Max POV
As I drive down the road, many questions linger on my mind. Who is this woman I’m going to meet? I ask myself, deciding on whether to drive back from here or continue the journey out of curiosity. I just hope that this is not some sort of setup.
I asked Alex to help me watch over Ariel and the babies since I have somewhere to be, and he is currently in the hospital, waiting for me.
Following the address that was sent to me, I finally arrive at the place, and I find someone standing in front of the building she had described for me.
“Max…” She waves her hand in the air, telling me that she is the one I have come to see, and I hesitate for a while before I finally walk over to her.
“Who are…”
“We don’t have all the time in the world, Max… You need to take me to a safe place so we can talk, ok?” She pleads with me as she looks around the place with fear written all over her.
“What do you mean? I don’t even know you, so why should I…”
“We don’t have all the time in the world, Max. You need to take me to a safe place if you want to know the truth, ok? It’s about your mom and Dante… Dante is after my life because he doesn’t want me to tell you the truth,” Hearing this from her, I become a bit convinced that she must really have something to tell me, and hearing the part that my dad is after her life, makes me kind of believe her.
“Come with me,” I say to her before we head to where I park my car, and we both hop in. Turning the car around to leave, I stop abruptly when I spot someone going into the building we just walked away from. The person is dressed in all black, with his face covered. He is holding a knife, a small dagger.
I watch as the person walks into the building and takes much time before he finally walks out of the building. He looks around the place as if he is looking for someone, and when he can’t find the person he was probably looking for, he kicks his legs and curses loudly. Now everything seems clear to me. The person there is after this woman’s life. She wasn’t lying to me.
Well, my car is parked in a hidden place that the person can’t see, so we are safe. I watch as he walks over to the car he just hopped out of moments ago before he drives away. I hear the woman breathe out heavily as she throws her head on the headrest as she stares into space.
“What the hell just happened?” I wanted to ask her, but I don’t even think now is the right time to do that. I don’t even know what to think now.
“Are you ok?” I ask her as I tilt my head to look at her, and she slowly nods her head.
“Hmm,” She sighs briefly.
“I will find a place for your to lay your head tonight. We can talk about it tomorrow when you’ve had rest,” I say to her, but she quickly shakes her head.
“I don’t know if things will go bad by tomorrow, so we need to talk about it tonight,” She replies to me, and I nod my head.
“Alright. So, what do you want to talk about?” I ask her, and she sighs briefly.
“Zara, your mom and I were best friends way back in high school until she breathed her last. We went to the same college, and there, she met Dante in our finals, and they fell in love…” She pauses and takes a deep breath, tears brimming in her eyes, which only tells me that whatever story she is going to tell me will definitely be a sad one.
“Zara and Dante were known to be the best couples on campus then, and we all knew that they were truly in love with each other. Zara was from a noble family… A family where money flows, but yet, she was in bondage. She had to take decisions from her strict parents even though she was over twenty years old…” She pauses again and takes a deep breath.
“It all started when her parents found out she was dating Dante, a commoner that had nothing to offer to their only child, but love and sex. They were scared she would go astray, so they forced Zara into marrying another man, Jaxon Jacob, a billionaire at that time, and that was the end of the relationship between Dante and Zara,” She explains, and I scoff as I find the whole thing confusing, because this is really crazy.
“What do you mean? I don’t understand,” I express my confusion.
“Zara hated Jaxon even though the young man loved her with everything in him… He tried to win her heart, but she still had her world revolving around Dante, whom she knew things could never work out between them. Shortly, Zara got pregnant for Jaxon, and she became devastated because she felt she betrayed Dante, even if she was legally married to Jaxon…”
“Wait, what! Pregnant for…” I stop to think about everything she just said, and it’s just not making any sense to me.
“She had her first child with Jaxon, and soon, she was pregnant with her second child again… But unfortunately, Jaxon died in a car accident three months after Zara had her second son, leaving the kids and the mom. Zara inherited the properties of her husband, and that of her parents too, since they were aging so fast then,” She further says, and I gulp down nothing nervously, praying that it’s not what I’m thinking. No, it can’t be.
“One year later, she got back together with Dante, who promised to take care of the kids and raise them to be his own… Dante is not your dad, Maxwell,” She slowly shakes her head, and I freeze on the seat as I stare at her, trying to process everything she just said to me, because none of it seems to be making any sense to me.
“I think he is up to something… I knew that when your little brother suddenly took over the company… But I recently found out that he has a family somewhere… He was married before he legally got married to Zara after Jaxon’s death,” She further says, and my mouth drops open in shock. It’s not the news that shocks me so much, but realizing that Alex is my brother from the same mom, but he lied to us. How much more has he betrayed us? How much more has he broken us apart? With all these going on in my mind, tears brim in my eyes until they find their way down my cheeks. I feel my heart wrenches painfully, and I bit my bottom lip.
“I think he wants to take the properties your mom worked so hard for,” She added, and I knew that even if she didn’t tell me.
“But… How come you never showed up all this while?” I turn and ask her.
“I have come several times, but he never allowed me to see any of you. He made sure he kept you away from me. I have all the tapes where he threatened to hurt me if I try to tell you the truth…” She pauses and dips her hand inside the pocket of the coat she is wearing. She brings out a drive and hands it to me.
“This belonged to your mom… She asked me to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday, but I never had the chance to, because Dante never allowed me. I don’t know what it contains, but I think everything you need to know will be there,” She says as tears finally stream down her cheeks.
“Thank you,” I manage to say to her, and she nods her head.
“You should be careful around him, Max… I know she will be suspicious of you knowing something about him now. You should take care of yourself and your brother, ok?” She says to me before she made to push the door open, but I hold her hand and stop her.
“Where are you going? It’s dangerous there,” I say to her, and she smiles at me.
“Don’t worry about me, Max. I will be glad even if I die after this… This has been one of the reasons I’ve been wanting to stay alive… I want you to know the truth, and now that you know everything, I have nothing to burden my heart anymore,” She smiles at me.
“You have protected this secret all your life, and it’s my turn to protect you now. I won’t let you leave, ma’am Elizabeth. You should come with me… I promise to take you to a safe place where he won’t be able to hurt you, ok?” I say to her, but she shakes her head.
“I…”
“It’s a request, and I will be glad if you grant it for me. Let me take you to a safe place,” I cut her off, and she sighs briefly…