"Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?"

I jumped slightly when I felt Chris's hot breath on my neck and ear.

"Don't sneak up on me." I grumbled a bit and slapped his arm playfully, hardly hiding my blush and my smile.

"You two make me want to vomit." said one of the cooks as he put the plates in front of Chris and glared at us, making me look like a tomato. "Table number 4."

Chris chuckled a bit and grabbed the plates. He then winked at me and left the kitchen. This is how it was for the past five days that Chris and Chase were working at the restaurant. They both were even working at the weekends just like me and both of their presences were making me feel much better.

I should say both of them stunned me. They both worked so skilfully that you would assume they were waiters for long. Mrs. Pine too was stunned by their ability.

I was so happy. Chris would use every moment he would find to sweet talk with me or give me his words of adoration and I could say we both had become much closer. I was feeling much better also, much lighter and happier.

He was truly my guardian angel.

"Table number 6."

I was snapped out of my thoughts as three plates were placed in front of me. "Thank you." I said and then put the plates in my trolley and walked out of the kitchen.

"Eleanor, serve table 11 and get their order, please." said Mrs. Pine. "be careful. They are a very wealthy couple and we don't want to lose them."

"Okay." I said as I walked toward table 6 quickly. I then picked a few menus and pushed my trolley forward toward table 11. On my way, I saw Chris who winked at me, making me smile.

I looked up and saw a woman and a man sitting at table 11. The back of the man was to me but I could say from his hair which had strands of gray that he was middle-aged. The woman who I could see looked like one of the snobbish rich people. Her face was caked with makeup and she was wearing a tight sleeveless dark green dress. Her face although beautiful was scrunched with mild disgust as she would glance at other people as if they were dirt under her heels.

Not wanting to cause any trouble, I dropped my head once I reached the table and quickly grabbed the bottle of wine and poured it into their glasses.

"Good evening. I'm Eleanor and I'm your waitress tonight." I said in one breath and then looked up with my formal smile.

And I desperately wished that I had not.

My smile faded immediately and my heart sank to the bottom of my feet as I came face to face with the man and my eyes fixed on his wide ones. I'm sure that I forget to breathe for a few minutes before he uttered his first words.

"Eleanor!" he whispered shocked, but I heard him nonetheless.

I was clutching the bottle in my hands for dear life as my body began to tremble violently and I started to breathe unevenly as I stared at him. I knew that voice. I have heard it for 16 years of my life. He would read me bedtime stories when I was a small little girl and he was still living with us.

When he was my one and true hero.

When he had not left us yet.

When I was still calling him dad.

Yes,

There in front of me, at table 11 with another woman, in an expensive suit, sat my dear father who was wearing a wedding ring different from the one from his wedding with my mom.

And I was feeling like dying.

"What is wrong here?" asked the woman with a bored tone. "Why is this idiot girl staring at you, Simon?"

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I felt the worst heart-wrenching pain in my heart that I have ever felt. He was supposed to be with us, his family, supporting us in those hard times, caring for his children's wellbeing. Yet he was sitting there, looking like a lord who had been always rich and looking livelier and younger than before.

Taking a shaky step back while keeping my tears at bay, I put the bottle on the trolley. "I'm sorry." I choked, not taking my eyes off of my shocked to core father. "I will tell someone else to serve you. I just can't."

I then began to push the trolley toward the kitchen with speed as tears poured down my face and silent sobs shook my body. I couldn't help it. The shock and pain were too much. My poor mother was dying at the hospital because of this bastard and he was sitting here with that woman living his great life.

"Eleanor! Eleanor, wait!"

I pushed the trolley harder not wanting to face him. I knew everyone was looking at us right now and was wondering why such a fine man was chasing a mere waitress.

"Eleanor, What's wrong?"

I looked up at hearing Chris's concerned voice and saw him through my blurry vision standing in front of the doors of the kitchen.

"Eleanor, dear, please wait." Said my dad and grabbed my arm.

I yanked my arm out of his hold as he turned me around to face him. "Don't touch me." I hissed not wanting to make a scene. "Just go. Please."

"What is wrong here, sir?" I heard Mrs. Pine's firm voice and at the same time felt Chris's strong arms circling around me, pulling me to his chest, making me feel slightly better.

I turned in Chris's arms and looked up at him desperately. He had a deep frown on his face and his eyes were full of worry and concern and also anger that was not directed at me.

"Please take me out." I whispered to him.

He nodded quickly and turned us to leave.

"You won't go anywhere, Eleanor." yelled my father angrily. "We should talk."

"Sir, you are disturbing others." stated Mrs. Pine firmly as Chase and another one of the waiters helped her to keep my father from advancing forward. "Please go back to your table. I will come to see what is your problem."

"She is my daughter, I want to talk to her." yelled my father and I felt Chris tense beside me as he opened the doors and quickly rushed me inside of the kitchen.

"This way." said Chris with a hard tone. I knew he was hardly controlling his anger.

"I'm sorry." I sobbed. "I will be fired. I'm sure."

"Don't be absurd." seethed Chris. "You did nothing wrong. If anything, he is the one who should pay for what he did. No one will fire you. Have you forgotten who this hotel belongs to?"

"I can't believe this." I whispered as more tears ran down my face and I clutched my shirt desperately trying to make the pain in my heart go away. "I can't believe this."

Chris suddenly stopped and the next second his arms were wrapped around me, pulling me into his warm embrace. I finally let out loud sobs as I clutched his vest in my hands and cried my pain out.

I don't know how long we stood like that, me clinging to him for dear life while crying my eyes out and him holding me tight and whispering sweet nothings in my ear. It was Mrs. Pine's voice that brought me out of my thoughts.

"Eleanor, my dear."

I looked up and wiped my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Pine." I said without looking up. "I tried to leave without making a scene. I'm terribly sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry at all." she said sternly and I looked up at her. For the first time, I could see her eyes were soft as she looked down at me. She knew my story. I had told her on my first day here when she had asked.

"He is gone and won't be allowed to step feet into the hotel, Mr. Harrington's strict order." she said. "Now go home and rest tonight. I will see you tomorrow."

"Are you going to fire me?" I asked as my bottom lip quivered again.

"No, you silly girl." she answered and gave me a faint smile that warmed my heart more than any huge smile. "I can't afford to lose such a good and determined worker because of something that was not her fault. Now go home. Mr. Harrington, I believe you will take care of her. You can leave for the rest of the night."

"Thank you." said Chris as we watched Mrs. Pine leave and that was then I saw Jax and Chase both standing there and watching me with sadness in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jax." I said and dropped my head.

"Don't apologize for God's sake." groaned Jax. "I was passing by and saw everything myself. Don't worry. He won't set feet in my hotel again."

"You lost a good customer." I mumbled and my heart clenched as I remembered My father's rich new wife.

"You are more important to us than a mere customer." said Jax with a smile and patted my shoulder. "I should go now. Rest well tonight."

"Thank you." I mumbled as he gave me a smile and walked away.

"Are you fine?" asked Chase and took a step forward. His face was full of worry and anger. "Do you want us to go and give him a lesson? I'm so tempted to do so."

"Thank you, Chase." I laughed bitterly. "But it's not necessary." I then looked at the ground sadly. "he doesn't deserve it."

"Come on, angel." said Chris and gave a squeeze on my arms. "Let's change and leave. We are going to eat something."

I nodded and we said goodbye to Chase and left to the locker rooms to change. Chris didn't say anything but I knew he was more than angry. His brows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched. Yet his touch was so gentle as he guided me to the locker rooms.

I couldn't help but cry more in the silence of the locker room as I changed. The pain that was coming from the images of dad with that woman was too much for me. There was only one question in my mind:

How could he?

Once I changed, I washed my face before going out of the room in order to not make Chris angrier. But I think It didn't do any good. Chris's jaw ticked and his fists clenched and unclenched as he took in my appearance.

"let's go, angel." he sighed and offered me his hand.

I grabbed his hand gratefully, liking the safety that he would offer me with his presence. Soon we were out of the hotel. I took a deep inhale of the cold air and watched the red sky that announced heavy rain or even snow very soon.

We were walking toward Chris's car when we heard the voice that I was dreading to hear.

"Eleanor, wait."

I froze at hearing my father's voice. I couldn't turn back to him. I simply couldn't. But Chris was another story.

"What do you want?" he growled as he turned to face my father.

"I want to talk to my daughter." answered my father sternly. "I don't think I need to ask for your permission, boy."

"She doesn't want to." snapped Chris. I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. I knew he was holding himself back from insulting my father because of me. "Can't you see what you have done to her?"

"Eleanor, what are you doing here at this time of night? It's past 10." asked my father, ignoring Chris. My fists clenched more and more as I heard him talk. "Why are you working this late? Where is your mother? How can she approve of this?"

And that was the last straw for me. I whipped around and he took a step back at seeing so much anger in my eyes.

"How dare you talk like this after you left us?" I hissed angrily. "You want to know where mom is? You want to know why I'm working my ass off till my last bit of energy? Why didn't you know already? Are you not my father?"

I then let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, sorry I forgot." I said. "You are one coward of a father who left us without as much as a word with tons of debts and problems that you had caused."

I took a deep breath and looked at him as he dropped his head slightly in shame. Good! At least he had a bit of shame left inside of him.

"Does she know?" I asked coldly. "Mom; does she know that you are married? She should have signed divorce papers so you would be able to marry again."

"Yes," he answered and looked up. "I send them for her six months ago to sign with my lawyer."

I took a sharp intake of breath and shut my eyes tightly. My poor mother. She didn't say anything to us, but I now could remember that she was so depressed at that time. I think it was from then that her disease started. I couldn't even imagine how heartbroken she had been.

"My poor mother." I mumbled under my breath as tears ran down my face. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned on my heels. "Please, let's go, Chris."

"Eleanor, Please." cried dad desperately. "Yes, I left you. I didn't even give your mother an address or a name when I sent the lawyer. But please, I'm still your father. I thought your mother can take care of you."

I laughed bitterly and turned to him again. "Don't you dare to blame mom for anything that you yourself ran away from." I growled. "She is so much braver and greater than you. When you left us to deal with problems ourselves, she stood by our side despite everything and did her best."

Tears were running down my eyes. "She was working as much as her body was allowing her yet she made sure to smile at us all the time although you could see the pain in those beautiful eyes." I panted. "Do you know where is she now? She is on the hospital bed, fighting for her life."

Dad took a step back and his eyes widened as if someone had slapped him on the face. He shook his head slightly obviously not believing me.

"Yes, Dad." I spat the title. "She is in hospital, fighting with death while I'm working hard to fend for my siblings and save for her surgery. I'm working my ass off yet I can't buy little things for Daisy or Liam. I can't even save much for my mother's surgery. Our lives are the definition of hell."

"I ... I didn't know." he mumbled defeated.

"Now you know." I said calmly as the first droplets of rain fell on us. "Are you going to do anything?"

He opened and closed his mouth like a disgusting fish a few times. "I can't." he choked the two words out. "This life that I have now, ... I ... I can't afford to... I can't..."

"Save it." I turned away from him. "Forget about us. Forget that you have children. Forget that you were a father once. We will forget that we had such a bastard like you as a father. Stick to your life. Let at least one of us live happily."

"Don't come around her, you piece of shit," spat Chris and put an arm around me. "Or I won't stop myself from beating the shit out of you."

We walked a few steps to his car and Chris was quick to unlock the car and open the door for me. Once I was in, he closed the door and ran around the car to get in as well. I did my best to not look at dad, but I couldn't help and glanced one more time at him as Chris drove past him.

He was just standing there, under the now heavy rain, looking at us desperately as Chris drove away. He looked so miserable and I could have sworn his eyes were teary. I looked away, I couldn't look at him anymore. I was feeling empty. I think that is how you will feel when your father, the first man in your life, betrays you because of money.

He was free to do as he wanted, to marry whoever he wanted, and to live the way he wanted. But he didn't have any right to leave us suddenly like that. He shouldn't have left us like that, without any word in the middle of so many problems that he was the cause of them. He left us to fight the fight that was his, not ours.

He shouldn't have.

"Are you fine?" asked Chris, breaking the silence that only the sound of rain on the car roof was breaking.

We were sitting in his car, each having an empty cup of coffee in our hands. It was half an hour since we have left my father and all the time we were silent. I was so drowned in my thoughts and I think Chris was too nervous to break the silence and witness my possible crying.

Yet I didn't cry. That man who I once was my dad didn't worth my crying.

"Not fine." I answered truthfully and sighed.

"Of course," grunted Chris and ran a hand through his hair frustrated. "It was a silly question."

He then put his cup away and turned slightly to me. I could feel his worried eyes fixed on my face. "But I want to help you, Eleanor." he said desperately. "Seeing you like this and not being able to do anything for you is killing me. I'm so fucking sorry that I couldn't and can't do anything more."

"You are doing so much for me." I said and looked up at him, giving him a weak smile. "The fact that you are here with me and are not leaving me alone is meaning the world to me."

"I will never leave you, angel." he said softly and caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. "I promise."

"I think now you can understand why I was terrified when you suddenly become distant from me after your fight with Hector and Vincent." I said and a tear rolled down my face. "I'm afraid of people I trust and love leaving me alone."

"Eleanor." he said and cupped my face with both hands. "One person should be so idiot to leave you. You are an angel who can lighten up anyone's life without even trying. Your pure heart attracts anyone to you who have a heart. I promise to not leave you ever. You know that I honor my words."

"I know. You have such a strong persona." I said quietly and put my hands on top of his warm hands that were cupping my face still. My bottom lip quivered and my eyes welled up. "It's so hard, Chris. Too hard."

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath and pulled me into a tight hug. "Listen Eleanor. I know it's too hard. I know it's too hard to digest this. But you are not alone. You have me, Chase, Mia, fucking Miller, your siblings, Jax, Mrs. Pine. You don't need your father anymore. You have us, so don't you dare to feel alone. You have me and I won't go anywhere. That's a fucking promise and I will give my life to keep it."

I didn't answer him. I just held him tighter and buried my face in his chest and made his shirt wet once again that night.

"I'm sorry that you should endure my always miserable self." I sniffled after I calmed down a bit. "I'm sorry that you are keeping up with my problems and cryings. I hate myself for crying this much."

He pulled away and wiped my face with his thumbs gently. "Only if you knew how much you have made my life better then you wouldn't say this." he said softly and smiled at me. "And I'm telling the truth. You have changed my life for the better. I feel so lively these days and I'm learning every day how to be stronger for those I love."

He then smirked a bit. "You don't know how much my parents are grateful to you for changing their piss of shit son to someone better." he said making me giggle a bit. "My mom wants to see you desperately again."

I leaned forward and hugged him again, putting my head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Chris." I said quietly. "For everything."

"You are the most welcome, angel." he murmured as he kissed my head and ran his hand through my hair. "You are most welcome."

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A/N: Hello, loves :) Thank you for reading my story this far. I hope you have enjoyed reading it. Please comment how you liked the story and don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter.

Thanks

Ela :)))