Maxwell stopped in his stride and turned to her with a furrowed brow as he responded. “Susan? No, nothing at all. I know as much as you do. My men are still on it though, just as they are looking for him as well.”“Oh, okay,” Reyona answered easily.“Why are you suddenly asking that?” he asked as he approached her desk again.“Oh, you know. I just think that Allysyn’s birthday is tomorrow, and yes, we got her presents and all, but I think I know what she would have wanted the most tomorrow.”“What?”“To have her parents around to celebrate it with her, of course. She would have been so delighted. Erm, her mom just disappeared without leaving anything behind? I mean maybe she left a note, or she did something. Anything at all that we can read meaning to?”Maxwell inclined his head as he said “No, nothing at all. I heard they just couldn’t find her one morning.”“So, she did nothing? Nothing at all? Just disappeared?”“No, nothing…” he narrowed his gaze in thought as he asked, “Why do I
“You know what happens to people who lie to me. Right, Maxie?”“Uhn?” Maxwell murmured incomprehensibly as he rubbed his hands on his face and sat up in bed.The voice registered as silence greeted his incoherent mumble.The phone ring had woken him from a troubled sleep he had only fallen into a few minutes ago.Maxwell removed the phone from his ear to look at the unrecognised number again.In his subconsciousness, he had automatically picked the call thinking it was Reyona.It would teach him to look closely at caller ID before picking up calls, drowsy state or not.Why was he calling him so early in the morning?Maxwell looked at the time on the phone and saw that it was 4: 37am.“Don,” he stated more than asked. The silence on the other end made him realise that Donald-turned-Serena, Aka Don, was waiting for a response to his first question. “Yeah, I know that,” Maxwell answered, as he instantly became fully awake.“Where is your step-sister, Maxie?” Maxwell got even more confu
She couldn’t sleep.It didn’t matter how many times they tried to convince her that she needed to.“Please try to get some sleep” the doctor had said. “Consider your recovery and your condition.”Her condition! Ha!She was certain of it.Reyona was sure that there had been a mistake somewhere.There must have been a mistake with the samples, and they had handed her the wrong result.Yes, she could see her name on the result, and the doctor could sound as confident as he wanted for all she cared.They were wrong, and she was sure they would come in anytime soon to prove her right.Despite the doctor’s seeming conviction, Reyona had told them to do the blood HCG test.Everyone knew that urine tests are not so reliable, right?She turned over again on the bed and wished the damned pain in her back would ease up enough for her to get down from the bed and pace as she wanted to.But that would mean she was anxious, wouldn’t it?It would mean she actually believed what they said.But she di
She did not want to accept it.She was not supposed to accept it.Yet the evidence was clear.As the gynaecologist explained how it was possible for even the most foolproof birth control to have a loophole, Reyona simply nodded and stared.Her mind was racing with a thousand and one thoughts.“It is very rare…”Pregnant. She was pregnant.“...1 out of 100…”She will be a mother. Somebody's mother.“Ma'am. Are you with me?”Reyona looked at the woman staring at her in inquiry.She saw Dr. Romano was looking at her with his typical passive face.Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked over at the concerned-looking Killian.“You will be late for your exam,” she said simply.Killian smiled and said “I live nearby. I can still get home in time for it.”“Then you need to go then,” Reyona said.“You are not thinking of leaving again, are you?” Nurse Killian asked with a smile, reminding her of what she had said earlier.Reyona cradled her hand against her stomach and said “No, I am not. Th
“Make sure that no one goes in there” “Yes, sir” his head of security answered instantly.Maxwell saw the guard that had hit the curb hard when the van drove out.What was the idiot doing standing there when he should be getting checked?“You are hurt,” Maxwell stated tersely.The man looked at him, then looked at the security head as he said “No, sir. I am fine.” “Is that so?” Maxwell said as he moved closer to him and punched him in the right shoulder.The man howled in pain and immediately stood upright again with a stoic look even as sweat popped on his forehead.Idiot. “I don’t want to see your face out here when I get back,” Maxwell said sternly.The man’s eyes widened. “Sir, please. I promise to do better. I…”“What is wrong with you, man? Go get yourself checked now, or you can forget your job anyway.”Maxwell looked at his head of security.The man, who still looked slightly embarrassed that the men had gotten past them, nodded and said “Noted, sir.”Maxwell headed towards
“Thank you,” Reyona said to Dr Rory Murphy, as he entered.He was waiting outside the office with the others as Reyona used his temporarily re-arranged office for her calls.“It is no problem.” said the doctor as he came to sit opposite her in the chair she would have sat as a patient under normal circumstances.But nothing was normal at the moment and as it was, she was seated in the man’s chair wearing a shirt he had got for his wife over her hospital gown.The handsome man with a pleasing smile, a high forehead, and a well-built body made him seem more like a bodybuilder than a hospital medical director.He smiled slightly as he said, “Anything for you, lioness.”When he saw Reyona wince, he added “Or should I say, Sherlock?”“Come on. You have to let that go.” Reyona said with a smile.Lioness was the nickname that her coursemates had given her because she hardly engaged in any frivolous activities, yet when there was anything that needed someone taking charge, they always automat
For the next few days, Reyona settled in the private VIP suite of the hospital. Dr. Murphy had given her the most secluded section she had requested, and she knew she couldn’t ask for anything better. Things were going according to plans as well, just as her body was also cooperating with the treatment. She no longer winced every time she brushed her back against something, and she could easily hold herself up in the routine mini-walk she had started taking on the terrace connected to her suite. As agreed, Dr Romano, Dr Blair and Nurse Killian were the only ones attending to her, and Dr Murphy also checked on her constantly. She still didn’t know the gender of her child yet because Dr Romano had advised that they hold on till her fragile, bruised stomach was healed. Dr. Murphy also agreed with the man and Reyona had no problem waiting. The gender of the child didn’t matter to her anyway. What mattered was that the baby was hers. Hers and nobody else. Over the course of a few
The past week has been the worst for Maxwell in a long while.First, he got a very unexpected call from Steve while he was trying to power through a birthday event filled with chatter and excitement that he was not feeling.It didn't help when he noticed that the celebrant also did not seem much into the celebration like the attendees.The fact that nothing seemed to fully cheer the girl up made Maxwell's mind go from time to time to the man currently cooling his heels in the gym’s utility room where he was locked.For a moment, he wondered if keeping him away from his children on such a day was a wise decision after all.Maybe he should have at least let him attend the event.As Reyona had said, the girl probably wanted the most that day to have her parents with her.Maybe the girl wouldn’t even mind if her father looked like something that had been chewed up and spit out by a chihuahua.He was seriously considering his option when Junior mentioned Reyona’s name.He saw Allysyn’s eye