Page 142 of Stolen Kiss

I didn’t grow up rich. Our family was upper middle class. My siblings and I got everything we ever needed, but not everything we wanted, and now I wondered about Jensen’s thoughts on raising Elodie.

However he had been raising her, it was obvious he did it right. Elodie was one of the happiest children I’d ever met.

I walked up to the front desk.

Two women sat there, both blond and very professional looking.

This might as well be a fancy law firm in the city.

A man was in front of me, and he dressed similarly to Jensen and Jace, though he didn’t fill out his suit quite the same way they did. Either way, I could tell this man had money, even just from seeing him from the side.

He said something to the women at the front desk, making them all laugh, that laugh that women do when we want the man we were talking to feel like he was King of the World.

Gag.

I waited quietly until it was my turn, even though there were two women and I was sure it only took one of them to assist the man.

Five minutes later, they buzzed the man through a brightly lit hallway that I was only now noticing.

One of them looked up at me with clear, blue-gray eyes. She had light honey-blond hair with a little brown highlight. She was dressed impeccably well, and her makeup was on point, despite it probably being on since this morning.

She was also unbelievably beautiful, and I wondered if this was who Jensen saw every day when he went to pick Elodie up.

I wasn’t insecure by any means.

I knew my worth, and I knew I wasn’t ugly, but this woman could give me a run for my money.

“Can I help you?” she asked tonelessly.

I bristled a bit before hiding my annoyance and plastering on a smile.

It was obvious they thought if I didn’t look like the CEO of some big company, I wasn’t worth talking to. I was still in jeans and a white T-shirt. And I was limping a little.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up someone.”

The woman looked me up and down. “Who?” she asked, a tinge of suspicion in her voice.

“Elodie Pierce. My name is Emilia Adler. I should be on the approval list to pick her up.”

She typed something on her computer, but she’d done it so fast, I wondered if she was actually looking up Elodie’s name. She barely glanced at the screen before bringing her eyes back to me, with what looked like a hint of glee.

“I’m sorry. You’re not on the list of authorization to pick her up.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I was no longer smiling.

“Positive,” she answered without hesitation. She smiled at me, showing teeth. There was nothing nice about her smile.

Jensen said he’d call the daycare to put my name down. Had he forgotten? Or perhaps he’d done it on purpose? A message of sorts for me.

I quickly dismissed the thought as soon as it entered my mind. Jensen wasn’t the kind of man to forget about important details like this, and what was more, if he didn’t want me in Elodie’s life, he would have said it. He wouldn’t pull some stupid bullshit like this.

Either the computer system was faulty, or this bitch was lying,

“Can you please check again?”

“Ma’am, I’ve looked already. I didn’t make a mistake.”

I couldn’t be older than her by more than a few years. I was not old enough for her to call me ma’am.

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