~ Daniela's POV ~

"Why do you want to talk so bad?"

"Because you need to." As I spoke, pulling out of his embrace, I went into the bathroom telling him to give me a minute. Taking those few minutes in the bathroom I brushed my teeth and did my business to get ready for bed. When I was done I came back into the bedroom noticing the frown he gave I went over to the bed, pulling back the covers.

"Come on." When I gestured for him to get in the bed next to me he let out a frustrated sigh, getting up from his place at the edge of the bed. Getting into the bed I watched him first close the door to the living room before he turned off the lights, leaving the lamps by the bed sides on.

Yes, the light switch was also connected to the lamps because he was that rich.

When he finally got into the bed next to me, he very rudely picked his phone up checking the notifications on his lock-screen. I chose to give him some time to realise how rude he was being but when he didn't, I cleared my throat, giving him a look when he turned his head to look at me.

"Put it down."

"I'm not a child Dani, don't give me orders and I don't need a freaking therapy session so why don't you just go to sleep."

This time when I just held his stare, refusing to back down he let out a frustrated sigh, tossing his phone onto the bed, leaning back into the pillows against the headboard.

"Hurry up then."

"Why do you get so angry? You weren't this bad when I used to want to talk when we were locked in that room."

Carson shook his head, keeping his eyes focused anywhere but me when he responded.

"It was easier then."

"Why?" When I questioned him almost instantly, he turned to look at me giving me a cold look. When I still refused to back down he finally responded.

"You said it once before, in New York I'm the boss of the mafia and when we were there and in the woods, I wasn't."

"So you think that just because you're the boss of the mafia that you don't have to talk to me?"

I knew I was frustrating him but honestly, that was the last thing on my mind.

We had our argument earlier, and we may have sort of talked about the whole thing with Chloe and his fight with Grey, but we hadn't talked about how easily he got angry and frustrated in that room downstairs.

I wasn't going to let him get used to treating me like that on a regular basis. This was the first time it ever got so bad and I was determined to get to the bottom of it to stop it from happening again.

"I never said that Daniela-"

"No but that's what you meant." When I cut him off his expression told me he was getting close to losing it all over again which scared me more than I liked to admit.

"Carson you need to talk to me. You told me you were sorry for treating me so bad at the start when we first met but you did it again today. You have no idea how much I want to hate you for what happened but I know it was only because of what's going on in your head. If you're not honest with me then I..."

"Then you what?"

"I can't be with you." Those words surprised me as much as they surprised him, but I guess I was just being honest. At least one of us was. He didn't say anything for a while, instead just staring at me with a guarded expression, even hiding his anger now.

"If you're going to leave me then just leave."

"Or, you could just talk to me. Tell me what got you so angry."

Carson instantly shook his head, picking up his phone which I remembered was the thing that seemed to have started this whole thing. He was calm when I came back from my walk with Aviana and she even helped me to forget for a while about all that had happened before. Then he called his mother and it all exploded again.

This time he didn't turn his phone on, instead just moving it between his hands like he was trying to use it to keep himself calm.

"Poppy...you said that's your sister, right?"

All he did was nod confirming I had it right. I remembered it from our conversation when he told me about his siblings and he said she was around my age and he thought I would like her.

Only a few weeks ago I thought I'd never ever get to meet her and now, the possibility was very likely which was still surreal to me.

"What did she say that got you so angry?"

After each question it still took him some time to respond to me, but he was starting to at least tell me something.

"She told me that my mother doesn't want to speak to me." He still refused to look at me, clenching his jaw as he spoke to me. "Why?"

"Because she's upset that I ignored her. Poppy wouldn't let me explain what happened and it just..."

"It made you angry." He nodded his head again to confirm what I said, turning his phone between his hands. "Some of the things she said...I wanted to tell her she didn't know what I went through so she had no right to speak to me like that."

When he frowned at the phone in his hands, I reached out taking it from him causing him to look up at me. Before he could say anything, I took his hand in mine instead putting the phone to the side. Holding my hand in his, he soon started fiddling with a ring on my finger, his eyes remaining focused on it which made me resist the urge to smile.

"So when are you going to speak to your mom?"

"Tomorrow. She's coming over at 3pm."

When he mumbled the words, I nodded my head already planning on going to that same coffee shop that I used to go to when Ayden wanted me out of the house.

"She doesn't hate you Carson. She's hurt and she's upset but it's not your fault and once you talk to her, she'll understand."

"I should have called her earlier, I should have spoken to her the first chance I got."

When he shook his head at his own behaviour I let out a scoff causing him to look at me.

"And said what? 'Oh hi mom, just to let you know that while you've been in Europe having fun I was being held hostage by a lunatic but it's okay because now I'm in the middle of nowhere. See you soon.'? Yeah, somehow I don't think she would have appreciated that."

Even though I was being deadly serious, my words somehow caused his lips to twitch up into a smile.

"I wouldn't have done it like that."

When his smile widened a little, I don't really know what happened inside me. Maybe I was just tired from driving since 6am when we left Chicago that morning, or maybe I was completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last 16 hours.

"Why do you feel like you can't tell me things?" When he saw the tears fill my eyes and heard the way my voice cracked, he frowned at me shaking his head.

"Don't cry Dani."

"I love you Carson. I've given you everything, I agreed to come to New York with you even though your life scares the hell out of me. I put everything on the line for you and today you just made me feel like...like you don't care."

Once again he shook his head, shuffling closer to me in the bed to wrap an arm around me pulling me into his chest.

"I'm not used to this Dani. I've never had a girlfriend, I've never talked to anyone about my feelings like how you want me to." As he spoke, I rested my head against his chest, savouring the comfort I got from him.

"But we were fine before we came here. It was like the moment you saw Chloe, you've had this anger inside of you and I can't understand why. It's not just the situation with your mom because even you know she'll understand when you tell her what happened. You're still angry, but everything's been resolved. I forgave you for kissing her, you made up with Grey and you'll make up with your mom tomorrow but..."

"There's something I haven't told you Dani." When he said that, I lifted my head to look at him. "What?"

Lifting his hand, he cupped my cheek in his hand, wiping my cheeks with his thumbs as he looked into my eyes.

"Remember in Portland when I told you one of the biggest reasons I never had a girlfriend was because of my lifestyle and my job?"

When I nodded my head, he continued.

"I didn't tell you the other reason. I never got into a relationship because I didn't want to cheat and I never met a girl who made me want to stay loyal to her. I didn't see the point of having a girlfriend just for the sake of it and then cheating and screwing around because that's what I used to do. So I just never had a girlfriend."

I really didn't like listening to him talk about his past with women and I think he noticed that by the frown on my face.

"Then I met you and I knew you were the one." He gave me a small smile, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I had this idea in my head that if I ever met a girl who I loved enough to be in relationship with her, I wouldn't ever cheat. She'd be my one and only. But I cheated on you the moment she kissed me and I can't get the thought out of my head."

When I saw that familiar anger and frustration from earlier rise up in his eyes again, my tears only fell down my cheeks faster when it all became clear to me. He wasn't angry at me, or Chloe or Grey or his sister or his mother. He was angry at himself.

"Carson you didn't cheat on me, she kissed you. I saw what happened."

"A kiss is cheating Dani and you were right, I should have told her you were my girlfriend. I should have pushed her away but it all happened too fast and then I just kept thinking about how I'd already screwed up my first ever relationship in six freaking days."

When he ran a hand through his hair out of frustration, clearly feeling all the emotions from earlier return I did the only thing I could think of to calm him down. Moving from my position next to him, I threw my leg over him before I got on top of him, straddling his waist with my legs either side of him.

"I don't think it's ruined, I think every time you say these cute things to me you make me fall in love with you all over again."

Once again he shook his head and when he refused to look at me, I placed my hands on his cheeks to make him look at me properly.

"A kiss is cheating Dani and the guilt, it's killing me. I did everything - I channeled it into the anger in my fight with Grey, I tried drinking, I tried not to think about it, but I can't stop."

I thought seeing him kiss her was the thing that broke my heart - something I never wanted to see again, but I knew when I saw his eyes become glassy and red that it wasn't.

"I love you too much to cheat on you Dani. You don't deserve that, you didn't deserve to see it. You didn't deserve them saying all that crap about you." Since my hands were already cupping his cheeks, I leaned in closer to him, looking him in the eye as I brought our lips closer together.

"You didn't cheat on me Carson. It was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened but it wasn't your fault."

"I'm so sorry Dani, I promise I won't do it again." When one lone tear fell down his cheek, I brushed it away before resting my head against his shoulder.

I'm pretty sure after that we fell asleep in that position when Carson lay down flat on the bed with me lying on top of him. For the whole night I stayed in his arms and despite how crazy our day had been driving from Chicago through Ohio and then coming to New York, the night was definitely filled with the kind of peace we both needed.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<<

The next morning we left the house in Long Island pretty early in the morning. From what I knew Carson woke up before me and left me a note to tell me he was going to speak to some of his men about some business. But I ended up waking up after he got back anyway.

Carson had completely calmed down after last night once I finally got to the bottom of why he was in such a bad mood. We didn't once mention anything that happened the night before, something I think we were both happy with.

Thankfully I didn't see anyone that morning, after the way things went the night before I was glad to escape quietly in the morning.

"This is where you live?" When we finally pulled up to the back of a tall apartment building in Manhattan, I glanced over at Carson who nodded his head.

It was nothing compared to Ayden's building, this one looked like somewhere only royalty or celebrities would live.

As we drove into the secure underground parking, I noticed the familiar armed guards dressed in all black who were standing at the entrance.

"Are those yours?"

"Yeah, I have some all around the building on each floor and in the lobby."

"The owners let you do that? That's pretty nice of them, I would have assumed they'd be stuck up or something if they owned such a huge building."

Carson was too busy parking his car to reply to me and a few seconds later after he parked up in an empty space he turned to look at me with an amused smiled, gesturing with his head for me to look forward.

When I turned my head to look forward, I noticed the sign that said 'reserved for landlord'.

"Oh."

I heard him let out a low chuckle next to me as my cheeks burned, and for once I was thankful it was so dark in these underground parking lots so that he couldn't see.

"Am I stuck up baby girl?"

When I didn't say anything, instead just picking up my purse which was between my feet on the floor, he let out another laugh before he got out of the car, coming around to open my door for me.

"You don't have to do it every time." As I got out the car, I gave him a grateful smile which he returned with a smirk, closing the door before he pushed me up against the side of his car.

"But then I can't do this."

Within seconds he had his lips against mine, moving them perfectly in sync however before we could get into it properly, the sound of a throat clearing behind Carson caused him to pull away from me.

Once again in the space of a few minutes my cheeks were burning while Carson just glared at the man who interrupted us. He didn't even bother to let me go, instead keeping me pressed against his car with his hands firmly on my waist.

"Sir, I'm here to take your bags upstairs." Speaking in such a formal tone, the man who was dressed in a black suit stood there awkwardly.

"Couldn't you have come later? It was clear to tell I was busy."

"Then please do tell me how I'm supposed to get your bags upstairs before you get there first and give me hell for being too slow?" My eyes widened at the tone the older man used with Carson, but surprisingly in response Carson only cracked a smile before he threw him the keys to his car.

"It's good to see you Ezra." As he caught the keys, the man named Ezra nodded his head giving Carson a smile. "You too sir."

"Oh, this is my girlfriend Dani. She'll be living here with me so have someone add her to the security list and get her finger print added to database."

I could tell he was surprised when Carson introduced me as his girlfriend, but nonetheless he remained professional as he nodded. "Dani this is my butler Ezra."

"It's nice to meet you ma'am."

"You too." When I gave him a smile, Carson finally let me go taking my hand in his as we walked through the parking lot away from his car.

When I turned back to look at Ezra, my eyes widened in surprise when I saw four other men dressed in similar smart clothes unloading all of our bags into a luggage cart that you would see in a hotel.

"Where did they come from?"

"Magic." When I heard Carson's amused tone I turned to look at him narrowing my eyes causing him to chuckle. "He has them on standby."

"But I didn't see-" Before I could finish my sentence, Carson suddenly came to a stop just as we reached an elevator.

"How many people do you see in this parking lot right now?"

Was he really testing my math skills? I was the one with an accountancy degree, accountancy.

"I know how to count Carson." When he rolled his eyes, I let out a huff, looking around the huge parking lot. Among all the expensive cars, I could see the two guards we passed when we drove in, Ezra and the four men he had working with him.

"Seven, so including us nine." Carson nodded his head at this before he came and stood behind me, looking out at the parking lot before he whispered into my ear.

"Right now there are a total of 16 people in here. Just because you can't see them, that doesn't mean they're not there."

16?

Holy crap.

Once we finally left that stupid underground parking lot where I now knew I would never feel safe again, we got into an elevator and Carson used his thumb print to unlock the buttons. Once he pressed the 58th floor button, it of course took us a while to get that high to the top floor before the doors eventually opened.

"Oh my gosh."

Of course he laughed at my reaction, tugging on my hand to guide me out of the elevator and into his penthouse. From downstairs I could just about see some of the upstairs through the railing, but Carson didn't let me stop to stare.

As we walked through the hallway, Carson first showed me around the entire lower floor of the penthouse, starting first with open plan living and dining area.

After that he took me into the kitchen, showing me the beautiful granite counter tops and also the utility room.

Finally the last room downstairs that he showed me was a separate living room.

After that he took me upstairs to show me his bedroom which was so beautiful. I don't know what it was about masculine bedrooms that always got to me, but this one just gave me the feels.

Of all the rooms though, the master bathroom was definitely my favourite with all the windows overlooking the skyline of New York City.

Once he was finally done showing me around upstairs which included a few extra guest bedrooms and his home office, Ezra had finished bringing all our bags up to the closet in the master bedroom.

I'm sure you can imagine what happened when we went back into the bedroom it was just the two of us in the entire penthouse.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<<

"Can I borrow your car?" Just as I heard Carson come into the walk in closet, I tightened the robe I was wearing tighter around my body.

"My car? For what?" When I turned around with the intention of explaining it to him, I saw him dressed in a towel that hung low on his hips, my attention suddenly became focused on his damp skin.

His tattoos were on full show on his perfect olive skin. The way the droplets of water trickled down his chest and his abs, right down those perfect v lines and to-

"Daniela."

"What?" When my eyes met his, he stepped closer to me lowering the volume of his voice.

"Do I need to teach you that it's rude to stare baby girl?"

When he rose an eyebrow at me, those words somehow managed to make me feel all sorts of things.

"Um...I..." When I suddenly became a stuttering mess, unsure of where to look or more importantly how I wasn't supposed to stare at this man who I somehow am lucky enough to call my boyfriend, he just returned back to the previous conversation.

"Why do you need my car?"

"If it's a problem then I-"

"It's not a problem baby. You can borrow any of my cars any time you want or you can take my driver, so now answer my question."

When his tone became harder I rolled my eyes, turning back towards the mirror as I picked up the hair dryer.

"To go to a coffee shop."

When my eyes met his in the mirror, he gave me a confused frown as he put on a pair of boxers on underneath his towel, before he eventually dropped the towel on the floor revealing his entire body.

Oh dear lord help me.

Before he could say anything else and before I could get caught staring, I turned the hair dryer on to dry my wet hair. The only reason I hadn't done it already was because the entire time Carson was taking a shower after me, I was busy rifling through my suitcases to find an outfit before unpacking some of my make up and hair products since all my things were in bags still.

A few minutes passed while Carson was busy getting dressed behind me and while I dried my hair, inconspicuously watching him in the background.

When I finally turned the hair dryer off, he came up next to me at the vanity, taking my round hair brush from my hand, using it to brush his own hair.

"Hey!"

"Why are you going to a coffee shop?" He didn't bother to look at me, instead focusing on brushing his hair upwards before he turned on the hairdryer, styling it that way.

The entire time, I just stood there glaring at him until he finished, handing me back the brush which I snatched from his hand causing him to laugh.

"I used to go to one on 92nd street off Park Avenue whenever Ayden wanted me out the way, it was my favourite place. It was the only place I ever felt at home. So I'm going to give you some space for when your mom comes."

"I don't need space from you." This time while I got back to doing my hair, he came up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist as he kissed my cheek.

"Your mom is coming to see you so I-"

"I want you with me." His tone unfortunately left no room for argument causing me to let out a defeated sigh. I honestly didn't mind meeting his mom, I was actually excited after the things I'd heard about her, she sounded like a lovely woman.

I was just nervous it would go bad like last night.

"What if she doesn't like me?"

"She'll love you. Do you know how long she's pestered me about getting a girlfriend?"

Rolling my eyes at the sureness in his tone, I turned around in his arms placing my hands behind his neck linking them together.

"That doesn't mean she'll automatically love whoever you bring to meet her."

"Well, I know for a fact she'll love you." Bringing his lips down to meet mine, he gave me a sweet kiss before resting his forehead against mine. "We have a few hours to kill before she comes, you want to go and get some lunch?"

"I do but I need to buy some things too."

"What do you need?" His response came out in an absentminded tone as he began trailing kisses along my jaw and down to my neck. The moment he started sucking on a certain spot on under my jaw I lost my entire train of thought.

"Carson stop." Despite the fact I was trying to stop him, the words only came out in a soft moan.

"Why?"

"Because I just put fresh underwear on." The moment those words came out in an irritated tone, he let out a laugh against my skin but thankfully he listened to me.

Once I'd finally got him to leave me alone long enough to get ready, we finally left his penthouse heading down to the underground parking lot.

"You look beautiful baby." Giving him a smile I took his hand in mine as I glanced down at my outfit.

I knew I'd be meeting his mom today so I decided to try and look a little bit more presentable than I did last night when I met his friends. This time instead of leggings and a hoodie, I opted for a blue skirt that stopped just above my knees and white fitted T-shirt.

Since it was still summer in New York I paired it with some white vans, sunglasses and I tied my hair up into a ponytail.

"You don't think I'm underdressed do you? Or should I put some jeans on when we get home? Your mom might think I look like a slut."

"She'll think you're beautiful Dani. Why are you so worried?"

Turning to face him, I noticed the soft frown on his face as he looked at my outfit and I could only think of one reason why that might be.

"Does it bother you? That I'm showing too much skin?"

"I told you yesterday I'm not him Dani. You're my girl but you're your own woman. Wear whatever the hell you want and I'll just be right here holding your hand to make sure everyone knows your mine."

I love how he can go from being so dominating in our relationship to being so cute even when his T-shirt which showed off his intimidating tattoos and he had those black sunglasses on that made him look so mysterious.

So mysterious and so yummy.

"And, you don't look like a slut, Trouble."

And then he uses that nickname.

"I don't like that." As the elevator doors opened, we walked through to the under ground parking lot where I noticed some guards standing around although I knew now that those weren't the only ones.

"I don't care, you're my Trouble and I'll always call you that." When I looked at him he flashed me a smirk behind those sunglasses which killed me right there and then.

"Here." When he handed me a set of car keys, I gave him a confused frown suddenly forgetting all about my temporary death. "You're driving today."

"But I-" I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence when Carson stopped at a bright yellow Lamborghini Aventador. "This is yours? But I thought the Audi was yours?"

When I pointed at the black Audi we arrived in earlier this morning, he let out a laugh nodding his head. "It is, and this one is and a couple others in here are mine too."

"How many is a couple?"

"Seven."

So he has the seven here and the eight in LA, two at the house in Long Island and I'm guessing more at his house in Miami.

"Do you have a car fetish or something? Why does one man need so many cars?"

He rose an eyebrow in amusement at my choice of words while I unlocked the doors, causing them to rise up instead of opening like normal car doors.

When I got into the car, he followed suit getting into the passenger side before pressing a button that closed both our doors.

"Do you know how to drive?"

"Of course I know how to drive." The moment I snapped back he rose his hands up in surrender, clearly amused by my irritation. I felt his eyes on me as I held the key in my hand, staring the intimidating number of different buttons and gadgets.

"Maybe we should walk? It's a nice day." When I turned to look at him I could tell he was trying not to laugh at how unsure I was.

"Don't laugh at me." The moment I frowned at him he let out a chuckle, leaning over to press a kiss to my cheek before tugging the key out of my hands.

"Baby you don't need the key, press down the brake and push the engine button." When he gestured to a button that said 'engine on/off', I did as he instructed causing the car to roar to life.

"Okay now put it into drive." Taking my hand he guided it to the gear stick, but since it was automatic I only had to move it from park to drive. "Now you can go."

Even though I knew how to drive I'd never driven such a fast car before since Ayden didn't trust me with them. So at first I took it slow, driving out of the underground parking lot and onto the main road. The moment I did I was thankful I chose to wear my sunglasses when the sun shone straight into my eyes.

"People are going to think I can't drive Carson, I'm in a Lamborghini doing 25mph."

My words caused him to let out a laugh as he sat back in the leather seat, nodding his head. He didn't even seem stressed out in the least that I was driving his car, or that I seemed so unsure of what I was doing at first.

"Once you get used to it, you'll be speeding all over the place don't worry. It takes a little bit of time."

Exactly as he said, once I got used to how quickly the engine would react and speed up whenever I pressed the gas pedal, I became more and more confident in driving his car.

By the time we reached the restaurant we chose to have lunch at I was much more familiar with the car and finally when we went to the mall later, Carson wasn't even paying attention anymore instead he was busy on his phone.

The fact I was driving at 45mph on some of the quieter roads didn't even bother him.

"So why are we here?"

"Because, in order for me to get a job I need to buy a phone and a laptop, but first we need to go to the bank."

"The bank? What the hell for?"

"Why do you always have to be so aggressive with your words?" I countered his question, holding his hand as we walked through the mall dodging as many people as we could. "It adds emphasis, now answer the question."

"You could be nicer, anyway, I need to go and open a new account to deposit that 4 thousand dollars from the cabin. I can't really buy a laptop with cash, that looks dodgy."

"Or I could buy it." Choosing to completely ignore his comment, I continued speaking.

"I had a shared account with Ayden and I stupidly closed the only one I had before I met him. So, now I'm going to open a new one, just for me and no one else."

When I finally finished speaking I turned my head to look at him but he was already staring at me with this look I couldn't really understand. He didn't seem angry or annoyed, but he was still frowning which confused me.

"Okay baby girl, let's go and do that and then I'll buy you a Starbucks before we go home."

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<<

So Carson ended up paying for both my laptop and my phone.

Don't ask me how, because I had no freaking clue how he wormed his way into my transaction.

I spent the entire time speaking with the nice man at the Apple Store while Carson just stood behind me only giving his input here and there. Then when it came to paying for my MacBook Pro and iPhone, he'd already paid for it.

At least he let me pay for our drinks from Starbucks. When I say he let me pay, I mean that he very kindly let me tap his card on the contactless machine.

"Here." When he held the car keys out to me I shook my head causing him to frown at me as we reached his car in the parking lot. "I thought you liked driving?"

"I don't want to drive anything that belongs to you." When he heard my childish response, Carson came up beside me opening the trunk at the front of his car to put in the bag that held my new laptop and phone.

"You're being unreasonable."

"No I'm not Carson, I told you I wanted to pay and you just ignored me." Closing the trunk, he shook his head at my words.

"Because I wanted to do something nice for you. Baby, I know you have that 4 thousand dollars, but you'd barely have anything left if you spent it today. Once you get a job, I'll try harder to let you pay for things but for now just let me do it."

I don't know why, but for some reason his words just triggered something inside me. It was because he told me I only had that 4 thousand dollars which wasn't even mine, it was just pure luck that we found it.

"I'm not a charity case Carson. I don't need you to do anything for me, you don't need to make me sound so poor."

"Dani calm dow-" My sudden harsh response caused him to frown but before he could say anything else I cut him off.

"Just because you're a freaking billionaire with more than seventeen cars, that doesn't mean you can humiliate me."

This time he didn't say anything, instead he held my stare for a moment before he spoke his next sentence through gritted teeth.

"Get in the car."

"I'm going to walk." When I made a move to walk away, holding my Starbucks latte tight in my hand, Carson suddenly grabbed my free hand.

"I told you to get in the damn car Daniela."

"No, I don't want to." He continued to hold my stare before his angry glare began to soften when my eyes filled with unshed tears. It seemed like that was all it took for Carson to let out a sigh, pulling me into his arms.

"I want to return the laptop and the phone Carson. I want to buy cheaper ones."

I don't know why I chose Apple products in the first place, I guess I just wanted to replace what I lost when I left Ayden.

"We're not going to do that. Instead you're going to stop crying and then you're going to drive us home because I know you loved it and then we're going to talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Too bad because yesterday you made me talk so now I'm just returning the favour." When I pulled my face away from his chest to look at him he gave me a smile, wiping my cheeks with his thumbs.

"You cry too much Trouble."

"I cry when I feel overwhelmed." I mumbled the words as I stepped away from him wiping my eyes before I put my sunglasses down over my eyes from where they were resting on my head.

Without another word I took the car keys from his hand, unlocking the car before I got in. The drive back was silent, but it wasn't as tense as I would have expected it to be. Instead Carson put some music on in the background, keeping his hand on my bare thigh as I drove.

The silence between us lasted until we got to the penthouse when Carson was busy on the phone and I went to sit on the couch to finish the last bit of my latte in peace. I hoped he wouldn't follow me and that he would forget about what he said but this is Carson Agnello we're talking about, of course he didn't forget.

When he finally hung up he came and sat next to me, looking at me expectantly waiting for me to start talking which just irked me.

"We're not in a freaking museum, look somewhere else." I didn't wait to see his reaction, instead turning away from him as I took another sip of my latte.

"Watch how you speak to me Daniela."

"Sorry, boss."

It fell deadly silent when I used that word in a less than respectful way, but I still refused to look at him. That was only because I knew I may have pushed him too far this time. One thing he hated was being challenged over who he was and the respect that he deserved.

"I'm going to give you some time to calm down before you make me say something I'll regret." I looked up when he finally stood up, heading towards the stairs, but before he reached them he stopped to speak without looking back at me.

"If you can't get yourself together in time then leave before my mother gets here."

After that I watched him walk up the stairs, slamming the door to his office upstairs before the penthouse fell silent again.

So that's exactly what I did.

I didn't care that I had no car, no way to contact him or no way to get back into the penthouse.

I just took five dollars from my purse and I left.

No 🥺

What did you guys think?
Thank you for reading ❤️