Alex POV
How time flies, it has been a week since I proposed to get married to Alicia, and with each day that passed by, I have been anticipating that day. Now, I regret giving us two months and two weeks, but I just needed some time to focus on work and get the contracts back before then.
Sitting in my office and staring into a space, a smirk laces up my lips as the imagination of the look she will have on her face when she finds out the truth hits me hard, because why not?
The sound of my ringing phone pulls my attention, and I pick it up to see a strange number displayed on the screen.
“Let’s meet,” A deep masculine voice sounds from the other end, and I crease my eyebrows as I try to recall if I’ve heard the voice before, but it was my first time.
“Who is this?” I ask curiously.
“I will send you the address. Let’s meet tonight,” The voice utters before the call drops dead, and my heart drops in my stomach as many questions came nibbling at me. Well, it’s nothing to worry about.
Curiosity and a bit of fear cloud my mind when my phone beeps later and a text pops on the screen. It’s the address of the person, but the place he asked to meet him isn’t somewhere hidden, so I’m a bit relieved.
I am having an appointment with one of the contractors today, and sadly that I have to go over to his company to see him since the meeting is not scheduled here.
I check my wristwatch before I stand up and stride out of my office since I still have about an hour left. The drive there should be about thirty minutes, and since there is a big chance of getting stuck in a traffic jam later, I think it’s better I just leave this early.
“Draft my schedule for the week and send it to my table. Postpone some of my meetings to tomorrow, because I may not come back early,” I say to my secretary before I finally stride out of the office.
The drive to the company as expected took me about fifty minutes, since I was stuck in a traffic jam.
“You are welcome, Mr. Dante,” Mr. Leonardo, a middle-aged man utters as soon as I was led into his office by the secretary.
“Thank you, it’s nice to meet you,” I shake hands with him before I finally sit on the chair, and the meeting kicks off afterward.
The meeting went well, and soon, we were done with it. Well, I was expecting the reply when I asked why he changed his mind in the first place, and he ended up telling me the same thing Mr. Austin told me some days ago. It was all my dad’s doing.
“Thank you very much for working with us, and I’ll be looking forward to doing more business with you,” I shake his hand before I finally leave his office, and head back to the company.
As I drive down the road a few minutes later, many thoughts parade my mind, but the most important one is my mom. I really want to meet her, but at the same time, I’m scared of meeting her. What if she doesn’t want to see me? What if she didn’t bother to reach out to me all these while because she never liked me? I don’t know what to think, I’m torn between my desire and fear.
Pushing all the thoughts to the back of my mind, I pull over at the side of the road to answer the call from Max.
“Hey, what’s up,” I say as soon as I answer the call.
“Where are you?” His voice sounds through the phone, and I pull a puzzled look because he has never sounded like that before.
“I just met one of the contractors, and on my way to the company. Is everything alright?” I ask him calmly.
“We need to meet at the restaurant right now. There is something I need to tell you. I will be expecting you at the usual restaurant,” He utters before the call finally ends, and I crease my eyebrows confusingly, asking myself what must’ve happened.
Since there is no time to ask that question now, I start the car and zoom off, heading to the restaurant, since I am a bit closer.
I pull over in front of the restaurant minutes later, and I find his car parked in front of it. I proceed toward the entrance door, and I spot him sitting at the far end of the restaurant once I walk in.
“What happened, Max? You sounded urgent,” I ask as I pull out the chair opposite him, but he answers my question by dropping a brown envelope on the table. His eyes are blazing with anger.
“What’s in there?” I drawl my question as I glance at him before I reach out for the envelope and open it.
“Someone sent that to me,” He utters as I bring out a few pictures from the envelope, but I glance at him confusingly.
“That is Alicia and her dad… Mr. Daniel is not her dad… That is her real dad there. An undercover armed robber, and a blackmailer,” I pull a puzzled look because this only gets more confusing the more he says it. The only person I have known to be her dad is Mr. Daniel, so what is he talking about now?
“What are you talking about, Max?” I ask him as I drop the envelope on the table after I keep the pictures inside.
“I found her diary somewhere in the room earlier this, and I went through it. Alicia is not his daughter…” He pauses before he brings out the diary and drops it on the table, and I quickly pick it up. My eyes widen as I slowly glance through it page by page. Wow! Just wow! How the heck was she able to hide this for years without anyone knowing about it?
“After I found out, I decided to hire a private investigator to track and start stalking the man, which has yielded a good result. The man is not just a robber and blackmailer, but he is also into illegal drugs. My investigator managed to get his phone and stalk it, and I found out that he has been blackmailing Alicia to give her money, so he will keep his mouth shut,” Max further says, and I sigh briefly. This is becoming more interesting, as I’ve gotten more criminal evidence to use against her. She deserves to rot in jail for taking the man’s kindness for granted. Yes, she was just a naive ten years old girl, but fuck! That act is disgusting. How could she think of blackmailing the man into believing she was an orphan?
“This is disgusting,” I mutter as I drop the diary on the table, and sigh briefly.
“Let’s give it some time, Max,” I say to him, but he is only staring into space as a drop of tears slid down the corner of his cheek. He has always been a vulnerable person that gives in easily to pain. He is a strong man, but weak at heart.
“Are you crying again? Oh, come on, there’s no reason to, ok?” I hold his hand and assure him.
“I’m scared, Alex… I want dad and Alicia to either rot in jail, or in the pit of hell for doing this to me, but what about you? What is going to happen to you? The cops are going to question you when they find out you were an accomplice in the first place,” He utters, and I sigh briefly. So, this was about me? Well, I understand how he feels, but I don’t really care about what happens to me.
“I will fix it…”
“You won’t go to jail, right? I don’t want that to happen,” He slowly shakes his head, and I scoff
“Don’t be a crybaby, Max. I won’t go to jail, and that is a promise I’m making to you,” I assure him as I wipe his tears with my thumb after I lean forward.
“I will hold on to that then. What are we going to do?” He asks.
“Don’t worry about anything, I will handle the mess and not get you involved, ok? I promise to take care of everything, and things will go back to the way they used to be, and that is very soon, ok?” I assure him, and he nods his head.
“I’m sad, Alex… I feel less of a man because you are handling everything by yourself… I don’t just feel like doing anything… At times, I just want to end things because of the betrayal, but when I think of Ariel, I feel the hope to live again. This is too much,” He scoffs as he throws his head back, forcing back the fresh tears that threaten to leave his eyes.
“I understand. I will feel the same way if I were in your shoe. I am your brother, ok? I will clear the mess, and you don’t have to worry yourself about anything. Just hang in there, and get back to your feet once again soon,” I reply to him, and he nods his head.
“Thank you, Alex,” He utters, and I nod my head…