that’s all she’ll ever be, and so yeah, I fucked her, and—”

“I suggest you shut up now,” Sebastian says, stepping up to Joel.

Joel looks like he wants to keep talking, but he sizes up Sebastian, who’s a good four inches taller and has twenty pounds of muscle on Joel. Add the tattoos, and Sebastian is rather intimidating to a punk like my son.

Joel rolls his eyes. “Whatever. But Dad, you can’t fire me.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing, though,” I say. “I gave you every chance to respect this young woman.”

“You only care about that because you want to fuck her,” he says.

Sebastian leans forward. “I’m fucking telling you, you better watch your fucking mouth.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Joel looks past Sebastian to me. “You’ll change your mind, Pops.”

“Doubtful,” I say. “But maybe when you change your ways.”

Then he points at Ella. “And you’ll change your mind, too.”

“I’m already changing it,” she says.

Sebastian and I stare at her. I couldn’t have heard her right. Even Joel looks surprised.

But Ella holds out her arms and says to Joel, “How about a hug goodbye?”

I can’t believe what I’m seeing. She steps forward and…hugs him. Wraps her arms around his waist and leans in.