Someone Like You | 18+

11 | Someone Like Her

"Mommy had a nightmare yesterday," Emma said as she fed her chicken bites to the dog.

"Really?" Xavier knew it wasn't okay to pry information out of a child.

Still, he didn't stop Emma from divulging it. He was, as much as he hated admitting it, worried for her mother. Esme, Emma's caretaker, had expressed her concerns as well. While she didn't stay with them, she was with them for sufficient time to notice something was not right.

She barely ate or slept. What was so wrong that even when she was out of the clutches of her aunt, it was still causing her to be like this?

Emma nodded. "She was okay afterwards because I was there. I'm very brave. She did cry a lot. Maybe she saw Elvira in her nightmare."

Xavier couldn't help the huff of laughter which escaped his lips. Even Rafa, who stood next to his desk with a stoic expression, grinned.

"Elvira is mommy's wicked aunt," Emma explained now as she made a list of all her favourite storybook characters whom she wanted to marry, "and she hurts mommy a lot. Sometimes, she hurts me but I always make sure I bite her really hard."

"Hurts her?" Xavier inquired, shoulders tensing.

Emma nodded again. "A lot. She gives her medicine that makes her very sick. She always says it's good medicine but she's lying. It's okay, though. We don't live with her anymore so then..." she trailed off as she squinted at the piece of paper in front of her. "I don't want to marry boss baby. I want to be boss baby."

"Okay," Xavier agreed even though he had no idea what that meant. "Sounds good."

"Okay," Emma echoed. "I'll go see if mommy's home and I'll ask her to buy me a tux. If she doesn't, I'll bite her really hard." She turned around in the doorway, looking at Xavier seriously. "If you hear a scream, don't be scared. It's not a monster. It's just me."

He didn't know whether to laugh or not. Rafa had no problem it seemed like.

"Don't do that," Xavier finally managed, shaking his head. The mother and daughter duo couldn't be more apart. "I'll get you a tux, okay? Stop biting your mother."

Emma grinned before running over to Xavier. He knew the drill by now as she picked her up and hugged her to his chest. It was strange—hugging someone. Even when Cairo was young, he rarely hugged the kid. The act was restricted to special occasions only.

"Why don't we go and pick up your mom from the university?" he asked, getting up from the chair behind his desk with Emma still clinging to him.

The client he had to meet today was the owner of multiple Swiss banks. Or, well, used to be before today's deal. Thus, due to the sensitive nature of today's meeting, it had to held at the penthouse where the security system was under Rafa's direct command. He was going to be pissed if Varjot or someone else became aware of the expansion deal before it was finalised.

Once the meeting was conducted, he'd checked his phone to see a message from Esme. Emma wanted him to know she could do a headstand. He didn't even know what to say to that. He guessed a congratulations was in order. Hence, Esme had brought her upstairs for a lunch. If Xavier knew anything about the kid, it was that she loved food. Although she ate the normal amount, she liked having something to eat nearby.

"In the car?" Emma's eyes widened as she looked at Xavier with childlike wonder.

Xavier nodded before turning to Rafa. "Cancel my three o'clock. Tell Noah I'll call him tomorrow morning."

"Should I cancel Esme too?" Rafa inquired sarcastically, shrugging when Xavier gave him a cold look.

It wasn't a crime to take a few hours off. Christmas was this weekend and it seemed like none of their clients were too happy about the break. In the past, Xavier felt the same way. Their family wasn't religious. Nor did they celebrate the holiday for the sake of it. What could they possibly give each other when all of them could buy anything they wanted? It was all a waste of time.

However, he was looking forward to this Christmas. After all, he'd been invited to spend it downstairs. As a thank you for all you've done. It put a damper on his mood that she'd invited Christopher, Cairo and Brandon but there wasn't much he could do about that. She knew Christopher and Brandon from before whereas Cairo and her had become quite close friends since her move here.

"I've already written my letter to Santa," Emma said as she sat in the back with Cinnamon Toast.

The poor dog was too smart to have such a dumb name but Cairo was adamant on keeping it that way. When Xavier had tried to pry into why that was the case, he'd clamped up.

"What did you ask for?" Thankfully, Xavier had already been warned not to disclose the bearded man wasn't real. Here, he knew what the procedure was.

"A dream catcher," she replied.

"I thought you were going to ask for more food," Xavier joked, curious as to why she'd asked for such a thing.

As far as he knew, she was not interested in anything other than storybooks, pets and food.

"Well, that was in my first letter to Santa. But I had to change it. Now, Santa will bring a dream catcher so mommy doesn't have bad dreams."

He exhaled lightly, grip tightening on the steering wheel for a few moments before he relaxed.

"You can always ask for more things, sweetheart."

They were parked outside the campus building so Xavier unbuckled Emma from her seat and let her sit in the front. Just until her mother came out. She liked asking about the various buttons and telling the time to Xavier.

"Mommy said Santa can only afford one thing 'cause there are a lot of children."

Xavier shook his head, "I promise you, this year, he can afford anything. So write a new letter alright? Give it to me and I'll mail it to him. You can have anything you wish for this year."

Emma looked positively thrilled. However, before she could express her excitement, her mother was already making her way to the car.

"Mommy! I'm here too, mommy!"

The smile on her face as she looked at her daughter was worth missing a meeting.

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Note: I had to update to thank you for the 7k reads. Thank you—I'm so grateful x