'Surprise! I came to visit!' Lily signed all the way from the door before dashing towards Aiden.
She sported olive green overalls with a white t-shirt underneath. Her white sneakers lit up in bright colors with every single step she took, and her hair had been parted into low pony tails that made her look like a doll. And to finish her look off, she wore the hair pin that Aiden had gifted her. The entire outfit enhanced her natural cuteness even further.
He was so shocked to see her, his mind froze for a moment. Not even registering that she had reached him all the way to his desk. Confusion was written all over his face as she smiled up at him. As cute and as innocent as she ever was.
But Lily didn't understand that and thought he was displeased. Which immediately sent her thoughts into a dejected state of mind. 'You don't like my surprise? I'm sorry. Since you surprised me yesterday in class, I thought we could take turns.' The small frown on her face was enough to snap Aiden's heart in two. Mentally slapping himself, he swiftly lifted her up into his lap and caressed her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Princess. I was just so shocked by your surprise, I could hardly think." He gave her forehead a kiss as he reassured her. "In fact, I'm so happy that you're here, that I'm gonna have Jacob include in my schedule as many visits as you want."
At that, Lily smiled brightly. And seeing her do so, lifted a tremendous weight off of his chest. Who would have thought that even the slightest frown from her part, would make him feel like going mad. God only knew what he would do if he were ever to see or hear her cry because of something other than joy.
Looking back at the entrance, he noticed his little Princess was accompanied by Anna. Although a bit disappointed from it not being his other beloved red head, he was pleased to see her. The woman was as close to his angel as anybody could get. So he would always welcome her with open arms.
"Good afternoon Mr. Villan." Anna said as she got closer to his desk. She had already grown used to the sight of Lily confidently initiate contact with him, so she wasn't even fazed by it at that point.
"I'm sorry for not receiving you at the door. I wasn't expecting your visit." He replied as he stood up with Lily in his arms and shook Anna's hand. "But please, make yourself comfortable, Miss Expert." Aiden had quickly understood why their arrival had been so specifically calculated.
"Miss Expert?" Anna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I informed President Villan of how you were willing to aid us with the situation I contacted you about earlier." Jacob was fast to explain as he avoided Aiden's piercing stare. He knew his friend wouldn't be so easily pacified, but at least his plan of using a red head to his advantage was working. At the minimum, Aiden had calmed down.
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert." Anna said as she looked around the office. It reminded her of how Claire's office would get every time there was an overflow of work. "But I'm confident that I can help you find the source of the breach."
Aiden could feel his blood start to boil again at the mention of the possible breach. And as if the little girl in his arms were a human emotion detector, she wrapped her arms around his neck and offered him a tight squeeze. Making the big bad CEO's heart skip a beat in response. Giving her an equally tight hug in return, he opted to put his anger aside, even if only for the time being. He'd rather deal with the matter at hand.
"I appreciate your help then. I'm sure Jacob has already prepared for your arrival, so make yourself comfortable and don't hesitate to ask for anything you may need. Anything at all." Aiden said as he felt Lily lay her head on his shoulder. She was intent on sticking close to the moody man holding her up.
"I have prepared everything you've asked for in advance. We can start by going over the paper work you've requested in my office. Does that sound good?" Jacob said as he sent some messages out from his tablet. Making sure everything was in order.
"Sounds good." Turning towards Lily, Anna continued. "Sweetheart, do you want to come with?"
'I want to stay with Aiden.' Lily signed in reply.
"Would that be okay?" asked while now looking up at Aiden. 'Fire? Since when has Aiden been fire?' She internally asked herself after seeing the sign Lily had used to name the man holding her as if she were a precious gem. She made a mental note to ask Claire about it later.
"Of course. You don't even need to ask. We'll most probably stay here, but I'll personally inform you if there's any change in plans." Aiden responded as he snuggled Lily even more into his embrace. Having her say she wanted to be with him, was like taking the cure to the vile poison his anger intoxicated him with. He felt on cloud nine. "You can go with ease."
"Then I'll see you in a bit Sweetheart." Anna blew Lily a kiss before turning towards the door. "Lead the way Mr. Patterson."
The two left rather hurriedly, leaving only Aiden and the adorable little bundle in his arms, standing in his messy office.
Looking down at her, he smiled. "Well it looks like it's gonna be just you and me Princess." He hoisted her a bit higher as to see her face more clearly. "What do you feel like doing?"
Lily placed both of her hands on his face and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. And having regularly seen similar ones in most of the people around her, she knew exactly what they were. With that in mind, a plan immediately formed in her head.
'I skipped nap time today so I'm a little sleepy.' She signed as she exaggerated a yawn.
Aiden found her tired gesture to make her look even more precious. "Would you like to take a nap here? My bed is very comfortable." He asked her as he began to walk over to his office bedroom.
'You have a bed here? But Auntie Anna said this was were you worked.' Lily asked with a confused expression on her face.
"It is were I work. But you know, sometimes I skip my nap time too. So I had to make a bedroom here for when I felt tired." He answered as he stepped into the adjoined bedroom in his office. And like Claire's, his workaholic inspired sleeping chamber was just as minimalistic and plain. The only difference being in how instead of having four cement walls, one was glass. Giving the two the perfect view of the city.
Lily's eyes widened at the sight. 'You can see the birdies from here!' She enthusiastically pointed out.
"Indeed you can. And at night the stars are almost close enough to touch. Isn't that cool?"
'Yeah!' She signed while Aiden gingerly sat her on the edge of the bed. Kneeling down, he helped her take her sneakers off. Lily waited until he finished, before continuing with her plan. 'Can you stay with me?'
Aiden could've sworn he had died and gone to heaven. She was too cute for this earth. "You don't even have to ask Princess."
Lily excitedly patted the space next to her by the pillows and waited for him to settle in. As soon as he did, she wasted no time in flopping herself over him like a koala. Once again, making his heart threaten to burst inside his chest.
'Now we can take a nap together.' She signed to him before laying her head on his chest. Forcing him to understand, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. With a satisfied smile, she closed her eyes and thought about how smart and well executed her plan was. And all without having him suspect a thing.
Little did Lily know, that Aiden had seen through her intentions from the moment she zoomed in on his face earlier. And although his head was a rampaging mess due to everything that was going on, he couldn't find it in himself to burst her blissful and innocent bubble. So instead, he simply began to lovingly caress her back and resigned himself to getting some much needed sleep. Which thanks to the sweetest little girl, who was currently dozing off on his chest, he found it almost immediately.
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Jacob escorted Anna to his company office. Although he didn't exactly work for the company, Aiden did. And that meant that he would be there most of the time. Making the need for his own office in the building somewhat necessary.
It was a medium sized office furnished with the regular stuff. It wasn't decorated with any specific theme or color, which intrigued Anna. Having already heard and witnessed how full of personality and sass Jacob was, she would have expected to see any traces of his interests or preferences in what supposed to be such a personal space. But seeing as she wasn't close enough to ask, she simply ignored it.
"Will this do?" Jacob asked as he closed the door behind him. He had left Anna to her boring paper searching while he fetched the laptop she had requested.
"Yes. That's perfect." She replied while looking up at him. She was seated at his desk, do to his insistence, and had already made herself comfortable. Meaning, she had already made a mess of his desk. There were papers everywhere. Absolutely no order in sight.
Without much of an explanation, Anna plugged in external hard drive into the laptop Jacob handed her. After tapping on it's keyboard a few time, the monitor turned black. Only a few seconds went by before gold colored coding began to appear on it. And at that, she simply sent the computer aside and went back to reviewing the stacks of papers she had in front of her.
"How long do you think it's going to take you?" Jacob asked her as he took a seat in one of the lounge chairs designated for visitors in front of the desk.
"Maybe a few minutes." She replied nonchalantly.
"A few...minutes?" He asked in response. An obviously doubtful expression over his face.
"Yeah. And from the looks of these installment history documents, I can already guess what happened." She said as she highlighted a few things on the paper she was holding. Handing it over for him to see, she explained. "Notice those first three receipts for purchase orders on the second half of this last month's term?"
"You mean the ones with for office supplies and computer maintenance?" He glanced over the paper while focusing on the highlighted areas.
"Exactly. Only they're not really for pens and staples. They're for trojan horses." She responded while taking a sip of her coffee.
"What do you mean?"
"One of the Phoenix Clan's many guise's is that they pose as menial company's. Laundromats, car cleaning services, garbage disposal crews and so on. They use them as covers for whatever their real intentions are within the company or people they target."
"You mean to say that these two company's are fronts for the Phoenix Clan?" Jacob could feel his stomach begin to hurt.
"Indeed. But trust me, those are only two of the dozens of company's they secretly manage." She continued with her explanation as she began to organize the mess she had made while looking for what she needed. "And they use them to insert themselves into the network of any major chess piece in the city. Even Flinn Corporation had their discreet presence on the inside before Claire took over. They're that good at what they do."
"So they've been embezzling money from us through these fake orders for some time now. "His stomach was now aching. "But Villan Enterprise has been around for over sixty years. Why would they only infiltrate last month?" Ever since Claire was involved in Aiden's life, Jacob couldn't seem to keep up. Exactly how much were they unaware of?!
"Oh don't get me wrong. They've had a peeping hole in your system for years now. It's only that their decision to use it was a recent one. Doesn't mean they couldn't have done so before."
"Somebody is definitely going to die this time." Jacob rubbed his hurting stomach at the thought of all those who would be receiving Aiden's wrath once he found out.