Jace Lockhart pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"It'll be ready by the end of the month I promise-"

"Don't make promises you cannot fulfill Lockhart. You owe me since the beginning of February last year."

"I know and I assure you that I will get your money before the end of this month." He said.

"Ending of the month you say, fine. I'll wait but if I don't get the money by then you'll know what I'm really capable of, I assure you that Mr. Lockhart!"

Jace sighed tiredly as he removed the phone from his ear. He dialed another number on his phone after a while of thought.

"Hello Claire,"

"Hey," she said.

"How close are you?"

---

Ashton was seated in his office, typing on his laptop attentively. When his phone rang, he picked it up without even glancing at it. Slowly, he drifted his attention to it and saw that his Financial secretary was calling.

"Hello Josh, have you sent it?"

Ashton cursed loudly when he was given a negative answer. "Why, why, why?!" He blurted out. "Where the hell are the records even? For goodness sake why has this not been taking care of until now?"

"Your father hasn't been in the office Mr. Ryder."

"And you didn't think to tell me this before?" Ashton yelled.

"I'm sorry but I thought he would come soon but it's been a week." Josh said.

"Fine, email it to me, I'll work on it." He hung up. "For the love of God," he said through gritted teeth.

Knock, knock....

"Come in," Samuel walked in.

"And where have you been?" He asked irritatedly.

"At the hotel." Ashton's lips curved into a smirk. "My goodness, I finally see the day you start getting acquainted with women." His bad mood seeming to have vanished into thin air.

Samuel sighed. "No it's not like that, I went for business purposes." Ashton leaned into his chair as Samuel took a seat before him.

"Isn't it what it's called? Business?"

"Decent business, I mean."
Ashton shook his head in amusement.

"What do you have there?" Ashton asked.

"It's something you need to see." Samuel said. He slid the disk still wrapped in it's case to Ashton. Ashton picked it up from the table gently.

"Well, are you going to tell me what it contains?" Ashton raised a brow in question.

"It's what was going at the hotel, you need to see it."

"Maybe later, I'm busy." Ashton said dropping the disk besides him.

"But you need to see it!" Ashton paused before blurting out. "No?"

"It's-"

"I said later," Ashton said.

"But Thea told me to give it to you. She says you should watch it when you receive it." Samuel rushed out.

"You're lying,"

"You can call her if you like but I can easily say that you refused to but you can't hurt her feelings-"

"Why didn't you mention it earlier that she sent it?" He excused slipping the CD into his computer almost immediately. "I would have watched it once you came in,"

Samuel sighed and waited anxiously. Five minutes from then, Ashton's eyes were still fixed at the screen of his laptop.

When his eyes finally freed itself from the screen, it landed on Samuel who met his own half way.

---

Austin opens the door to Ashton's office and close it behind him. Ashton looked up from his computer immediately.

"Hello father?"

"I can you see are busy." Austin said to him.

"Very. Mainly because I have to finish the work you were supposed to do a week ago."

"You have been here since morning?"

"6am, why?" Ashton asked gathering his files.

"Nothing really, I just stopped by to see you at the office." Ashton froze.

"You should have called me," It was then Ashton looked at him.

"Is that why you employed Thea as your personal assistant? You wanted to hide her, did you not?" Austin asked accusingly.

"Father look-"

"I told you to stay away from her but you decided to let her work with you. For how long has she been there? A month, two?"

"She was there before I had the company so I didn't do any recruitment." Ashton said.

"You are going to fire her," Austin ordered. Silence reigned for quite a while but Ashton shook his head later in disagreement making the father frown.

"I will not," he said. "I will not fire her." He completed.

"You will listen to me!" Austin blurted out.

"I am the owner of that company so I decided who stays or not!" Ashton said in warning.

"You may be the owner but I am your father and you will do what I say-" Ashton raised his index finger interrupting him.

"Before you start getting all worked up for something that doesn't concern you, you should actually do something that does concern you. You can start by telling me where you were for the past one week." Ashton said.

Austin retreated as if he was shocked by his son's reply.

"Where I was is none of your business," Austin told him.

"Then who I want in my company is none of your business too."

"Suit yourself, you can start all over again. The whole drama that took place last year, you can begin it all over again with that excuse of a woman." Ashton frowned immediately at his words.

"I will not have you saying bad words about the woman I actually love Father. Thea was pregnant with my child and I will marry her."

"Did you get the pregnancy reports? What assures you that she's not a third class whore?" Austin blurted out in anger.

"Thea is not a prostitute," Ashton said.

"You can change your mind about her when there's a second time." Austin turned back to leave but Ashton's words stopped him.

"Mom has been worried about you," Austin began his strides again but the words of Ashton went with him. "I will find out where you have been Father," Mr. Ryder didn't even look back, he continued his strides out of the office.

---

Ashton waited impatiently at Thea's door. He was anxiously wanting to see her. After being confronted by his father this evening, he didn't know why he felt unease. He knocked again for the nth time that day.

"Ash?" Ashton immediately turned to the sound of that voice.

"Thea," he gave a sigh of relief. "I've been knocking for ages. Where have you been?"

"I went to get some supplies," she said.

"My goodness," he whispered wiping his face and combing his hair in frustration.

"What's wrong Ash? Did something happen?" His reply was to walk to her and kiss her. He cupped her chin as he ravished her lips. When her legs gave out, he caught her easily by the waist. Then, he was only inches away from her lips and heavy breaths escape their lips rhythmically.

"Can I come in?" He said after a while. She stepped out of his hold then and led him in.

She watched as the door shut behind him with a click. For a moment there, their eyes met. She opened her mouth to say something but he was already moving towards her.

Once more, he sealed their lips in a kiss hurriedly. She wrapped her arms around him immediately bringing their bodies closer to each other. He lips met her neck softly, her cheeks then her jaw. Staring longingly into her eyes, he told her what he needed, her, and she complied by pressing her lips to his swiftly.