MaxwellI was still dumbfounded by what my dad had told me hours later when I made my way out of the family house later that evening and I headed straight for Macayla's hotel, where she opened the door for me, surprised."Max?"I walked in, going straight for the bottle of wine she had open on the small table in the mini-living room of her suite, and I drank straight from it."What is wrong? Did something happen?"She walked back in, staring at me with this concerned look in her eyes, and I gave her the picture I had collected from my dad."Who is he?""Our younger brother." "Younger brother?"I nodded. "Apparently we have a younger brother.""Then that means... Was dad cheating on mom?!"I shook my head and took another gulp. "Well, yes technically, because he had slept with another woman to have him, but it had apparently been a one-time thing. A mistake..."I ran a hand through my head, "Like, how do we even tell this to mom?" She's barely coping with his sickness news, which he h
RayaI should just move in with Maxwell at this point because tell me why he was always taking me to either of his houses whenever there was a problem, and it was not as if I was complaining, but it was making me get dependent.I can take care of this on my own.It's just a prank...Okay, maybe not a prank because the person has taken time to follow me around to know what I'm doing and also painted most of the picture in blood.My mind could only go to one person, William, but has he always been this childish?It was surprising.Using paint as blood and sticking a knife in the middle? It was something an anti-fan might do to a celebrity, not a fully grown senator who has a wife and kids, thankfully my child, not among them.But my body wasn't buying that.All the explanations I kept giving myself in my head didn't stop my body from shaking as Maxwell drove me and Kyle to his house.His hand was intertwined with mine as expected, and he kept glancing at me the whole ride.F*ck, why was
MaxwellMy walk up the stairs to Raya's apartment was pretty uneventful right until I got to her floor and saw a man dropping something in the mailbox by the side of her door.What the f*ck?!Was that asshole sending another threat message, not even a week after the first one he sent?I hurried to meet the man before he could leave and grabbed the letter from the box."Who sent you? It's William's, right?""What? Who are you? Are you Miss Johnson?"The man asked as I detained him and ripped open the envelope it was in.For a threat, it was pretty well packaged.But it wasn't until I saw the logo on top of the real letter that I understood that it was not a threat.Dove's clinic?Was she sick?What?Wait, what?A DNA test?I read through the letter that said Mr. Sterling was the father of Kyle Johnson.Mr. Sterling?"Are you Miss Johnson?"I snapped out of my mind, which was jumbled at this point, and stared at the man who was alarmed by my behavior."Yes, no, I mean, I know her...""W
RayaF*ck, I needed to stop crying.Crying won't solve any of my problems, especially this one."We should call the police." "What?" I pulled away from Maxwell the minute he said that, my eyes darting to his face."You can't mean that.""What? Why? I mean, he has Kyle."Yes, I knew he, William, had Kyle, but I wasn't about to make it worse by involving the police."He said we shouldn't.""And you're actually going to listen to him?!""Yes, I am. I'm going to meet him."It was his turn to be stunned. "You can't be serious.""Oh, I'm serious."Now that I was over my crying phase, I had needed that to get myself together. I was totally thinking of murder now.He tried to mess with my child?!Thank God he already said not to involve the police because I was more than willing."Kendall, talk some sense into her please."Kendall knew there was no point stopping me because she would do the same if it was her kid, so she didn't even bother."We can just... I don't know, track her and keep in
Raya"Oh, that bastard..." He moved away from me and shrugged. "Somewhere safe... For now. I just thought the adults should have a conversation first before I turned to him. Pity he'll be paying for his mother's crimes.""You asshole, don't you dare touch my child."He chuckled and got close to me again, and the action he performed next on me sent my eyes reeling back into my head.He had slapped me, and his hand was fisted into my hair now. "Seems like you don't understand the situation just yet. I'm in charge now; your little boyfriend is not here, and I can decide to end your pathetic life with just one flick of my finger. Asshole? You're the asshole for lying to me; how dare you claim he was my child and humiliate me in public?""I. Didn't. Tell. You. That. He. Was. Your. Child. You guessed that all on your own."My cheeks were hurting, and it didn't help that his grip was tight on my hair. I'm pretty sure some of them would fall off by the time he released my hair.He snickered,
Maxwell He wasn't the one who had sent the package? F*ck, he had found the camera. "Have you found it?" I asked Ryan, who tapped away, busy, inside another one of my cars where I waited, and he turned the laptop to face me after a while. "This is the last property he has in the state, but how sure are you that he is one of his houses? I mean, he wouldn't be so stupid as to do something criminal in one of his properties." "Then where else will he do it, one of your properties? Of course he'll feel safe in one of his" I started the car at another property that he supposedly owned and drove away to the address he gave me. God, I hope she's okay. Who would have thought that that asshole would turn on his words like that, but it was understandable. He was probably wary of the fact that I had seen it, or worse still, that she had shown it to the police. "Have you sent it to them?" "Yes, though I'm pretty sure that they've seen it. I'll email them the address when we've c
Raya It wasn't until we got back into Maxwell's car, Kyle in my arms about two hours later, that I realized I had just faced the man that made me the weak, vulnerable person I was today. I had slapped his face, stabbed his thighs... The thought of it had my hands shaking almost immediately. "Raya, relax; the adrenaline is just rushing in because you both are safe," Maxwell said as he covered me with the blanket he had gotten from the police, and he winced at the pain the movement caused him. F*ck, I had been so caught up in myself, I forgot that he had faced four men all on his own too. If anything, he had done all the work. "Are you okay?" I asked, and he nodded, leaning back again in his seat. "We have to go get Kyle checked; I think he was drugged." I agreed to that because even now, he was still sleeping. God, I couldn't believe I had almost lost him. "Come here." I went into the arms of Maxwell at the back where we were seated, and Ryan ignored us while he dr
MaxwellI woke up to my girlfriend by my bed hours later once the anesthesia for the stitching had come off, and she sat up on her seat the minute I moved my arm slightly."Maxwell, are you okay?"She leaned over me, her side pressing into mine as she tried to assess me, and she jumped back at my wince, "Oh my God, I'm sorry.""It's fine." I said finally adjusting the best enough for me to sit up, and she came closer again. "Thank you for everything."I nodded. "I'll do it again if it's to protect you and my son."Her eyes jumped to mine at that last statement."You..."I nodded. "I accept it. Even without the DNA, I thought of him as my son already. I just didn't expect that I was actually his father."I nodded, covering my mouth as some wave of emotions hit me again, and he stretched out his arms for me to hug him.I did, sniffing, "I thought you didn't want it; with the way you ran out, I thought...""No, I just needed some time to think, and that's all. I'm actually glad that he'