ARMANI'S POV

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically. Its a Saturday night and i just put Riley to bed before coming down to my office to get some work done. Miss Williams stopped by the house earlier today to work as usual. She was awfully quiet and i knew she was still mad at me from our last encounter. I felt so guilty. I didn't mean to get mad at her. I knew she was sleeping over but i never expected to see her in bed with Riley. When i walked in, for the briefest second, my heart skipped. I thought it was Karen. My Karen. But when i saw the dark skin and big ass, I knew it wasn't her. My Karen was petite and had the fairest skin ever. I got mad at her for not being Karen. Karen always held Riley throughout the night, so seeing that it wasn't her holding my daughter pissed me off. I know I have to apologize to Miss Williams for my action. She wasn't at fault here, moreover, she was doing us a huge favour. Riley couldn't sleep alone and she ditched everything else to watch over her, even though it wasn't her job.

Talking about Riley, we have been in America for three weeks now, and ever since then, she has been at home. I've been so busy with work that I neglected my baby girl. Tomorrow's a Sunday. I'll take her out and show her a good time. She deserves it. She was against coming to America with me, but i forced her to. She left the 'few' friends she had and everything she was used to just to come down here. My Riley has always been so quiet and reserved ever since Karen passed away. The two had the strongest bond and it broke my heart when Riley had to live without her mom. I know how much she misses Karen. Hell, I miss her terribly, too, so what more of our baby girl? It must be so hard for her. We never talk about Karen cause its a touchy subject, but whenever Riley stares at her phone, I know she's looking at her moms pictures and videos. I got her that phone and sent the pictures and videos to her so that she wouldn't feel lonely and sad. I know it comforts her a lot, so why not? Now, the only other person she feels comfortable with, is me. I know she's only being civil with Alvin and my parents because they're family. To everyone else, she's a spoiled brat simply because she doesn't talk much and is always in her room. Its not her fault, she's just being selectively social. I really hope she goes back to the bubbly little girl i was used too, four years ago. I really hope she breaks out of her hard shell. I want my Riley back. I sighed again and shut down my MacBook Pro, ready to retire for the night. I stopped by my daughters room and watched her sleep for a while. The image of her and Giana flashing through my mind. Giana held her so close that night, and although it was so hard for me to accept it, i knew my daughter was safe with her just the way she was safe with Karen. But i shook my head to wipe away the thought. My Riley is safe only with me. I stood up and left her room cause all of a sudden, my head was aching so bad.

******

"Do you like it, baby?" I asked Riley as we ate our seafood. She had settled for salmon and fries while i went with the lobster frittata. I brought her to the Water Grill restaurant downtown cause they sold the best seafood. Riley loves seafood a lot and i knew this would make her happy.

She raised her eyebrows. "The place or the food?" She asked flatly.

"Both."

She looked around and shrugged. "Well both are okay."

"Just okay?" I asked and she nodded. At least she answered. "By the way, how are you enjoying Los Angeles?

She looked at me as if she couldn't believe my question. "Seriously daddy? You're asking me how I'm enjoying this place? I hate it here, daddy. I hate America. I wanna go back to London. Take me back."

I sighed and dropped my cutlery. "C'mon baby. You know we can't go back. Daddy has work. We'll be here just for a few years, then we can go back. I just want VTC to grow big and famous enough. I'm giving you everything you want, right? Like getting your room redesigned every week. I'm doing all that so you feel comfortable."

She rolled her eyes. Typical Riley. "That doesn't count. Besides i don't like that Giana Williams. Her skin colour irritates me."

I shook my head. "But baby, you can't just hate her because she's black. That's not fair. There's nothing wrong with being black. For all you know, there are also people out there who hate us for being white but that doesn't mean we're bad people." I explained to her.

She sipped her drink. "Well i still don't like that woman. I also don't like Ellen. She thinks I'm a baby. They're all so annoying." She said exasperatedly, raising her hands in frustration.

My mouth hung low. "But you're a baby, princess. Look, they're only doing their job. Besides you're the one who requested for Giana's work. Why would you want her to work for you when you can't stand her?"

She shrugged and took a bite of her salmon.

"You can't answer that. Admit it, she's good at what she does. Give her some credit, Riley. And for the love of God, stop judging her based on her colour. Got it?" I asked her sternly.

She sighed and shrugged.

"Got it, Riley?" I asked again and she reluctantly nodded. "Good girl. Before i forget, we'll be going to a school tomorrow to find you admission. I already talked to the principal and he agreed, but you need to go there as per protocol. I don't want you staying at home all day. You need to go out and socialize with other kids your age."

She groaned. "But daddy... I'm not ready. And me starting school here means we'll be staying in this place for long. I don't want that, I want to go back to London already."

Oh Riley! "Look here, baby. It won't be good for you to stay at home. Don't you want to be as smart as daddy?"

"I want to."

I smiled at her. "And you wanna be as rich as me, right?" She nodded. "Then you need to go to school. End of discussion. Now finish up your food so we can go see grandma and grandpa. They just got back from France and want to see you. They missed you so much."

As usual, she just shrugged. Progress. I say progress because would simply have said 'NO'.

We finished our food and i drove us to my parents house. Thank goodness for GPS, cause i don't even remember most of the places here. When we arrived at their mansion, the butler welcomed us with tea and told us to wait for a few minutes. As usual, they have to make their grand entry.

"Mon garcon, c'est si bon de te voir." (My boy, its so good to see you.) I heard mamas voice and stood up to hug her, but as soon as she saw Riley, she rushed and hugged her instead. "And my little beautiful grand daughter. My oh my, you have grown so big." She said in a thick French accent as she engulfed Riley in a big bone crushing hug. I chuckled at Riley's facial expression. She was silently asking for help.

"Juliana let the kid breathe." I heard daddy say as he chuckled too. He turned to me and hugged me, patting my back in the process. "Look at how big you've become, son. Welcome back home. I only see you on TV. All your companies are excelling. I'm so proud of you, Armani."

I pulled back and smiled. "Thanks, dad." Riley pulled away from mom and walked over to me. I could tell she wanted to go back home. I patted her hair. "Say hello to your grandpa, baby."

She shyly hugged him and he picked her up. Now just where did this old man get the strength from? "Look at my baby. You don't even look like your parents, Riley, you look like me." He told her proudly and we all chuckled, including Riley. It warmed my heart to see my baby laughing. I wish she could always be happy. This is the Riley i always want to see.

I held my head, its been aching since yesterday. I need to take some pills when i get back home. We stayed at my parents house for thirty minutes before i drove us back home. Well, the Sunday went better than i expected, except for my pounding head.

"Daddy are you alright?" Riley asked me. The room was starting to spin. "Daddy?" Riley asked worriedly.

I pulled out my phone. "Call uncle Alvin, baby."

I sat down and watched as she tried to call Alvin but he wasn't answering. Maybe his phone was on silence. My head was killing me. "Try calling Grandma."

She tried calling mom, but she didn't answer too. Shit, she's not using her American number at the moment. "Try calling..."

She was going through my contacts, then suddenly looked at me. "Giana Williams." She said before everything went black.