Through the cracks

Chapter Thirteen

Tomorrow she has to go to work for a change and this will be the first time she has to face Lucas after their lovemaking. She feels much calmer after telling her lawyer about the boxes and decides that she will not even ask him about them. In fact, she is going to unpack them right now. Ava spends the rest of the day unpacking the boxes and putting everything back where it was before. She had to control herself when she found that even gifts from her friends, children and family were packed. She tries to concentrate on something else.

She wonders why Mr Jones is single. He is such a successful, rich and gorgeous man. Any woman will be lucky to have him, and he awakens fantasies and feelings in her that make her blush just thinking about it. She starts to crave him as she continues to have fantasies about him, touching her, kissing her all over. She gets up and goes to the kitchen and gets a tub of ice cream and a spoon when the s****l urges become too strong, but then pauses when she wants to take the first bite.

"No. No more comfort food," she said as she proceeded to the bin and threw the ice cream away.

On Wednesday morning, Ava gets up very early to get ready for work. She already showered last night. She washes her face, brushes her hair, does her make-up and finishes by brushing her teeth. When she gets dressed, she tries on different outfits until she feels comfortable. She decides to dress down as she does not want Lucas to think she suddenly pays more attention to her appearance. He will think she does that to impress him and that is the last thing that she is trying to do this morning. She is still very mad at him, but she will not give him the satisfaction to show him that, nor is she going to give him the opportunity to humiliate and hurt her again today. She still puts on her sweater that brings out her eyes and her best pants that make her butt look good, but she convinces herself that it is just to motivate herself and to feel more confident when facing Lucas. She makes herself a strong cup of coffee and goes to the family room to enjoy her early morning inspiration.

When she gets to the office, Lucas is luckily not there yet. She got busy with correspondence and nearly got a heart attack when Lucas suddenly stood in front of her desk.

“What are you doing at work?” He asks.

Ava knows Lucas so well and his body language tells her that he is busy with something sinister and dishonest and that it has something to do with her. She noticed the I.T. guy leaving his office as he tried to block her view. She dreads to think about what he is up to now.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ava said while she stared at him.

"I just didn't think you would come back," he said, and returned her stare.

"Why would I not come back? I cannot just run away from my responsibilities like you can!" she tries to compose herself, but seeing him just makes her boil.

"It is my company, not yours to worry about," he said, and Ava lost it.

"If it wasn't for me, there would not be a company for you to claim, this matter is now with the attorneys and the law will decide how much of this company I am entitled to. I invested in this company when you became bankrupt and asked for my help. That makes me a partner and the bank records will show that I have put everything I had into this firm to save it! And until a court decides otherwise, I will reserve my rights at this firm. If you want to get rid of me, you will have to take the legal procedures and until we can legally determine the division of assets, I am here to stay, so get used to it! Now, if you do not mind, we still have a company to run." She said, recalling what James had advised her during their meetings, and she carried on with her work, leaving Lucas to stand with an open mouth.

He was not expecting her to react so aggressively. He walks out of the office speechless and a little bit embarrassed. His face turned red and Ava could see he was furious, but careful. Ava felt empowered and a little surprised that she had it in her. But she had had enough of his mind games and intimidation. She is tired of feeling powerless. And for a while she might have forgotten how powerful she had always been.

Millie walks into her office:

"Thank goodness you're back. It has been unbearable. Who is this person? He just walks around all day, yelling at everyone. I heard he contacted Iris and even Jayden to arrange a get-together. He has not made any effort to approach me and talk to me about what he has done." Millie said, tears building up in her already red and swollen eyes.

"I am so sorry I left you with him, all this time. But I am back now, and he will stay in his f*****g lane from now on. He is avoiding you, because, unlike Iris and Jayden, he must face you directly and not over the phone. How does he expect you to work in this hostile environment he has created? And not just you, the other employees are also complaining about his rude manners. It's not right that he can just take this out on everyone here." Ava tried to re-assure Millie that everything would be fine.

When Millie started at the firm, it was just a temporary arrangement between her and her parents until she could start a business from home, but she soon proved to be a valuable contributing factor in their attempt to get the business back on its feet after Lucas almost lost everything. She and her father had a lot of arguments, but her stubbornness made her always fight until he saw her side of things. They soon developed a great working relationship and this in turn made them become closer as a father and daughter as the business became more and more successful.

When the projects became too much for Lucas to handle, Millie suggested that they get her husband to start at the company and take over most of the projects so that Lucas could start to scale down at work. Lucas was jealous of John, mostly because he could do what Lucas could do. He somehow felt threatened by that and Millie, like her mother, always had to keep peace between the two of them.

"John says he cannot take it anymore, somewhere something has got to give. I want to talk to him, but I cannot get myself to. And every time we have to talk about work, we just end up screaming at each other." Millie said.

"Then don't. He is the one that is causing all of this, and I am not going to fix it for him this time and neither should you." Ava said, and she could see Millie's eyes widening.

"Take the rest of the day to get yourself together. I know this is hard, but do not let his intimidation get to you. Try to stay composed when he acts this way, he will eventually see that we are not going to let him control us." Ava continued.

"Now go on, go and spend some time with your kids and when you come back, we will deal with this further. Do not let him get to you like that."

Millie wipes the tears from her eyes. Ava hated seeing her so upset. She really loved her father and she worked very hard to keep the company operating smoothly. They all depended on its success, and it was supposed to eventually be handed over to her and John to continue with after her parents retired. That has always been the speculations and discussions about the future of the respected firm. But the way Lucas was behaving suggested that he might have alternative ideas for the future of the company.