His Unwanted Bride ~Editing~

Chapter Forty Two: Alexios

     'And now for the best part' I thought to myself as we approached a three story book store with a cafe inside. "Let's go eat lunch inside first, and then you two can pick out whichever books you desire," I smiled.

    "Be careful what you wish for, husband. This is the one store where we might actually make you go bankrupt," she laughed. God, I loved her laugh.

    "I'd love to see you try," I smirked, stealing a kiss while Clarissa's back was turned.

    We walked inside, and both of their faces lit up. "Am I dead?" Clarissa asked making us both chuckle. We walked to the cafe, and the girls hurriedly ate lunch so they could go gather their books.

    "I have to make a quick call for work. You both go and start picking out books, I'll catch up to you in a minute," I smiled as they jumped up. I heard Clarissa and Tabitha laughing and telling eachother they couldn't get more than ten books each.

    Little did they know, I had called ahead to the shop owner and had him have his employees out in each section of the store, writing down the names of every book my girls touched so that I could have them delivered discreetly while we were at dinner for the library and Clarissa's shelves in her room.

    At this moment, my men, Tony and Gus were picking up a toybox and a dollhouse for Clarissa, and Nikki (Tony's wife was picking out stuffed animals and dolls for Clarissa. My plan was to take the girls to the hotel my family owned and for us to stay in the penthouse which had it's own hot tub and pool. That way, when we returned, the painting and setup would be done in Clarissa's room and the library. But first, we had to return home before dinner and change.

     I called the hotel and made sure that the entire penthouse suite would be clean and the fridge fully stocked with healthy food as well as junk food for our movie tonight. Then I called one of my men to come grab our bags from the suv so we could have everything washed and ready to go.

     I smiled as I realized everything was falling into place. I stood to go find the girls. As I wove in and out of book cases I chuckled. I couldn't wait until they saw their new rooms.

     As I turned the corner, I saw them sitting on the ground surrounded by stacks of books. Clarissa was smiling, her back against Tabitha's side as she leafed through the various books in her piles.

    "Are you getting tired babe?" Tabitha asked her.

     "A little. Tabitha can I tell you something?" Clarissa replied.

     "Anything babe," she smiked looking down at her sister.

     "I-I miss my mom. She's mean to me and just likes to dress me up and show me off to her friends. I miss how she used to be before she got mean like Daddy," Clarissa spoke trying to be strong and my heart broke for her.

      Tabitha wrapped her arms around Clarissa and pulled her into her lap. "Do you want to go home?" she asked painfully. "If you do, I'll come with you. I'm not letting you go there alone."

      'Like hell you will,' I thought to myself. I felt myself getting angry and protective. There was no way I was allowing my girls to go back there or for Clarissa to have unsupervised visitation with her parents.

     "No," Clarissa spoke shaking her head. "They weren't good to us, they hurt us lots. I don't miss them now, I miss how they used to be," she spoke starting to cry.

     Tabitha held her close and rocked her in her arms as a few tears spilled from her eyes. I came around the corner to find my two girls gripping eachother tightly.

     "Hey, is everything okay?" I asked them.