Billionaire Bad Boy, Broken Underneath

Chapter 8

Carissa’s POV

Tall trees line the street leading up to Jason's house. Ezra had asked me to accompany him to Jason's house for dinner. He initially called to say he's sending his driver to pick me up from my house but he came along as well. It's a new week and I opted to head back to the mansion today being Sunday instead of Monday morning. I called Ezra to inform him and then he suggested to have me chauffeured back.

We're supposed to be heading to the mansion but he suddenly remembered he had dinner plans with Jason's family at their house so that's how I got whisked into their dinner plans as well. I'm a bit nervous. Jason seems like a cool guy but I only met him once. I don't know him that well. The only person I'm really familiar with is my stuck up boss and I can't imagine how weird the entire setting would be.

The car comes to a halt in front of a beautiful house and we step out. Ezra rings the door bell and doesn't wait for an answer before turning the knob and grabbing my hand as he leads me into the foyer. I look up at him and down at our intwined fingers and he immediately drops my hand like it burned him. I look around the house as we walk into the main living room. The house looks warm and inviting. It has this soft ambiance to it. It's really beautiful and homely.

“Uncle Ezra!” A little girl of about four or five squeals from the dinning room as she runs towards Ezra who bends down to pick her up.

“How’s my princess doing?” A smiling Ezra asks and I'm shocked. I've never seen my boss smile this hard. He's looking at this child like she's the centre of his universe and I won't lie, it's beautiful to watch.

“I’m not fine. Mum won't let me have candy. She says it's bad for my teeth but I haven't had candy in three days now” she pouts. “And Daddy won't say anything. I think he's scared of her” she whispers the last part and a belly laugh erupts from Ezra and that has to be the most beautiful sound I've heard. Why does everything about him has to be attractive?!

“You know mum is right. Too much candy is bad for your growing teeth. But don't worry. Uncle is here now. I'll plead with her to let you have some for today” he says

“Really?” she looks up at him with a hopeful glee.

“Yes, Nadia. Really” Ezra says as she pecks his cheek loudly and scurries off to tell her mum I guess.

“Just make yourself comfortable. This is Jason's house. You've met him, remember?” I nod as he continues speaking. “We’ll just have dinner and be on our way. Come, I'll introduce you to his wife, Hailey. The cute pumpkin you just saw is their daughter, Nadia” he absentmindedly grabs my hand. This is the second time he's doing that today and I just let him. I don't want to make this anymore awkward. He leads me to the open plan kitchen, facing the family room.

“Hi, Hailey” he says to a beautiful woman at the other side of the kitchen island. She looks up from the bowl of salad she's making and stares at me with beautiful green eyes.

“Oh hi, Ezra. You're here already. I see you came with a guest” she gives him a sheepish look and I know that look.

“I’m Carissa, his private chef. Ezra's my boss. I work for him” I attempt at debunking whatever ideas she has in her head but it does little to salvage the situation as she still has that look.

“Oh really?! You're welcome to our house, then” she says to me.

“Thank you. You have a really beautiful home, I must say”

“Oh my, thank you. My husband would be down in a minute. Nadia, come say hi to our guest” she calls to the young girl watching T.V in the other room. She walks towards us and stops beside her mother.

“Hi. I'm Nadia and I'm five years old. Are you my Uncle's girlfriend?” she sets her curious gaze on me and I almost laugh. She's so adorable. I hear Ezra snort beside me but I completely ignore him.

“Nadia!” her mum scolds as she moves to cover her mouth but the kid wriggles free.

“It’s fine” I say to Hailey before turning to Nadia. “My name is Carissa and I'm your uncle's private chef” I say to her.

“So you cook? Do you make nice meals like my mum?” she asks

“I do make nice meals but I bet you mum’s tastes better” I wink at her and she smiles brightly. Jason comes down few seconds later.

“I see you brought Carissa” he smiles weirdly at Ezra who completely ignores him. He turns to me. “Hi, Carissa. You're welcome to our home. I see you've met my wife and daughter”

“I have. Thanks for having me” I say and he gives me a warm smile.

“Do you mind helping set the table?” Hailey asks

“Sure” We move to set the table and minutes later, we're all seated having dinner. Hailey is a good cook. The food tastes amazing.

“Ummm can I use the bathroom?” I ask Hailey, halfway through the meal.

“Sure. It's down the hallway. First door by your left” she directs and I excuse myself from the table. I find the bathroom easily. I'm retouching my face a bit after some minutes when I hear a voice close to the door which sounds very much like Jason's. I'm guessing he's on a call and it seems like it's a heated conversation from his voice. He's speaking in a hushed tone so it's a bit difficult to make out what he's saying. I don't mean to eavesdrop but I can't help it. It might seem awkward to walk out right now so I wait till he's done with the call. I hear him say something about it being difficult to move the funds and something about an investment gone bad. Something about this entire conversation seems fishy but I choose to ignore it. I walk out of the bathroom when I'm certain he's left. I'm back at the table and as conversation flows, I forget about the weird call.

“We have to be on our way now. It's getting late and I need to take Carissa home” Ezra says casually but something about the way he says it does something to my insides and I make the mistake of looking at Hailey. She has that sheepish look back on. She sends a knowing smile my way and I just want to be anywhere but here at the moment.

“Alright man. I'll see you at the office tomorrow” Jason says as they walk us to the door. Ezra had taken my hand in his at some point and I'm not even going to deny the fact that I like the feel of my hand in his.

“Goodnight. Kiss Nadia goodnight for me” he says to Hailey. Nadia had fallen asleep earlier and Hailey had to go lie her down upstairs.

“Will do. Goodnight Carissa. I hope to see more of you” she says to me.

“Of course” I reply. We make our way to the waiting car and only then does Ezra let go of my hand so I could get into the car. I bet he didn't even notice he had been holding my hand all this while. We're soon on our way back to the mansion.