Goddammit!
Liam swore inwardly without removing his gaze from Daniella's upset face. Without anyone telling him, he knew that his daughter had seen him coming down from a woman's car.
"It's not what you're thinking, Ella," he needed to make her understand nevertheless. "There were no cabs coming and I was running out of time and then she came to my aid when I was about to lose my mind," Liam clarified, putting forward a few steps to close up the distance between them.
Daniella then lowered her head, feeling her throat heavy and tears blurred her eyes. "You have to believe me, Ella," Liam supplicated, reaching out his hand to hold her.
Then, Daniella lifted her head to meet her father's worried amber eyes with a tearstained face as more tears kept circling her eyes. "Is that why you had to smile with her?" she asked in a trembling tone, her eyes not moving from Liam's face.
"Ella," Liam became highly strung up as he pressed himself closer to her and then extended his hands and palmed her face, wiping away her tears. "I know I'm crazy, Dad. I know it really sounds crazy but I do not appreciate it when you smile with women," "It hurts my heart so badly, Dad. It always feels like someone is tearing it apart with a saw," as she voiced out, her lips kept trembling as if she'd suffered greatly. The more Liam wiped off the tears from her face, the more they gushed out and rolled down over his hands hysterically.
"I promise I won't do such a thing again, Sweetheart. So please stop crying. You're hurting me!" Liam begged earnestly, his own tears threatening.
"I bet it's not as much as the heavy pain my heart is holding right now, Dad," her voice quavered terribly and Liam pushed her into his arms this time, stroking her back affectionately as she kept weeping bitterly.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm really sorry," Liam kept on repeating soothing words in her ear and it didn't take long before she calmed down a bit.
Sniffing miserably and pulling out of her father's embrace, she parted her lips to say something when she suddenly winced, clutching her tummy.
"Dad!" she cried out in anguish, fisting her other hand on Liam's broad chest.
Liam didn't hesitate a moment before bending and sweeping Daniella off her feet and carrying her in his arms. "Just hold on a bit. You'll be good once you take the meds, okay?" he told her in breathless anticipation as he rushed into the massive building.
Go to sleep you little baby
Go to sleep you little baby
Your momma's gone away and your daddy's gone to stay
With eyes half-closed, Daniella watched her father's side-face who was sitting on the bed with her and singing her favorite lullaby while caressing her stomach through her cloth.
Although she had taken the medicines, she admitted that the feeling of Liam's touch on her belly had gradually reduced the pain and now she was really feeling heavy-eyed. However, she wished to stare at her father for a long more time.
She loved the feeling of their closeness and didn't want it to end soon. Nature cannot be cheated no doubt because the sleepiness overshadowed her and cut off her sensation.
***********
Daniella didn't know how long she slept but by the time she opened her eyes, she realized it was another bright and sunny morning.
Yawning and stretching energetically, she planned to roll to the other side of the bed but bumped into something midway.
No. it wasn't not just something, it was a body... her father's body. Her lips widened into a gleaming smile as soon as eyes came in contact with this gorgeous sleeping man.
Black long lashes protected his eyes in sleep, his pale-white beautiful features relaxed in sleep and his breaths were coming steadily.
Needless to say, she knew that her father had dozed off while watching her sleep. Still smiling, she hurled herself closer and raised her hand to caress his full eyelashes. She enjoyed it.
From there, she trailed a finger down to his tall nose, to his sexy cheery like thin lips where she suddenly felt an electric current flowed into her body.
She stopped at once.
Sighing, she retracted her hand but it was suddenly caught in the midair.
Huh? She looked from the powerful hand holding hers then to her father's face only to catch him staring at her.
Like that, her heart began to pound in her chest and didn't seem to be able to control her own heart.
"Why did you stop?" Liam's voice came out throatily, not peeling his eyes away from her beautiful face.
Daniella visibly gulped and opened her mouth but was unable to form words.
Liam pulled her closer to himself and the current flowed into her blood toward her cheeks which caused them to boil up.
What's this feeling? She thought. Why does his closeness make her heart flutter like she had never been touched by him before?
"I need to use the bathroom now, Dad," she managed to tumble out into his chest and released herself from his grip.
She crawled out of the bed and grabbed the bag of sanitary pads her father had gotten last night and whirled toward the bathroom.
After she bolted the door, she released a relief sigh before crouching to the floor. "What the fuck is going on with you now, Ella? Why does it seem so difficult to meet his eyes all of a sudden? What's this feeling? What's wrong with you?" she asked herself these questions, dropping the item and palming her head.
Inside the bedroom, Liam hadn't removed his eyes from the bathroom door since his daughter had stepped in.
He seemed lost in thought as he couldn't help but reckon that Daniella avoided him just now. Was she still mad at him?
"I'll go prepare something for breakfast now, Ella," he announced but got no reaction from the bathroom.
He then uncovered himself and got out of the bed, walking to the bathroom.
"Are you still mad at me, sweetheart?" his tone twisted in pain as he clutched his hand around the doorknob .
The pain floated over the door and tugged Daniella's heart. She held her chest and allowed her tears to flow down her face.
"Believe me, I didn't even look at her face twice. It was obvious she really wanted something from me but I didn't give the chance," Liam explained, his tone coming out soft.
_
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Jessica parked her car in front of the huge forty something floor, got down in a swift movement and locked her car and then began to walk into the building- practically running.
However, the moment she reached inside, her pace halted immediately. Coming face to face with her secretary who has been waiting for her arrival.
"How did this happen, Theresa?" she raged.
"I don't know, ma'am. Got a call from the chairman's assistant himself who told me the deal has been given to another company," The blond lady wrapped in a gray business suit and pants explained to her seething boss.
"Why?! Tell me, Theresa. Why would they do this to me? I've been longing for that project my whole life!" Jessica groused in a high-pitched tone, scaring the few number of workers that were around there.
Theresa felt compassion toward her and she could as well feel the amount of pain surging through her right now. They both worked for it.
"I need to go there. Come with me now," Her tone was sharp and curt as she rushed out of the extensive reception, leaving Theresa to follow her. Jessica got behind the wheels while her secretary sat herself in the passenger's seat.
She was about to fasten her seatbelt when the car unexpectedly drove out of the place. She sighed in silence, watching Jessica secretly out of the corners of her eyes. She thought in her heart that she had never seen her acting recklessly like this before.
Maybe that was because she'd never lost a huge project like this in the past.
Few moments later, the car screeched to an abrupt right in front another astounding tops building and before Theresa could unfasten her belt, Jessica had scurried to the front building, passing by the securities.
Theresa didn't waste time before jumping out of the car and hurried in tows behind her until they arrived in the waiting area and heading the elevator, ignoring people's greeting which Theresa answered for her.
By the time Jessica reached the chairman's office, her chest was heaving up and down as her gaits slowly halted at the presence of a man standing at the door who she soon recognized to be his assistant.
"I need to see him," she said breathlessly. The middle-aged man inclined his head in greeting first before explaining, "Good day, ma'am. The chairman is currently in the middle of a meeting,"
Just then, the gigantic door to the chairman's opened and two men walked out of it.
Jessica's attention was solely on the chairman as she glided nearer to voice out the reason for her uninvited visit.
However, just as she opened her mouth to talk she heard a name.
"Jessica?"
Raising her eyes to meet the caller's face, suddenly; something that felt like thunder struck her chest while her eyes went incredibly wide.