“Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
Maybe I needed someone to pinch me, because this seemed like a crazy dream.
The lady, Mrs. Hampton, smiled. “Yes, dear, you’re hired. You can start working right away, or tomorrow morning if you prefer.”
“No. No, I will start working right away. Thank you so much!”
If it wouldn’t have been unprofessional, I would’ve hugged Mrs. Hampton right away. I could not believe she’d hired me.
Finally, there was someone who was free from Brenton’s influence. I wanted to salute this woman for not giving in to the wealth and power that Brenton possessed.
“No need to thank me. I’m glad somebody came. This restaurant is kind of hidden, so not many people know about it. And I have been looking to hire somebody for a few months,” she replied.
“Ever since Tom passed away, it has become kind of difficult to manage.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Hampton; I am here now, and I will work hard to make sure customers are satisfied. You no longer have to worry about anything,” I told her as she handed me an apron that I quickly tied around my waist.
“I am looking forward to it, dear,” she smiled, and I knew that my experience working here would be amazing.
Since I needed to earn money for my bakery, I would make sure to be the best waitress in the city so they would pay me well.
I would be glad to rub my success in Brenton’s face, but then I realized that he was not worth my time, and I should just focus on living my life.
He could bathe in his pounds and rubies all he wanted.
With a smile at my employer, I grabbed the mini tablet and headed over to the customers who had just arrived. The couple looked to be around their thirties.
The man was dressed impeccably with a suit and a shirt that was free of wrinkles.
The woman, on the other hand, wore a pink dress with a diamond cuff on her wrist.
“Good evening. My name is Cecelia and I will be your waitress for this evening. Are you ready to order?”
I held my finger an inch away from the screen of the tablet, waiting to note down their order.
The couple smiled before the man rattled off their order. Keeping my mind focused on this particular task, I noted down their order and told them I would bring it in half an hour.
I handed over the order to the chef as I worked on handling all the other customers, completely forgetting about Brenton since I got to know that he destroyed my bakery.
Time flew by as I continued to work, coming to love my job more and more. My boss was nice, and the customers were kind and generous.
I eyed every tip as if it were my last and kept it safe with myself.
I would keep working until I had enough to rent out a building. And when I got home, I would bake cupcakes and deliver them to my customers.
I would go home and alert my customers that the shop would be moving to a new location so they would not need to make the unnecessary trip and could just order.
Brenton may have destroyed my bakery, but that did not mean he crushed my business completely. I could still salvage it; I just couldn’t give up.
Once the last customer of the evening left the restaurant, I couldn’t help smiling in satisfaction. I could not believe this evening had turned out to be so good.
After getting rejected by so many restaurants, this beautiful lady had finally hired me. And I would make sure that she would keep me around and not fire me.
“Good job, Cecelia. I must say you are a blessing. You took over so smoothly that it impressed me. I will talk to my son about keeping you as manager in the coming days,” she praised, which had me beaming.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Hampton. You put your trust in me by hiring me, so how could I not give my best? I did not know you have a son,” I replied.
“Oh yes. He is in Ireland, dealing with his father’s side of the business.”
“Forgive me for prying, but is this restaurant not your husband’s business?” I asked.
“This restaurant was born out of love and hard work of both my husband and myself. Food was something we both felt connected to, so we decided to open up this restaurant,” she responded.
I could tell she really missed her husband with the gleam in her eyes. God knows how difficult it must be to lose the one you love at such a tender age.
“That is really sweet,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
Since they worked so hard, I would make sure to work as hard as I could so that more and more people would come here.
“Yes. So, my son will be arriving in a couple of days, and I will talk to him about you,” she stated.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Hampton. It means a lot to me.”
This woman was truly a blessing for me because if she hadn’t hired me, then I would be packing my stuff to move to another city and start a life there.
“Sure, dear, you earned it. Now it is getting late, and you’d best be going home. I expect you here by nine in the morning tomorrow, so don’t be late,” she said as she handed me my tips.
“And here are your tips. You did a good job for someone who just got hired.”
“I will not be late; don’t worry about it. And thank you for the tips. I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Mrs. Hampton.”
I smiled and waved at her as I left the restaurant, feeling happy after such a long time.
I could not believe that Brenton was such a parasite, sucking on my life and happiness. Well, whatever; he was out of my life now, so I could celebrate that.
I walked toward my scooter with a smile on my face and quickly started it.
If there was no traffic, then I would be able to make it home in time to make a couple of batches of cupcakes.
Then I would sleep and wake up early so I would not be late for my shift.
The ride back to my flat was cold yet peaceful—however, the peace did not last very long as a strange feeling unsettled my heart.
Spiders crawled up my spine, and I felt as if someone was watching me. I stopped at a red light and looked over my shoulder to see an empty road behind me.
Silence tucked its wings and settled down around me. Not a single soul was present. A lone black car with tinted windows was parked near the pavement.
Other than that, there was nothing going on around me.
My brows furrowed as the feeling intensified, making me feel as if someone was standing a few feet from me and watching me.
Why in the world would I have a stalker? I’d gotten a restraining order because I was stalking someone. The stalker could not become the stalkee.
“It’s just the darkness and your imagination playing tricks on you, Cece; don’t worry,” I muttered to myself as I shrugged off the uncomfortable sensation and continued riding.
I needed to stop worrying about such things because I had much more important things to deal with.
As soon as I reached my building, I parked my scooter and raced up the stairs to bake some cupcakes.
Baking always made me happy and helped me relax, so this would be the perfect way to forget about the discomfort that had been plaguing me since I’d left the restaurant.
It was strange, but I’d never felt this way before. This strange paranoia was unsettling.
When I reached the kitchen, I got down to business.
I took out the ingredients I needed for the cupcakes, and for the next hour, I forgot all my worries as I did what I loved doing best.
I just hoped there would be orders in the morning so I could earn some money.
While the cupcakes were in the oven, I checked my laptop to see if any of the companies I’d sent my résumé to had responded or not and was disappointed when there was no email.
I hated Brenton and cursed him to the moon and back. Such a petty man.
I wished that he would always stay single because I cared about the female population and did not wish for anyone to suffer at his hands.
Once I got the cupcakes out of the oven, I quickly put frosting on them and placed them in the refrigerator.
Maybe I would give some to Mrs. Druid since she had been so kind to me these past few days. She’d brought me cookies and fruits, so maybe I should give her something in return.
After deciding to pack a bunch for her, I decided to go to bed.
I didn’t care who watched me; I had a life to live, and I would not let anyone else destroy it.
I quickly got in bed and pulled my floral blanket over me. This was my favorite blanket, along with the pillow I was sleeping on.
I had been lucky enough to stumble upon them while shopping for sheets and linens, and since then, I had never been far from them.
As soon as I pulled the blanket over me, sleep came and took me under its embrace, setting me free once I reached the dream world—at least it was supposed to be a dream world, but seeing Brenton turned my dream into a nightmare.
He was sitting on a throne, much like the one he believed he sat on in the real world. He held a trident in his hand, while a jeweled crown sat atop his head.
People knelt in front of him and begged for mercy, and for some reason, those people made me angry. Why were they begging for mercy from such a pathetic man?
Brenton did not know the meaning of mercy.
I watched, transfixed, as Brenton stood up from his throne and stepped down until he was standing over the men kneeling in front of him.
My jaw dropped, and my eyes nearly fell out when he raised his trident and brought it down on the man who was kneeling two centimeters from him, killing him instantly.
As soon as the man dropped dead, he raised his head, and his eyes locked with mine, putting me under a spell, preventing me from running anywhere.
Brenton marched toward me, and the closer he got, the more I thought about the restraining order and how I was supposed to stay five hundred feet away from him.
But if he was the one coming to me, did that restraining order still count? I mean, he was the one breaking the condition, so…
I swallowed hard when he stopped mere inches from my face. Was he going to stab me with a trident too? It would do him a whole lot of good if he did that.
And why in the world did he look so handsome?
“You think you can get away from me, firecracker?” he said.
“Uh, don’t you want me to do just that?” I asked. This Brenton was confusing.
“You can’t do it,” he stated.
“Can’t do what?” Right now the only thing I couldn’t do was move and run away.
My breath got stuck in my windpipe when he got eerily close to me. “I am coming for you, firecracker.”
I woke up with a start, clutching my heart, which threatened to fall out of my chest.
Out of all the people I could dream about, it had to be him? Wasn’t it bad enough that he was ruining my life in the real world; he now had to do the same in the dream world?
Was I not allowed to get any peace?
“This is ridiculous,” I grumbled as I looked at my phone to see that it was 5 a.m.
My subconscious was right. Today was my second day at the job, and I was not going to ruin it by thinking about a man who obviously did not deserve to be in my thoughts.
Shrugging off all thoughts of Brenton, I got up from the bed and got ready for my shift at the restaurant.
Even though my night had been a disaster, I couldn’t say the same for my day, and I was glad.
My shift at the restaurant was going smoothly, and Mrs. Hampton was clearly happy as she kept smiling and chatting with the customers.
She was telling them about her son, and it was obvious how excited she was to see him.
“I hope you enjoy the food,” I said to a group of men as I placed their orders in front of them.
“Thank you. I’m sure we will,” a man with black hair and warm brown eyes said to me. He was cute with soft features that radiated childlike innocence.
If he was single—which I doubted he was—I would totally date him. He looked nice and gentle, the kind of man I liked, but too bad I only encountered jerks.
I smiled at the man before running my eyes over the entire restaurant, looking to see if anybody needed anything.
This day was beautiful and I hoped it stayed that way.
Tomorrow, Mrs. Hampton’s son would arrive, and that meant I would have to be on my best behavior if I wanted that promotion.
“Cecelia, dear? We have another customer,” Mrs. Hampton announced just as the door opened and in walked my nightmare.
To think I had been actually celebrating.
I knew it was too good to be true. Why would a day be absolutely perfect for me? No, knowing my luck, something always seemed to go downhill, just like this day.
Even though Mrs. Hampton was expecting me to go and deal with the customer, I turned around and ran to the back of the restaurant, throwing myself into the bathroom and locking the door shut.
I could not go out there. The law prevented me from going near that man.
Oh, why did he have to be here?
Why did Brenton Maslow have to come here?
