Thanks to @kcyyyy for the fanmade covers in the media.  ❤❤

SONG : FOREVER - EXO

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The 44 storey building stood tall against the backdrop of the cloudless sky, by far the tallest one among the other high-rise buildings within close proximity. With its glass exterior, the sunlight reflected against the surface of the building gave it this almost ethereal feel to it.

The HS logo that doubled as a shield, was internationally recognized, a big name in the security industry and catered for both public and private clientele.

The clients ranged from big players in the government, businessman and your normal household and boasted at least eight other headquarters and over 100,000 employees worldwide.

I looked up at the main headquarters of the company that my father had taken over twenty years to build from ground up. No matter the hard feelings that had taken root in our relationship in the past three years, I couldn't help but acknowledge how dedicated he was to his work and how much his work had paid off.

This was the third time I would step into Holden Securities since my mom's passing.

Before that, we had made it a weekly thing to visit dad at the headquarters. Usually we'd come and go out for lunch with dad when he had free time. Other times we would come and he was in meetings one after another. Mom usually reminded his secretary to make sure he had something to eat before he continued. Mom never complained once about how his work was eating up all his time with us.

I envied them. They shared a love for one another that I wished I would have with my future husband. They were two sides of the same coin, entirely different personalities but they always seemed to share this understanding that made them work.

But since the incident, I hadn't- I couldn't bring myself to come visit unless I was forced or needed to for some reason.

In one of those previous visits, I had stolen dad's Bugatti Chiron and had taken it for a drive. It wasn't really the fact that I had stolen a $2.5million dollar car that had resulted in me being forced to visit. It was because I had ditched Bruce the third time during the week. He was more angry about that than of me stealing the car.

That was one of the moments that I saw dad being visibly worried. He never batted an eye at my ditch efforts towards my chaperone once before. It was always a small telling off.

That day was different that the other two times I had snuck away from Bruce. That day dad reacted more animatedly than the other two.

It ended with me losing my car privileges for one month and being confined to going back and forth from the house to school and nowhere else for two weeks.

The other time I'd visited was because he had missed mom's second death anniversary. The first time he missed it, I understood that he was suffering and didn't want to be around anyone. The second time, I had waited and waited and waited for him, but he never came.

When I walked into his office that day, he had looked up and asked me how much damage I had caused instead of offering an excuse as to why he hadn't come home the night before.

When I asked why he didn't, he said he had work to do. We had started at each other for a long while, before I turned around and simply walked out of his office, my shoulder slumped, defeated and exhaustion from staying up the whole night before waiting for someone to come home settled into my tired muscles. I just wasn't in the mood of getting into a huge argument with him.

Dad never said much about the incident. He usually avoided the subject and whenever someone brought it or her up, he'd leave the conversation, leave the room as if someone was chasing after him with a machete.

However, during the first Christmas without her, he slipped up after having drunk two bottles of whiskey. He broke down, looked at me, sniffling as he tears came out and said that he was to blame for her death.

At first I was confused. I thought he was just mumbling out incoherent thoughts because he was drunk.

He said she had been complaining about having a migraine earlier on in the evening and had wanted to come home early and rest. He had countered instead and offered that they leave right after the next speech.

The speech that never happened because ten minutes later the bombing happened. Ten minutes later, everything went to hell. And ten minutes later, mom never came home again.

The next day, he woke up with a headache and a huge chunk of his memory lost. He never remembered anything he said and I never brought it up. He acted like he always did, the norm behavior I had come to expect from him, however, I didn't.

I shouldn't have, but a small part of me couldn't help but blame him a little because of what he said.

* * *

I walked into my father's office with loud, confident footsteps that echoed loud against the marble floor. My shoulders were thrown back, my back straight as I tried to look as dignified as I could in the crumpled up, sleep worn clothes that I had on since Paris.

I had only managed to put on a fresh coat of lipstick at the airport washroom before Bruce dragged me towards the waiting car because "the CEO was waiting."

My hair had been hastily pulled up into a tight ponytail instead of leaving it down as a brush wasn't available. Even though I would've opted for a hot shower before coming here, I would have to make do.

Dad looked up as soon as I entered, his face expressionless as he sat behind his ebony desk in his tailored suit. He only spared me a short glance before he turned back to the documents he had been reading through. No greetings, no words, nothing.

Undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm at my arrival, I walked over to the sofa set and sat down, waiting for whatever hell I knew would come my way.

I hadn't bothered to ask Bruce again on what had happened, despite my curiosity and confusion. I knew he wasn't going to reply to any of my questions anyway. But from what I had deduced, I guessed this was because of that guy from the club that I kissed but did not remember. I had only seen that one article on the incident but I knew very well that the social papers would be ablaze with the news.

A lot of people had been wondering who I had warming my bed since my very public breakup with my ex six months ago. And for that same period, my love life had been as interesting as a blank piece of paper which added fuel to the paparazzi thirst for anything related to me.

My dad had never really cared about my love life, but what he did care about was his stock prices crashing and losing his investors.

Anything that would contribute to these two happening would get him interested. And me partying it up and making out with strangers who might even turn out to be serial killers would cause this end result.

So I was all to prepared for one of lectures on how whatever I did could detrimentally affect him, this company and it's employees and how I should always keep this in mind.

After ten minutes, he got up from his seat behind the desk and walked over taking the couch.

I looked him straight in the eyes and pasted on a weary smile. "Sorry for the unkept appearance but I wasn't really given a choice after being dragged out of my hotel room and onto a plane." Even with me not trying to, my voice took on a snarky tone.

I expected him to give me a scowl but he proved me wrong by not reacting. He was looking at me, but he was just looking. It was as if he was staring off into space, his mind on something else that was drawing all his.

I was just about to flick my fingers in front of him or clap my hands together to get his attention back, when his eyes focused.

"Who was that boy?" were the first words he said to me.

I bit my lower lip as my suspicions were confirmed. This was because of that guy then.

Before I could even think over it properly I said, "My baby daddy."

To his credit, he didn't scream or demand to know the stranger's name. Instead he just arched his brow, the most of s reaction I had gotten from him today.

I burst out laughing. "You already know that he's just a stranger and yet you still asked that question?"

"I asked that question because I have the right to know who my daughter hangs around with."

Just before I could say something else, I remembered something. "You called a Pegasus."

He nodded. "I called a Pegasus."

"Why did you call a Pegasus if all of this is because of some stupid stranger that I got caught in the papers with?"

The fact that he had known that that guy was just a stranger disqualified my earlier theory of that being the reason why I was dragged out of my bed at three in the morning.

"Something else happened." I couldn't help but remember the dangerous eyes I felt on me back at Wanderlust. The eyes that left me wanting to curl up in a ball and wait for daddy to come and take me back home. The eyes that left me feeling like I was starring in my own horror film.

Somehow I didn't want to bring that up. Maybe I brushed it off because of the number of drinks I had been downing last night. Maybe this was all in my head.

So instead of bringing up that chilly experience, I pocketed it away until o was sure that it wasn't just some alcohol induced illusion.

He nodded with a stern to the point head jerk in reply to my earlier statement.

"Well, what is it?" I asked after he didn't elaborate.

"From now on, you'll have someone with you everywhere you go," he said.

I noticed he didn't answer my question. Instead he cleanly avoided it and instead of following up on it, I registered his words.

"What's the difference though? Someone's always with me anyways."

"Not always," he corrected, and I saw him breathe in deeply as if he was getting ready for something.

"No!" I shouted. "No!"

He breathed in again as he covered his face with his hands. "You don't have a choice in the matter, Phillipa." His voice was determined and held no bit of hesitation.

"That was our agreement. It has always been our agreement. I do not have anyone around me when I go to school."

"Agreements change all the time. Take this as an amendment to that agreement."

"No!" I felt a rush of anger in me. School was always the place where I could leave this sense of normalcy. And having someone tagging along as I went to my lectures and so on could definitely affect that. "We agreed," I cleared my throat, trying to add some persuasion to my voice, "we both agreed that in exchange of having a whole entourage of guards following me everywhere, I wouldn't be followed around in school."

"Some things change, Phillipa. Circumstances have changed and some things have happened that have made it so that you being left unguarded in school dangerous."

"What exactly happened? You still haven't answered my question."

He shook his head. "It's best you don't know."

"If it involves me, I think I need to know."

"Phillipa!" His voice thundered in the office. "You will listen and follow what I say. Whatever I do is for you. Whatever I say is in your best interest. And if I say you don't need to know, then you don't need to know."

I sat there, confused at his outburst. He never yelled like that. Never. He always tendered to be angry but he never yelled.

Whatever it was that had happened shook him up.

I nodded slightly. "Fine. You will be guarding me then?" I asked as my eyes went to the door I knew for sure Bruce stood on the other side of. "I hate to point this out but Bruce isn't exactly the type to blend in."

Dad nodded as if he already thought of that. He looked like he was pondering on whether to tell me something or to tell me later.

"Owens?" I thought of the guard that felt more like a village idiot to me than a high profile security personnel.

He was the closest out of my entourage of guards to my age, only three years older than me. Even though I hated the idea of someone around me in school, I hoped that it was him. He would at least blend into the college crowd and he seemed like the easiest one I could get to give me space.

Dad shook his head, his face painted with indecision.

"Then who?"

Just before he could answer, someone knocked on the door. "Sir, he's here."

I saw dad's face morph to a more businesslike one. "Send him in," he answered back before he turned to me. "Behave yourself."

My brows furrowed together in confusion. Why did he feel the need to warn me?

Just before I could tell him that I knew how to behave around guests, the door opened.

I turned away from my father to look at my new chaperone.

The smile on my face died instantly as I curse whatever fucked up coincidences brought this on.

Because there standing directly across from me, wearing a broad smile was Jace Frost.

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