Page 14 of Ruthless Billionaire Daddy

It was time for me to leave. Fuck Sebastien and his grand opening.

Without a word, I weaved through the crowd to the management door that Rex was standing in front of. I needed to get my clutch from Sebastien’s office where he'd insisted that I stash it when I arrived. As I began to climb the stairs, Sebastien grabbed my arm and spun me to face him. If it wasn’t for his firmgrip on my arm, I would’ve lost my balance and hit my back on the stairs. His eyes were dark and intense.

“Ms. Malone. Where are you going?”

Everything in me wanted to tear him to shreds, but I bit back my anger.

“Hmmm, let me see. Since you’re hell-bent on embarrassing me every chance you get, I’m leaving! I’m not a child, Mr. Quantum, and I’ve had enough of your constant insults.”

Sebastien’s grip on my arm tightened slightly as he straightened and towered over me.

“You’re still on the clock, Ms. Malone, or have you forgotten that you’re in the middle of an event? If you leave now, you'd better believe you won’t get paid.”

Sebastien glared at me, and I glared back. There was no way I was going to let him see how much I needed that money, so I stayed silent.

“You leave when I leave. So get back to work.”

As he turned to walk away, I couldn’t help myself. “As for the caterer, maybe ifyouweren't so busy entertaining the women that threw themselves at you like cheap whores, you’d know that the caterer is already here and is prepping her team as we speak.”

Shit! I went too far with the whore line, didn’t I?

Sebastien paused for a brief moment, and I held my breath. But he didn’t turn around. He exited the door without a word. I sighed and made my way to his office, the only office already furnished, for a much-needed break, knowing he’d be too busy to go upstairs for the rest of the night.

As I opened the office door and froze. Sitting behind the desk was a brown-haired girl dressed in a yellow, frilled dress. She had taken the bobblehead collection from the shelf and lined them up neatly in front of her. She gently tapped their heads and giggled as the heads bobbed up and down.

I closed the door behind me and the girl looked up at me.

“Hi, my name’s Delilah Malone, and I’m the person who planned the event,” I said gently as I stood rooted in place. I didn’t want to scare the child, especially since I didn’t know who she was and how she gained access to Sebastien’s office with Rex standing guard downstairs.

Her eyes brightened. “You’re Uncle Seb’s friend?”

I didn’t want to tell the girl that Uncle Seb and I weren’t really friends, so I nodded. “Yes, you could say that.”

“My name’s Lucy.” She smiled broadly. “Dominic Quantum is my daddy. He and my uncles talk about you a lot at home.”

My chest tightened. Why was I a topic of discussion among the Quantum men?

Curious, I took a seat on the sofa and asked, “What do they say about me?”

“That you used to follow Uncle Seb and his friend, Dean, around when you were kids.”

I laughed. “Well, Uncle Seb is my brother’s best friend, so that’s true.”

I was still a bit worried about what else they said, but I tried not to focus on it. Instead, I focused on Lucy and what she was saying.

“I’m sure Uncle Seb is a great best friend, because he’s an amazing uncle. He takes me out, and said that when I turned eighteen that he’d take me to get my first tattoo…” The man Lucy was describing could never be the same grumpy, control freak that I knew. “And he buys chocolate for me and my friends…”

Chocolate. The word triggered the memory from Sebastien’s office a few weeks ago when I overheard him on the phone. This wastheLucy. An embarrassed flush brushed over my cheeks.

Gosh, I felt like such an idiot.

“... do you have any sisters?” Lucy’s question jolted me back to reality. “I have a baby sister, her name is Lillian.”

“No, but I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Honestly, I really did. Having a protective brother was cool and all, but I never had someone I could share my secrets with, stay up all night talking about boys or do girly things with.

Then she tilted her head thoughtfully before she hopped off the chair behind the desk and sat next to me.

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