Chapter Fifty:

Back at home, everyone is setting up a romantic night for the newly engaged couple. Since they didn't have a proper celebration, they are setting up for them to have one. Everyone agrees to either stay at the employee house or head out for the day.

AJ and Alberto are setting the bedroom up all romantically. There are putting petals on the bed, candles, unlit, around for some light, and the chocolate-covered strawberries they requested before along with a bottle of champagne.

"I can't believe Mr. Mendez gets more action than me." Alberto jokes

"I know it is completely switched around." AJ agrees putting her choice of sexy lingerie for her soon to be mother.

"You think we should have more action than your father?" Alberto asks in concern. They usually joke about Romeo's rule to behave.

"No, it is just… I don't know." She fixes everything to make it perfect.

"What's wrong AJ? I thought you would be happy and excited for them." After the phone call, AJ seems distracted.

"Oh, don't get me wrong I am. I am thrilled to have Angelle be my mother."

"Then what is it?"

"I miss my mom. I miss how she would hold me close when I am sad or scared." Seeing Dawn so worried about Sergio, it reminded her of the feelings she had for her mother and father. That feeling that you can't do anything but wait for any information about their condition. "I miss that it would be her during those situations throughout my life." She continues to fix the petals even though everything is perfect.

"So, you don't want your father to marry Angelle?" He tries to figure out what she means with this confession.

"Of course I do want him to. I want him to be happy." She states.

"I am confused, what is wrong? I know you miss your mom, but she is always here to watch over you. She is there to make sure that you are protected; you and your father." Alberto assures her.

"If she wanted to protect me, she would not let me go through those situations before." AJ sits on the bed confused on why these emotions come out now. This day is supposed to be full of happiness and celebration; she is going to have a mother again.

Alberto sits beside her. "I think you go through those situations to show you that you still have people that care about you. You have said that after your mother died, you had no one besides your father." AJ agrees to the statement with a nod. "You didn't think Angelle would ever fill in your mother's shoes. You didn't want any women companions."

"No, I thought the only person I could trust is my father. My opinion was that the world is too cruel to take my mother away." She sighs laying her head on his shoulder.

"However, she changed your mind." He lays his head on hers.

"She did." AJ smiles remembering the first time she let Angelle in.

"She helps with everything. She helped put the excitement and energy back into the both of your lives." She smiles seeing how happy and full of life her father is since Angelle came into their lives. "Every one of those incidents that happen, who was there to comfort you besides your father?"

"Angelle, but she wasn't there at the situation before the naked one." She challenges.

"That is true, however what did she do when she found out?" He challenges back.

"She took the next flight out to comfort me." She recalls.

"Furthermore, who did you always go to at those situations to feel that they understand your feelings?"

"Angelle." She speaks still unsure where he is going with this.

"And the most important situation of your life, who helped you out of that?" He inquires to prove his point that just because Romeo is marrying Angelle doesn't mean Rosalie will be gone.

"Angelle." She repeats. "She showed me that if I didn't it would be devastating for daddy."

"Yes it would, it would kill him that he couldn't protect his two girls. He would question how did this happen to him. The guilt will consume him so much that he could not handle all of it and might do something very drastic. Although, that didn't happen because Angelle was there to prevent that. She is always there to comfort and protect you like your father. Now, who do you think plan that?"

"Mommy." She whispers with a smile now recognizing what he did.

"Correct again, she is always watching over both of you. Since she can't be here physically and sees Romeo is busy, she sends someone to protect you. Of course, she has to test her with all these situations to gain your trust." He declares.

"She did. She never gave up on me." AJ wraps her arms around his arm.

"Yup, she didn't because she is the person your mother trusts to keep her love ones safe. It is okay to miss your mom, but know that she is always there to make sure you two are happy and healthy." Alberto assures her.

"Thank you." She pecks him.

"What for?" He puts her on his lap to wrap his arms around her.

"For always being there for me like Angelle is. You always seem to comfort me, even though it is you I am supposed to comfort."

"Another sign your mother is watching over you." He pecks her back.

"And your father." She includes as Alberto agrees with that.

"Anyways, I think this room is romantic enough." Alberto changes the topic.

"Yup, I might get a sibling out of these celebrations." AJ jokes.

"Maybe they have all day." He jokes back. They are back on track with the teasing.

"Yup we do." She winks which cause Alberto to nod happily loving the idea. Afterwards, she stands up as Alberto hangs on to her arm. He has some doubts, well some enquires about what Phil talked about during the movie. "What's wrong?"

"During the proposal some of the stories that happen, frighten me. It scared me that if those situations succeed that everything would be different, especially a particular one. I can't believe that you wouldn't be in my life now." He expresses even though he should just focus that she is here now.

"Do you want to know what led me to those situations?" AJ wonders. It is her turn to strong and spread her wisdom to him.

"Yes I would, although if you don't want to recall them I understand."

AJ sighs hoping that she never had to, however he should know everything about her. No secrets from her future husband. "Come here." She stands him up. "If you want to know I will tell you. After we get my dad and Angelle settled for this secret celebration, I will disclose anything you want to know." She wraps her around his waist.

"Are you sure?" He looks into her eyes to look for any pain or doubt it might cause her.

"Yes, I don't want any secrets between us. I am your future wife, so you shouldn't doubt if I am going to repeat those situations."

"I don't want to lose you." He brings her close. The phone call of Sergio in the infirmary puts him in perspective that he could lose his love ones quickly. Yes, Sergio has done bad actions towards him, but he is still his stepfather.

"You won't." She assures him. "After they are settled, I will tell you." She promises.

"Okay." He hugs her.

AJ lays her head on his chest a bit worried on what he might feel after she discloses to him the backstory of the situation that almost changed everything.

"What are we going to do?" Dawn asks Romeo who just came out of the prison. Romeo found out that some of the prison guards are part of Jamie's alliance.


"Don't worry about him I will take care of it." He promises. He has an idea, but he has to make sure it is legal.

"I trust you." Dawn puts Sergio's health in Romeo's hands.

"Don't worry he has it covered." Angelle assures her.

"Thank you."

"You be safe, okay."

"Yes I will." Dawn hangs up before she leaves Sergio. Her visiting time is up for now.

Angelle and Rome enter their home once again in darkness. "What is this, Romeo? Are you going to surprise me again?" She grins wide loving surprises.

"I don't know why it is dark, sweetie." Romeo is confused. Is this what they came up with for wedding details?

"Don't lie to your fiancé." Angelle warns disappointed about not having another one.

"Seriously, I don't know." Romeo repeats again.

"Okay." They start to feel around until they feel the switch. When they flick the switch, everyone screams in congratulation.

"What, I thought…"

"You two need a proper celebration. We plan that we all will be somewhere else than this main house. You two enjoy and celebrate your engagement as long as you want. AJ and Alberto made plans if it continues into the morning." Anthony states.

"Is this true, daughter?" Romeo looks towards her.

"Yup, this time is about you two. Enjoy it no matter what. Don't worry about us. If you need anything you just come down and get it. This house is yours alone until you say the celebration is over." AJ answers.

"Is this our present because-"

Angelle nudges him. "It is very generous of you guys." She interrupts. "We will accept this present."

"I was about to say that." Romeo huffs.

"Sorry, you have to punish me." She winks.

"That is our cue to leave, everyone out." Anthony announces with a chuckle.

AJ and Alberto grab their overnight bags. "I love you, daddy." She pecks his cheek.

"I love you, princess." Romeo repeats back.

"I love you, mom." She hugs Angelle.

Angelle, full of pride that she accepts her as her mother, hugs AJ tight with teary eyes. She does a bit of doubt that she will think she is replacing Rosalie. This dismisses all of it. "I love you too, AJ. I will always be there for you." She reminds her.

"I know."


AJ and Alberto are now in AJ's office. They put their bags down as they sigh with gratefulness.

"Are you happy?" Alberto inquires to be certain.

"Yes, it seems like everything is back on track. It feels like my dad and I came full circle, but this time we have a bigger family than just him, my mom, and I."

"Life is full of mystery you can't predict what is coming next." He sits on the couch.

"Yes, I would never have thought I would fall for a man again. With everything that happen with boys in the past, I never have thought I would trust a man again. If I did, I knew my dad wouldn't approve. I am grateful that I am wrong. I have a male butler who I fell for as well as one that is accepted by my father and Godfather. I call that the perfect man." AJ compliments.

"I am not the perfect man. I am just the right man. Moreover, those boys from High School are just that boys. They are just scared of your beauty. They haven't seen anyone that beautiful in their lives." He compliments back which causes AJ to blush.

"Stop." She lightly pushes him. "There are way more beautiful girls than me."

"There is, but there is only one woman for me." He brings her on his lap.

"That deserves extra pleasure points for you." She smirks.

"Hope so." He smirks.

"Anyways down to business, you get comfortable I am going to disclose everything."

"You don't have to." Alberto still doesn't want to force her to.

"I want to. Now, I guess I should start with the situation before the naked one." She takes a breath to clear her emotions. "I went to a new school leaving the familiar setting I was safe in. Being the new kid is hard enough, however being a millionaire's daughter as well as the new kid is worst."

"How did they know?" AJ just looks at him weirdly. "Right, continue."

"With that already against me, my style and personality didn't help either. I was a bookworm that loves comics, into science and math; a definition of a nerd. The first week I would spend my breaks outside by myself. A month in it started to get better, people were talking to me."

"That is good." He includes.

"You think so. They were just using me for my answers. It was so easy too with me finally having someone to talk to. The mystery to me at the moment is when Jamie talked to me. He gave me this speech on how cute I was. Each day he would talk to me more and more."

"I thought you had a crush on him."

"I did, the more we talked the more my crush grew. A week before the incident, Jamie asked me out. Of course I was psyched. It started out great with how a relationship should be." Alberto rolls his eyes. "Hey, I was naïve."

"Sorry, what happened?"

"Just like Phil said the head cheerleader got jealous. Apparently, Jamie was her ex-boyfriend. Each chance they had without Jamie around, they would pick on and teased me on it being a pity relationship. Day after day, the insults got worst calling me easy to actually spitting spit balls at me. One day I had enough, I wasn't taking it anymore. I walked up to her with her friends with her and gave her a piece of my mind. I told her that she was just jealous and insecure that he couldn't keep a man of the stature." Alberto rolls his eyes again. "I was defending myself and having a crush on Jamie. You know how I am with people I care about." She defends her actions.

"Yes I know it is one of the traits I love about you." He compliments. AJ blushes as she blows a kiss to him. Alberto grabs it to put in his pocket. "You now know the truth."

"Yes, I love one man and only one man."

"Who is this man?"

"The person I am sitting on as I give him a big kiss." She kisses him. He approves with rubbing his hands on her skin around her waist. "Anyways-" She stops to continue her story.

"Why?"

"I have to finish my story."

"You got into a scuffle, they want revenge, so they plan to catch you naked, your father expelled them and you left school. Now let's continue." He states the bullet points.

"There is more to me just leaving. I left not just because of the teasing. It is what the teasing caused." AJ explains. This is like therapy for her to disclose this to Alberto.

"Is it about how Angelle saved you so Mr. Mendez wouldn't lose anything?"

"Yup." She takes a deep breath again." After the incident, I took a week off to compose myself again. Being brave I thought I could handle it. It started off like in the beginning, no one would talk to me. My third day back I started to hear whispers about the incident. I ignored them until they put Photoshop pictures with different guys along with sexually slurs on my locker. Every time I would go to the teacher, they would deny it. The final nail on the coffin is when a note said 'Attention: whore using daddy's money for sexually favours.'" AJ tears up at the memory. "Everyone who say that mocked and laughed at me. The teachers tried to break it up, but the damage was already done." She wipes her tears that have fallen.

"That day Phil picked me up, without noticing I accidentally cut myself with my nail clippers. It felt good to feel pain, especially if it had blood. Sometimes I would examine it and let it flow." AJ regretfully admits.

"AJ you didn't." Alberto can't believe she would do that.

"I just wanted to feel relief. I want to feel in control. I could do it how deep and how frequently I want to. As the days past, I would it more frequently maybe ten times a day. I would cover myself so no one would know. One day, during gym, someone 'accidentally' hit me with a dodgeball and a hockey stick. My nose my bleeding while my ribs hurt. The feeling of blood from my nose felt good. The pain was a reliever to all the painful slurs about me." She continues.

"Stop, I don't want to hear anymore." He shakes his head.

"This is me. This is why dad has been so over protective of me." This is what she fears would happen. He would be disgusted by her if she disclosed this type of information.

"No, I won't hear that Angelle stopped you from-" He can't even say the words.

"It happened. I regret it with that I didn't think how my father would feel. I just wanted it to stop." She sobs as Alberto comforts her.

"People can be so cruel. The important thing is that you made your way through it. You became this bright sunshine that lives each day full of positivity." He kisses her head.

"I like the sunshine because it gives me hope, positive hope that it will be a good day." She sniffles into his chest.

"You keep that mentality. I will make sure that stays and I will never let you end up at that dark place again." He promises.

"I am going to have the perfect ending with you." She requests.

"Yes, we are going to live a happy, healthy life."

"Do you want details of the naked incident?"

"Nope, no more details. I just want to make my Cutey Poutey feel love and safe. I want her to know that she is never alone."

"I am not. I have a family full of them. I will never forget that." She feels like more weight is lifted off her shoulders.

"That is right." He lifts her face to face him. "I love you."

"I know just how you can prove and approve that." She smirks with two eyebrow raises.

"Oh really, how so?" He hopes it is what they tried before, but got interrupted."

"I just need something from my drawer." She opens the top drawer to find it. What she finds is a note that makes her grin.

"What is it?"

"The couch can pull out into a bed." She reads with a smirk.

"No way!" He can't believe the luck he has. AJ nods in agreement. "Come on." She carries her back to the couch.

"Wait, we need-" She forget about what they need.

Alberto takes out a condom. "Damn, my boyfriend is prepared."

"Definitely." He lays her down on the couch.