Whatever It Takes

Chapter 41

I decided to go back to the kitchen while waiting for Carlisle and his lawyer to talk. I took another cup and decided to pour the rest of the coffee left at the coffee maker. I opened the same cabinet Samuel opened when he took the cream and sugar. I wondered what could be that bad news about. I hoped that it was nothing Carlisle could solve.

A beautiful woman with large brown eyes entered the back door from the kitchen.

"Hi, senora. You must be Senor Carlisle's companion Samuel just told me about." She said. I was glad she was not an intruder or something.

"Yes, and you are Samuel's wife, right?" I assumed.

"Yes. My name is Jesusa. You know like Jesus with an A." She answered smiling.

"I heard about the baby. Congratulations." I said. 

"Thank you. Do you anything from the kitchen? Maybe I can help." She offered politely.

"No, I'm okay. I'm just drinking coffee. Carlisle is having a meeting with his lawyer." I answered.

"I see. Do you want to see my baby? It is not nice if I let you here stay alone. You can follow me if you want to meet our girl. She is sleep but she doesn't mind visitors." She said.

"Really? I would love that. Let's go." I gulped the warm coffee and decided to follow Jesusa out of the kitchen. The living quarters they live in was just at the back of the mansion. It was around fifty square meters. For people like me who had not given much choices, this would be very comfortable. Their place was simple and clean. A pink crib was in the center of their tiny living room. It had its own bathroom.

"I love your place." I said honestly.

"Thank you. It is not really ours. Senor Carlisle let us to stay here for free. Samuel and I decided to grab the opportunity since it is very practical for our situation. Who wouldn't want a free accommodation? For migrant workers like us, this is beyond comfortable. We stay here for free. Samuel gets salary. We can both work part time to other houses nearby.  We can live together in a good place. Senor first offer a room inside the house. We did not take it because it's too much. We don't also want his abuela to get disturbed when she's here." Jesusa said. I knew what abuela means. She was pertaining to Carlisle's grandmother. I speak a little Spanish since I grew up in Texas surrounded by lots of Hispanic kids.

"Meet our little angel, Gabriella." Jesusa lifted her chubby baby from the crib and showed her to me. The baby cooed and opened her eyes.

"She's very beautiful." I said in awe. The baby had thick curly hair. She had eyes like Jesusa.

"She looks just like you." I added.

"Thank you. I just hope we can get our American citizenship as soon as possible for Gabriella." She said softly. I talked to Jesusa for a while and decided to go back inside the house. I went to the windows to see whether or not a car had left. 

I knocked at the study door and Carlisle opened it up for me. He looked so problematic.

"What happened?" I asked cautiously.

"My grandmother found a loop hole and succeeded in freezing my account. She said, I must go back to London to her and spend the New Year with her or wait until she changes her mind and unfreeze my access to every business that I handle under Hughes Enterprises. 

"So, are you going back to London today?" I asked him.

"I'm not out of mind yet. I said I won't go back to London until February." He said angrily.

"It's only a simple request. Maybe she only wanted to bond with you." I said.

"All her request has a hidden agenda. I can live without her money. She's the one who needs me to run the business. Don't mind her." He said firmly.

"But how will you live until February? Do you have some other source of cash until then?"

"I can handle it. It's very timely that I had given Samuel and your salary before Gareth arrived." He said.

"What? You already transfered money to my account?" I asked.

"Yes and a little bit more." He admitted.

"Well, you can get the money back and use it if you need it. I still have my last salary from Tony's and my apartment's rent is always on time." I told him. He frowned at me.

"The money is your salary, Adriana. I still have cash with me, so don't worry. It's just when we go back to D. C., I can't use any vehicle under Hughes Enterprises." He said.

"I would be okay. You're the one who's used to that kind of lifestyle. We can always take the bus to go back to D.C." I answered.

"Don't think about my situation now. I will fix this. Besides, lets consider this as my vacation. I'm not doing anything for the company now. Believe me, she's going to beg me run the company again." He said.

"But what will I do now?" I asked.

"Accompany me everywhere for two more weeks." He said with a smile.

"Carlisle, I am serious." I said.

"I cannot do anything. She froze all my finances. She forbid me to go to any part of the company let alone decide or represent it." He said.

"It sounded like she fired you." I uttered.

"It might be a blessing in disguise. Maybe, I can start my own company now. I will prove to her that I am not like my dad. I can always stand on my feet." He answered confidently. I just looked at him nervous about what would happen to him.

"We will celebrate our New Year here and after, we'll go back to D.C." He said.

"Is that your plan?" I asked.

"All right, come here and I will show you what my real plan is." He said showing the screen of his laptop to me. I stepped forward and I saw the project proposal that he wrote.

"How can you possibly do that if you have no capital to start with?" I asked him. I just read that he was planning for real estate developments and I glanced at some numbers. I knew it would be more than one hundred million the moment I saw his targets.

"That's where you can help me." He said.

"I have no money to invest." I answered.

"You'll be helping me making another proposal for possible investors." He said laughing. I let out a sigh.

"Stop worrying for me already. Everything will be fine, Princess." He said as he put a light kiss on my forehead.