Irresistible Boss Succumbing to Your Touch (Maria Anita) novel Chapter 3

Flavian’s POV

When we arrived home from the hospital, no one was there, just a note from Lexie saying they had gone out and would be late. After a shower, my little one showed me several times that she was the woman of my life and the only one I should run to. Not that I had any doubts about that - I never did - but I loved it when she took the initiative and dominated me like that.

"Why are you smiling, big guy?" Manu came out of the closet and caught me with that huge smile while sitting in the bedroom armchair.

"Because I can't wipe this smile off my face. It's like you glued it here." I pulled her onto my lap and kissed her.

"Don't start, we have visitors." She laughed.

"You didn't remember that tonight. Are you sure you want to leave the room?" I ran my hand over her breast and she shivered.

"Yes, let's go. It's already late." She quickly got off my lap.

When we reached the dining table, there were three people looking at us grumpily, but Cam was the most sullen of all.

"Hey guys, what happened?" Manu asked, puzzled by the silence. "Didn't you have a good night?"

"No, Manuela, my night was terrible. When we got here tonight, I almost broke down your bedroom door, thinking your boyfriend was killing you." Cam spoke seriously.

"Oh, but he was, honey. Just not in the way you thought, but in the way I showed you. And don't be ungrateful, your night wasn't terrible." Olivia smiled at her husband.

"For God's sake, Oli!" Cam scolded his wife. "She's my little sister, and this pervert is corrupting her."

"In my defense, I'll tell you that she's the pervert." I laughed. Cam looked at Manu, who had her head down, nearly dying of embarrassment.

"Flavian!" Manu called out to scold me.

"Little one, there's no point acting innocent, you're a naughty girl and I love that about you." I pulled her into my arms. "And you, Cam, don't act offended, your sister isn't a child anymore."

"What a bunch of hypocrites!" Lexie laughed. "You get all worked up when I talk about getting a boyfriend. And you, Cam, complaining about them, but your wife was also heard loud and clear tonight. I should have made Rick sleep here, then we'd be three screaming..."

"LEXIE!" I shouted in shock. "What's going on between you and Rick?" I demanded to know, and she burst out laughing along with the others.

"See? Hypocrite!" Lexie pointed at me.

We were still having coffee when the doorbell rang. I went to answer it, and Melissa walked in like a queen.

"I'm here, detective! Where's my Little Key!" Melissa was full of energy as she came in. Behind her, Fred just shrugged.

"Come in, Fred!" I pulled Fred inside and greeted him. "Hey, crazy girl, aren't you going to give me a hug? You take a month-long vacation and don't even miss your friends?"

"Oh, detective, you know I miss my friends." Melissa laughed and hugged me. "Here, this is for you!" Melissa handed me a bag. "Where's Little Key?"

"We're having coffee, come on." I called out and walked with my arm around her. When Melissa looked around the table, I thought she was going to lose it.

"They are." Breno agreed. "Good thing you called for backup. This way, each of us can look through one box and speed up the process. She said this was everything she had from her sister, and whatever we don't need can go in the trash."

"And about the list of names, did she recognize any?" I asked, as it was important to locate the housekeeper's friend.

"No, unfortunately not, but she remembered her friend's nickname," Breno said. "The nickname was 'Fluffy.' She said her sister used to laugh because her friend hated the nickname. She got it because she was chubby and then lost a lot of weight, but the nickname stuck."

"Well, let's start looking then," I sighed. "Each of us takes a box and sets aside anything that seems important. If in doubt, separate it and we'll decide together." After organizing ourselves, we began our treasure hunt.

The hours ticked by. Those boxes contained everything imaginable: old papers, countless notes, bills, small objects, planners - just tons of stuff. After separating what each of us thought was important, we sat at the table with the items. We analyzed each one and discarded those that meant nothing to us. In the end, we were left with some notes with the nickname "Fluffy," some photos, and the deceased's diary, whose final pages had been torn out - precisely the ones that coincided with Cam's mother's death, based on the dates noted. But none of it gave us the slightest clue about who Fluffy was, much less indicated anything about Cam's mother's death.

I looked around and saw Fred absorbed in examining a music box. It was actually quite simple, a small wooden chest, but it was empty. On the outside, there was a carving forming overlapping circles that could be moved.

"You like music boxes, Fred?" Rick asked.

"I hate these things. My mom collects them, and when she decides to clean them, she makes everyone around help her. It was the worst punishment for me," Fred said thoughtfully. "I'm almost certain she has one exactly like this."

Fred stared at the object as if it would come to life. He started turning the circles, like a nervous tic. He closed it, opened it, turned it one way, then another, until he smiled and wound up the box, making the music play. Then he went back to turning the circles. The music stopped, and he repeated the process. He did this about ten times. I was ready to tell him to stop with that irritating music when he wound it up one more time, turned the circles, and smiled.

"I knew my mom had one just like it. It's quite an interesting mechanism," Fred spoke as if we were following his train of thought, but we weren't. "The box made a click and he pulled up the top of the lid, revealing a secret compartment containing a key and a receipt with an address. "If this isn't something, nothing else here is," Fred concluded.

We looked at each other in surprise. That key was guarding something important; we just needed to figure out what.