LAKE“What the fuck is going on, Dad?” I quickly fastened my seatbelt the moment the pilot made an announcement.“I have no idea. Turbulence?” He did the same, and Aurelia did too.“Are we turning?” she asked. I could hear the fear in her voice.“We’re going higher? I thought we were going to land right now.” Something was wrong. I instantly felt the chill in my body.My heart pumped harder as I closed my eyes to pray. If the jet had had an emergency landing, the pilot could have just told us, but that seemed not to be the case. The jet flew smoothly when we left New York.After ten minutes of silence, and the jet was high enough, Dad quickly pressed the button.“Are you okay, Dad?” I looked over my shoulder. Aurelia was pale. “Just take a deep breath.” I pulled up the window shield, quite the opposite of what was supposed to be done.“What are you doing, Lake?”“One way to find out what’s going on— what the fuck?” I stared in disbelief at the Hover fighter jet flying with us. “Is tha
LAKEWe arrived at the hospital. After a few tests, the head of Oncology had my father’s file and took us to the conference room. They had the report of the Colonoscopy, some tests like PET scan, an MRI, and the biopsy done back home. They compared and explained to us in layman’s terms.“I want to be direct to you. There’s no need to sugarcoat it. You have stage IIB adenocarcinoma of the colon. The two doctors you went to for consultations are right. The cancer cell has grown to a small area of the wall of your colon and tissues, but it hasn’t metastasized to other organs. That’s why you’re experiencing some symptoms. The good thing is it can be treated through surgery and chemotherapy. There’s a huge chance you’ll be cancer-free within five years unless you will stay untreated.”“We will do the surgery and chemotherapy,” I answered quickly before my dad could reply. I didn’t know why he had to wait until it got worse.The doctor was patiently waiting for my father’s response.“Dad?”
MAVERICK“Oh, my God.” I ran towards Lake, who just climbed down from the jet, and threw myself at him.“Maverick.” He caught and lifted me up, and I wrapped my arms and legs around him.“God, I can finally breathe,” I said and kissed him on the lips.“I should travel more often.” He kissed me back. “I missed you, baby.”“I missed you, too.” I slowly got my feet on the ground and then hugged him again.Wallace and Aurelia went in a different car while we were heading home.“So, where’s my Bannock?”He smiled, pressing his lips against mine. “I did not forget it.”“Good, or you will be sleeping in the other room.”“Really?” His brow raised humorously.“Yeah.”“How’s your day?” he asked as he kissed my hand.“Better than yours, I guess.”“How’s our baby?”“Good. What about your dad?”“He’ll have his surgery here. His doctor from Toronto will be here tomorrow morning, and he asked something from you.”“Of course, what is it?” I looked at him in the eye.“He wants forgiveness.”A genuine
MAVERICKI didn’t care, though. I liked his wild side and soft side. As he nibbled on my earlobe, I shuddered and clung to him, riding him hard, squeezing my pussy around his cock.“Fuck. You need to come now, beautiful.” He growled into my ear, voice rough and raw, his hard breathing sending shivers down my spine. I rode him again and rolled my hips, sliding up and down until I started to clamp around him.“God!” I threw my head back and came so hard. My body jerked as it kept going on and on.We lay down for a while with me wrapped in his arms, my head resting on his chest as I listened to his frantic heartbeat.“Baby, I have something to tell you.” I felt the heaviness in his voice, and it sounded important.“Of course, what is it.”“I shot someone.”I lifted my head and stared at him. Guilt was so deep in his eyes. “When?”He exhaled heavily. “I did it because Giosue’s man was about to shoot your father’s man.”“Wait. It’s been months, Lake. This must have been hard for you, keepi
LAKEAfter hours of convincing my father to do his surgery, it was finally a successful ordeal, but now he has changed his mind. He wanted to meet Gaetano first before his operation.Dad was the most stubborn man I’d ever met, and even I, his son, couldn’t stop him, so Gaetano traveled all the way here to meet him.We’d arranged a safe and neutral place at the country club luxury cigar lounge in case someone would crash the party and betray us. I believed Terzo, though, that his father needed a secret alliance with my father.“Dad, just don’t provoke him. He hates arrogance.”“I know, son. Don’t worry.” He patted my back as we reached the door. A man in a suit and tie opened the two-door wide.We entered the dark wood-decorated room, which featured a classic chandelier hanging low, rich leather seats, a shelf of top-rated Cuban cigars, a dark oak table with a cutter and ashtray, and a tray of ten-year-old whisky with glasses.Uncle Moses was already there with Gaetano and Terzo. As so
LAKE“It doesn’t matter, Moses, as long as my son and his wife are safe.” He sighed heavily. “I shouldn’t have done what I did. I was so filled with anger that I couldn’t control my son.”I drew a deep breath and felt better with his admission. “What done is done, Dad.”“If I can’t pay off the father, I might have to do something you all might not like. I don’t want what happened days ago will happen again. I’ll make a deal with Francesco. I will tell you as soon as I have arranged a meeting with him.”“What can we do, papa?”“Nothing, son.” He looked at Terzo. “Do you know he has a beautiful daughter?”Terzo’s facial expression darkened. “What does it have to do with me?”“Maybe you should settle down, Terzo. Your sisters have gotten married.”“No way.” With a deep frown between his eyebrows, he shook his head harshly and put back the cigar into his lips. And then he said something in Italian.“Show some respect, Terzo. They may not understand what you said, but they are our guests.”
MAVERICK“He’s going to be okay.” My words didn’t uplift Lake. His father just got into the operating room twenty minutes ago.There could be a possible complication during surgery, and that worried him. Considering this was just the beginning of Wallace’s treatment, I understood his concern, and then another crucial long-term treatment was chemotherapy with a lot of possible side effects.“Babe?” I gripped his shoulders, and he placed his hand on mine, nodding slightly. “Are you okay with being here by yourself? I have to go back to the office.”I glanced at a few people present. Wallace’s assistant and bodyguard were among them. Beatreigh was here, and so was Aurelia, who did not hide her worry.“Yeah.” He lifted his gaze at me. “Don’t work hard, okay? That’s an order.”My brow arched. “Is that my boss talking or my husband?”He managed to put a slight smile on his lips as he rose to his feet. “Both.”“Fine, but because you asked me nicely.” I hugged him tight. “Don’t worry, dada. Y
MAVERICK“She said her name is Florence Bates. She has no appointment but insists and says she’s your mother. She’s at the lobby.”My mouth hung open as I dropped the call. My chest squeezed hard. My stomach dropped. I didn’t know how to react. I was overwhelmed with many emotions and didn’t know how to hold them all together.“Hey. What’s wrong?”I stared at Cooper. “My mother is in the lobby?”His eyes went wide. “Your estranged mother? How?”“I don’t know.” I got up and slipped my phone into my pocket. “Estranged is a better term. More like a ghost mother, a non-existent mother.”“You don’t have to see her.” I knew he would say it, but she would keep coming back until I faced her.“I’m sure I know why she’s here, and she will keep coming back if I won’t put an end to this.” I took a deep breath before I walked out of the office premises.I went downstairs to the lobby. I couldn’t even remember how she looked. She abandoned me while she was supposed to bathe me, put me to bed, and r