Page 22 of One Night with Cinderella

Five

One week later

The Cress family is as surprised as the world at the news that our beloved Monica is the daughter of Brock Maynard. Although we were saddened to lose her as an invaluable and dedicated employee no longer living in our home, we do ask that the privacy of the entire Cress family be respected at this time since we have no further information to add to this conversation. In closing, we wish Monica the very best.

Gabe didn’t bother to read the rest of the online newspaper story about Monica after finishing the family’s official statement, released through the publicity team at Cress, INC. The hope was to thin out the paparazzi still driving through the neighborhood at slow speeds in hopes of catching a photo of Monica, who had already moved out of the home.

“Now hopefully that is the end of that,” Nicolette said with emphasis.

He shifted his gaze from a spot outside in the garden over to his mother, sitting at one end of the dining room table. She slapped the folded newspaper she held on to the leather top of the table, beside her plate of fresh fruit and a buttery croissant. He knew without asking that she was speaking of something to do with their ex-employee, Monica.

It was all she’d seemed to want to discuss over the week since the paparazzi had camped outside their house and the press had revealed that Monica was in fact the secret love child of a famous actor. The fact that she worked as a maid made the story even more salacious.

“Time heals all things,” Phillip Sr. said from the other end of the table before taking a deep sip of his cup of coffee.

Will time make me stop dreaming of her?

“I read on the Star Gazette her mother was a maid for her father when she got pregnant, and they gave her up for adoption and she came full circle by becoming a maid,” Phillip Jr. said just before Chef Jillian walked in carrying a fresh carafe of the fresh-squeezed citrus juice they all loved.

She paused midstep at his words and frowned a little before continuing into the room to set the container on the table among the serving dishes of steaming food she’d prepared for them.

Gabe squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers, wishing his brother had more tact and less tongue on the matter. “Websites like the Star Gazette are hardly the place to get news,” he said with censure. “We know firsthand they deal more in fiction than facts.”

All he could remember was the fright in Monica’s eyes as she was assailed by the paparazzi that morning. As his car pulled up before the house, he’d taken in the people outside before realizing it was Monica frozen in front of them, her eyes filled with fear and confusion. The desire to protect her had flooded him, and the car had barely stopped before he’d climbed out and barreled through the crowd to rush her back inside the house. He’d had to fight the impulse to swing and connect on the faces of those in the crowd.

“True. It’s to be entertained...not informed,” Cole drawled, reaching for a croissant to tear and dip in the homemade honey butter on his plate.

“Whatever,” Phil muttered.

“Want some, Uncle Cole,” Collette said from where she sat on her knees in the seat beside him.

He winked and honored her request as if her plate wasn’t already stacked with pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse. She giggled and proceeded to lick the decadent honey butter from the croissant.

All of the Cress men chuckled, finding her, as always, adorable.

Nicolette playfully scowled, and her mother, Raquel, gave Cole a reproachful look as she took the croissant and cleaned butter from her child’s sticky fingers.

“Right, the Gazette also claims she’s hidden away, using psychics to try to reconnect with her deceased father,” Lucas agreed, nibbling his fresh fruit as he steered the convo back to Monica.

Gabe remained silent, allowing them to continue speculating on their ex-employee, who the press could not locate to harass. He had thoughts and questions of his own. Like why she hadn’t told him the truth that morning.

“I resigned from my position here last week and gave two weeks’ notice. But I think I should leave today.”

“Today?”

“Is it because of what happened between us?”

“No.”

“Do you have a better position?”

“No.”

Gabe didn’t know why Monica did not reveal more about her departure, but it was clear it involved the discovery of her parentage. Or...she felt it was none of my business.

“I am curious about where she disappeared to,” Raquel said with a one-shoulder shrug. “Maybe she knew all along and didn’t want to be found and that’s why she’s MIA.”

“Who would choose to be a maid when her father is a rich actor?” Cole protested. “Sorry, Raquel, but that’s ridiculous.”

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