Jai's POV

It was fun spending the day with Aleysa. She showed me how to make cupcakes while they were cooling on the counter.

Aleysa looks at me. "We can put the icing on the cake before Chloe arrives at six." She rises from the table. "Thanks for helping me make the cupcakes."

Smiling at her, I say. "You're welcome. You taught me something that I didn't know how to cook. I suppose your mother taught you?"

She nods. "Mom used to teach me a lot of things." She looks at the photo on the wall, taken over the weekend.

Aleysa is teaching me things.

She walks over to me and hugs me. "Thanks for getting Chloe back to work. She looked miserable sitting around the house all day with me."

I hope she didn't feel miserable being at home with Aleysa.

Nate walks through the front door with a few friends and walks over to the fridge. "Hey, Jai. I want you to meet the guys I'm working with on the assignment." He points to the guys. "Frank, Jasper, Gordon and Thomas." He points to me. "This is my sister's boyfriend..."

Jasper cuts him off. "Jai Marshall, we know who he is. He was a great football player until he got injured. He started up a bunch of nightclubs called 'Lusive.'

I'm impressed that this kid knows who I am.

He walks over to me and extends his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr Marshall."

Shaking his hand, I say. "Please, call me Jai. It makes me feel old if you call me that."

Nate looks at the table. "Did Aleysa make those?"

"She asked me to help as well. I hope they taste great."

Nate smiles. "They will. She was taught to make this by Mom." He walks over to the stool and climbs onto it. "I remember the first time Aleysa helped Mom make it."

Aleysa climbs into my lap. "I love it when he tells stories."

Nate spins around in his chair and faces me. "It was Aleysa's sixth birthday, and Mom wanted to make something for Aleysa. So, she asked Aleysa what she wanted for a cake, and Aleysa said that she wanted cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes were her favourites back then."

Aleysa looks at her brother. "They are still my favourite." She points at the table. "Chocolate cupcakes are on the table behind you."

"Yeah, yeah," he rises. "Back to the story. Mom put the ingredients on the table and measured things for you. You put it in a bowl and spilled flour on the linoleum floor. You walked over to the cupboard to get two eggs, and then when you walked back, you slipped on the floor. An egg flew out of your hands as you landed on your butt hard, the second egg you had was crushed under her hand." he starts laughing. "The egg that flew into the sky landed on your head, and it broke. You should have seen the yolk that fell on your face," he shakes his head. "Aleysa pulled off the yolk, and she threw it at me. Instead of hitting me, it hit Dad, who walked into the kitchen after a long day at work."

I laugh.

I don't think Mr Knight would have been too impressed with that.

Everyone in the kitchen is laughing, including Aleysa.

Aleysa shakes her head. "Thanks for sharing the story from five years ago." She looks at the ground. "I hope I can be here to celebrate my thirteenth birthday."

After that, the room falls silent.

Wrapping my arms around her, I ask. "When do you turn thirteen?"

"Next month." She looks at the sky. "Can you please allow me to celebrate my birthday with my siblings? That's all I want in the entire world."

Nate rises and walks over to his sister. "I'm going to give you presents every day until your birthday. You can pretend it's your birthday every day."

Aleysa smiles. "Can we have cake too?"

A smile spreads across my face, and I watch how happy she is with Nate's suggestion.

I can't wait to hear what Nate has to say about this.

He looks at me. "You have to ask Jai and Chloe."

"No, we can't eat cake every day. It's supposed to be a treat, and that's exactly what I will keep it as. We made cupcakes today because you wanted to make something for Chloe when she finished her first shift as the bar manager."

Looking at the CCTV, I see a car pull into the driveway of the mansion. I notice that it's one of my cars. "Chloe's home." I walk towards the hallway, stand behind the wall, and wait for Chloe to enter the house.

Chloe walks through the front door of the mansion, and she takes off her shoes. She places them on the rack next to the door. She rubs her feet.

I should give her a foot massage.

Walking over to her, I wrap my arms around her. "Hello, beautiful." I kiss her cheek. "How was your first shift as bar manager?"

She turns in my arms. "It was good. I met a guy at the bar who knows you."

I wonder who she met.

Lifting her up, I carry her to the lounge. "Tell me about the guy from the bar?" I sit down and pull her onto me. "I need to know; as all the people who know me know, do not mess with my bar when I'm not there."

She scrunches up her face as she concentrates on what the guy looks like. "He had sandy blonde hair, a piercing in his ear, a chiselled jawline, and tanned skin. He wore a suit and came in with three others who looked like him. If you asked me, they looked like they were brothers."

I rise.

He wasn't supposed to show up this afternoon. He was supposed to show up tonight. I hope he was good to Chloe and not a complete ass.

"I can't believe they showed up while I was at home. They're probably going to kill me for not being there today."

She looks at me. "There's one more thing you need to know, Jai."

He takes a step toward me. "What?"

"They know my name, Jai. How is it possible that they know me?"

Those guys have kept tabs on me for years. It was bound to happen that they would know Chloe as well. Or maybe they know her differently, as nobody knows who was a part of her parents' home invasion/murder.

Aleysa and Nate walk into the room with their friends.

Chloe looks at the bags on the table. "Dinner is there. Take care of yourselves, Jai and I need to talk."

They take the bags into the kitchen.

Wrapping my arms around her, I say. "I have two theories of how they know your name."

"Okay,"

"One is that they have been following us and gaining as much information about me as they can, or two, they were behind the deaths of your parents."

She shakes her head. "I think number one is right for those guys. The second one freaks me out."

I will make sure nothing happens to the Knight siblings again. After dinner, I'll have to deal with my little visitors.

Pulling my car in front of Lusive, I see Ethan at the door.

He was supposed to finish his shift two hours ago.

Walking over to him, I say. "What are you still doing here?"

"The security guard who was supposed to take over called in sick, " he frowns. "Didn't Chloe tell you?"

Shaking my head. "She had other things to talk about. Like a group of guys in suits coming in here."

Ethan bangs his head against the wall. "Damn, I forgot that you didn't like Louis and his group to sit in here during the day. I didn't think it would be problematic with Chloe being the manager."

Looking at him. "I remember you used to hang with his crowd. Do you think it's possible that his group could be behind the home invasion?"

Ethan begins to laugh. "No way. They wouldn't need to do that, but they would know someone who does."

"Good, I want you to contact him and tell him to join me at the bar tonight. I want some information about..."

He looks at me. "Chloe's parents' death."

How does he know about that?

"I found out about it when I did some research into Chloe. I wanted to learn more about the woman who turned you into the sap you are now."

Laughing, I say. "I'm not a sap." I open the door. "Make the phone call. I will be in my office for the rest of the night." I enter the bar and head straight to my office.

In the office, I open the safe and go through the documents. I found the proposal I made with Chloe.

I need to get rid of this, and I also need to call my lawyers to arrange for them to destroy it. I should let Chloe know what I'm doing.

Taking my lighter out of my back pocket, I set it on fire. I watch as the paper shrivels up. I put it in the waste bin with other photos. I walk over to the wall and pull the fire extinguisher off the wall. I spray the basket, and foam comes out, covering the fire. I put it back on the wall and walked back to my desk. I pull my phone out of my back pocket and message Chloe.

Pulling my phone from my back pocket, I send Chloe a message.

Me: I destroyed the contract. I will be going to the lawyers' to do the same. You should make an appointment with yours to get destroyed.

Chloe: I will. Love you.

Me: Love you, too.