𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞)

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 - 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐀 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝐌𝐚𝐱

"I don't have the whole night, Maxwell."

I didn't speak for a while, for a long while. It was a huge decision for me, though at the farthest corner of my mind, I wished he was joking, part of me wanted to believe he couldn't act on it. But then again this was the man that had killed Chris in cold blood. My heart still ached at his unnecessary death. He did nothing wrong, I was the one that decided to kidnap Lia, not him. He was my employee, he was just following orders just like the men in the room were following this man's orders.

His black eyes looked more darker than before, I didn't even know that was possible. He was an unforgiving man, it was in those dark orbs.

"Fa...ce." I stammered.

Something in his gaze changed, was it surprise? I couldn't tell.

"I thought he was going to choose family." Said the silent one. He was leaning on the back of his chair, his eyes closed, his right leg across the left kneel.

"I thought so too." Lia's father mumbled. "I thought you would choose your family name with the hope that it's too old, too distinguished to be pulled down," he added, his mouth curled in a wry grimace.

"I considered it," I said honestly, and it brought a smile to his face, a genuine grin that transformed his whole face even the eyes somewhat seemed less black, less scary.

"Daddy," Lia's soft voice broke the connection, and he quickly swivelled toward his daughter.

"Princess," the soft, gentle voice was a complete change from the man who had entered the room and destroyed my existence, and he still wasn't done.

"You haven't called me princess since I turned seven," Lia said with a soft laugh, and my chest aches at the sound. I realize I'm still very much attracted to her, but I would be staying the fuck away from her if I get out of this with my life intact.

"And you haven't called me daddy since you turned seven, which means you want something. What do you need?" I steal a glance at her. She bites her lower lip as if she is trying to find the best way to ask her father for whatever she wanted.

"He can't choose his face." My heart drops to the ground, I start shaking like I'm having a fever. This was a never-ending nightmare. My life had come to an end at twenty-eight and I had nothing, except a teen drama to show for it.

"Why not?"

"He is the star of the show that I just bagged. If you take his face beauty, the show might not be renewed. "

"That is fickle." her father drawled in an amused tone, the corner of his lips curling as he stared at me with a measuring look.

"People are fickle." She said, turning her face to where I sat. Her eyes settle on mine, and for a full minute, she is holding me captive with those eyes that somehow have turned from the usual soft to the savage of her father's.

"Why not his family?" her ferocious tone has me scared that he might actually do as she says.

"He has already chosen his face, Lia."

"But messing up his face might fuck up my career."

Oh, she was selfish. But I shouldn't be pointing fingers. I was the king of selfishness.

"You're not exempted from consequence either, sweetheart." Her father says, his face slowly shifting from me to her.

"But I was drugged and kidnapped. Isn't that enough?" The doctor puts a bottle of water in her hands and says, "Drink this." She takes a gulp of the water, and I notice she mouths the word thank you immediately after. She might be a princess, but she is different from me. From anyone in my circle who could never say the words thank you to a doctor for giving us water. We think their services to us are our god given right. We are arrogant and entitled.