Milk and Oreos

Chapter 18

Frances stood by her huge doorway waiting for Conner. She was truly worried about him like his real mother. Carmello alerted the madam when he saw the car arriving from the distance. Frances breathes with high hopes for Conner.

Conner stepped out of the car with a face like he had been robbed a hundred times. He knew he was now determined to win Yassie back. But after the brawl with Edward earlier, he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Darling. What happened? Did you find her?" Frances asked as she tried to walk faster towards him with her cane. She rushed to him with Carmello assisting her.

"Yes." Conner responded and walked inside quietly leaving them clueless.

Before Frances could ask him, Carmello assisted her back inside. She knew he must be tired from the trip but he never expected he will be so unhappy when he confirmed he found her. She felt like Conner was hiding something from her.

When they got inside, Frances found Conner seated with his face down in one of her huge living rooms. He looks like he lost the lottery. Frances asked Carmello to prepare some calming tea for Conner and then approached him slowly. When she sat across from him, she felt a sense of defeat.

"I found her but it looks like it's not going to be easy," he said in a low voice.

"Why dear? What happened? Please tell me everything." the old lady asked.

"She has lost trust in me. I f*cked up years ago for letting her slip on my fingers. Now that she's happy with what she's doing, I didn't want to take that away from her."

"Oh my goodness. Are you saying you are giving up on her?"

"No. Never. Not now that I've found her. I won't let her go."

"Then what is stopping you dear?"

Then the old lady's eyes widened as she noticed Conner's bruise. Conner took the bandage off on his way back to the manor. She approached him and examined her face.

"Was there someone else in the picture? A competition perhaps?" she firmly asked.

Conner remembered how Edward punched him. He made it abundantly clear that he wanted Yassie but she rejected him there.

"What happened to your face? Did someone punched you?" the frantic but firm old woman asked and commanded Carmello to call her doctor.

"It was nothing. Someone wants Yassie too. But I can handle him."

"Really dear?" she stood up and walked to the big window.

"I don't think you can handle him at this state." she challenged him.

Conner looked at her like she has something planned for him and his intuition was true.

"A wise and brilliant soldier will never reveal himself recklessly in the battlefield just to get killed." she whispered while staring outside then she turned around to look at him.

"I think its about time that soldier is promoted as the commander of his army." she said with a poker smile.

***********

The Croft Manor was hosting a very elegant ball and the Shutterbug Menace also received an exclusive invitation. Frances took the initiative to organize this "ball" and also a secret fundraiser and to help Yassie's charity ShelterAide at the same time. She invited all her closest elite friends and the guests were mostly from the Croft management and other big companies in London. She invited them to donate anonymously to ShelterAide which was a success.

Since her company was truly dedicated to the creative industry, she made sure the ball will be a great way for creative minds to interact and exchange business ideas. And as the host and madam of the house, this is also her way to help Conner to win Yassie back. She looked at them like her own kids with high hopes for them to be together.