"What the h.e.l.l are you doing? What are all these things?" Samantha continued to gape, overwhelmed by the mountains of gifts that were now in her living room. "Can everyone just stop moving?!" She nearly shouted but she had to control her voice because Ashton had just slept.

"They don't take orders from just anyone. They only follow what I say." Gael proudly said with a smug look on his face; he was so pleased with it.

"Then tell them to stop! I don't want these gifts."

"Gifts are meant to be accepted, you don't have to do anything but accept it." Gael insisted.

"What's going on?" Philip appeared from the bathroom and saw the commotion in the living room. The once s.p.a.cious area was now filled with baskets of fruits, snacks and dozens of different kinds of toys — some which are not yet appropriate for Ashton's age.

"Philip, can you take all of this outside? I don't want anything from this hoodlum." Samantha gave Gael a fierce gaze in which he returned with a raised brow. "You're calling me a hoodlum?" He questioned.

Crossing her arms, Samantha responded with another question that made Gael's lip twitch. "Why? Am I wrong?" She was already having a great day and wanted to relax as much as she could the whole day but because of Gael's sudden appearance, it seemed that her day got ruined. "Philip," she called and without anything else, the bodyguard started to move some of the things out of the apartment.

Gael watched as Philip single-handedly brought his gifts out of Samantha's apartment. He believed that Samantha was really bizarre. "I don't understand why you are being so difficult about this. These are just gifts. Why can't you just accept them? Women like gifts. Even Becca accepted my gifts before." He asked, truly curious about what Samantha was thinking as he was used to giving expensive gifts to women and they all liked them.

"Don't compare me to your tons of women because we're nothing alike. Also, you and Becca were together back then while you and I... we're not friends to be even giving gifts to each other. I don't want them, Mr. De Luca." Samantha spat.

Feeling challenged, Gael signaled his men and even without saying anything, they already understood what he wanted them to do. Going out of the apartment, they started picking up what Philip had brought out and then brought them back inside.

Their actions made Samantha's blood boil. Even Philip did not know what to do at that point as he already learned about what kind of man Gael De Luca was but the situation that they were in at that moment wasn't exactly a time where he can bring out his gun and just shoot them.

Looking at Samantha who was currently exasperated, he just continued to bring out the gifts out of the apartment again. 'This is going to take a while,' he muttered to himself.

Seeing the look on Samantha's face, Gael somehow felt satisfied that she was speechless and was left helpless because of his authority. He watched as she gave him a deathly stare and it was as if the more she was being fierce towards him, the more he enjoyed.

Samantha was just about to curse when the baby monitor in her hand revealed a tiny cry from Ashton. She snapped out of her stance and then immediately turned around went to the nursery room, leaving the commotion behind.

Gael was fascinated by the quick change in her mood just because of her son's cry. Without realizing, Gael had already followed her towards the nursery.

Ashton's nursery was very neat and had a calming ambiance. The walls were painted grey and white and his things were in neutral colors, nothing too bright and nothing too dull; everything was just right. 'Not bad,' Gael commented inwardly as he observed the room.

Samantha picked up Ashton and stroked the little boy's back. She hated it when he cries, it's like her heart was being p.r.i.c.ked thousand times even if he was only disturbed in his sleep and not really hurt. It was both a wonderful and nagging feeling — the only kind of love between a mother and her child.

Noticing another person's presence, she turned around and saw Gael who followed her. She wanted to scold him but she could not raise her voice and so she decided to just swallow her irritation. She watched as Gael observed the room and wondered what was so interesting that he meticulously checked like a manager checking his hotel.

Samantha swore that the man appeared like an ent.i.tled b.a.s.t.a.r.d and also pondered how Becca came to like him back then.

A few minutes pa.s.sed but Ashton did not seem like he was going to go back to sleep even with Samantha's humming as his attention was caught by the man who was in the same room with them; Samantha cursed in her mind.

Placing the little boy on the soft carpet, Samantha gave him some toys to play with. "What are you still doing here?" Samantha tried not to sound angry to avoid frightening her baby.

Gael was then looking at pictures of Ashton and Samantha that was displayed on the wall. Hearing Samantha's question, he turned around and spotted the little boy. He looked at him and found that he very much looked a lot like Daniel. His gaze then s.h.i.+fted to Samantha who was waiting for his answer.

He wondered what happened to her and Daniel since none of the pictures showed any of his presence. He wondered why a beautiful woman like her did not end up with that kind of man. When the thought crossed his mind, he instantly looked away and cleared his throat. "I was going to invite you all for a meal." He announced to cover his embarra.s.sment.

"You don't need to do that." She dismissed him right away. She did not feel the need to be a.s.sociated with him anymore.

Realizing that Samantha was still cold towards him, he figured that he should do something about it. For whatever reason it was, he didn't know why. "I… left yesterday and was not able to say thank you. That was rude of me. And for what I did before, I... apologize." He said with a kind voice. Gael did not apologize to just anyone but he thought that this was an exception.

Gael looked at her and saw her surprised expression. Did he say something weird?

Somehow, he started to feel conscious about what he was going to say to her. Before going to Samantha's apartment, he contemplated a lot of times. Even the night before, he laid in bed and thought about what happened to him. Their meeting was such a coincidence that he did not know if it was karma or a blessing.

He spent hours thinking about what he should do to make it up to her and to them. He was used to just buying anything expensive and just let his right-hand man send it on behalf of him. But that time, he wanted to appear sincere. Maybe he felt guilty about what he did before… or the incident from two nights ago, whatever the reason was, he wanted to give thanks properly.

She was taken aback by the sudden gentleness that he was showing. It was out of his character to be like so… or was he always like that and she only misjudged him? Samantha shrugged her doubts and the change in her voice was apparent, "It was nothing. Even if it was not you, I would have done the same for a stranger. My conscience would not allow me to leave someone hurt out on the streets."

Gael understood what she meant but when he heard her cla.s.sifying him as a stranger, he was disheartened. He was used to being labeled as a VVIP but for Samantha, he was merely someone irrelevant. And he could not blame her, after all, what he did back then was harsh.

Nodding, Gael added, "Go dress up. I'll treat the three of you to a meal." He knew that Philip was her bodyguard and that she could not go without him.

"No, thank you. You don't have to, really." Samantha refused. He already brought a lot of gifts so treating them to a meal was totally unnecessary.

"I insist. If you don't come out, I will not leave your apartment so I won't take no for an answer. I'll wait for you."

"But-"

Without waiting for Samantha's retort, Gael exited the nursery, closing the door behind him.

Samantha scoffed thinking that Gael had the audacity to demand her time. She was totally in a difficult situation as she did not want him to stay in her apartment any longer. Irritated, she stood up and started to change Ashton's clothes. "How I wish your father was here." She sighed.