The Apple of My Eye -Kaz Brekker (Complete)

Chapter Three

SLAT

Kaz Brekker knew he was skipping lunch once more by the noise of people talking near the kitchen, though he was in his office – that once belonged to Per Haskell – working as hard as he could to have a day or two off that morning, hoping he could spend the day and night with his family.

People knew to not interrupt him in days like that one, when he had the inspiration to skip meals, but sometimes urgent business would come up and he had to put his paperwork to the side and deal with the problem. He knew people would never interrupt him unless completely needed.

That was the reason of his worry once someone knocked on his door.

"Yes?" he yelled.

Anika opened the door, peeking inside with careful eyes.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, Boss, but there's someone here wanting to talk to you," she said. "She called herself Swan, said she needed to talk to you."

Kaz was standing with his cane in hands in a second.

"Call her in," he ordered.

He tried to keep his face as blank as possible, but Anika seemed to have notice some type of change in his demeanour, because her eyes widened and she nodded, leaving the door open as she turned and jogged away.

She came back in seconds, a woman right behind her.

Laura. He could recognize her anywhere by the eyes, even though it was surprising to see her hair up. He knew she only used her hair up when she was in public with Jordan, so no one would judge the girl as a bastard. Her hair up meant one thing: she had Jordan with her.

"Come on in," he said. "Close the door on your way out, Anika."

Anika nodded and walked out quickly, closing the door.

The two stayed in silence as her footsteps walked away.

He took Laura in, she was pale, but was sweating. Her hands were gently holding one another in front of her body, but he could see how much strength she was using to keep her hands from shaking.

Once they both knew to be safe, Laura's eyes filled with tears and her limps trembled.

"I'm sorry if it was reckless, but I didn't know where else to go," she admitted, voice strained. Her hand flew to her mouth as she tried to hold back her sobs.

"What happened? Where's Jordan?" he asked. "Are either you hurt?"

She took a deep breath and he could tell she was focusing on telling him everything without breaking.

"The Hoults left this morning for an equestrian convention in Leij or whatever, I chose to stay back because I thought it would be hard for a two-year-old to deal with all the noise, the distance of the trip, all the new people and places. I didn't want them to deal with a crying Jordan and an annoyed me, so we stayed back."

Confused, he blinked and leaned against his table.

"And you got scared of being home alone?" he asked. She wasn't one for that, she was brave and strong. She wouldn't be scared of something so silly.

"I wish," she scoffed. "I found something in our porch as I helped them prepare the cart. It was a stuffed tiger, Kaz. Nobody but Katterdam calls me the Tigress, no one!"

He put his cane to the side and crossed his arms.

"Do you think someone found you?"

"And I think Mister Hoult sold me out," she added.