Her Escape

Chapter 4

Careless

"I know my worth. I've paid dearly for every ounce of it." – Alfa

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"Lexie!"

"Lexie!"

"Lexie!"

Glancing up, I saw Olivia running towards me with Chase following close behind – trademark scowl permanent etched on his face.

"Olivia." He gritted, the front door closing behind him with a loud bang.

"Lexie, guess what?" Olivia looked up at me expectantly when she came to a stop at my feet.

"What?" I mimicked her excitement as I crouched down so that we were the same height.

"I got invited to a sleep over!" She squealed, her green eyes shining bright.

"That's so exciting, Olivia!" I smiled at her, her excitement and bubbly personality instantly becoming infectious.

"Let's go, Olivia." Chase called out, my eyes drifting towards him. He was already half-way up the stairs, impatiently leaning against the railing. When my gaze met his, he rolled his eyes before looking down at his shoes. "Victoria's going to be here soon to watch you.

"Ugh!" Olivia groaned, tilting her head back. I tried to stifle my amusement, but it was impossible. She was the sassiest five-year-old I know. "Do I have to stay with her tonight?"

"Yes." He clipped. "Now let's go. I don't have all day."

She rolled her eyes, before returning her attention to me. "I wish I was hanging out with you instead." She mumbled, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face in my hair.

I smiled, my heart swelling at her words. "Me too, sweetie. Me too." I gently returned her hug. Olivia was a sweetheart, and over the course of the last couple of weeks, I'd gotten used to her random hugs. It took some adjustment at first, but I kept reminding myself she was five. Flashing me one last toothy grin, Olivia turned on her heel and sprinted up the stairs.

"About time." Chase grumbled, playfully nudging her when she ran past him. Olivia stopped once she reached the landing, twisting her head and sticking her tongue out at Chase.

Like I said, the sass was even better when it was directed towards him.

Tearing my eyes away from them, I chuckled to myself. Returning my attention to the inventory list I had opened up on the computer, my eyes scanned the rows and columns on the excel spreadsheet, until they found the one where I left off.

Where was I?

Ah, yes – cleaning supplies.

By now, I had settled into somewhat of a routine. Every morning I would wake up, take a shower, brush my teeth and get ready for work. Sometimes I'd have breakfast, but most of the time I'd skip it because I was running late. Then I'd take the bus to the gym, and I'd spend the remainder of the day here there until it was time to go home.

Although I was still getting used to the big city life, Philadelphia was slowly starting to become my new home.

Most of the time I just went to work and straight back home, but last weekend I found myself at the local public library scanning the hundreds of book titles he had. There was only so much I could do in a new city I didn't know my way around, still constantly looking over my shoulder, and broke as fuck.

Catherine gave me the weekends off. I offered to come in and help out because it's not like I had anything else better to do, but she insisted that Scarlett and Chase were capable of taking turns covering the front desk on Saturdays and Sundays.