Chapter One: My Precious Disguise

The sky was a dark opaque blue that reflected the emotions whirling within me at that very moment. The only brightness beyond my window came from the street lights and the moon that seemed to shy further away as every second passed. I hated being up so early; waking up before the sun came out was one of my biggest pet peeves. I liked going to sleep to one setting and waking up to another, the darkness that I was seeing made me feel like I had only slept for a minute. And I probably did. The phone call I got last night kept me up for hours. I completely surpassed my normal curfew and that resulted in me only getting about four hours of sleep. And with those four hours I was supposed to be at work by 7:30 a.m- leave at 7:00 p.m, go to my night school at 8:00 p.m, and complete an essay and company analysis. All that probably wasn't going to get done successfully but the thought of completing it all was exhausting.

I finally dragged myself from the window next to my bed and made my way to my bathroom. As I showered, did my hair, got dressed, and even walked to my car all I could think about was that dumb phone call. I told them not to call me. Ever. I told them they would receive an email every day stating that I am okay and once those emails stopped for them to contact me. If those emails stopped that meant something was wrong, and those emails never stopped- so nothing was wrong. Then why the hell did they call me.

I never forgot their numbers. As soon as I changed my phone number and got a new phone I made sure I saved their contacts. I didn't know if I saved it in case I ever wanted to call or I saved it so I knew to avoid their call but it was saved. And for the past three years I never got a phone call, no text, nothing. And it was great, it helped me forget. And I promised to never answer if they did contact me and I would've kept with that promise if I knew. I didn't even look at my phone before I answered it yesterday. I just answered. And once I heard his voice, the way he pronounced my name- I knew who it was. Francisco Capone. My father.

I knew if I hung up he would just call back, and I knew if I just stayed silent he wouldn't hang up- he would wait. So I was forced to speak.

"Wh-why are you calling me?" Shock. Astonishment Bewilderment. Everything in the mix. This couldn't be happening. It was unreal. My father was really calling me. I was speaking to my father.

"Now, is that any way to speak to the man that helped create you and put a roof over your head for a good 19 years?" He sounded so comfortable, so at ease. How?
"Dad." That was the first time in a long time that I said that word to the actual person it represented. I had to admit that I missed it, that I missed him- all of them. But they came with bad memories as they came with good- and I still wasn't ready to face them.

"I know you're wondering why I'm calling. And I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important." He paused, I assumed he expected me to speak- I wasn't going to. "Your mother is worried sick- " he started," for all she knows you can be dead.-"

"I sent the email this morning. I never missed a day."

"What is a fucking email suppose to do Alonza!" I gasped at the aggression in his voice and hoped he didn't hear it. I wasn't scared; I was never scared of my father. But knowing how the aggression in his voice could match the aggression in his actions and what he did to people, what he does to people- had fear settling in me. I was being reminded of things I trained myself to forget and I hated it. The phone call needed to end and it needed to end soon. "An email does not soothe the worry and pain we feel with you gone Alonza. That email could be automated for all we know. You could have had someone sending the emails after you fucking killed yourself. An email through a fucking computer doesn't let us know you're safe and well Alonza. It just doesn't."

"Would you like a text message instead?" I offered nonchalantly.

"So I see your smart mouth hasn't changed." It actually did, but with him speaking to me it was coming back.

"I'm at work, I can't talk -sorry." And with that I was prepared to hang up. I didn't like where the conversation was going and ending it would benefit everyone.

"You're not at work Alonza, don't lie to me. You are sitting in a Starbucks with a frozen beverage next to you and your laptop in front of you. You're by a window facing a street that isn't too far from your little job that I got for you. Before you answered this call you were typing hard for a proposition that you're supposed to have completed by nine tonight. You're working hard, like I taught you to." I had stopped breathing. How did he know where I was? How did he know what I was doing? Did he have someone watching me? "I always have my eyes on you Alonza. You are my only daughter. Did you actually think I would let you just disappear into thin air without my supervision." I actually did.

"How?"

"You don't need to know that. I'm tired of getting tabs on you and flimsy pictures. I need to see you in front of me with my own eyes. And soon. I'm booking you a flight home in six months. You are going to stay with me and your mother for two weeks and say hello to your family and friends that you abandoned Alonza."

"Dad, no!"

"You have no choice in this matter, Alonza. I will drag you here myself if I have to. Have a nice night, Cucciola."

Just thinking about it had me sweating and wanting to curl up in my bed and just hideaway all day. I didn't want to go back. I was not ready to go back. I was being forced and I didn't enjoy being forced to do absolutely anything. If I was to do something it had to be by my own free will. Seeing them would definitely not be done with my free will.

I wanted to just forget about it and pretend it never happened. I had six months to spare. Half a year. Maybe by that time everything would be fine. I would be ready. Hopefully.

Taking a deep breath I finally walked into the building that had become my second home. Silic Inc. It was a skyscraper that in my head reached up into the clouds. Each floor held rooms full of different people. People with different minds, different ethics, and different looks- different everything. It was overwhelming but soothing at the same time. No matter how many times I walked into this building I would never know every single person or every little detail- and I liked that. It was different- I needed different.

After saying hello to the lovely receptionist in the entrance I made my way to the glass elevator and pressed the button to the 21st floor. And once the doors opened I was greeted by the very thing that haunted me every night. "Bad morning Mrs. Capone?" The witch greeted me. She was literally the devil dressed in Prada. Her red lips stretched into a bright smile that looked innocent and cheery but really was full of malice and spite.

"No, it's actually been great." I responded with the same fake politeness.

"Could've fooled me. A sour face doesn't make good sales Hun. Nor do those bags. I would go freshen up in the bathroom if I were you. We wouldn't want Mr. Ezana to see you like that would we?" In translated terms Mrs. Fron was telling me I looked horrible. I wasn't sure how her giving me negativity was supposed to turn my face into a positive. But I was sure Mr. Ezana didn't care how I looked or how my mood was as long as I got my work for the day done. Something she didn't understand.

She also didn't understand that not everyone could look as polished and clean as she made herself look every single morning. There was never a day where her dark skin wasn't shining brighter than the sun. There wasn't a day where one curl on her perfectly sculpted head was frizzed. There wasn't a day where her slender body wasn't tucked into some designer professional suit. And there wasn't a day where she wasn't walking around in five inch heels and a bright smile. She was just perfect. She was better than me in every way and she knew it and made it a mission to rub it in my face whenever she saw me. I hated her.

The old me would've gave some snarky insult and walked away leaving her dumbfounded and probably emotionally hurt. But the new me didn't do that so I placed a smile on my face, nodded my head, and walked away.

It was 7:25, in five minutes my boss was going to be walking in, in a tailored suit and a cup of coffee for him and myself. In five minutes my day was going to start. In five minutes I was officially going to have to start to fight the urge to fall asleep at my desk.

I sadly watched the clock for those 300 seconds and felt my heart stop once Mr. Ezana walked in. I would never get over how attractive the man was. His face alone made me want to melt into a puddle. And the way his tall body fit into all his suits just made me so yearnful. It was a sin for someone's body to be molded so perfectly. He was just a sin. A beautiful professional innocent sin.

"Morning Alonza." Alam smiled at me as he handed me my cup of coffee. It was a up full of white chocolate mocha with an extra pump of chocolate, my favorite. It had become tradition for it to be delivered to me by him every morning. Traditionally that would be my job as his personal assistant/ advisor/ secretary but after me messing up his coffee for three months straight Alam made the wise decision to just get it himself. And surprisingly he still managed to get here on time, never a minute a late. And with how long that line was at Starbucks that as a great accomplishment. I came in thirty minutes late when I did it.

"Morning Alam and thank you." I waited for him to get settled at his desk before I started talking about our tasks for the day. As he did that I took a sip of my delicious coffee and opened my laptop on my desk that wasn't that far from his. Another weird thing was me sharing an office with my boss. That also had relation to my first months working here. I was full of questions and would always run from my office to his or page him through the phone constantly so we decided to just set up a mini station next to his in his office. That way I could ask him my questions without hesitation and be witness to any important conversations that he might need reference to in the future. I still had my own office that I went to when he needed privacy either with himself or with a client. But, most of my time was spent next to him in his office.

The only downside was that if I ever got distracted from my phone and started to play on my phone or something he was there to chastise me or even sometimes take my phone way. But, being able to look at his handsome face made up for that.

"Ok, so, today you have two meetings- one with the Liquid Electricity Company at 2 and one with MFC starting at 4:30. Then you have to go over the blueprint of the new firm you're building with Mrs. Fron at six. You're booked today big guy."

"Am I really? It sounded like I have nothing to do from now till two. That's a good seven hours of free time." He finished his observation with a modest smirk.

"Well, with those seven hours you can look over the 56 applications that I sent you last night for the interns coming this fall and you can even finish writing that speech for that meeting with that big surprise company that you told me about." His smirk dropped and his dark eyes rolled at me.

"Hopefully that won't take seven hours." He muttered, immediately opening up my previous mentioned email and getting to work.

"Why is this company a big secret anyway, Alam. Isn't it my job to know about all your meeting s in case you forget?" I questioned with an arch of my eyebrow. He had been acting weird about that stupid meeting as if he never had a meeting with a billion dollar company before.

"It's a secret because it's special and once again- a surprise." I mouthed the words 'it's a surprise' mockingly back at him and placed my eyes back on my computer. Stupid secrets. I could easily look at his emails and see who the company was, but I was being nice. Alam seemed like he was having fun with this so I was going to let him roll. This was probably what he found thrilling. In the almost four years that I've known that man I've never seen him act anything but professional. When he was being funny it was a professional funny. When he was speaking it was in a professional way. When he was telling off an employee for messing up something important he did it professionally. When he was doing anything it was in a professional way- like this big "surprise".

His behavior was a big shock to me when I first got here. I knew he was going to be somewhat different from what I was surrounded by at home, but not that different. When I cursed to myself he would give me shocked side eyes and distasteful stares. When I tried to make a sly joke he never got them or found them inappropriate. Accustoming g to his ways was one of the hardest things I had to do. But now that I did it- it wasn't that bad. It was very relaxing. And I have yet to decide if that was good or bad thing.

I opened up my first email from an unknown sender, perplexed by that simple observation. There was no subject either. But the email was simple and I already knew who the sender was after reading the two simple but dreadful words. My Father must have been extremely bored.

178 days.

Very warming, Dad.