Chapter Twenty
Lauren
“I can’t believe I lost again!” I exclaimed in frustration as I tossed my phone on the pillow beside me, having lost another match in Call of Duty Mobile.
I was more frustrated by the fact that I was running out of things to do, though. I had thought there would be endless things for me to do here in Max’s mansion, but I was wrong.
I had been cooped up for three days now. I’d toured the whole house. I’d been sleeping more than I should have. I finished a TV series in the theater. I had played a ton of mobile games. I even worked out a little in the gym. Now what?
I wished either Max, Wade, or Jake were here, but they were all busy. Jake and Wade were busy with Black Storm stuff. Jake’s house was the new Black Storm HQ now so there was probably a lot going on there. Max was busy with work, which I now understood. Running a multi-billion-dollar corporation was surely no easy feat. Still, I missed them all.
I hugged another pillow to my chest, sighing. Should I call them? Probably not. I would just end up missing them more.
I should probably just try to find something to keep myself busy as well. Read a book from the library? I was never a bookworm, though. I liked browsing books in a store, looking at the covers, flipping the pages, reading the snippets at the back, but I couldn’t even remember the last book I’d read, and by that, I meant finished from first to last page.
Take a stroll through the garden? It was foggy outside, though, as it had been nearly all the time since I’d arrived. Take a dip in the indoor pool? As much as I hated to admit it, though, I didn’t know how to swim. Besides, I didn’t have a swimsuit.
I might as well soak in the tub. Oh, wait. I already did that earlier today. Wasn’t there really anything else I could do?
“Bored already?” A voice jolted me out of my thoughts and made me jump into an upright position on the couch.
I turned my head and saw a woman standing across the room, tall and slender and in a classy black and white dress suit. Her dark brown hair was swept back neatly into an elegant bun. Diamond earrings dangled from her ears and an expensive-looking watch gleamed on her wrist. Was she some kind of model for a luxury brand?
She did look like a model strutting on the runway as she walked toward me, her stilettos clacking on the hardwood floor. Then she stopped in front of me and stretched out her arm.
“I’m Irina,” she introduced herself as she offered me her hand. “I’m Max’s fiancée.”
My jaw dropped. Max was engaged? But of course, he would be. He was a Shelton, after all, which meant he probably had a duty to pass on the family last name and fortune. And of course, it would be to someone beautiful and obviously wealthy. She must be an heiress or a billionaire herself. Royalty even.
As I looked at her, I just knew there was no way I could compete with her, not in height or in taste for fashion. I was only wearing a gray turtleneck and pink cotton pants. I thought of her obvious pedigree, my heart already sinking. Only one thing gave me hope. Didn’t Max say that he loved me?
Suddenly, Irina covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. My eyebrows furrowed. Was she making fun of me? Her laughter didn’t sound mocking, though.
She placed a hand on my shoulder as she tried to regain her composure. “Sorry. I’m just kidding.”
I felt even more confused. So she wasn’t Max’s fiancée?
She offered me her hand again. “I’m Irina, Max’s sister.”
“Oh.” I gave her my hand, though my head was still spinning. “You’re Max’s sister.”
“Well, half-sister, which is why we don’t look all that alike,” she replied.
Now that I thought of it, they had the same mesmerizing blue eyes though.
Irina gave me a warm smile. “You must be the Lauren I’ve heard so much about.”
My eyebrows arched. Max told her about me?
“I must say I never thought my brother would fall in love,” she went on, taking a seat beside me. “But I’m glad. Who knows? Maybe now, he’ll be inspired to take his job and his future seriously.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “Are you saying he’s been slacking off?”
He was almost always on his laptop, though.
“Oh, you bet.” Irina slumped against the cushions. “I’m the one who’s been attending meetings and product launches and factory openings and galas, giving press interviews, meeting with our partners all over the globe, wooing new investors, and placating the old geezers on the board.”
No wonder she looked familiar. I must have seen her in the news on TV or on the internet, though I never really paid attention to all that business stuff, which felt like troubles from another world.
“Is it because Max won’t go?” I asked.
Irina nodded. “Ever since Max became CEO, he’s been doing the bare minimum. He doesn’t like the fame, the spotlight. He doesn’t like parties. He doesn’t like meetings. He doesn’t like pretending to get along with strangers, even if it is for business.” She sat up and looked at me. “Wait. He didn’t tell you all this?”
“I didn’t even know he was a Shelton until several days ago,” I confessed.
Irina gasped. “He didn’t tell you? Why, that…”
“It’s fine, though.” I placed my hand on her shoulder. “It doesn’t make a difference, anyway.”
Besides, I didn’t tell him who I really was either.
“You mean you still love him?” Irina asked me.
The question took me by surprise. I looked away, fighting a blush as I tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear.
“I…”
“It’s okay.” Irina placed her hand on my thigh. “You don’t have to answer that. I can see it, anyway.”
That just made me blush all the more.
“And I can tell why Max is in love with you. You’re quite adorable, especially when you’re flustered.”
Now, she was just teasing me.
I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “Did you and Max grow up together?”
“Yes. In this house actually.” She stood up, touching her chin. “Come to think of it, I wonder if it’s still there.”
What was still where?
Irina looked at me. “Would you like to see my old room?”
I nodded. I’d been to almost every room in the mansion, so I might as well.
“I’d love to.”
“Great. Come with me.”
She took my hand but suddenly froze, grimacing. My eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “It’s just the usual. You know, monthly cramps.”
Ah, those. Yup, I remember how that feels. Come to think of it, though, I haven’t had my period this month.
I paused, worry creeping into my mind. Back when I was with Clyde, I was on birth control pills because he didn’t want kids, but I stopped the day I left him. And I had been sexually active since then. Very active. And neither Max, nor Jake, nor Wade had used protection.
Was it possible that I had gotten pregnant?
“Is something wrong?” Irina’s question burst into my thoughts.
I nodded and forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
My period was probably just delayed due to stress. A lot had happened lately, after all.
Irina hooked her arm around mine. “Shall we?”
“Sure.”
I let her lead me to the staircase. As we climbed the steps, I decided to cast my worries aside, instead seizing the chance to know more about Max.
“So, what was Max like growing up?” I asked.
“Oh, he liked to have fun,” Irina answered with a smile. “Sometimes, he’d get in trouble for it, but he would have no regrets. He always knew what he wanted, and he never let anyone get in his way.”
As she spoke, I could hear the pride in her voice, but also a tinge of sadness. Was it because Max could no longer live the way he wanted to?
“He was never mean to anyone, though,” Irina went on. “He always had a good heart. When Grandpa’s memory started to go bad, he would help him find his things without him knowing. He would get Grandpa’s glasses and put them somewhere Grandpa would surely notice.”
That was nice.
“So the two of you lived here with your grandfather?”
“Yes. Our mom and his dad were always busy. Grandpa looked after us. And a bunch of highly paid personnel.”
“Is your mom still around?”
“Nope. She died shortly after Max’s dad did. He died of a heart attack. She died of an overdose. Probably couldn’t live without him. Then Grandpa died the year after, and Max ran away.”
I paused at the top of the stairs, my eyebrows furrowed. “Ran away?”
Irina stopped as well, looking at me. “I guess he didn’t tell you that either, but yes, Max ran away shortly after he inherited everything. He tried working at the office at first for Grandpa’s sake, then when Grandpa died, he just took off and left me in charge of everything. By that, I mean he left all the hard work to me. He’s still the only one who can make the important decisions.”
She continued walking. I followed her.
“I guess that’s when she met Jake and joined Black Storm,” I said.
“I guess.” Irina shrugged. “When he told me he’d joined a motorcycle club, I was shocked at first, but then, I remembered he was always fond of fast things: fast cars, fast horses, roller coaster rides, skiing downhill, white water rafting. I thought if that was what could finally make him happy, then he should go for it.”
“You didn’t try to make him go back to the office?”
Irina shook her head. “I know Max. The more you tell him to do something, the more he won’t do it. I was actually hoping Jake would be able to persuade him. He’s a good man. He and Wade have been good influences on Max, I think. But it’s you who seems to have changed his mind.”
My eyebrows arched. “Me?”
“He showed up at the office yesterday, you know,” Irina told me. “Asked me a lot of questions. Looked at some files.”
So that was where Max went yesterday. I didn’t know that either.
“I don’t know. He just seemed different,” Irina continued. “It was like he’s all grown up and finally ready to take the helm of the ship.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t know how I’m supposed to take responsibility for that.”
Irina placed her hand on my shoulder. “Being in business, especially in our kind of business, is like waging an everyday battle. A bloody battle. It helps to have something to fight for. Or someone.”
I said nothing, not knowing what to say. I felt glad, flattered by the idea that I had inspired Max to finally take his place at the top of the corporate ladder, but it also felt like an honor I didn’t deserve. Was it really all right for Max to be inspired by someone like me?
Before I could figure out the answer, we reached Irina’s old room. She punched in the code on the keypad, opened the door, and turned on the lights. I felt like a kid in a candy store again as I gazed around the room. It was even larger than the room I was staying in, which was already the largest room I’d ever stayed in, and even though it must have been unoccupied for so long, there was not a single speck of dust on any of the beautiful furniture that was all done up in shades of pink and purple.
This was clearly a girl’s room.
There was a ruffled canopy above the bed, a dresser in a corner, a music box on a desk, and flowers on the wall. There were also snow globes and dolls on the mantel of the fireplace and a painting of a ballerina above it.
No wonder Irina looked like a princess. She had grown up in a room made for one.
“Aha! There it is!” she suddenly exclaimed, looking inside her closet.
I walked over to where she stood, and she placed her arm around me, pointing at the inscription on the wood.
“See that?”
I could make out a few scrawny letters. H-E-Z - or was that an N? Then an R and…
“Henry,” Irina read it out loud. “I had a crush on a guy named Henry when I was in sixth grade, and I was so crazy about him I carved his name into the back of my closet with the key to my diary.” She let out a sigh as she dropped her shoulders. “Ah, the stupid things we do for love.”
I nodded. Even I had done my fair share of those kinds of things. Funny when you’re a kid. Cringe-worthy as you get older.
As Irina kept quiet, seemingly going down memory lane, I turned my attention to the bed. There were toys on it, one of which was a stuffed cat. I picked it up, remembering that I used to have one, too.
A stuffed cat with a big bow on its head and purple stripes. I had a drawing of it on my bedroom wall, too. One which JJ helped me draw.
Wait. JJ? Right. He was the one who taught me how to draw all sorts of things. Cats. Ponies. Flowers. He drew for me, too.
A gerbera daisy just like the tattoo Jake made for me.
I dropped the stuffed cat and clutched the pendant of my necklace as my breath left me, a realization sinking in.
JJ. Jake. They both started with J. Surely, that wasn’t just a coincidence. Besides, now that I thought about it, Jake had the same serious look on his face when he did my tattoo as JJ did when he used to draw for me. Those furrowed eyebrows. The slightly clenched jaw. I remember because I used to stare at his face even though I was supposed to watch his hands, his expression simply captivating me. Then there was the fact that Jake asked about my childhood without explaining why.
My heart stopped as my thoughts raced, an idea forming in my head.
Was Jake the artist I had looked up to as a little girl?