The Billionaire's Authentic Daughter ▶️

9 2 | J U L I A

Darius's apartment building was glorious. It was towering, looked beautiful from outside and had a lot of amenities. When I stepped out on his floor, it had only one door. So he had a floor all to himself.

Despite being nervous to see Darius like this, invading his space because of my impatience to see Braxton and not having even asked if it was okay to come over, I moved on without hesitation. It seemed like I wasn't going to care about anything until I spoke with Braxton.

I pressed the doorbell and it was opened in seconds with him filling the doorway. He looked different than all the times I'd seen him at Braxton's house or the studio. Unlike the other times when he was dressed beautifully, emanating a lovely aura that instantly made people stop and stare, he was now in huge shirt that swallowed his form and sweatpants. He looked like a regular person.

"That was quick," he said and let me inside after I stood there just staring at him for a little longer without saying anything.

I expected to see something extravagant like the building was but his living room was simplistic yet elegant. Not a lot of furniture took up space and it was clean and nice. It appealed to me.

I decided then that I'd get an apartment like this for myself in the future.

I refused anything he offered for me to eat.

"So what brings you here?" He asked as we sat on his couch.

"Don't tell Maggie, but I need to see Braxton. Like right now. I know he's on some remote island, God knows how safe that is and Maggie seems unconcerned about it. But I'm not. Will you tell me where exactly is this island? I need to go there."

"He didn't tell you before he left?" He asked.

I hid a sigh of exasperation. Everyone was answering my question with another one of theirs.

"No."

"That's surprising," he said, leaning forward to scrutinize me. "Did you guys fight?"

"No, we just had a, a little misunderstanding."

"And it can't wait until he comes back for you to clear it?"

I shook my head defiantly. "I want to see him today. I don't want him to misunderstand me for any longer."

"What happened?"

I had hoped he wouldn't ask but he did and all I could do was give him a uncomfortable look.

A second later, he nodded. "Seems like a private matter. Sorry I asked."

I waited for him to give me the location but he just raised his hand and tugged at his hoop earring. "Well?" I prodded. "The island-"

"I'm not going to tell you."

I deflated at his outright refusal. "What? Why?"

"Because you plan to go off there alone and I can't allow that. Braxton told us about your situation. You really do look a lot like that girl who ran away from home-Juliet, wasn't it?"

"I'll be fine. I have travelled alone before and it hadn't been a problem then."

"Braxton doesn't think so. He cares about you and doesn't want you to get hurt. I won't be the one to put you in danger by sending you off alone. In fact," he leaned over to grab his phone. "I will make sure neither Imani nor Geun give you any information. Just go back and wait two days for him to come back."

"No," I shrieked, lunging at him without giving it a thought. The next thing I realized, I was holding his wrist to restrain him from calling anyone and my other hand was resting on his shoulder.