Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 55

I was working on my final project, adding the ??wow?? factors, as it was mostly completed when Olivia called me. Of all the four marketing advisors I had, she and Killian were the best. Killian barely opened his mouth to add his ideas but he and Olivia, somehow managed to mould their eccentricities to a kick-ass power-packed one collective persona.

It was so surprising to see her call at 10 p.m at night.

??Sir... I know Mr. Brantley had asked me not to disturb you during school days but...?? Was she jumping around? ??Oh my god, I cannot believe it... Oh my god omygodomygodomygod... You don??t believe it, I don??t believe it and I have seen that a thousand times already... omyomygodomygodomygod...?? She took a breather. ??Hello Mr. Truscott, this is Olivia. Remember me? Your marketing advisor. Hello???

??Yes, Olivia, I do remember you, we talked last week, remember???

??Oh, yes, yes... I just feel, you know; I am not important enough for people to remember me... So how are you Mr. Truscott? Have I told you, your voice is calming to listen??? She sighed. ??When I find a boyfriend I am gonna pick one with a voice like you, so he could talk to me while I sleep, you know???

??Yes, Olivia I know. You have told me that a little over a hundred million times. So, what is this about???

??What is what about? Oh, Killian stop kicking me... Do you want to talk to him? Exactly. I am talking to Mr. Truscott. So, Mr. Truscott, what were we talking about???

God! I needed to find myself a pet like Olivia and keep her in my pocket, without Robbie knowing of course, because he would kill her when I sleep, because he was just a jealous bastard.

??Something you have watched a thousand times already and lots of omygodomygodomygod???

There was absolute silence from Olivia and Killian laughing somewhere on the other side. ??Is he talking about porn??? I heard Olivia whispering to him and I smacked myself with the robot hand I was coding.

Ow!

??The YouTube video. Ask him to watch it.?? Thank you, Killian.

Then I heard Olivia screaming again and jumping around. ??Oh, Mr. Truscott. You won??t believe...??

??Olivia, to the point.??

??Oh, yes, I have shared a video link, please watch it and call me back.?? She hung up the phone.

God!

That girl brightens up my day, well, technically night but if the link was to a porn, I would smack her with this robot hand.

??Hi, fellas... Mel here.??

It was a Get Ready With Me For A Fancy Event; Vogue YouTube video of MelBel. I had no idea why she sent me this one, I was no big fan of Country music or make up tutorials.

??... so, I really don??t want to come across as a stuck up glittery neck rich lady but... more of a ??come talk to me, I am fun to be around vibe?? when I go for an event... And trust me, the posher I go for, more cuckoo I look like, because I am a Texan country girl at heart... so just a dab of concealer because... I have air bags for eyes and...?? She twisted her face left and right ??... the lights pick up on patches you know... so we gotta make sure it is all blended nice and well...??

Uhhh why was I watching this?

Then she took a sip of a drink... Not just any drink... our drink. Oh My God. omygodomygodomygodomygod.

??...stay hydrated guys...?? She winked and took another sip before putting it down. I wanted to scream ??PICK MY DRINK BACK UP?? but I was not annoying, but dammit, pick my drink up and show to the world the logo.

??... I have a huge appetite. Come on, I am a farmer girl, we scarf down our burgers than take small classy bites of salad... but... this is a special event and I cannot scare my fans away by chowing down... so I have to keep my appetite in check... and this drink? This is my panacea folks... I work out before going to an event... Mainly to fit the gown, but... also because of my anxiety... this drink... does not completely take away my appetite but... I don??t know... somehow settles my tummy...??

omygodomygodomygodomygod.

??... I love the vegan one the most, surprising I know... I can let go of my music but sweet tender beef... I am so hungry...?? she drunk Pro-life again... ??My gym instructor slash my dietician recommended it, she is vegan, you know Kath, everyone knows Kath... Thanks, belle, you saved me... Well, Pro-Life did... but... I am so obsessed with it... It tastes so good, unsurprisingly ??milf favoured Pro-Life??... oh my god I cannot believe I said that!?? She snorted and laughed, mindful of her makeup and she corrected herself. ??Milk- flavoured one is the second best thing in their range. Vogue edit that out! Kidding, everyone knows I am a sexy mama!??

The whole video had accumulated around 581 K views in two hours and climbing up.

I called Robbie straight away and he thought I was dying, which was close but dammit... that was our drink!!!

AAHHHHHH!!!

On Vogue, no less!

Then I called Olivia and we both chanted OMYGODOMYGODOMYGODOMYGOD together.

Robbie put us on video conference call and we danced around, well Olivia and I did; Robbie laughed at my quirky dance clutching a robot hand and Killian looked like he wanted to die and not be associated with us ever again.

??Robbie, we need to treat them, how about this Thursday? Come pick me up and we will take them to The Mer Land, they have amazing sea food of every cuisine. Bring Lia too, she loves aquariums, say yes, Daddy. What about you guys, Thursday will work for you, right???

I noticed Olivia stuck with an ??ooooh?? mouth and Killian not even looking at us. Olivia looked between Robbie and I like she had never seen us before and Killian kicked her.

??Aaah... So, you...?? Killian kicked her again and she shut her mouth.

Robbie was looking so smug and crossed his hands, triumphantly.

??Thursday works fine for us, and we love sea food.?? Killian answered timidly and Olivia was chanting something under her breath.

Then I remembered I had called him Robbie and Daddy instead of Mr. Brantley.

Oh Shit!

It was happening more frequently than before. I was slipping and spilling my secret; and I could not cover this.

I wringed my hand together and peeked at Robbie who was smiling victoriously at me.

??I will take you anywhere you want, babe. Yes, I will bring Lia, she misses her Davey too much. Oh, maybe I will call Dean and ask him to cancel your Friday class. Princess?? next vaccination date is due and she gets to be with you for three days.??

I nodded and blushed so bad, there was no way we could present ourselves as business associates in front of these two again... or I could tell them I volunteered to babysit...

??Don??t stay up too late, Angel. I will call you in the morning. Our baby is messing with the baby monitor. Miss you, my love. Bye guys. Good job!??

... Never mind.

Thankfully Robbie dropped the call before Olivia could scream.

How was I going to tell my mom?

I wanted her to know from me. I did not want to taint her character when she unknowingly defends my honour if someone points out that I was a homewrecker. There was no life for me without Lia and Robbie and my mom had every right in the world to learn that from me.

I called mama right away.

??Mom...??

??Yes, baby boy.?? She sounded so tired and breathing harder.

??Mama, how are you? Were you in bed???

??Yes, but I was not sleeping. I was talking to your dad. So, what happened? Robert told me that project is going on the way you wanted it to.??

I gulped down my tears.

??I... uh... I have something to tell you.??

??Baby boy, I am sure it can wait.??

??But mama...??

??You sound so scared and sad and frustrated... will talking to me about this right now will calm you???

??Nooo...?? It would not, but she needed to know. She needed to hear it from me. Not like, that person in this firm told this man in that company and then his girlfriend told my uncle that your son was...

??Then it can wait.?? She said adamantly. ??You can come here and talk about that in person.??

I could not do that... I could not see her eyes filling with hatred, I could not see the pride in her eyes make way to disappointment...

??Ace, my son...??

I sniffled.

??Whatever you want to tell me, you know that it won??t change that I love you, right? It will not change... whatever that is...??

??You will hate me... you will be so disappointed in me, mom.?? I cried and heard her sniffling too.

??I can never hate you even if you kill me, Ace. You are my son, you are me, you are your dad, how can I ever hate you... but disappointed? Yes, I could get disappointed in you. I have and I will... just like I have done so many things to disappoint you, my baby...??

??You have never disappointed me.??

??Don??t you dare lie to me Ace Davidson Truscott.??

??I am serious, mama, I cannot remember an incident where I was disappointed in you.??

??That is because disappointment is temporary sweetheart. When things or people don??t go the way we want, it is natural for us to feel disappointed. You were disappointed in me, when I could not understand your computer stuff. You were disappointed when the ??cool project?? you did for high school, flew over my head. You were disappointed when the whole nation was celebrating your victory of International Science Olympiad, and all I cared was seeing Mr. President giving you a medal. Does that mean you hate me???

No, it never did. Yes, I felt that she did not care about my ideas, that she did not listen well enough to understand my world but hate? My mom? I shivered to associate hate with mom... I could not even bear to think of hating my mom.

??You have disappointed me in your life, my sweet precious baby... I was disappointed the day you started favouring spicy purees to my breast milk, I was disappointed when your dad can put you to sleep with a single pat where as it took me close to an hour for you to doze off. And I had to find the boys, you called cute from Marie, that was another disappointment.?? I chuckled at how disappointed she still sounded. ??Then you chose to stay in your room and play with your computer...??

??It was not playing with the comp...??

??I don??t care.??

And we laughed still watery and tearful.

??So, you see, son, you have disappointed me, I have disappointed you but we love each other and we will, till the end of time... won??t we???

??Yes, mama... I love you.??

??And I love you too. Whatever you do, there will be a chance of disappointing someone who you love and someone who loves you but if... if that is what you want... if that is what you need... the disappointment will never last... only love does and I love you, no matter what...??

I nodded and I knew she could see me through her momma eyes that followed me no matter how far I was.

??I am disappointed that Amelia is not biologically yours.??

I froze.

??It is heart-warming to watch you two together but not so surprising, because Marie always said you were her son, and Jason is not biologically mine, so that trait is in you too... but still I am disappointed, does that hurt you???

??I am sorry that it hurts you, mama, but I love her and she is mine.??

She snorted. ??Oh, a deja vu. I have heard something like that before... no wonder... Well, it is not important. Now, you understand what I am saying, right, my baby??? She yawned.

??Yes, mama.??

??Your baby, Amelia, will disappoint you too... she will stop listening to you when she is a teenager, she will disappoint you when you find the bottle of vodka under her bed one day...??

Mama waited and I blushed.

??... I was sixteen and I liked the taste... I said sorry...?? I mumbled out.

??... and will get disappointed again when she says sorry and still keeps a bottle of vodka under her bed, just to the left corner this time instead of right...??

??I get it, I get it... Jesus, woman!??

Momma dearest laughed, at my expense. ??Still under the bed???

??Yeaaahh...??

??Why? So smart, yet...??

I blushed.

??Because you want me to know, son. It was your way of saying, ??I want to drink it, momma and I want you to know that, I drink vodka.?? And you were showing how much you drink, so I would not worry. You are a good child, sweetheart, just like Amelia is. She will get difficult as she grows but so will your love, and everything will balance out.??

I thought she had fallen asleep but then she whispered...

??Whatever you want to say, you can say that to my face... Will I get disappointed? Probably. But will I stop loving you? I can??t even if I stop breathing... Or if telling me is not something you want to do, I accept that too... though I love hearing your secrets... I love you...my swee...??

She fell asleep.

I did not hang up the phone, I heard my mom??s breathing on the other side and I did not need any other lullaby.

The celebration for our success was marvellous, and I had this elation in my mind because of mom??s words. I was flying and Robbie let me be.

Lia cried when the vaccination came around, but then her Uncle JJ, took her off to god-knows-where. We all did our blood tests, and pretended to cry so she would know we were suffering too.

I pretended to pretend to cry.

My tears were real. I hated blood tests, syringes, hospitals... well, but anything for my Lia.

Robbie kissed my boo-boo annoying me and I forgot the pain.

He was in good mood lately, might be the success of our product but I had a feeling that he was happy that Olivia and Killian knew my secret. Robbie decided to settle the amount with the investors, and asked me to handle it; because he had nothing to do with the project from the beginning.

The investors were begging me for an interest, the success of Pro-Life was blowing up the internet, the thing was advertising on itself.

Killian did an amazing job on the ads.

There was this one with Gabe having a good time in club and goes to the apartment with the girl he picked up, but he was panting and tired from dancing and the girl was expecting an amazing performance in bed.

The ad showed a tired Gabe drinking Pro-Life and then winking, closing the door. When he tried to slip away later, she pulled him back to the bed.

??Keep up your energy.?? Gabe smiles before letting her dragging him away.

We were worried if people would mistake us for Viagra or condoms or anything sex related but Olivia and the ad director did an outstanding implementation of the idea.

Well, that increased the consumption of our product from middle aged men, serious, I was not even joking.

Yup, the idea came from Killian, not Olivia. It was always the silent ones.

??They said if you tell, Mr. Brantley will listen.?? One man was persistent.

??I don??t know where you heard that from but that is not true. I will never disobey him even if I find some kind of justification to your wrong doings, which I don??t.?? Though we could afford to pay them the interest.

??Please sir, my kids... I shouldn??t have...?? The man was teary eyed.

??I don??t think there is much I can do at this point. He is adamant on closing this deal once and for all, there is nothing I can give 100% assurance on.?? I politely told them and went in search of Mr. Brantley.

??Hey...?? I opened the door and saw him going through his files.

He said before I could even broach the topic. ??Please don??t fall for their tears, love, that is one way to fail in business.??

??But we are making a lot of money right now.??

??Sweetheart business like this is more prone to fluctuations, the hype will be lost in a year and another product will take lead. Make as much as you can when you can.??

??I am not asking you give them shares or anything... Just may be a...??

??No.??

??Robbie, you said I could do whatever I want with the money.?? The whole project was under our combined names but I was the only one holding the money account, and Robbie wanted it that way.

??Then why are you asking me???

??Because I don??t want to go against in you in this... and I need your approval... Come on, we talked about this remember, how we will talk out our differences in private???

??In matters related to Lia where you know better than me, this is business and I know better.??

I sighed.

I did not bother to correct him, because he was true.

??Why do you want to do this??? I shrugged and Robbie yanked me to him. ??Tell me why, Angel.??

??Promise me you will listen before shutting me out.??

Robbie nodded and pecked my lips.

??One of the investors rolled the money his late wife insured for his kid??s education... wait... you promised me.?? Robbie sighed and went back to his chair, already making up his mind. ??Another one, kind of made his friends and relatives to pitch in, and they will kill him if he does not give them some money as interest... but...??

I sat on his lap and pouted. ??... that is not the reason I want to do it, I was planning to start up an account in name of Lia and I don??t want it on the tears of two kids... She has you, she has me... and Jason and my mom and Uncle Fred who will make sure that she is getting everything her heart desires and what she needs, like education... but those kids won??t and I know you think that is onto their father but... still the same, they will cry... I don??t want that for Lia.??

Robbie rubbed my back.

??What about you? Don??t you want the money???

??Why would I? I already have money and I have you... then there is also money I am making with Jason...??

??Tell me that again...??

??What???

??That you have me. That you know that I will take care of you.??

I blushed and tried to jump off his lap but the bastard crossed his legs and trapped in his embrace. ??Tell me.??

??I have no idea what you are talking about.??

??Sure you do.??

I ducked my head and Robbie chased my lips with his before hugging me tighter.

??My Sweet Kitten.??

??Well, we both know you will get me anything I want. So stop being so smug.??

I pushed on his chest. He peppered my face and neck with his kisses and I might have slipped a moan and making his go all frenzy.

??Sir, your 3?? O clock is here, Mr. Brantley.?? His secretary came in holding her tab and did not bat an eye seeing me on his lap being kissed to the last inch of my life. ??Mr. Truscott, they are still waiting for you, Sir. Should I ask them to leave???

??Natalia, can??t you see, we are extremely busy.?? Robbie??s voice muffled and whiney.

??So are the people waiting for you too, Sir.??

??Ha! You said 3?? O clock, I have seven more minutes, get out!??