Table of Contents

+ Add to Library

Previous Next

Chapter 7

  • Sia had a huge headache. That was the first thing she
  • thought when she woke up. The next thing was that she wasn’t in her bedroom.
  • Events from the previous night came back to her mind,
  • intensifying the headache she was already having. Groaning, she sat up,
  • surprised to find a blanket draped over her body and herself lying not in the
  • bean bag anymore but on the comfortable sofa in one corner of her work station.
  • Her face heated up when she remembered how Julian had
  • held her in his strong arms as she cried, how he had made her feel comfortable.
  • She could still feel a tingle in her earlobes from when his warm breath had
  • fanned her face. But the good memories stopped there. She wrapped her arms
  • around herself as she felt the past whisper in her ears, trying to haul her
  • back into the darkness that she couldn’t seem to leave behind. But she shook
  • her head, refusing to feed the demons, and stood up from the sofa.
  • The clock on the wall read 11:23 AM. She sighed and made
  • her way back to her room and went straight to the bathroom for a quick shower.
  • But when she looked at the mirror, she was horrified. Her eyes were red and
  • swollen, and her face was blotchy from crying. How Julian could stand to look
  • at her was beyond her. She looked like nightmare personified. So, without
  • wasting any more time, she hopped into the shower.
  • Feeling refreshed after her shower, she didn’t feel like
  • going to her office anymore. She had worked overtime yesterday, and all her
  • paperwork had been sorted; if she was needed for anything, Millan would give
  • her a call. She decided to spend the day with her son . . . and maybe her
  • bodyguard too. Oh, who was she kidding?
  • Julian was bound to come along with her anywhere she went anyway, it was his
  • duty.
  • The sound of laughter interrupted her train of thought,
  • and she walked curiously towards the window, following the sound of the voices.
  • What she saw outside surprised her.
  • Leo was playing basketball with Julian. The ball was in
  • Leo’s hand, and he was dribbling and trying to reach the basket while Julian
  • chased him. The huge man finally reached for the ball and stole it right out of
  • Leo’s hand and scored. Leo whined about it being “not fair”, saying that Julian
  • was older and faster than him, but he was smiling. It was the happiest Sia had
  • seen him since the incident.
  • She got out of her bathrobe and put on white denim
  • shorts and a blue top with small white flowers on the collar line. She never
  • wore that much makeup on the daily, but today, she had to apply some concealer
  • under her eyes to patch up the redness around them and her dark spots. She
  • paired her dress with small white rose-shaped earrings and a watch. She
  • gathered her cell phone from her work station and put them in a white clutch
  • and put on a pair of blue stilettos to match her dress. It was almost 1 PM. by
  • the time she made reservations at a nearby diner, but since it was a diner she
  • frequented, the owner, who was an old friend, was able to do the reservations
  • despite the rush hour. Checking herself in the mirror one last time, she made
  • her way downstairs and towards the basketball court in the backyard.
  • “Boys!” she yelled when she spotted them still wrestling
  • to get the ball into the basket.
  • Both their heads snapped in her direction, and Julian’s
  • eyes widened a bit, making her blush. She just realized that this was the first
  • time she had so much of her legs exposed in front of him, and knowing his
  • reputation, Sia shook her head. He was her employee, not her boyfriend. Julian
  • wouldn’t risk making a move on her if he wanted to keep his job.
  • “You’re going to your office?” Leo’s whiny voice brought
  • her attention back to him.
  • She smiled at her beloved son.It delighted her that
  • after such a long time, Leo was warming up to another adult who was a man.
  • “No,” she answered and smirked when she saw both of them with confused
  • expressions.
  • “We’re going out for lunch at Paradiso,” she said,
  • smiling.
  • “Really?” Leo yelled in excitement while Julian frowned.
  • “Yes, really. Now, go get changed, and don’t forget to
  • wash up first,” Sia told Leo, but he was already halfway towards the house. Her
  • son was a huge fan of Italian food.
  • “Paradiso?” Julian asked with a raised eyebrow after he
  • saw Leo enter the house safely.
  • Sia blushed. “It’s an Italian restaurant nearby. Leo and
  • I have been going there since he was five. He loves it. I’m sorry I didn’t ask
  • you. Are you okay with Italian?” she asked.
  • “Are you serious? I love pasta!” Julian smiled, and it
  • transformed his face from hot to catastrophic.
  • “Aren’t you going to change?” she asked instead,
  • pointing to his surprisingly dry V-neck white shirt and black denims. It was
  • never a good idea to mix business with leisure.
  • “Nah! I’m good.” He smiled at her.
  • “Okay, then.” Sia smiled back.
  • “Mom! Julian! Let’s go!” Leo yelled at them from the
  • backdoor, now dressed in a black T-shirt and blue denims. She smiled; she’d
  • never seen him change so fast.
  • “Shall we?” Sia asked Julian.
  • “Lead the way.”
  • *           *           *
  • When Julian had woken up that morning, Sia was still
  • fast asleep . . . and wrapped tightly in his arms.
  • He felt a smile forming, but then, the previous night’s
  • events came rushing back, and his smile disappeared. He clenched his jaw as he
  • went through all the information he had gathered about Arthur Stone and then
  • came up with a plan.
  • Gently, he brushed back the dark hair from Sia’s
  • beautiful face, tracing two fingers down her pale cheeks. He could see that her
  • eyes were a bit swollen, but it was nothing that a little ice pack couldn’t
  • mend. At that moment, he thought that he could stay right there all day,
  • staring at her innocent beauty, but he had work to do, so he carefully
  • untangled himself from her. Once he was able to regain his composure, he took
  • her into his arms and got off the floor with her. Sia was surprisingly lighter
  • than he had expected her to be, and he carefully carried her over to the sofa a
  • few feet away and laid her down comfortably before covering her up with a
  • blanket he found folded at the foot of the sofa.
  • After one last look at her, he went straight to his room
  • and took a quick hot shower before getting dressed in a white V-neck shirt and
  • black jeans. Then he picked up his phone and dialed a number he had been trying
  • to avoid for the past few months. Desperate
  • times. He sighed to himself.
  • “So, you finally realized you can’t live without me, and
  • now you must go down on your knees ready to beg for me to come back,” said the
  • bored voice on the other end as soon as she picked up.
  • “Hello, Selena.” He kept his voice professional. “I need
  • you to find what you can about Arthur Stone,” he said, going straight to the
  • point.
  • “How about I hear an apology first?” she asked, annoyed.
  • Selena Fraser was one of the top informers of their
  • company and a skilled agent. In fact, she was one of the best that he himself
  • had trained. And she was also extremely gorgeous. It wasn’t a surprise when a
  • junior recruit had fallen head over heels in love with her. Julian had taken
  • pity on the fellow and set up a date with her. What he didn’t realize was that
  • the guy was a jerk and had tried to get into her pants as soon as Selena
  • arrived on the date. After Selena rejected the guy, he went out to his friends
  • and made up a false story about how he had fucked the hot senior. He eventually
  • had to confess his sins while lying in a pool of his own blood while Selena
  • cleaned her hands on his shirt, and ever since then, she’d held a grudge
  • against Julian for setting up the date. But it wasn’t his fault that the guy
  • turned out to be an idiot and like he said, these were desperate times.
  • “I already said sorry a thousand times! How long are you
  • going to hold it against me? Now, are you going to do your job or do I need to
  • call Christian?” If there was one person Selena both feared and respected, it
  • would be his brother.
  • “Fine, you jerk! Is it the same Arthur Stone who got
  • arrested for marrying a minor and abusing his wife?” she asked, switching
  • instantly from annoyed bitch to professional informer.
  • “Yes,” Julian answered, his jaw clenched.
  • “Fine. Give me a few hours,” she said and hung up
  • instantly.
  • Rude, he
  • thought, but he knew that Selena will help him out no matter how grumpy she
  • got. But he also knew that it hardly takes her an hour at most to gather all
  • information, but she’ll hold back for longer just so she can get back at him.
  • So, while waiting, he went to the kitchen for a late
  • breakfast but couldn’t find the maid anywhere. Instead, he walked to the table
  • and grabbed an apple and walked out into the backyard where he found Leo
  • playing basketball alone.
  • He had felt a little awkward in front of Leo before,
  • wondering about the relationship between Sia and Leo’s father, but now that he
  • knew the truth, he felt proud that the kid had been there for Sia when she
  • needed him most. He was a very sensible boy, which wasn’t usual for a boy his
  • age.
  • “Need help?” he asked, finishing off the apple and
  • throwing the core in a trash can.
  • Leo’s head snapped in his direction, causing him to drop
  • the ball which came rolling towards Julian’s feet. “Sure,” Leo answered with a
  • smile, a smile that was exactly like his mother’s.
  • “Okay then,” Julian said, picking up the ball. “Get
  • ready to be defeated by the almighty!” he said, then took off, running.
  • “Not a chance!” Leo laughed and ran after him.
  • They played for some time, and Julian realized he was
  • having more fun here with Leo than he had with his brother. Christian had
  • always been the scholar, the nerdy one, so he liked spending more time with his
  • books than with Julian. It’s not that Christian didn’t care; he did care a
  • great deal about Julian. He just rarely showed it.
  • They were so engrossed in the game that a yell from Sia
  • startled them both. Julian turned to look at her, and his breath was caught in
  • his throat. His eyes widened. Holy shit,
  • he thought. She looked hot. He had
  • never seen this much of her legs exposed before, and he was in awe of the
  • creamy white complexion of her skin. He noticed her blush, and he couldn’t help
  • but imagine those sexy legs wrapped around his hips. But he controlled his
  • emotions through clenched teeth. He was here for work, not for his cock.
  • Sia and Leo were talking about going to someplace named “Paradiso”
  • and he saw Leo practically dash towards the house. He soon learned that it was
  • an Italian restaurant which was Leo’s favorite. After Leo was done changing,
  • they were well on their way to their lunch destination.
  • The restaurant was pretty simple. Pink and blue walls
  • made a nice contrast and the atmosphere was perfect for a family outing. Lunch
  • was delicious. And it wasn’t just because the food was good. No, it was also
  • because he was having lunch with people he really enjoyed being with. Sia,
  • Julian noticed, loved to eat—a trait he loved in a woman. But mostly he enjoyed
  • how mother and son bickered over the menu and then watched them quietly steal
  • food from each other’s plates when the other didn’t notice. He watched in
  • amusement as Leo stole a piece of chicken right from under Sia’s nose while she
  • was busy on a phone call from her office.
  • After lunch, however, it was time for a fight between
  • him and Sia.
  • “Stop right there! I brought you here, so I’ll pay! It’s
  • my treat.”
  • “No, no! You already pay me for my services, but I think
  • it would be rude to make you pay. So I’m paying!”
  • “Come on! I should pay. This was my idea.”
  • “Maybe next time. I’m paying now.”
  • “But—”
  • “Mom! Julian! You guys are acting like little kids!” Leo
  • interrupted. “Seriously? If you guys want to pay so badly, then just pay half
  • each. See? It’s that easy!”
  • “Oh, really? And what about you?” An amused Sia asked
  • her son.
  • “Oh, no! I’m a minor with no job. You pay for me, Mommy!”
  • Leo told his mother slyly while batting his long lashes for added effect.
  • “You’re not getting any pocket money this week, mister!”
  • Sia mock glared at her son, but they both took his advice and split the bill.
  • Walking out of the restaurant together, Julian couldn’t
  • help but think that they felt like a family—Sia and Leo holding hands and
  • walking slightly behind him while he kept an eye out for trouble.
  • His phone rang in his pocket, and Julian immediately
  • took it out, relieved to see who was calling. Finally, he thought.
  • “You guys go ahead. I’ll be right back. Okay?” he told
  • Sia.
  • “Sure,” Sia said, smiling, and walked ahead with her
  • son.
  • “Yes?” he answered as soon as they were out of earshot.
  • “Arthur Stone, forty-four, semi-good looking, took over
  • Milton Co., probably by cheating, and then married their daughter. Sentenced to
  • life time imprisonment for fraud, abuse, child abuse, and rape. Was in the prison
  • for the last ten years and eleven months—”
  • “Wait! What do you mean ‘was in prison’?” Julian asked,
  • a sudden chill going down his spine.
  • “Would have known earlier if you’d let me finish, jerk!” Selena snapped and then continued in
  • her no-nonsense tone. “As I was saying, was
  • in prison for nearly eleven years, but he ran away three months ago, and the
  • police haven’t found him since. I’m working on the details of how he ran off,
  • but it’ll take time to hack into the cop’s top secret classified shit.” Selena
  • hung up once again, extracting her revenge for the hundredth time.
  • “Fuck!” Julian angrily ran a hand through his hair.
  • And that’s when he heard
  • the screech of the tires.