I walk into Stigma Offices after a pretty easy day of Skyping with all of the other Home Our Community houses to just see how everything was going with them. After everything that happened with one of the two houses in our city with the drinking fiasco, I made a rule that every month, every house would have to be completely searched to make sure there were no secrets. So far, everything was going well with that. The only thing that was found was the tiniest bottle of alcohol at our Seattle home and punishments were already put out for that.

The receptionist, Arabella, smiles when she sees me walking up to her desk. "Good evening, Miles. How was your day?"

"It was pretty good actually, how about you? Has it been hectic today?" I ask her, leaning on the desk while giving her a small smile. I knew there were people staring at me since Julian and I were all the rage right now because a picture of the two of us in Hawaii had surfaced yesterday and we were trending on social media because of it. It also could be because I was engaged to the owner of the building we were standing in, but I'm used to that.

"Actually, it was. I don't know exactly what happened, but about three hours ago, some really high profile people came in. Like very business-like. I'm pretty sure it's for a deal with the board of directors for PRES, but when they left, they did not look happy," Arabella tells me, leaning closer when she starts to gossip with me.

"Oh, man, that sounds rough," I tell her before clearing my throat. "so that means Julian's here?"

"He should be on floor 40, but would you like me to check?" She asks, going to type on her computer, but I just shake my head. If he was here, then he would either be in his office or on the same floor since I've never seen him anywhere else while I've been here. He knew I was coming as well, so he wouldn't just be wandering around when I was expected to show up.

"No, that's okay. I'll just go up and hope I'll find him," I say with a smile before starting to walk away. She stops me when she clears her throat, reaching out to place her hand on top of me.

"By the way, your outfit is absolutely amazing. Definitely fits your personality," she tells me with a friendly wink. I chuckle lightly before waving at her, making my way towards the escalator. I look down at my clothes since I was shocked that so many people had said that today.

I was wearing a fitted black t-shirt with light pink dress pants. I honestly just threw the ensemble on, not really even thinking about how out there it was. I'd worn the pants before, but never to work since I knew I would get some attention while wearing them. Most of the kids at the center loved them and one of them even asked if they could find a pair just like it to wear to the fundraiser.

Once I get in the elevator, I swipe my card before we start to ascend to floor 40. I was glad to have a minute alone because when the doors slid open, I saw a crowd of people whispering to each other while motioning to one of the glass conference rooms. I rush forward, immediately seeing Jonah standing by the door that led to the popular meeting room that had everyone's attention. When he sees me, he gives me an uneasy smile.

"What's going on?" I ask, looking up to see business people sitting around the wooden conference table while Julian stood at the head of the room. He looked very, very angry as he was yelling at the people sitting at the table. I'm assuming that those were the board of directors for PRES that Arabella had told me about.

Jonah lets out a small sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. "A few weeks ago, we got approached by another company that has one of the biggest net worths in the country. They wanted to do business with us and it was technically a multi-million dollar deal, but then they got our cash flow statement."

"Which is what?" I ask in confusion, not knowing that business term. Trust me, Julian's taught me a lot about the business world, but I was still clueless about most of it. There's just too much for me to learn and actually remember.

"Oh, right," Jonah says, realizing that I didn't know what that was. "it's a financial statement that summarizes the value of the company's assets that are cash or could be converted into cash ASAP and shows how it enters and leaves the company."

I give him another confused look, his words not meaning anything to me. "Still don't get it, but continue."

Jonah chuckles again, nodding his head. "Well, the person that put together the cash flow statement seemed to completely mess everything up. Like, it was very unprofessional and it honestly didn't make much sense, so we lost the deal. They thought that if we couldn't even get paperwork looking right that we wouldn't be good with doing anything else. You should've seen Julian when we were told, I've never seen him angrier than he was then."

Well, that was great. That just meant he was going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the night, which isn't something I was going to enjoy too much. I push those thoughts out of my mind as I look up at the conference room again. Julian was still yelling and because he made sure that his offices were somewhat soundproof, we could only hear the murmur of his yells. We had no idea what he was saying, but we all knew that it wasn't good. "Angrier than this?"

Jonah looks up at Julian screaming and nods his head. "He's calmed down a tad bit, so yeah. Angrier than this."

All of a sudden, Julian's head snaps up to see the crowd standing outside the conference room, watching what was going on. His eyes filled with more anger when he saw everyone, but he turns away to take a second to breathe. I don't even think he noticed that I was here, but I didn't care because if his employees had any sense of professionalism, they would be working their asses off instead of watching their boss scream at people.

I whip around, looking at the crowd behind Jonah and I that seems to be the entire 40th floor watching them. All of their eyes immediately turn towards me, some of them flashing with worry. I glare at the people closest to me before crossing my arms over my chest. Some of them got the idea and rushed off towards their desks, but everyone else just stood there while they waited for me to do something. "What the hell are you doing? Get to work!"

Everyone suddenly moved very fast towards their desks. I felt a sense of pride that I had such an effect on everyone. I mean, yeah, it was definitely because I was fucking their boss, but it still made me proud of my status in this professional office. I turned away from everyone, not giving them any more satisfaction of making me angry. Julian was now turned back to the people sitting at the desk, continuing his shouting. His face was a bit red and his eyes kept flashing with disappointment and I was just happy that that expression wasn't being done at me.

"Honestly, I feel like he's yelled enough. It's been like 15 minutes," Jonah whispers to me, looking a bit concerned for his boss and close friend. I nod my head, feeling that he was right because just continuing to be mad wasn't going to do him any good.

"I got it," I whisper back before moving forward towards the room. I slowly push open the glass door, feeling a huge rush of air fan over my face when I stick my head in to look at all of them. Julian's voice was now being heard throughout the entire office since I was holding the door open and I felt a tiny twinge of regret, but I knew I needed to pull him out of the situation before it got even worse.

"-idiots that work here! I know that I sure as hell have higher standards for my business than what was shown to me today. I don't know who the fuck you're hiring, but if there's a screw up like this again, all of your asses are on the line and not just them! I don't care what you-" is what I hear when I open the office door. All of the people in the room, besides Julian, had noticed that I was standing there.

"Mr. Caldwell," I interrupt his screaming and when he hears me, he turns around to look at me. His face softens a tiny bit when he sees me there, giving him a supportive smile that was meant just for him. "I'm so sorry to bother you, but I need your help with something. It's an emergency."

Julian instantly nods his head. He puts his fingertips on a manila folder that was set on top of the shiny conference table. He locks eyes with the woman that sat directly across from where he stood before he slides the folder hurdling towards her. "Deal with it."

That's all he said before following me out of the conference room with a stressed look. He only stops to look at Jonah, who stood a few feet away to watch our every move. When he sees Julian looking at him, he takes a step forward to stand directly in front of him. He hands him a folder that was identical to the one that was still sitting on the desk inside of the room and Julian sighs before grabbing it with an angry grasp.

"Find all of the employees that worked on the cash flow statement and-" Julian starts.

"And get an explanation, then fire them. I got it, sir," Jonah interrupts him before turning away from us to rush towards the elevator. Julian doesn't skip a beat as he grabs my hand and pulls me towards his office. When he shuts the door once we were both in, he instantly goes to his desk to sit down before putting his head in his hands.

I just stand there, awkwardly, not knowing how to help in this situation. I'd never seen him that angry. Not even when we had that big fight once he found out that I didn't tell him about meeting his dad for the first time. Even when he was saying absolutely obscene things, he didn't look as mad as he does now.

"Julian?" I whisper, trying to get his attention. He just waves me off without picking his head up. I take that as a cue to just sit quietly until he was ready to talk and that I can do. I sit down in one of the chairs across from his desk as he continues to hide his face in his hands, his knees shaking violently against the floor. I notice a pile of paperwork sitting on the edge of his desk that seemed to have a bunch of red markings on them, telling me that this wasn't the only stressful part of his day.

I continue sitting in the chair, not making any noise as I watch him. He was muttering things to himself in such a soft voice that I wasn't able to hear him whatsoever. A few minutes later though, we both jump when his phone suddenly makes a loud beep in his pocket. He lets out a sigh before pulling it out before his face pales a bit. He unlocks the device before watching the screen for a few moments. He groans, setting the phone on his desk before motioning for me to look at it.

When I look at the screen, I see the security cameras that show Nora standing in front of the gate that led into our neighborhood. Well, this definitely wasn't going to help his mood. I lift my head to look and Julian, who was now stuffing stuff into his bag to probably leave for the day. "What're you doing?"

"Well, we gotta get home to see what the fuck is going on now," he snaps, making me flinch a bit. I just remind myself that he wasn't mad at me. He was just mad at everything right now due to the stress that just seems to keep building.

"She's going to leave soon if we don't do anything because we're not there," I remind him, but then a flash of guilt runs through his eyes as he stands. I shoot to my feet with him, giving him a confused look. "what?"

"I can open the gate using my phone, then I'll text her to tell her to just wait on the porch," he tells me in a softer voice than before. My eyes immediately squint into a glare as I look at him because he never once mentioned to me that he was texting this girl. 

"You have her fucking phone number?" I ask, being the one to snap this time.

He nods his head before motioning for me to follow him out of the office. He was doing something on his phone, probably opening the gate before texting the girl. He looked a lot calmer now, probably since I was the one mad now and he didn't want to make that worse. "She's my sister, Miles."

"She's not your fucking sister! Those are not your parents and you know that. Do I have to remind you of the pain that they put you through for the past eight years? They're still finding a way to fuck with your head and-" I start to say, but he interrupts me by grabbing my shoulder and covering my mouth with his hand.

"Miles, you can yell at me when we get in the damn car. We're in my fucking office and I don't want all my employees to know my goddamn business," he snaps at me before removing his hand and dragging me towards the elevator. I realize that we were still in the hallway on floor 40 and everyone was looking at us, but I didn't care. As soon as we step into the elevator and he swipes his card, I jam the button that closes the doors. Once they were, I turn to him.

"Do you not see what they're doing? They're still fucking with you. It's been eight goddamn years, Julian, and they found a way to hurt you, still! And I'm not just going to stand here like an idiot and wa-" I try to say in a loud voice, but he shakes his head, looking equally as pissed off as me.

"She is a teenage girl!" He screams in my face. I cower in on myself a bit at his angry tone and he notices this, so he lowers his voice with a sigh. "Miles, she's a teenager. I don't think she would allow her adoptive parents to fuck with her head like this."

"Exactly, she's a teenage girl. She'll do anything to please her adoptive parents because this is probably the one good relationship she's had with people since she was put in foster care!" I tell him and you can hear my whine clearly because I was desperate for him to see how I was seeing this. I had a right to be cautious of someone from his 'family' coming into his life after all this time.

His face turns even angrier when I said that and I will myself to not cower again. "Why are you so fucking worried? This had nothing to do with you. This is my family."

I saw red for the first time in a while. I don't think I had ever been this angry with Julian, but the fact that our entire relationship basically meant nothing to him at this moment was complete bullshit. He wasn't allowed to just invalidate me at a time like this, not even when he was stressed. He was not allowed to do that. "This has nothing to do with me? Nothing? Really? Oh! I'm so sorry because I swear that just five minutes ago I was your fucking fiance and meant everything to you! I am your family, so this has everything to do with me! But now, what? I mean nothing! Just throw me away just like that, why don't you? Well, fuck you."

Halfway through my screaming, the elevator doors had opened and the entire lobby could definitely hear my yelling because I was so angry that I was louder than I had ever been before. I didn't even look back at him as I storm out of the elevator because I knew I would do something I regret if I didn't just walk away from the situation. I push past people on my way to the escalator. I ran down the moving steps, accidentally hitting someone's shoulder a bit too hard, but I didn't stop or anything.

I pass Arabella with angry tears starting to pool in my eyes. I don't make contact with anyone else as I storm through the door that led to the parking garage. I practically stumbled over my feet until I was in the confined space of my car. I don't slow down though, just start my car and squeal out of there. I don't look back. I don't think of how embarrassed Julian must've been when everyone heard me yell at him or how I ran away from him. I don't care because he hurt me.

My heart hurt more than it ever had. It hurt more than when I found out that Julian cheated on me with Brendan. Because this time, he wasn't influenced by anyone. He just said those things himself without guidance from anyone. He invalidated me in a way that I had never been. And he was my fiance, which made things ten times worse. I let the tears finally slip out of my eyes since I was alone and not in front of an entire lobby of people. I rush home, not caring if I was going a bit over the speed limit because I just needed to get there as soon as possible.

I let my thoughts run wild as I drove home and not long after, I was pulling up to the gate. I quickly put in the code before driving through the metal doors that had opened for me. I drive a bit more before parking in the driveway, seeing that Nora was sitting on the porch with her head in her hands. When she sees my car, she looks up in surprise when she sees that it's just me. She stands up when I rush out of my car, not even wanting to deal with this damn girl anymore.

"Hi, Miles," she says to me in a soft voice.

I don't say anything to her just yet, just pull out my keys and unlock the door. She follows me into the house, petting Bailey lightly when he jumps up on her legs to start to smell her since she was a stranger. He moves away from her fairly quickly and I'm assuming he realized I was mad because I just threw my bag onto the floor before rushing into the kitchen. I grab a bin we held in the living room before putting in some drinks and some food items that would last me for the night.

"Miles?" Nora questions, walking through the entryway into the living room and kitchen area. She was looking around in bewilderment since she's only ever seen the outside of the house from that one time she came here. From that one night that seemed to have fucked up my life at this point. If I had never driven her home myself, I wouldn't be facing all these bad emotions. Julian and I would've been okay right now.

I put in some food for Bailey in the basket I was holding in my arms before I grab him using my free hand. I glance at Nora, noticing that she looks worried as she watches me move about. I let out a stressed sigh as I tighten my grip on the stuff in my arms. "Sit in the living room until Julian gets home. Don't touch anything."

She doesn't move from her spot when I brush past her to go upstairs. I go into Nina's room, setting all my stuff down along with Bailey. He sniffs everything since he's probably only ever been in this room all but once since the door was basically always closed. I rush into Julian and I's bedroom to grab a few more things before I officially lock myself in Nina's room. Sure, I might be acting like a child right now, but I felt so terrible and angry right now that this was the only right thing to do.

I sit in the middle of the queen sized bed with Bailey laying in front of me. At this point, more tears were rushing down my cheeks as I run my fingers through my dog's curly fur. He seemed comfortable where he laid since he was already fast asleep, probably dreaming about running through a big, open field with other dogs. I just sit there, probably looking super pathetic if anyone saw me.

Not even 15 minutes later, I hear the two beeps that tell me that Julian was home. I close my eyes as my tears start to come even faster as his words penetrate my mind again. Bailey woke up when my sobs start to shake the bed and he sits down in my lap, deciding to lick my face that was covered with salty tears. I hide my face in my hands when I hear footsteps on the stairs after a while of not hearing anything. I could hear our door creak open before the persistent footsteps stop in front of the room that I was currently in.

Julian tries to just turn the knob and walk in, but when he finds out it's locked, he lets out a long sigh. He knocks lightly on the door. "Miles, let's talk, alright?"

I shake my head, not that that did anything since he couldn't see me. My sobs start to get even heavier and I hide my face in a pillow since Bailey had jumped off the bed to lick the door. I could imagine Julian just running his fingers through his hair as he tried to figure out what to do. I knew he could hear me crying because even though the pillow was covering my face, you could still clearly hear me.

"Baby, listen to me. I know what I said was wrong and I know that I hurt you so much, but just listen, okay? I love you, you are my family, you do matter, and this does have everything to do with you. I'm so sorry I doubted that, I am so sorry," he says and I can hear him lightly tapping the door. When I don't respond, he lets out another sigh. "isn't that ring on your finger making you want to open the door at all?"

Low fucking blow. I was angry again, so I did the only thing I could think of. I rip the ring off of my finger before throwing it onto the floor in front of the door. I know he heard it because he completely froze. The tapping on the door stops and I even heard him take a step back lightly like he was in complete shock at what I just did. We didn't fuck around when it came to our rings because it symbolized everything we went through and he probably felt betrayed that I just threw it onto the floor like it didn't matter. But I felt betrayed because I felt like I had been thrown on the floor and stomped on 100 times.

Julian clears his throat and I could imagine his upset or angry expression plastered on his face. "Okay, then. Nora will be sleeping on the couch tonight."

He didn't say anything else. I just hear his persistent footsteps move towards our bedroom door before he slams it. I try not to feel bad because I shouldn't be the one that feels guilty. Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to just let the ring sit on the floor, so I get off the bed and set it on the nightstand. I didn't do anything else that night. It was late and I had to work tomorrow, so I just cuddle with Bailey in Nina's bed before falling asleep with even more tears falling down my face.