Hot Coffee (The Hollens Book 1)

Early Notice

Emma's POV

I paced around the rooms, moving from corner to corner with the tears rolling down my cheeks and smudging my makeup. It was the first time in my life I could say that. It was getting late, almost morning, and the medical team was still at Halley's side, doing all they could to revive her; she was pulling through slowly, very slowly.

But the scary part, Mr. Hollen was on his way back home.

At 9:00 in the evening a black car pulled onto the pavement. Sharon stepped out carrying one of her suitcases with Mr. Hollen following right behind. They burst through the front door and walked over to me; I panicked.

"Who are you and where's Emma?" he demanded.

He didn't recognized me?! Breathe, Emma, breathe. I became speechless, wondering how to tell him it was me standing right in front of him.

"Sir, she's right here," I responded.

"Where?" he looked around.

What? Do I really look that different? "I am Emma."

His eyes popped as they scanned me from head to toe. He passed his fingers through his hair as he gave a small smile, but it faded as soon as a medical professional interrupted.

"Mr. Hollen, welcome back. Sir, I have news on her condition. She's responding to the treatment and she's awake now."

I let out a sigh of relief, something I had been holding for the entire evening since our departure from the party. I looked at Mr. Hollen, the grey in his eyes seemed to have fade to a darker color, like the changes in a shark's eyes when it smells blood. I was never so scared in my life. 

"Thank you." His voice was cold.

He followed the doctor into the room to see Halley. I exhaled again and slipped down onto a chair. My feet couldn't support the weight of the fear in my body. I felt a touch of long nails on my shoulder. I looked up and noticed Sharon was still standing there. For a minute, I had forgotten she even existed.

"Take these upstairs." She pointed to her over sized suitcase. 

I attempted to carry it but it was too heavy to even shift. Did she picked up stones in the Bahamas and put them in her damn luggage? I walked over to her. "Miss Sharon, it's too heavy for me to carry."

"That's Mrs. Hollen to you, you wimp!"

"My apologies, Mrs. Hollen." Are they already married? I wondered.

She sat on the chair I previously occupied so I stood against the wall.

Mr. Hollen appeared again. "Emma, what's wrong with the two of you? I was supposed to still be in the Bahamas with my fiancee. I had to fly home early because of this, which shouldn't have happened in the first place because y'all were supposed to be here!" His last word shot like a bullet.

I was shaking like a leaf now.

"Sweetie, why are you stressing over those lowly maids? Why don't you just fire them and get new ones? This one, here, isn't even capable of holding a coffee cup. They're out partying and getting drunk instead of doing their jobs," Sharon inputted as she stood up and stood beside him like he was one of her possessions, glaring at me with disgust in her eyes.

She was upset, and that was understandable, but I was just hoping Mr. Hollen wasn't considering what she was saying.

"Emma, when you came into my office, you were in need of a job and you were desperate. Now, you're making me regret hiring you."