-Evangeline-
.
.
.
"Mr. Winters! What are you doing here?" I look at him as he smiles when I call him Mr. Winters.
"Well, you didn't show up to work today, and I haven't heard from you at work in a couple of days, so I had to see what my hardest worker was doing to be so busy that she couldn't go to work," My eyes widen as I tuck a piece of fallen hair behind my ear. Shit. I forgot all about work. I clear my throat.
"I'm so sorry. I forgot to reach out, but I've been sick for the past couple of days. You know how it is with pregnancy," Mr. Winters looks at me, intrigued.
"Sick, huh? Last I saw you, the other day, you were moving in with my brother, and you looked fine," I swallow. Am I going to get fired?
"Pregnancy sickness comes and goes. I'm starting to feel better. I promise I'll be at work tomorrow, boss," I see his crusty smile.
"I'll take your promise on that," I take a breath of relief. Damn, these Winters men, making me nervous.
"Eva, you have to try this sausage, it's sooo amazing," Charlotte says as she stares at Mr. Winters.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Stone. You must try the sausage. It's absolutely divine," I turn and roll my eyes while mocking Mr. Winters as I grab myself a cup of orange juice.
"What was that, Mrs. Stone?" Shit. I turn towards Mr. Winters and fake smile.
"I didn't say anything, sir," I take a sip of my orange juice and see him grinning at me. I turn back around towards the cabinet, shuddering.
I grab a spoon with yogurt and fruit out of the fridge, not wanting to walk towards the table with the food and Mr. Winters. I put a spoon in my mouth, hearing the spoon clink against my teeth as I carry the fruit and yogurt out of the kitchen.
"Did you forget the sausage?" I stop as I hear Mr. Winters's voice. I turn around, take the spoon out of my mouth, and lick my parched lips.
"The sight of sausage makes me want to gag right now, so no," I put the spoon back in my mouth and walk out of the kitchen.
I walk up the stairs and into the living room. I put in a Russian action movie, and I grab the remote. I sit on the couch as I lick yogurt off my spoon while watching the movie with English subtitles.
"You're watching one of the Russian movies?" I nod as I pick a fruit piece with my fingers and pop it in my mouth.
"You didn't tell me you had another hot boss," I roll my eyes and eat a mouth full of yogurt.
"He's not hot. He's morbidly disgusting," Violet chuckles as she sits next to me.
"Well, he's a split image of Mr. Winters. You know the one you're dating," I roll my eyes.
"It's been only two hours, and it sounds like Charlotte already fucked him. He's nothing like Mr. Winters," Violet looks at me concerned.
"Come with me. It's time for me to tell you the truth," I look at Violet confused as she holds out her hand. I grab her hand, and she helps me up from the couch.
She leads me down the hall and downstairs. I follow her as I ignore Mr. Winters and Charlotte as Violet leads me through the kitchen and outside into the garden.
"Here should be a spot where we can have privacy," Violet sits on a bench. She gestures for me to sit next to her. I sit down next to her.
"So, what's going on that you had to walk me out of my comfort zone over here," Violet sighs as she looks at the flowers.
"Dave's trying to get custody of the kids," My eyes widen.
"What?! Why?! How?! I thought this was already settled, and this conversation was going to be about Mr. Winters, not Dave," Violet rubs her face with her hands.
"Dave went to a lawyer and is now fighting for full custody rights. I'm sorry. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I had to talk to someone about it, and you're the only one I trust," I lay my head on her shoulder.
"It's okay. You don't have to be sorry. You can talk to me anytime you want. Tell me all about it," Violet unlocks her phone and hands it to me.
I read the printed text on her phone.
"It basically says you have until next Wednesday to come up with a good argument and a good lawyer, or the kids will be all his. Including the unborn child in your womb," I give Violet the phone back.
"You don't have a lawyer?!" I raise my voice and hear Violet sigh.
"Apparently not a good enough one because my lawyer right now is shit. I don't have enough money to find a new one, and this one can't find proof of me being a fitting mother to raise my children. They won't let any of us have the kids until we settle this out. They're at Dave's mother's house until all this is over. I thought having a girl's day would help take my mind off of it, but all I can think about is my babies," Violet puts her face in her hands as she breaks down. I hug Violet.
"Don't worry, sis. I'll help you find a great lawyer and get our babies back," I see Violet wipe tears from her lower eyelid and sigh.
"I'm supposed to be the one who has her life together. I'm supposed to be the older sister who is perfect and never has anything wrong," I put my hand on top of hers.
"No one is perfect. Everyone has their good and bad days. You're just going through a rough couple of patches. It's what happens in life," Violet sniffs her nose.
"You're right. I guess you're wondering why everyone is warning you about C Winters," I look at her shocked.
"You know his first name?" Violet chuckles.
"No one knows his first name. They only know the initial. He never gives it out to anyone. What I really wanted to show you, is this," Violet hands me her phone with small pictures of women next to Mr. Winters pieced together in one big picture.
"Twenty- seven women," She says in a dead voice as she sniffs her nose from tearing.
"What you hear about Hunter Winters has happened to C. Winters first. Mr. Winters is a playboy and a ruthless person. I'm saying that not from rumors, but from a point of view. Dave works for him, and he used to say that Mr. Winters would fire people just because they smiled at him. He usually never hires women because any women he hires, either him or Hunter have slept with them, and they were fired the next day," I look at Violet puzzled as I hand her back her phone.
"That's isn't the Mr. Winters I know. Has he- has he been with a woman when I was with him?" Violet looks at the ground.
"I don't know, but I do know that reporters used to catch him with a different woman every night. Sometimes twice a day. He never keeps a woman, but, lately, I've only seen reporters report you with Mr. Winters. You're famous, and you don't even know it," I stare at the ground as I hug myself.
"I'm sorry, Evangeline. I'm sorry you had to find out this way," I sigh.
"I hope you're wrong. I better start researching a new lawyer," I get up from the bench, still holding my arms, and walk inside.
"Evangeline, wait! I didn't mean to hurt you!" I ignore Violet as I walk inside the kitchen, feeling numb. The words hit me like an arrow to the heart.
I don't know what makes it worse that it's from Violet, or seeing Mr. Winters's reaction as I read one of those magazines. I didn't want to believe her, but my own sister is telling me how bad of a man Mr. Winters is. Everything inside of me is telling me it's true, but my heart still belongs to him.
Stuck in my own thoughts, I didn't notice I was out of the kitchen already until I was walking up the stairs. I walk into the bedroom we share and lay on the bed. His aroma overfills my nose, causing my eyes to leak.
The only way to find the answers I need is from his office, but first, I need to get out of his clothes. It's only making it worse.
I grab a white robe, with a small black W letter on the side, from the closet. I make sure my door is closed and locked before I strip. I wrap the robe around me, making sure none of my goods are showing.
I walk out of the room and walk out of the house towards Violet's car.
"Need help, miss?" I jump and turn behind me, seeing Donny.
"Donny, you can't be scaring a pregnant lady like that, but a little help would be nice," I grab my suitcase, and Donny grabs my three boxes.
I lead the way into the house as I roll my suitcase.
"You can put the boxes on the floor," I say to Donny as we enter my bedroom.
Donny sets it on the floor, and I open my suitcase, seeing the picture booth picture.
"I'll be fine, Donny. You can go back to Violet now," Donny nods and walks out of the room.
I open a box and pull out a red dress with blue flowers printed on the skirt. I absolutely love this dress and haven't worn it in so long. I shut the door and lock it. I take off my rope and slide the dress on. It still fits! My stomach pokes out a bit, but that's okay. Little Johnny has to show his pride.
I let my hair down, and comb my hair, letting my natural curls take effect.
I walk out of the room and walk into Mr. Winters's office. I sit in his chair, looking in his drawers for any answers.
I see my phone on his desk, and I check it for any messages. No messages from Mr. Winters. Strange. He should have texted me by now. I bite my lip as I think of what to do next. It hits me. Filing cabinets!
I stand walked to his first filling cabinets. I look at the files of all the employee names he has. He really tracks everyone in our work field. I pull my file out and search for more. Hello, what is this? I pull out Dave's file. I'm definitely going to look at this.
I sit at his desk and open my file. The first thing I see is my terrible ID card picture from the office. There's not much on me, but saying I'm a good worker and my work history which, duh, is stripping. It's pretty empty for a person who keeps track of everything.
I set my file to the side as I open Dave's file. I cackle seeing Dave's ugly picture. Damn, there's a lot of history on this dude.
Arrested, for drinking and driving. Caught twice cheating on his ex-wife and is remarried to some ugly chick. Still goes to a strip club every day after work. Damn, Dave, you have some juicy stuff against you.
I put both of the files back, and move to the other filing cabinet. I look through the names as some are in different languages. This must be his other work files. My fingers suddenly stop as I see my name. Why is my name here? I pull out my thick file and set it on the desk.
I open it and see a picture of me on the stripping pole. When was this taken? I flip through the file as every detail of the days I clocked in of stripping. It's my own pattern I used to follow every day. Typed into this thick file. Why does he have every detail of my stripping days located in his mafia pile?
I close the file, not bearing to see any more of it, and put the file back. The more I find out about Mr. Winters, it seems the more questions I have about Mr. Winters. I look at my phone for anything, and it's already been hours passed. It's already night, and there's no text and no call. Just nothing. Do I dare call him?
I pick up my phone and call Mr. Winters. I wait as it rings, and it goes straight to voice mail. I sigh.
"Hey, love. It's me, Evangeline. You haven't texted or called me all day. I just wanted to see if you were okay, or if your meeting went well. Make sure you get plenty of sleep and don't over-stress. Remember, you've got this. I'll talk to you when you can. I love you," I end the call and set my phone on the desk.
I need to forget about Mr. Winters and focus on Violet. I'm sure that file on Dave is going to be useful soon.
.
.
.
.
-End Of Chapter 44-
Thank you sooo much for reading Chapter 44 Of CRASHING DOWN INTO GLORY!
Have a embellished day/night! <3