Reprimand

"And how much do we pay the other workers?"

"6000 to the gardeners and 7000 to the housekeepers."

"Do they have insurance?" frowning even more, Christian asks.

"No, but generally this is not a risky job, it's hardly necessary."

"..." Remaining silent for a moment, Christian sighed and spoke "Leslie, take my cell phone and write a message to Uncle Jayden, tell him to raise the pay of all the workers on site, 5000 thousand dollars more to each one, also ask him to buy them health insurance to cover their families"

"Understood" Leslie nodded.

"Young man, n-no need!" Aria exclaimed quickly in panic.

"It is necessary" Shaking his head, Christian spoke "You are vital to the upkeep of my home, others may not see what you are really worth, but I do, without you my home would lose its foundations"

"..." Looking at the boy silently for a few seconds, Aria smiled gratefully "May the goddess bless you young man, I will do my best to see that your money is not wasted on this old woman."

Waving his hand nonchalantly, Christian speaks "It's no big deal, but I'm charging you to tell the other workers, since they will need to sign the raise"

"I'll be right there" Excitedly, Aria wiped her hands and set the tray with eggs on the table, then bowed slightly "Excuse me"

Being alone in the kitchen, Christian sat down and took a piece of toast "Something to tell me Leslie? I feel your gaze piercing me, also sit down and eat."

"Why are you giving him a raise? They were happy with what they were getting paid."

"..." Spreading butter on the bread, Christian looked for a few seconds at Leslie and spoke "I want their trust, their gratitude, I want these people not to betray us for a few measly dollars, I want them to become trustworthy and I don't have to distrust them every damn minute."

"..."

"If a few thousand dollars makes them feel more affection towards their work and towards our family, it's an expense I won't hesitate to make... besides I have been getting to know everyone during these months, they are humble and good people, I like them and I don't want to treat them badly"

"I understand" Leslie nodded, sitting down next to Christian.

"Leslie, I want to have the entire outer wall fortified and with electricity on the upper parts, do you know where I can find people who fortify walls so that even a car can't get through them? Including the entrance gate."

"I have contacts" Leslie nodded.

"Good, text Uncle Jayden with the costs you get, he'll take care of that."

"Right away" Pulling out her private cell phone, Leslie began to dial.

"Put that cell phone down, eat first" Staring at Leslie's face, Christian purses his lips and speaks.

"..." Nodding, Leslie puts the cell phone down on the table and start eating in silence.

5 minutes passed and Aria still didn't arrive, but the entrance of a certain someone brought a smile on Christian's face.

"Mother, you look ravishing today" Looking at Eva's tousled hair and painted face, Christian tried his best not to laugh loudly.

"..." Yawning as she stretches, Eva looks down at the table and mutters "My head hurts..."

Rolling his eyes, Christian speaks "You drank half a bottle of Rum, and expensive ones at that. It would be a rarity if your head didn't hurt."

Scratching her breasts, Eva yawns again "It was delicious..."

"..." Snorting, Christian slyly signals Leslie to take pictures of Eva.

Walking over in a daze, Eva kisses Christian's head and sits down next to him, being surrounded by the two women.

"What time is it?" asked Eva.

"9:10" Leslie replied as she looked at her cell phone.

"Oh..." Nodded Eva still sleepy "They were supposed to come and drop Hailie and Alan off at 9-"

"I ARRIVED!!!" just as Eva was speaking, an excited blonde head jumped into the kitchen, opening her arms wide as she exclaimed her arrival.

Holding her hands to her ear, Eva grumbles "Just now everyone's screaming..."

Looking up at the ceiling, Hailie smiles broadly and speaks "Hello everyone!"

Smiling softly, Christian looks at the energetic little girl and speaks as he opens his arms "Hailie, won't you hug your brother?"

Trembling slightly, Hailie looks down and sees her brother smiling at her, causing a shy smile to spread across her face "Hi Christian, sorry for yelling Hehe~"

"I forgive you if you give me a hug" Still not closing his arms, Christian looks at Hailie expectantly.

Looking at Christian, Hailie purses her lips and quickly moves closer, then wrapping her arms around Christian's back herself "Mom said you got sick from eating too much cake, why didn't you invite me to lunch too?

Blinking for a few seconds, Christian still in the embrace, whispers "Because it was a cake made by mom, would you like to try it?"

Eyes widening, Hailie releases from the hug and quickly shakes her head "N-No, thank you."

Turning her gaze to her mother, Hailie looks at her for a few seconds in a daze, then looks at Christian and laughs "Hahahaha~"

"..." Looking quizzically at her daughter, Eva just shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.

Laughing for a few seconds, Hailie looked at Christian and asked suspiciously "Was that you?"

"Oh" Raising his eyebrows, Christian smiled "Didn't my little girl get very smart these last few days?"

"I'm not a little girl anymore, I'm a woman, I'm 10 years old!"

Raising his eyebrows even more, Christian looked at Hailie with amusement "You look lively little girl, what happened?"

"Mom allowed me to bring Maya for a week and her parents gave her permission!" Hailie exclaimed with joy "So in two more weeks, when the vacations start, I'll be with her every day!"

"Oh, so that's why you're happy *Sigh* and here I thought you were happy to see me" With an exaggerated sigh, Christian looks down with mock sadness.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm happy to see you too" Patting Christian's head gently, Hailie sighs with resignation.

"..." Looking at the girl from the corner of his eye, Christian's heart sweetened more and more 'She's so big.... It seems like only yesterday when she couldn't even reach the chairs.... *sigh* how time flies'.

"How's your room going Hailie? Do you need anything else?"

"..." Holding her hand to her chin, Hailie mumbles "I have Xbox, PSP; PS3, Nintendo, computer... oh, I know."

"What do you need?"

"Could you buy a computer for Maya? She has a really bad one and we can't play a lot of things, plus I want another computer in my playroom, so I have two for when Maya comes to play with me."

"Sure, go find out what computer you want and tell Aria to send someone to buy it, remember to ask her politely" Stroking the girl's head gently, Christian speaks.

"Can we buy a trampoline and a bouncy castle?" Taking advantage of the fact that they are doing more shopping, Hailie hesitantly asks.

"Sure, make a list of everything you need and give it to Aria, also take the opportunity to order some treats for you to eat with Maya when she comes over."

"Thanks!" Hugging Christian quickly, Hailie smiled happily.

"No need to thank" Smiling, Christian just let himself be loved "By the way, where's Alan?"

"He went to his room, he was very sleepy and didn't want to get up" Remorselessly, Hailie accused the boy.

Losing his smile, Christian nodded "I'll check on him later, where's Uncle Jayden and Aunt Sara?"

"They were getting stuff out of the vehicle, they brought meat to eat" Grabbing a piece of toast, Hailie took a bite and spoke, then turned toward the exit and ran quickly "I'm going to go make the list, bye!"

Looking at the little girl with a smile, Christian continued to eat while waiting for his visitors.

"You're spoiling them too much Christian, you need to stop" With a sip of coffee, Eva looked at Christian seriously and spoke "It's fine that you want to make your siblings happy and I'm glad, but you're overdoing it, they'll end up spoiling at this rate."

"*Sigh* I know..." Looking at his mother, Christian spoke "Alan is taking on a nasty personality, I don't like that..... Hailie is fine, she's respectful and doesn't overdo it, but Alan..."

"..."

"The problem is I don't know how to stop everything..." Looking towards the ceiling, Christian continues "If we stop giving things to Alan, he will feel bad because we would make differences between him and Hailie... he is already moving away from us too much, he is too much dedicated to be with his friends on social networks or at school, I don't want him to move away more."

"..."

"*Sigh* I can solve mathematical mysteries for you, but I'm stupid in these areas..." Muttering bitterly, Christian looks at his mother "Any ideas?"

"For starters, this is my job" Smiling slightly, Eva spoke sternly "Even if they pay more attention to you, I have the role of educating and disciplining them, and today you are punished for drawing on my face, you will have the obligation to spend the whole day with me and you are forbidden to work or study."

Opening his mouth while opening his eyes wide, Christian looks at his mother and stammers "D-did you know that?"

"I have a mirror in front of the couch, it's impossible not to see it, besides you left your pencil next to me" Smiling mockingly, Eva raises her eyebrows with a victorious smile "You may be the smartest in the world, but you'll never beat me"

With pursed lips, Christian asks "So why didn't you take the drawings off?"

"Because you did them" Eva smiled softly "Even though they're to make fun of me, I like them."

Looking at his mother for a few seconds, Christian smiled broadly "You sure know how to say sweet words."

"*Sigh* I am your mother, it is normal for me to be perfect" With a cocky sigh, Eva continued sipping her coffee, then put it down on the table and spoke "I'll talk to Alan, we'll stop buying him so many clothes and stuff, he'll have $200 every 20 days, and he'll have to save every time he wants something more expensive. If he wants more money, I'll have him work around the house, cleaning a room, the pool, doing laundry, whatever."

Nodding, Christian smiles "A good idea...do you think he'll get mad?"

"Let him get mad, he has no say in the matter, I'm his mother and I'm doing it for his sake" Shrugging, Eva sighs "Where is that woman-"

"*Sigh* It's so stressful to have to show everything we enter to security" With several bags in her hands, Sara walked into the kitchen, only to look at Eva and sneer quickly "Damn, what good style you have today!"

Snorting with annoyance, Eva spoke "I was having a nice day, too bad you came in."

"When are you two getting married?" with a mocking voice, Jayden walked into the kitchen with even more bags, then looked at Eva and nodded "Nice makeup, whoever did it is a great artist."

"Appreciated" Smiled Christian, causing the two people to quickly turn their eyes wide-eyed.

"What are you doing up!?" Jayden quickly exclaimed with concern "You're hurt, you should be resting!"

Waving his hand nonchalantly, Christian took a bite of cake "I'm fine, I'm more likely to die of boredom lying in a bed all day than die from my injuries."

"*Sigh* Eva, you should get Christian to rest and eat well, cake is not something he contributes to healing" With an exasperated sigh, Sara spoke up.

"Let him be, I know if I lock him up he'll end up disarming the door or jumping out the window" Shrugging, Eva didn't even flinch and continued eating.

Walking over to Christian, Jayden sets the bags down and hugs him "I'm glad you're okay, you had us worried."

"It was just a few holes, that wouldn't kill me" Christian smiled slightly, while inside confusion gnawed at him 'Doesn't he have a strong smell of other women...everything about him smells like Aunt Sara...but it's not possible, I know he cheated on her...maybe it was just a one time thing?'

"Eva, I brought meat for us to barbecue" Picking up the bags, Sara leaves them on the table and smiles "But I'll do it myself, I don't want to eat burnt meat, besides your Hitler eyebrow doesn't give me confidence".

"Hitler eyebrow?" with confusion, Christian tilts his head and asks.

"That eyebrow is the one Hitler wore, a single eyebrow with no division in the middle, every time I see something like that it reminds me of his image."

"Oh..." Nodding, Christian thought 'Sure, women don't wear mustaches, I guess Hitler has to have something distinctive, regardless of his gender... though I find the mustache funnier'