Chapter 97

**Artemis**


My plan to take some time to be with Lilly and Blue has quickly gone to shit. Dane had been keeping my father under house arrest since the family meeting from hell, but we couldn’t keep him much longer after the media circus. Questions were starting to come up about where he was, and I don’t want the police coming into my home looking for him. As much as I would like Dane to continue torturing my father, I don’t want the police showing up looking for him, so we have no choice but to let him go.

Not that it matters much since Alan I have already set everything up for my father’s fall from his throne. My grandfather has been out of the country for a couple of weeks now and hasn’t been in touch so I’m not sure what he’ll do when he hears what’s happening, but I’m sure it won’t be pretty. Unlike my father though he thinks long term and that means he won’t turn his back on his grandkids because we carry his legacy. He will most likely pull responsibilities and funds from my father and ship him off like he’s a messed-up teenager.

My grandfather isn’t any better than my father, but he knows how to make people feel like shit when they do something he doesn’t like.

“How long before he starts posting about what happened?” Alan asks.

We’re in my home office working on our first project under our new company. “I give it an hour. He doesn’t know when to back down and that’s only going to make things worse for him. With the news of the company going under being released tomorrow I don’t think there is much he can do to fix this mess. I think this will be the last straw.”

“If that’s true, do you think Big Daddy Rhodes will try to get our new company in the family?”

“We did everything right this time around. We didn’t have the legal team we have now back then, so we were screwed from the beginning but now we’re protected. My grandfather will want to meet with all of us soon. That’s his MO. Also, if you call him Big Daddy Rhodes again I’ll kick you out of here.”

He laughs. “Calm down. So, how are things going with Lilly?”

I sit back in my chair and think about everything that’s happened since Lilly has been here. “It’s not what I was expecting. She’s mostly quiet and doesn’t ask for much. Blue and her spend a lot of time together and they seem happy together but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do as her dad.”

Alan blows out a breath. “I can’t help much on that front since I don’t know shit about being a dad either, and it’s different with Lilly because she’s a whole person that talks and shit. Why don’t you just ask her what she wants from you?”

“She’s eight. How would she know what a father is supposed to be like?”

Alan shrugs. “Like I said I’m no expert.”

“You are useless to me.”

“Google it or something!” Alan snaps back before continuing to work.

I hear a knock on the door to my office and a second later Abigail appears. “Hey guys! How are things going?”

“Hello beautiful!” Alan says, turning in his chair and pulling Abigail into his lap.

“I regret this. This is supposed to be a place of work.” I remind them.

“Don’t be so mean Artemis.” Blue says when she walks in next. “We’re all frineds now and that means they should be able to be affectionate to each other.”

“Just because we aren’t in an officially office setting doesn’t mean we can act unprofessional.” I say firmly.

She looks unfazed by the change in my voice which pisses me off because my no nonsense voice and emotionless expression are my go to intimidation tactic. A tactic she has become immune to apparently.

“They are greeting each other Artemis. It’s not like they’re stripping and going off in front of us. Alan, let her do her job and stop being an instigator.” She says pointing a finger at him in warning.

He looks justly nervous and releases Abigail who gets help up from Blue.

“Happy?” Blue asks with a smile that is anything but innocent.

“Ecstatic.” I say sarcastically. “What brought you two here?”

“I have to go pick up Lilly from school and was thinking of grabbing some food on our way back. I’m guessing it’s going to be another long night for you guys, so I want to make sure you eat. Any requests?” Blue asks us.

“I’m sick of Chinese food and Abigail gets sick by the smell, so that’s out.”

Blue looks at Abigail. “You’re feeling sick? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Abigail fidgets nervously. “I didn’t want to make a big deal over noth-“

“It’s not nothing! What else makes you feel sick so I can prepare to keep those things out of here. Like Artemis said, this is a place of work, and you can’t work properly if you aren’t feeling well.”

“It’s not much so far, but I’ll let you know as things come up. Okay?”

Blue doesn’t seem happy by this but nods anyway.

“I’ll go with you to pick up Lilly.” I say.

Blue looks over at me and smiles. “Really? She would love that! Let me grab my stuff.”

She rushes out of the room leaving Alan and Abigail alone with me.

“If I find out that you two had sex in this office or in any other room in this house while we’re gone I will fire you both.” I tell them before I walk out of my office.

Blue and I are waiting in front of Lilly’s new school less than an hour later. I figured that a dad would pick his kid up from school so I figured this would be a good way to be a better dad.

“Do you think Lilly…likes me?” I feel like a fucking idiot asking that, but I don’t want to beat around the bush over this.

Blue looks at me confused. “Why wouldn’t she?”

“Well, we don’t really do much together. Isn’t a dad supposed to be more involved with things?”

She sighs. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure I’m doing a good job being a mom to her. I just told her to let me know what she wants from me, and I would do my best to be that for her. She doesn’t talk about her family much and I don’t know how much she remembers but I don’t want to force her to accept me as her mom. I would feel bad taking her real mother’s place in her mind. It might be the same with you. Ask her what she wants you to be to her and if it’s in your power be that for her.”

For being someone who never had good parental figures, my wife is doing a kick ass job at beng a mom. Seeing her care for Lilly in every way has made her that much more beautiful to me. Who would have thought that having the woman I love spend her energy on someone other than me would make me love her more. The urge to get her pregnant keeps growing each day that I see her and Lilly together. She’s a natural caretaker and I know she will be a good mother to all our children. We might have to discuss the number of kids we’ll have but it’s been fun working toward our team of carbon copies.

“There she is! Wait…” Blue opens the car door before I can ask her what’s happened, so I climb out and follow her.

There’s a woman dressed in a skirt suit walking Lilly out. I don’t remember her when we enrolled Lilly, but it seems like Blue knows exactly who this woman is.

“Mrs. Rhodes-“

“What the hell happened now?” Blue snaps at the woman.

“Mrs. Rhodes please let’s try and talk calmly.” The woman says which is a big mistake.

“Calmly? You want to talk calmly? Fine. In a school this secure and with so many precautions are taken to protect the kids in this building, how is it that my daughter keeps getting hurt? What policies are in place for that?” Blue’s voice is low and calm…a lot like mine gets when I’m mad as hell.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying but we can’t watch every child every second of the day.” The woman is talking like this isn’t her responsibility.

Wait…bullying? I move around Blue and kneel in front of Lilly who I just noticed has her face lowered.

“Lilly? What happened?” I ask her but she doesn’t move to look at me.

“Lilly honey, let me see.” Blue says crouching down next to me.

Lilly finally lifts her head and Blue gasps at the sight of a large gash down Lilly’s cheek.

What the fuck?