The House Husband

Kin

In the office lobby, a distraught middle-aged woman begged the receptionist to let her meet with the boss of the company. Behind her stood a shy little girl. "Please, I just want to speak to him for a minute," she begged, but the blonde receptionist only signaled to a security personnel to throw her out. Apparently, she had been visiting the company for the past three days, begging to see the big boss.

"What is your address, ma'am? I will personally see to it that you get home safely," the security man said cheerfully. He was walking the woman out when Gary came out from the elevator leading into the lobby, eager to know what was going on, he moved closer.

"What is going on here?" he asked, looking at the security who instantly stood at attention to report the situation. At the Supreme Builders, Gary is second big boss, he deals directly with the big boss so, he is more or less a boss too. The guy was particularly scared that he might lose his job if Gary found his report inadequate, sweating profusely, he said in a clear voice.

"She wanted to meet with Mr Cage, sir, I was just seeing her out," he said. Gary looked from the security guy to the woman and finally settled his gaze on the little girl who was wearing a tattered purple sweater over a dirty pink frock.

"Do you have any business with Mr Cage?" He asked, this time directing his question to the old woman, but before she could speak, the little girl spoke up.

"We are here to meet with uncle. Mummy said I will stay with him." after she said that, the light bulb in Gary's head went off, what? Who is she? Could it be that Marie Anne was indeed throwing tantrums and now resorted to using her kid? That was so low.

"And who might your mummy be, little lady?" Gary asked, crouching over so that he was at eye level with the girl.

"She is mummy," she answered cutely, spreading her hands to elaborate. The girl wondered why a grown up like him doesn't understand the word mummy.

"Of course, she is." Gary said, letting out a slight laugh "What I meant to ask was, what is her name?" The girl seemed to be confused by this question, so he rephrased.

"What is your name then?"

"Lucy Harrison," as soon as she said that, everything clicked for Gary. He knew she was familiar, he just didn't think she was Shawn's niece.

"Nice to meet you Lucy, my name is Gary," he said stretching his hand for a handshake but the girl didn't shake it. "I don't see your mummy anywhere," he said, looking around before standing up straight to face the woman.

"That was because mummy is now in heaven," the girl said inaudibly, her lips quivering.

"What did you say?" Gary asked, looking at her, but her head was downcast now, and she wasn't about to speak further.

"Do you work directly with Mr Cage?" The woman asked.

"It depends, who is asking? Why are you here with this child and where is Mrs Harrison?" Gary asked the questions one after another without missing a beat. The woman wore a sad expression as she dipped her hand into tote bag and then brought out an envelope which she proceeded to hand to him. It looked like it had been folded and straightened a couple of times.

"What is that?" he asked without making any attempt to take it.

"It's the letter for Mr Cage, the madam wanted to have. Surely you can give it to him."

"You still haven't answered my question, who exactly are you?" Gary repeated. He was already getting fed up with the situation here, no longer, and Shawn would ask what was taking him so long.

"I am the little miss nanny, call me Penny." she said, looking hopefully at the man before her. The madam had made her promise that if anything happened she was to hand over the girl and the letter to Shawn Cage and that is what she was about to do.

"Where is Marie Anne, and how do I know all this isn't a lie?" as soon as Gary said that, the temperature of the packing lot suddenly dropped below zero, he doesn't need to turn around to know that Shawn was staring at him.

"What the hell is going on here?" he asked in his usual baritone voice. The security guy was already shaking like a leaf, acting like he was caught doing something illegal. Gary was about to talk when Penny walked quickly towards the approaching figure.

"Mr Cage? Oh! Thank God..." she began, but he raised up his hand to shut her up and all the remaining words disappeared in her throat. Shawn hated being disturbed, but he hated people who begged the most. He could already tell that the woman was there to ask for money to treat her sick child, the child who wasn't acting sick at the moment. He was about to walk away when he noticed the little girl was actually the same girl that jumped in front of his car two days ago. He recognized her immediately because she was wearing the same ugly sweater as that day.

"Well, well, well," he said, stopping in his tracks, "If I didn't know any better I would think you were stalking me." he said, giving the security a death stare. He instantly understood what he should do and began to roughly push the woman and the girl out.

"It was your arrogance that killed your sister," the woman shouted at his receding back and Shawn instantly stood still. Mike the security guy was still pushing her away, but now Shawn is hurrying over.

"What did you say to me?" he said between gritted teeth, holding onto the woman's wrist. The little girl was using her teddy to hit Shawn in the hand now.

"Let aunt Penny go," she screeched, and only then did Shawn take another look at the girl, her uncanny resemblance to Marie Anne shocked him. Without releasing her wrist, he looked into the woman's eyes and said just one word.

"Speak,"

"Well, your sister is dead, and her last wish was that I deliver your niece to you," the woman replied, staring at his large hand over her wrist.

"Are you telling the truth?" he asked in a small voice, finally letting her go.

"I have no reason to lie to you, here, she also asked me to give this to you," she said, fishing out the envelope once more. With shaky hands, Shawn took the envelope from the woman and tore it open right away. Sure enough, it was handwritten by Marie Anne, there wasn't much written inside either, just a request and something more like a threat or blackmail. Shawn still couldn't decipher. Carefully folding back the envelope, he instructed his driver to take them away, he would deal with them later. Besides, those two people needed a bath and good food.

Throughout the day, Shawn couldn't concentrate on anything. He made a few calls to confirm whether his sister was really dead, and then he blamed himself for not trusting the sheriff that had called him the other day. When Gary told him about the call, he had waived it off as a prank and even chalked it down to mean that Marie Anne was finding new ways to gain his attention. He didn't bother to return the call and when the same number left two voice messages, he deleted it without listening to either of them. Now he wished he hadn't been too impulsive. If only he had paid attention, perhaps things would have happened differently. What about those two people? Why did they come to him? Where would he keep them? His mind kept reeling from the words he read from his sister's letter. Does this mean he would have to let go of his grudges towards her and raise her child? Once again, Marie Anne made another bad decision. Instead of facing the consequences of her actions, she took the easy way out.

"What are you going to do sir?" Gary asked after watching his boss stare into nothingness for hours.

"Hmmm? Nothing, did you find what I asked you?" At that, Gary's eyes sparkled, he raised a file up to show him and said seriously.

"It's a match sir, she is indeed your niece," Even though he already knew what the results would be, Shawn had asked to conduct a DNA test discreetly, he wanted to double-check. With people of his caliber, you can never be too careful. Anyone could concoct false information just to have a piece of him.

"Very well then, prepare to move them to the Beam Villa," he said absent-mindedly.

"Beam Villa? Not the Aquatic bungalow?" Gary asked to confirm.

"I'm sorry, did I stutter?" was all he said before Gary hurriedly bowed and left the office. Once he was gone, Shawn picked up his phone to dial a number. "I need to find someone," he said into the receiver, his expression dark as he stared into space.