Chapter 2

#The_house

_Vicky_

The lawyer kept talking, but all I heard was blood in my ears.

He kept saying this and that, but I was livid. My brain was burning and I could feel the anger that had a tight grasp on my poor heart. It all felt as if I would explode.

Mike sat there, his back against the leather chair with his two legs crossed under the desk. His face looked cold and expressionless. He didn’t give a flying fuck and he made sure I knew.

What the lawyer said next made me drag my concentration back from faraway land.

“Pardon?”

I asked. I felt as if I heard wrong.

“What do you mean by a thirty-day probation period?”

Mike asked as well. What the lawyer just said seemed to have nudged his attention as well.

“My client has stated in her will that the two guardians have to stay with the child together in the same house as a family. The two guardians need to get along for the child to feel safe.”

The lawyer explained.

“Has she gone nuts?”

I rasped.

What the actual heck was my friend thinking when she wrote this will?

“That’s never going to happen!”

I exclaimed.

“I’m taking the child with me and I’m not staying with this monster. He can go to hell for all I care. I am very capable of taking care of Gracie myself!”

“I don’t like you either, sweetheart, and I don’t plan on staying with you, locked in the same house for thirty days. I don’t have all the time in the world to take care of a child that isn’t mine. You can have her. Whatever she needs, I’ll take care of it.”

Michael said with a scoff.

I rolled my eyes.

“We don’t need anything from you, Mike. I’m very capable of taking care of Gracie myself.”

I argued. I’m not about to let Michael Kane decide how I live my life.

“That won’t do. She belongs to the Kane family. Last time I checked, she’s not Gracie Smith but Gracie Kane.”

Michael snapped, his voice sounding commanding and I didn’t like it.

“Let’s face it, Mike, you don’t like your sister and I know you don’t care about your niece either. She’s like a daughter to me and I can take care of her, so why don’t you get your rich condescending ass back into your black Rolls-Royce and roll back the same way you came?”

I fired back.

Michael smirked. I could see the smirk as it crept up his lips. It looked like that of mockery.

“Do you have a job, Miss Smith?”

He asked.

“Excuse you?”

“You heard right, Victoria. How much do you make in a month? Why should I leave my niece with a jobless woman like you?”

He asked.

I felt as if I had just been slapped hard on the cheeks. His words made me feel painful, and useless.

I could feel tears gather in my eyes, threatening to spill out. I felt weak, but I wasn’t about to cry or look weak in front of Michael Kane.

“Will the two of you stop bickering like kids?”

The lawyer interrupted, bringing a chilling silence to the room that felt very awkward.

The lawyer sighed.

“Connie’s will is ironclad. Child Protective Services will be involved if you fight it. The 30-day court-mandated cohabitation is compulsory for Gracie’s stability. You either do it or you both risk losing her.”

The lawyer stated. He looked at the both of us for a few seconds before closing his files and putting them back into his portfolio.

“The house is in Gracie’s name, but Miss Smith is permitted to stay as guardian until the child is old enough to fend for herself. Her trust fund will also be handled by Miss Smith.”

The lawyer stood up, picked up his portfolio, and began to walk out of the room. I just stood there and stared, unable to say anything. He got to the door and stopped, as if he forgot something. He turned around and said, “The two of you should discuss like adults and get back to me. Someone will be assigned by me to stay with the two of you as supervisor.”

He added before finally leaving the room.

I sank back into my chair and ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

_______

My head hurts, my eyes hurt, in fact, every part of my body hurts and I feel as if I have not had any good sleep for at least a month.

Here we are, in Connie’s home.

Connie’s will left us both with no way out. I know Michael doesn’t care about Gracie as much as he cares about himself, but he wouldn’t want the youngest member of the Kane family to be sent away to a foster home when she is the possible heiress of the biggest conglomerate in the country. What will happen if word gets out to the press that the Kane family had abandoned their youngest grandchild who just lost her mother at a young age? It would be a disaster.

He didn’t want to stay in Connie’s house.

He deemed it too “small” and too basic for him, but I refused to yield. I would not bend to Michael Kane.

If I move into his own mansion, I’ll be moving into a prison with no escape route.

He probably lives in a massive mansion or estate filled with servants and guards flooding the entire house.

Me moving in there with Gracie will mean giving up my freedom for one month. I won’t be able to go outside.

I won’t be able to work.

Yes, I have a job, contrary to how lowly Michael Kane thinks of me.

I’m a screenwriter, although I work behind the scenes and with a pen name so no one could track me.

Unlike my sister, I hate public attention and I would rather stay at home behind my computer and work than go out in public to claim the name I have made for myself in the industry. I’ve created over twenty successful stories and scripts and most of them had gone on to become blockbusters and have earned me quite a fortune in the industry. I’m not poor.

Me agreeing to let Michael move in instead seemed to be another bad choice, because the moment he made a call, the house was flooded with his people.

More than twenty people I’ve never met or seen in my life, all dressed up in suits, came in with several suitcases and things. Within an hour, the entire interior decoration of the home had changed and was still changing. Several female servants showed up as well.

Michael had turned the house into a busy and not-so-peaceful abode.

I held Gracie in my arms and stood in the living room as we watched the servants take out the old couch, bringing in a new one and putting it in place of the old one.

“I’ll take the master bedroom. You two can choose another room.”

Michael said as he walked down the stairs with his coat in his arms. He looked as if he was going to step out.

I rolled my eyes. What was I expecting? Surely a dictator like Michael will never allow me stay in the master bedroom, would he?

“I have some things to attend to in the office and I will be back late. Make sure she’s well fed and in bed by seven.”

He added as he looked at his watch.

I threw him a nasty look. I wanted to rush over and bite his head off, but I knew best to just keep calm and not let him get to me.

“Good girl…”

He muttered with a smirk when he saw how I was fighting to hold myself back from saying anything.

‘Calm down, Vicky… calm down.’

As he walked towards the door, the men in black followed closely behind him, but the female servants stayed back.

He paused as soon as he got to the door.

“Make sure she’s well fed and in bed by seven, Victoria. Don’t disobey me.”

He stated, as if warning me not to cross him.

Who does he think he is?

“What if I don’t? Who do you think you are? You’re just Connie’s stepbrother. You don’t even care about the little child. Don’t tell me how to be a parent when you’re a horrible person yourself!”

I blurted out. I felt like I needed to say something because being quiet was making me feel rage, and I felt like I would explode if I didn’t say something mean back at him.

Little Gracie winced in my arms and tugged at my clothes gently. I rubbed her hair and muttered a ‘sorry’ into her ears. Our little bickering was making the child scared.

Michael turned and looked at me. His eyes held nothing but emptiness, and the smirk that was previously on his face had disappeared. He began to walk towards me in slow, yet calculated steps.

He reached out with his hands. I stepped back in fear and grasped onto Gracie hard. Is he going to hit me? Why is he coming so close to me and why is he reaching out? I felt a kind of fear and chill I haven’t felt in a long time. I’ve always had a sharp tongue when it comes to talking back at Michael, whom I detest so much, but now I feel as if he would actually harm me or Gracie.

The sudden ring from my phone made me let out a light scream. I was caught off guard.

Michael looked at me, then at the phone that was in my hands.

“Who’s that?”

He asked, his voice cold and specific.

I looked down at my screen.

The name Cole flashed in front of my eyes.

What does this bastard want with me now?

I haven’t seen Cole for two weeks now, since the last time he broke off our engagement.

“Who’s Cole?”

He asked.

I quickly closed the screen of my phone. And looked down at my feet in fear.

Michael’s voice had always sounded cold and fierce, but right now he sounded like he is about to put me on death row.

He stepped forward again. I stepped back.

“Stop moving, Victoria.”

He snapped.

My legs shook and I couldn’t say anything. His hands moved up again and then towards little Gracie’s head. The little girl looked at him innocently and blinked.

He let out a slight chuckle, before rubbing her head gently.

He took back his hands and adjusted his tie.

Then his face went back to its usual cold fix as he stared deep into my soul. I avoided his eyes.

“You don’t date,” he said quietly. “Not while you and I are under the same roof.”