Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Yaya Tams, please take Summer home right after her class, okay? And please, don't talk to anyone else."

"Is there a problem, Ma'am Zuri?"

I paused my work because of Yaya Tams's question. She must have noticed that I was restless, which is unusual for me.

"Nothing's wrong, Yaya Tams. Just do what I said, alright?" She nodded, so I turned to my child who was quietly sitting on the sofa. "Hey, baby. Mommy is leaving now, okay?"

My child looked up and pouted. "Can you not go to work today, Mommy, please?" She gave me puppy eyes, and I felt the urge to give in to her wish.

But I knew I couldn't. I had to go to work, especially today. If I didn’t go in, Helios would suspect something was wrong. I needed to act normal.

"I'm sorry, baby. But Mommy has to go to work today. You saw my boss, right? He will be upset if I don't show up."

I saw her face light up. "Your boss has the same eyes as mine?"

I swallowed hard. "Yes."

Since Summer could think for herself, she always asked me why her eyes were different from mine. My eyes are brown while hers are electric blue—just like her father's.

When she met Helios, she was so happy because she saw someone with the same eye color as hers. Well, he is her father after all. Summer only got her eye color from him.

After a bit of convincing, my child finally agreed to let me leave. But instead of going straight to work, I went to a coffee shop owned by my friend.

"Oh wow! You’re here early!" Jenica greeted me when I walked in. We sat down at a corner table.

"Jen, he saw," I said as my lips began to tremble. I even pulled at my hair in frustration. "He saw."

Tears started rolling down my cheeks. No! He can't take my child away from me. She's my everything!

"Wait a minute," Jenica said and handed me a tissue. I used it to wipe my tears. "You're acting crazy! Crying out of nowhere!"

"Helios saw my daughter."

That’s all I said, but her eyes widened in shock. She covered her mouth with her hand and tried to speak several times but kept closing it again. I rolled my eyes at her reaction.

"You’re acting crazy," I replied back at her.

"Oh my gosh! Helios? As in Helios Gallagher? Your daughter's father?!"

I slapped my hand over her mouth in annoyance! What if one of the Gallagher staff was following us and heard my friend's loud reaction?!

"Do you want me to give you a megaphone too?" I said irritably.

"Wait... wait... I can't breathe," Jenica fanned herself dramatically.

I rolled my eyes again. "Are you Summer's mother or am I?"

I waited for Jenica to calm down before asking one of her staff for a glass of water and handing it to her.

"What happened?" Jen asked after drinking the water; she seemed calmer now.

I told her about what happened yesterday—how Summer went missing, how I found her, how Helios looked at his daughter, and how he asked if Summer was his child.

"Do you think he has an idea?"

"I don't know," I said, but who was I kidding? He wouldn’t ask if Summer is his child if he didn't have doubts. Plus, Summer really has Helios's eyes. I'm sure he's already investigating my child now.

"What’s your plan?"

I was taken aback by Jenica’s question. What is my plan? Soon, Helios will find out the truth. He has his ways of getting information. And when he learns that Summer is his daughter, he will definitely take her away from me.

"I'm going to hide my child," I said, my lips trembling as I spoke to Jenica.

"You'll play the runaway girl again? Do you think he won't look for you? At first, he didn’t search for you because he didn’t know you were pregnant. But when he finds out he has a child, he will turn the world upside down just to find you."

"He doesn't love me," I said, as if that answered everything.

"Yes, but you have his daughter. Why not let him spend time with your child? Who knows, maybe he’ll agree to share time with Summer."

I shook my head. I know Helios Gallagher too well. I see him every day at work. Every day I experience how harsh he is with his employees. And once he knows about Summer, he will take her away from me.

"What happened, Zuri? Why did you let yourself have a child with that man? He's like a devil in a business suit. You can’t tell me that Summer was just an accident, right?"

I looked at Jenica. I hadn’t shared what happened to me before. But maybe it's time to tell her what happened five years ago so she would understand why I've hidden my child from Helios. Jenica is one of my true friends.

I started to tell my story.

"It all started with a charity party organized by the Gallaghers." A party I never thought would change my life.

I jumped in my seat when I heard my boss shout again. It was early in the morning, and he was already yelling again. Oh well, what else is new? I hear him shout every hour while I'm at work.

It's fine as long as I'm not the one being yelled at.

"You are all fired! Get out! Now!"

In less than a second, I saw two men and one woman leave my boss's office. Their shoulders were slumped. The two men headed straight for the elevator while the woman sadly looked at me.

"Mr. Gallagher is a real devil! He doesn’t even feel sorry! How have you lasted here?"

I just smiled at her and didn’t reply. It was good that she left and took the elevator down.

I've been Mr. Helios Gallagher's secretary for almost a year now, and they say I'm the only one who has lasted this long as his secretary; others didn’t even last a month.