We Want Mommy, Not You, Daddy!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 118\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ridley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The disappointment on Aiden\u2019s face was unmistakable. His small shoulder slumped as he watched Cedar with away without schladging\u00a0<\/p>\n
without acknowledging him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for me, I could feel my jaw clenching so hard it might crack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had completely ignored us. Worse, she was chatting animatedly with some random guy right in front of me. Like I was invisible. Like I wasn\u2019t standing right there, all six\u2013foot\u2013two of me, impossible to miss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The morning crowd in the lobby gave us a wide berth. Even strangers could sense the waves of cold fury radiating from me and my son. Like father, like son\u2013our expressions must have been identical masks of displeasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we reached the executive floor, Aiden silently headed to the small office adjacent to mine where he sometimes reviewed design portfolios. I stalked into my own office, slammed the door harder than necessary, and dropped into my chair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stack of contracts requiring my signature sat untouched on my desk. flipped open the top folder, but the words swam before my eyes, refusing to form coherent sentences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d accused her yesterday of overstepping her bound. It was a low blow, spoken in anger, and I knew it even as the words left my mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But what I couldn\u2019t admit\u2013what I still couldn\u2019t fully acknowledge\u2013was how much I enjoyed having her in our lives. The way she treated the boys, the way she lit up around them. The way she lit up around me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now she wouldn\u2019t even look at me. Wouldn\u2019t even say good morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, she was making small talk with some mediocre marketing guy about his goddamn commute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tossed my Mont Blanc pen onto the desk and swiveled my chair to face the floor\u2013to\u2013ceiling windows. The Chicago skyline stretched before me,\u00a0<\/p>\n
but I barely saw it. All I could see was Cedar\u2019s profile as she deliberately turned away from me, as if I were nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The feeling gnawing at my insides wasn\u2019t something I was familiar with. It wasn\u2019t anger, exactly. It was something else\u2013something uncomfortable and persistent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something I wasn\u2019t ready to name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Albert\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr. Sterling tapped his fingers against the polished mahogany desk, his voice cutting through the air like ice. \u201cAlbert. Come in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat at my desk outside the executive office, feeling my stomach drop at the sound of his voice. My morning coffee suddenly felt acidic in my\u00a0<\/p>\n
stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was barely 8 AM, and I could already tell Mr. Sterling was in a foul mood. The temperature in the Sterling Design Group\u2019s executive floor seemed to drop several degrees whenever he was upset.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been purposely avoiding going in to give my morning report, hoping his mood might improve. No such luck. Taking a deep breath, I entered the lion\u2019s den with my head slightly bowed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
13:15 Tue, Feb 10\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 118\u00a0<\/p>\n
What can I do for you, sir? I kept my valce steady, professional.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Have the Design Director come up.\u201d His obsidian eyes revealed nothing, at after five years as his executive assistant, I could read betemen the\u00a0<\/p>\n
lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Design Director was Ms. Wright, Cedar Wright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr. Sterling\u2019s mood was this dark, yet he specifically wanted to see Cedar They must have had a disagreement, and he was using work as an excuse to see her. Classic Ridley Sterling move\u2013unable to simply apologize like a normal human being\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Right away, sir. I\u2019ll call Ms. Wright on the internal line,\u201d I responded efficiently, retreating to my desk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I dialed Cedar\u2019s extension, silently praying she was in a more agreeable mood than my boss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Wright, it\u2019s Albert. Mr. Sterling has some work matters he\u2019d like to discuss with you. Could you come up when you have a moment?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sky Remembered the Touch of Our Unfinished Goodbyes by Lysa Orion Rehn 118 We Want Mommy, Not You, Daddy!\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zero-stars-for-daddy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}