Chapter 4

Maze's

Gabriel immediately went to our kitchen to cook some food for lunch and I totally forgot the food he made for me a while ago. 

Royce decided to help Gabriel while Heather went upstairs to play with the kids and also to greet Michael. But I know that aside from the reason they said to excuse themselves, their main purpose is to actually leave me and my subordinates to have a private talk. And I couldn't be more thankful to them as they both know what I want and need.

And that is to talk things over to the guys who're well enough to analyze this dreadful situation of mine. 

"We heard what happened from Sir Crimson." Jake was the one to talk first and I sighed before looking at the three of them and nodded afterwards. 

"Before anything else, I would like all of you to just call me by my first name because Gab's not actually fond of formalities." I said, still trying to sound superior like before when in fact, I slowly transitioned into a brave ass guy to a husband that's scared of his wife over the past years. 

I can see their confused reaction but I have no plans on explaining further about this issue so might as well proceed to the most important part. 

"Then, what's your plan, Maze?" Heine asked and I can't help but sighed once again cause I still don't know the answer to that question even after weeks of deep thinking.

Mr. King caught me off guard. Which made me regret and castigate myself for letting my guards down and being too confident that he won't bother us anymore. 

It's been 11 fucking years! Who would've thought that my estranged dad was just waiting for the right timing to get back to me all along?

I obviously miscalculated everything and now, I don't even know where to start. 

I never liked the idea of me being helpless but I must admit that right now. 

I am quite helpless. 

That's why I'm thankful that Gabriel and our friends have been patient with me all along and they just let me do the things they thought would help me with sorting out this problem. 

But even though Mark's dad has offered his help and sent some of his men to guard the village, especially our house, I also must admit that I don't trust them fully. 

One, because I know they can't really focus on protecting us cause they still have a lot of things on their plate. Second, I know very well that Mr. King had some high police officials under his command simply because he bought them with his money and power. And third, I'm aware that no matter how trained the police forces are and how dedicated they are to their work, it's either there'll be a mole on their team or they simply wouldn't be able to handle Mr. King's attack cause it should be obvious by now that he tends to attack whenever we let our guards down. 

"Based on your looks, I think you haven't come up with one, yet." First being the straightforward guy that he is, said that without hesitation. 

Jake and Heine gave him an incredulous look as if telling him by those looks that he shouldn't have said that but he just shrugged at them. So the two guys couldn't help but just winced before looking at me and I smiled lightly. 

It's obvious that they're nervous for First because I might snap at the latter or worst beat the hell outta him and it's also obvious that they are surprised upon seeing my reaction.

"What? People change. I'm not the grumpy type anymore. In fact, I met someone who can be grumpier than me." I said pertaining to Gabriel and they both let out an awkward laugh.

But then, I saw how Jake suddenly turned serious so I gave him a questioning look. 

He cleared his throat to get the other two's attention before looking at me once again. He even put both of his elbows above his knees before intertwining his hands with each other. 

"What is it?" Heine asked him as we all grew anxious with the way he's acting. 

"I think that 'change' you're talking about is one of the factors why you haven't come up with a plan yet, Mason." He said and I can't help but frown. I kinda don't understand what he means. 

"Brief me." I said calmly but in my mind, I feel like I won't like what I'm about to hear from him. 

"Well, you used to be a very decisive person before. Simply because you don't have anyone to consider aside from yourself so you were easily able to come up with a plan of running away from your father and hired the three of us as your informant and eliminators as well." Jake said and I felt my head throbbed when I heard the word 'eliminators' from him. "But now, it's obvious that you had a lot of things to consider and are having a hard time thinking to lessen the possible collateral damage your father might cause to you, your family and your friends. And knowing you, you always wanted your plan to be flawless and foolproof. It's not that you haven't come up with any plans at all, Mason. You actually had a lot of things in mind but none of those things resulted in small collateral damage."

We all fell into deep silence after what he said. 

It made sense now. 

What Jake said was actually the truth. 

I've been indecisive about this whole damn thing because I'm afraid that whatever I'll do, I might hurt the people around me and I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me. Not my friends and their children. And most importantly, not my Gabriel and our Nathan. 

"But it's now or never, Mason. You need to decide before it's too late for us to even act." First said and Hai nodded to agree. 

I can feel the pressure building up in my system but I can't do anything about it cause they are all right. 

"Your Dad is a ticking time bomb, Maze. And it's either we detonate him or else he'll cause bigger damage than what he did 12 years ago." Heine said seriously and it made my already fast heartbeat doubled. 

They are all right. 

I must decide now before it's too late. 

I cannot afford to lose anyone I love. 

Not anymore.

I failed to protect my Mom from her husband causing her to take her own life. 

That's also the reason why I ran and hid from him cause I want to protect myself from more damage. 

But this time, I'm not just doing this for myself. 

I'm doing this for Gabriel and Nathan.

It might be a crucial move for me. And I must admit that it's really dangerous. 

I know I've once said that my love for Gabriel will be the reason why I want to go on. 

It's still the same. I still want to go on my our life mainly because of him and our son.

But right now, I must admit that I'm afraid of the possibility that this love of ours will also be the reason of my fall.

But as long as it's for Gab and Nathan, I'm willing to do whatever it takes just to protect them to the best of my capabilities. No matter what risks I'm gonna take.

Be it the death of me. 

I'll save this family. 

And so I sighed, I can feel my face slowly turning into a deep frown as I contemplate on what's the best thing to do. The three guys in front of me kept their mouth shut cause they can obviously see that I'm thinking critically. 

And when I have finally decided, I looked at the three of them with great determination. 

"Let's play two games."

Gabriel's

"Are you okay?" I looked at Royce when he asked me that question and I can see from his face that he's worried. So I forced a smile before nodding. I'm cooking chicken curry and mixed vegetables for lunch and Royce came to help me. 

I must've been spacing out and he noticed that I'm not at my best right now. 

Well, who would be at his best in this situation?

I've been perturbed for weeks now while trying to look like there's nothing wrong in front of our son and still trying my best to do my duty as Maze's better half and Nathan's best dad.

The truth is, I'm not okay. Especially with what happened a while ago and the sudden introduction between me and the people from my husband's past whom I've never heard about from him.

I dunno if I'm confused, frustrated or mad. Or maybe I'm all of that because I just realized that there are still things from Mew's past that he hadn't told me and it made me ask myself how many things are there that Maze is still keeping from me?

"You know Maze is not the type of person who would dig on his past and downright share it to anyone just like any bedtime stories. Right, Gab?" Again, I looked at Royce and it's obvious that he knows what's currently on my mind.

And since he had caught me off guard, I didn't get to say anything aside from nodding. 

There's no use for denying. 

Funny how I used to give advice to other people before and yet, here I am. Testing my luck if I can get advice from Royce since he and Maze have been friends even before I met my husband. 

I'm thinking if he can enlighten me even just a bit on what's the real deal between Maze and the three guys they came here with and maybe he can also tell me the reason why Maze seems to be too superior for those guys as if my husband holds an omnipotent power.

I nearly jumped when Royce suddenly patted my shoulder.

"Easy, Dude." He tried jesting but to no avail, my mood and thoughts is still making me feel demotivated to even jest back.

His smile faded when he saw that I don't find anything funny at all and sighed afterwards. 

"The only way to know what you want to know is to ask, Gabriel." He said in a more serious tone so I looked at him with great resolve. 

"Then tell me, Royce. What kind of work did those three guys do for my husband before?"