Chapter 11

9:37 AM

Los Angeles

February

2 months later...

Leon is sitting down at a conference meeting inside the fashion industry building, Gaze. They're currently sharing their plans and ideas for a runaway show, the theme is ambiguous.

"Be a confusing figure, not knowing who they can point at to bring them down", the manager said, her name is Olivia.

She's the manager of the designing department, she showed everyone what they were going to do, meaning of the word, plans of the runaway, and more things Leon didn't pay attention to because he actually texting his bodyguard waiting outside the door.

He had spent the holidays with Parker and Zoey happily, and had fun looking outside the New Years fireworks with Noel, Parker and Zoey. He had a wonderful time, he noticed Noel and him have gotten along well these past weeks, they both shared some details about their daily lives, Leon often doesn't do that. Maybe he hasn't felt alarmed towards him, he doesn't feel like needing to, which is quite the problem. He wants to let his guard up at all times, no matter who they are.

He can't have himself fall into someone's trap, he actually doesn't want to feel defeated by someone's trap.

But it's like he's already feeling like there's some sort of trick behind his sleeve, he can't feel as alarmed as usual around him. He doesn't know why, but it's so strange to him in his eyes.

°~9:43 AM~°

"Well idk what to do tbh...maybe I should buy it for her, right?", Leon texted to Noel, according to Zoey, she wants a dog, but the thing is she's allergic to dogs and almost went to the hospital for her allergies. Leon has told him she can't have a dog because she's going to get sick again, but she still insists she won't get sick again.

"I think it's time to explain about her allergy, Sir Cashmere.", Noel responded back, sadly it was the only way she would stop wanting a dog around the home. "I also don't want a pet running around the home. Ppl r going to have to clean more often if it's kept inside", Leon explained to him, he will have to make the saddening decision to tell her that she can't have a pet until she's older.

"And that's fine, Sir Cashmere. If that's the case, it would be best to explain the reason she can't have a dog around the home, and your opinion about having a dog around the home", Noel texted back, he didn't mind talking about this since it was a casual conversation they were having.

"Леон, с какой девушкой ты сейчас общаешься?"(Leon, what girl are you messaging now?), Anya called him out in Russian for not paying attention to what they were talking about, he turned off his cellphone before placing on top of the table, he gazed at her coldly.

"это не твое дело..."(It's none of your business...), Leon replied to her arrogantly, the employees that understood the language started to laugh hysterically, the others glared at them in confusion.

"не отвлекайся, ублюдок"(Don't get distracted, you bastard) , Anya scolded him before they resumed the meeting for the next hour.

°~10:42 AM~°

After, they all left the conference room and he walked out to see Noel having a conversation with two women. "Enserio yo no sabia eso. Fue un placer en hablar con usted, Noel", one woman said, they both started to walk away and waved at him with smiles on their face. Noel smiled slightly, he looked over at Leon. "How was the meeting, Sir Cashmere?", he asked him politely,

"What's with the question?", Leon asked him, confused. Noel apologized, "I'm sorry for the question, it was just a hook I was using to engage in a conversation if that's what you wanted", Leon was still confused on his words. "Well umm...I guess we have to go to my office", Leon went towards the elevators and got inside with his bodyguard following him, pressing the button to the floor as the doors slid shut to go to the upper floor.

"So what were they telling you?", he asked Noel, making Noel feel stunned for the sudden question. "They were wondering where I was from and we had a casual conversation, Sir Cashmere", Noel responded to him. They stepped out the lift and walked over the office before he opened the door to find his secretary, Tori, waiting for him in a seat. He had his legs crossed and was wearing a blue sweater vest with a white collared shirt and brown cargo pants. He had his circular shaped glasses on making him look like a nerdy highschool kid, how hilarious.

"Should we begin?", his loud pitched voice started to talk towards him, Leon ignored him to sit down in his seat and turned on his computer, Noel excused himself to stay outside but Leon told him to take the other seat next to Tori. "Thank you, Sir Cashmere...", Noel closed the door behind him before sitting down steadily. He looked over at his fingernails to distract himself.

"Well Leon, umm...Lianelle didn't show up for work today or more rather umm...someone has took her away and even had someone call the police", Leon froze, he looked at him confused. "What a joke...", Leon narrowed his eyes, but Tori shook his head in denial. Just then, his phone buzzed and took it out of his pocket to see a message from Parker saying that he has Lianelle and to not worry about anything. "Fuck!", Leon slammed his fist on the table while looking at his phone, he decided to call Parker to see what he was up.

"Hey baby! How is your morning going so far? Calling me because of the shit I did?", Leon rolled his eyes through the other side of the screen, he tried not to be sarcastic about that.

"You stupid fucking bitch! How the fuck are you that idiotic to do just snatch a girl in the middle of the public, you motherfucking idiot!", he hollered loudly through the phone, Tori slumped back in his chair while fixing his glasses.

"Calm down, love, it's alright. She's going to be safe and sound in my arms. You going to owe me something for this", Parker said playfully, he chuckled softly.

"Parker...no. I don't own you jack or shit! Now if the police comes in, I'm going to tell them what you're up to", Leon replied harshly, he decided to put Parker on speaker to laid his phone down on top of the desk.

"Ha...how about I come to your house tonight and tell all the things I want from you when we hit that bedroom, does that sound sweet to you?", Leon rolled his eyes arrogantly, Tori started to laugh delightfully of how flirty Parker is. Noel heard the conversation and looked up at Leon's phone, stunned.

"Go fuck yourself...", Leon told him in a serious tone while typing on his computer. "Not unless you watch me...", Leon covered his mouth before lowering his head in defeat, regretting he even said anything. "Whatever...", he muttered, Tori continued to laugh while slamming his fist on the table and lowering his head trying to hide his face. Noel started to smirk slightly, he tried to not laugh but he couldn't hold it; he started to laugh softly. "Oh god...", Leon scoffed, he leaned his head towards his hand before his fingers were rubbing his forehead.

"That's what you'll say when-", Leon hanged up his phone before his friend said any dirty jokes that'll throw him off guard.

°~11:23 PM~°

"He's quite the flirt, huh?", Tori smirked at Leon brightly, looking at his direction. "He is...I have to deal with that thing every fucking day", Leon replied arrogantly, started to move his mouse to click a few files. "I used to like you more when you were like that, remember?", Leon sighed in annoyance, admittedly he used to flirt a lot occasionally, but now he has stopped completely.

He wondered how people would still find him attractive despite being a heartless and boring person.

"Noel...want to put a song on here to fill the void?", Leon asked Noel, he has let Noel choose songs when they were alone together to illuminate the background, to his surprise, he has a good music taste, listening to Spanish Rock songs and nu metal. Leon was also into nu metal, and heavy metal, but he figured Noel was into something less aggressive than what he does.

"I'll decline but thank you for the offer, Sir Cashmere", Noel was hesitant, Leon pulled out his drawer and grabbed his IPad before handing it to Noel.

"Here...it's connected. Just choose whatever you like", Leon told him casually, Noel reached for it before turning it on. He decided to finally give in and choose a song, his choice...Oye mi Amor by Maná.

"Do you even have anything serious in that thing?", Leon shook his head at Tori's question, he got an IPad since he occasionally has Zoey tagging along with work sometimes and let's her play on the device to distract her. Noel put the tablet back on top of the desk and silently pulled out his cellphone. "Oh yea, here's some things I got in the other meeting while you were at yours. Nice song, by the way", Tori handed him a file folder, Leon reached for it and opened the file to see information of a model. He placed it on top of his desk to continue doing his work for the next 3 hours.

°~3:05 PM~°

"Leon...", Tori called out through the door with his clipboard and IPad in his arms, he had noticed Leon didn't eat lunch earlier so he decided to check on him to find him still typing in his computer while Noel turned around to see Tori looking at his boss. "Do you need anything?", Tori walked towards his way, he opened the file cabinet before placing documents inside.

"Not at all, I know I'm supposed to be by your side helping you out but I had like two meetings today considering you couldn't attend those at the same time with the one you went but I did gather information so you're good. Anya told me to check on you too so...you're ok?", Leon nodded his head, he'd been working for the past 3 hours. He could take a break and finish at home, but it seemed better to do it this way.

"I did send you the schedule for the runaway, on how it's going work and stuff like that. You have to attend obviously, and watch them model the outfits. What does the theme mean anyway? Ambiguous? Like make it make sense...", Leon was hearing what his secretary was telling him. He had to schedule another meeting that his aunt has for him with the general managers of each department and their assistant for the next week.

"Right...", Leon replied to him, focused on what he was doing while Spanish rock music was still playing.

"Oye carnal!", someone suddenly peeked through the door and everyone turned to look who it was, Julian.

"What an entrance", Leon tried to be sarcastic, Julian laughed awkwardly. "Hey...am I interrupting something?", Leon declined while going back to work.

"The security is following me, so do I tell them or what?", Leon ordered him to open the door widely.

"Hey, he's with me. You can all go", he told the three security guys beside Julian, they both started to walk away before he sighed in relief.

"Security is tight in here. But I'm here now", Julian joked lightly before closing the door and walked towards the seat next to Noel, sitting down comfortably.

Leon's phone started to buzz again, it was Parker. "What the hell do you want?", Leon asked him as he picked up the call while finishing his work, trying to save everything.

"Uh- I got intel from the girl so don't worry about that. I let her go and she's on our side now, she's going to work for me from now on", Leon felt stunned, he never thought he would let her join his mafia like that.

"So she's our ally?", Leon asked him curiously, furrowing his brows. "I have welcomed her to the dark side. Well I'm gonna wait for you at your place, is that okay with you?", Leon hummed at him in affirmation, Parker started to chuckle delightfully.

"Thank you, Seung...", Parker replied to him before hanging up, Leon put his phone down before sighing in defeat. He shut off his computer and finally decided to stand up. "Wanna tag along?", Leon asked Tori who was fixing some books on the shelf.

"Sure", he responded with a smile, he suddenly wrapped his arms around him while placing his head on his chest. "He's your boyfriend?", Julian asked him curiously, Tori looked over at him. "Don't ever ask that again", he pouted at him angrily, he doesn't like Leon romantically at all.

"Hey! I was just asking...", Julian defended himself before standing up with Noel, he opened the door for the three of them.

They all walked out the office, Tori was holding Leon's hand, Noel was beside him with Julian following him.

Employees stared at Leon in confusion as they saw Tori holding his hand, he didn't feel like pushing his hand away since Tori usually did it as a friendly gesture according to him.

"And so like- it's weird to start some drama and go away for like a good long time and then come back así f nothing happened? That shit pissed me off", Tori explained to him his usual drama in his life, Leon usually just listened to him without saying a word.

They all walked out and for the rest of the afternoon he spent time with his friends for a while before going home to see his kid and explained to her about the dog situation, which she had no problem with,also later coloring and reading books along with Parker.

°~8:37 PM~°

"And that's another flower...", Leon and Parker both watched her as she drew a little flower with a baby pink crayon. "This is the hill, and this is...I keep messing up!", Zoey got frustrated but then turned to gaze at Leon who was paying attention to her movements. "I think it's pretty, continue...", Leon encouraged her to proceed drawing her picture.

"Maybe put a purple flower over here, it'll look pretty too, right?", Parker pointed with his finger at a spot to draw a flower, she nodded her head and smiled brightly.

"Purple flower, and then a red flower on top of the hill. And more red flowers on the hill", Zoey explained to them, they hummed in response. "And then a huge tree with green bushes. It's so pretty!", Zoey finished drawing and was clapping happily with both of her hands. Parker and Leon both tag along, clapping happily while Zoey beamed ear to ear.

"You did it!", Leon extended his hand to fist bump Zoey and she fist bump him before clapping again. "Good job, girl!", Parker gave her a high five, she was so content of how beautiful her drawing looked to her.

"We have to go to sleep now", Leon to her daughter as she started to put her crayons in the box, she left the drawing on the table.

"Okay! Good night, dad!", Zoey hugged him gently, he did the same thing back. He smiled as they both slowly walk out of the room and Michelle takes place to take care of her.

"I'm tired. What about you?", Parker questioned him, having his arm around Leon's waist. "Could say the same thing...", Leon responded, averting his gaze. "Well now that we're alone, do you want to do it?", Parker asked him the question, he was asking him if he was going to lay with him tonight. Leon usually doesn't do one night stands or have sex regularly due to being busy with being a mafia leader, assassin, a CEO, and a dad. He didn't have anything else to do, so maybe having sex wasn't a bad idea.

" I guess...", Leon turned to look away from him, Parker sighed. "Yes or no? I want for us to be at the same page", Parker told him, Leon reached for the door and opened it to sit down at the edge of the bed.

"Fine...", Leon replied to him, Parker sat down next to him. "Do you have uh-", Leon cut him off, "The box under my bed...".

It was going to be a interesting night.