Day 7: Have a quickie - 10 minutes or less. Try some place/time fun. Example: While preparing breakfast standing in the kitchen. (Bonus play: try two or more in a day.)

Chapter dedication: ---SiL---

Song of recommendation for the chapter: The Rigs - The Haunted 🎶 🎶

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After a video call session with her friends during her lunch break, Lee packed the trash that was already filled with so much dirt and some left over's—thanks to her day dreaming while baking the new cookie recipe she found online— and headed out the back door that led to the alley, where a larger garbage can leaned against the wall.

She dumped the bag into the empty can, grimacing at the twinge of pain that shot up her backside. She was still a bit sore down there and sitting down had been so difficult that she stood up all through the morning rush and lunch hour. Lee rubbed the lower part of her spine as she started for the door.

"Shut the fuck up you shark mouthed bitch!" The yell was punctuated with the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

Lee whirled around in time to see a lady crumble onto the dirty floor at the entrance of the alley and a burly man towering over her with a menacing look on his rough face. The man raised his booted feet above the woman and Lee rushed forward before she could stop herself.

"Hey, stay away from her!" She barrelled into the man and managed to shove him out of the alley. Lee dropped on her knees beside the sobbing woman. "Are you okay?"

The woman's cyan blue eyes found herself and widened. "You shouldn't have interfered."

Lee stared at the purple-blue bruise forming on the woman's cheek and wondered if the blow actually affected her mentally. Here was a man trying to kill her and Lee saved her but the woman was saying—

Fingers gripped Lee's hair painfully to hurt and jerked her to her feet. She cried out in pain when Rough Face appeared in her line of vision. He bared his teeth at her; they were uneven and stained with tobacco. His breath could raise the dead.

"You bitches are the same," he growled in her face. "Nosy and good for nothing!"

Lee scratched at his face but only got a painful yank of her hair in return. She cried out. "Please stop! Just go away."

"Yeah?" His grin turned shark-like. "I will after I get myself a taste of this." He leered at her body.

Lee knew she had to act fast or she was going to be raped in broad daylight behind her own bakery. One glance at the other woman proved she had passed out on the dirty floor. While screaming would attract attention, there was no telling what weapon he had with him. There was only one thing left to do.

She screamed at the same time she jammed her fist forward and hit a solid male mass that didn't budge. But she hit it hard enough that a gush of air struck her neck and the grip in his hair loosened. Chills danced down her spine. She bolted off the floor and away towards the kitchen door.

She'd barely taken a few steps forward when he snagged her arm. Her scream pierced the afternoon. No stranger to a man's weak spot, she hiked up her knee. The mass she hit this time wasn't so solid. She yanked her arm free at the same time her assailant grabbed fistful of her shirt and pulled. The fabric gave way, buttons pinged across the floor. Lee screamed as she brought her knees up once more and hit jackpot.

Her assailant went down like a lead, but not before pulling her with him. Her body hit the floor hard. With a thud. Pain shot up her back and tears swelled in her eyes.

Before she could react, Rough face was on her like white on rice. He pinned her arms down beside her head and Lee wiggled hard to try to dislodge the bastard but he held her still.

"Get off me!" Lee screamed. Her attackers weight continued to suffocate her. "Help me!"

He released one of her hands long enough to back hand her across the face. "Shut up, whore. I'm going to stuff your pretty little mouth with my dick."

Lee spat blood in his face. "I'll bite it off if you get that thing near me!"

"Yeah, let's see how—" His words were cut off when the cover of the trash can hit his head so hard that the sound reverberated through the alley.

He collapsed on Lee like a lead pole. Then his body rolled off hers and Lee saw Annie and Rachel standing at her sides. Annie was a sobbing, shaky wreck while Rachel — who held the weapon she used to take the prick out — stood like an amazon warrior, a hard look on her normally soft face.

Lee opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a big fat sob. She let herself be lifted off her feet and was lead into the kitchen by the time police arrived to arrest Rough face. Rachel and his first victim were able to give an account of what they saw, while Lee cried harder when they asked her questions.

The first victim, a woman whose name was Amanda Johansson, entered the kitchen after promising the police to stop by the station for a written statement. She ignored the ice Annie offered her and hugged Lee instead.

"Miss, I'm so sorry for what you had to go through," She said carefully. "He is a criminal I've been trying to track down for a while now and it happened to be bad luck when I ran into him when I was coming back from my visit to his wife."

Lee shook in her arm, unable to get rid of the image of that man towering over her. Her back hurt, Her body hurt, her heart hurt. She felt terrible.

"Lee, do you want me to call your boyfriend?" Rachel asked from her place by the oven.

Lee nodded.

Rachel left the kitchen with Lee's phone.

Amanda moved away from her. "I'm very sorry, Lee. I appreciate your help and I'm sorry that you got hurt. Please charge your hospital bill to me and I may also need you to come in as a witness, can you do that for me?"

"What's wrong with you?" Annie glared at her. "She's hurt and all you're concerned about is your precious lawsuit and whatnot. She almost got hurt while trying to save you the least you could do is save her from ever going to court."

"Annie's right." Rachel entered the kitchen with a glare. "She's stressed and bruised yet you ask her to come to court. Do you know what trauma she'll live with now?"

Amanda stared hard at the both of them and it would been intimidating of not for the bright bruise on her cheek. Lee wrapped her arms around her midriff, glad for the new shirt Rachel got her, she didn't think she wanted to see her old shirt any more.

"Fine. Here." She placed a white card on the worktop. "Just in case you change your mind, you give me a call." Then she walked out of the kitchen in her heels without a goodbye.

"Oh, Lee." Rachel sat across from her and wrapped her arms around her shaking form. "It's okay. He's gone now."

Annie puttered around the kitchen. "I'll make you a cup of tea."

Lee couldn't stop shaking. Her tears weren't letting up either. She wanted Chris to tell her everything was okay.

I need you, Chris. Please come.

*

When he got the call from Rachel, Chris was just preparing for his meeting with his design team and Vice president. The thought that Lee was hurt, that something happened to her, was enough to propel him out of his office. He didn't even tell Dominik to cancel the meeting as he tore into the garage and drove down to Harlem like a bat from hell.

When he arrived at her bakery, he saw several on the sidewalk talking and pointing at the bakery. He caught words like 'rape', 'assault' and 'bakery owner'. Chris saw red. Heart pounding, he rushed into the bakery and made for the kitchen when he saw Lee crying and shaking in her employee's arms.

His heart broke.

"Ledia?" He called out tentatively, afraid of how she would react, while checking for signs that she was hurt.

She slowly raised her head from Rachel's chest. Her eyes widened when she saw him and with a cry, she was across the room and in his arms. He caught her and held her to him with a fierce protectiveness he didn't know he possessed.

"I-i was so scared." She hiccupped against his chest. "I thought he was going to. . ." she tightened her hold on him. The implication of 'rape me' lingered in the air like the odour of bad food. "Take me away, Chris."

He buried his face in her hair, running a hand down her back in attempt to comfort her, but stilled when she flinched. He drew back, although her hands still remained around his waist. The sight of her blotchy face, swollen lips and red eyes had him angry. That bastard better pray that Chris doesn't get his hands on him or he'll be dead meat by the time the police arrives.

"Are you hurt?"

"My back."

He took a deep breath to rein in his murderous streak. "Can I see it?"

She nodded, turned her back to him and lifted her shirt. Chris sucked in a breath at the sight of the red welt that ran from her lower back to her mid spine. It was already swelling and bruising. His fist clenched at his sides and he turned her around and pulled her into his arms again.

"I am so sorry you had to go through this, my sweet Ledia." He kissed her hair. "No one will ever hurt you again, I promise."

He will protect her with his own life or die trying.

Later that night after their visit to the doctor who assured them that nothing was broken and gave them an ointment for the bruise, Chris prepared soup and tea for her, helped her bathe and applied the ointment. When she finally settled down to sleep, Chris lay awake thinking. First things first he was going to see to it that Lee's assailant got the proper justice a dick like him deserved, then he would help her heal whichever way he could.

Then he would find a way to tell her that he was already halfway in love with her.

*

Clad in a two piece bikini, the woman with the lavender hair stood in front of her floor-to-ceiling glass window staring into the busy New York street below. One hand rested on her bare hip, while the other cradled a glass filled with vodka. She tapped the sole of her five inches on the linoleum floor.  

Even though she heard the swoosh of the elevator opening at the entrance to her sitting room, she didn't turn around.

Instead, she lifted the glass to her lips, took a huge gulp, then said, "Did he do the job?"

"No, ma'am." The newcomer's voice trembled, betraying his fear. "He had Amanda and almost killed her, then Ms. Arden appeared on the scene."

Her fingers tightened around the glass. "Did he kill the bitch?"

"No. He said someone knocked him out from behind when he was trying to. . ." he wisely trailed off.

"Let me guess, he started thinking with his other head instead?" Her laugh held anything but humor. "The fool."

"Ma'am, i—"

She whirled around and threw the glass at him. The man ducked just in time for the glass to sail across where his head had been moments before. The impact of glass shattering when it come in contact with the wall filled his ears and he blinked slowly. The woman had a fiery temper which was dangerous to stoke unless one had a death wish.

"If you fail again, it will be your brains all over the floor." Her lips tugged into a smile, canines coming out to play. "I will tell you when you strike again, but you mustn't fail me. See that that loose canon won't mouth off to the police."

"Yes, ma'am." The man bowed and ran out of the room like a rat that sighted a cat.

The woman laughed as she walked over to where the shards of glass lay on the stained floor. Tiny reflections of her was displayed on the reflective surface of the broken glass fragments.

"Very soon, Ledia Arden, this will be your life. I promise you."

A/N:

I'm like, okay, what?!  Now who's the Cruella de ville? 

She's ruthless, fearless and crazy. Damn, my hairs stood on end while writing her path. Crazy psycho.

Thoughts? Comments?

QTOC: Who do you think Cruella de ville is?

Please don't forget to vote 🌟, comment 💬, and share 📱.