Bad Publicity

3. The company

Chapter 3

Ava

"Sir?" I answer my dads call. "You bitch! What'd you screw up?" He practically yells through the phone.

"We just lost a million dollar deal because Viv couldn't find the files I told you to put away!" He sounds pissed. "D-dad all my files are where they always have been. Maybe Viv didn't look in the right place." I say nervous.

Viv is my dads new girlfriend. I hate her. She only wants my fathers money but he gave her a small position at our company instead. She has no clue on what she's doing.

"JUST GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE AND FIND THE DAMN FILES." He roars through the phone. "Yes sir!" I say.

There is no way I can get Bellas babysitter here at this hour. It's almost 11pm. I try to keep my babygirl away from my father as much as possible but I have no choice but to bring her with me.

Gaining my composure, I walk out of my office and yell upstairs to Bella. "Bella come down, and bring your shoes!" "Good you're leaving!" Jaxson spits from the couch. I don't respond.

He's going to be in for a rude awakening when we come back tonight. Bella hops down the stairs one by one with her shoes in her hands. I smile when she sits on the last step and looks up at me to put her shoes on.

As I'm putting her shoes on she plays with my hair. "Mommy, who that?" She asks me with an innocent voice. I know she has to be talking about Jaxson. "That's no one baby, come on let's go." I grab her hand and we walk out the back door to my car.

We pull up to the main company building and there's only a few cars here. I groan, this means no witnesses. Bella grins wide as we walk inside. "Cedrics not here!"I tell her and she frowns "but mommy knows where they keep the chips too" I wink at her earning a giggle.

We enter my fathers office and Viv gets off his lap sending me a glare. He stands up after her. "Viv, why don't you go see if they have our limo ready!" He tells her. She smiles from ear to ear saying "okay" too excitedly.

I hate the sound of her perky voice. As soon as she leaves he slaps me with too much power that I fall to the floor and Bella screams. He kicks me in the stomach a couple times while Bella cries for him to stop. "You can't do anything right!" He says through gritted teeth.

I find that hilarious since I'm the one basically running this damn company. I keep my mouth closed though. "Go find those damn files" He says before walking out the office leaving me on the floor.

Bella runs up to me and hugs me. "I'm okay baby, mommy's okay!" I tell her holding her small body in a tight embrace as she cries. A few tears slide down my face. This isn't the first time he's hit me in front of Bella. The first time was last year and she's resented him ever since.

I find the files in the file room. Everything is in ABC order so really all Viv had to do was sing the abc song, that's if her dumbass can even manage to do that. They were right where they're supposed to be. In the L section. Lin's incorporated was a big company.

I'm sure that since Viv screwed everything up Jaxsons company would get the deal. I was heartbroken when I found out his father had died.

It's my job to keep up with our competitors  numbers and Jaxsons company has been sinking lower and lower. Speaking of Jaxson why the fuck is he all of sudden back? I haven't seen him since the night Bella was conceived and I never expected to see him to again.

We go into the kitchen and I wipe away any blood that could possibly be on my nose and get Bella her chips. Sitting the files on my dads desk, we leave. By the looks of it Bella will be asleep before we get back home. Hopefully Jaxson is gone.

I was right. Bella fell asleep before she even finished her bag of chips. Instead of waking her up I carry her upstairs. She usually sleeps in her own room, but because of tonight's events I want her to sleep with me incase she has nightmares.

When I open my bedroom door I see Jaxson sitting shirtless on my bed. I groan "why are you in here?" He scoffs at me. "It's my damn room!" He says not even looking at me.

"It hasn't been your room for 4 years. Leave!" It's my house now. "It's my fucking hou- oh shit what happened to your face?" He says as his eyes stretch wide. Mine widen with realization as I walk over to the mirror with Bella still in my arms.

My eye is beginning to turn blue and there's a dark bruise on my check where my father slapped me. "I umm, fell down some stairs." I quickly lie. "Please leave!" I continue.

He is obviously getting annoyed. "This is my house. I'm not going anywhere." He says sternly as he stands up. I begin to feel scared.

Bella is sleeping in my arms and if he tries to do anything she'll get hurt along with me. "I'll sleep somewhere else then!" I quickly say before leaving my own room. I'm not going to let anyone hurt my daughter.