Chapter 23

VIVIAN

"So, everything's ready." I exhaled loudly, sitting on my bed. This was the first time I came back home since the whole Chris drama. I didn't even want to, but I'm leaving for London tomorrow, it was impossible to delay the inevitable any further. I had to not only pack, but also make sure everything was perfect for Adam and Maggie, since they will live here while I'm gone.

Maggie is a really nice woman, but she looks so sad most of the time. The only times you see her smile, really smile, is when Adam is talking to her gently, as if comforting her. I would think she misses London, yet she never talks about her life there. I barely know how they met, they haven't said much about Maggie's family, and lately I've started wondering how come they got married here and not there, and with no one from either side.

"You sure?" Adam wondered, busy making one of his fantastic cocktails.

"Pretty sure." I bit my lips, eyeing my apartment. It held so many memories. I've been here four years, Chris and I have spent here some of the greatest days and nights of our friendship, feeling nostalgic was inevitable. I keep wondering whether I could have acted differently, whether telling him the truth years ago would have changed anything or simply shortened our bond even more.

It's not like he feels the same. When he came to me that night, I don't know whether he intended to make such revelations as the ones he did, or if they just escaped his lips, but the one certainty I have, is that he never intended to confess the same feelings I have been craving to hear him admit for so long. He admitted to knowing, he never got even close to admitting to feeling. That makes a huge difference.

This is what I've been pondering on for the past few days. As much as it pains me, the end of our bond was inevitable. My feelings had no chance of ever being reciprocated, so, beyond the original reasons for needing time away from him, I had to add further reasons to maybe never go back to him at all. It's not the impossibility to forgive him, even though I still haven't and I might not for months if not years. It's the impossibility of our love entirely.

I thought Chris saw me as a sister, but maybe it was more like some sort of property, the one person he could never lose, because I would never dare leave him, no matter what. Even in that sense of property, however, there were no romantic feelings, I have come to peace with it. And if nothing, in 20 years, has ever sparked such emotions in him, nothing ever will. I might as well accept it and move on for real.

"We can always send you whatever you need." Maggie told me with a small smile.

"Indeed." I smiled back, leaving my last suitcase on the floor. "Are you liking New York, Maggie?" I asked as I went to sit on the armchair, opposite to her – I've learnt that she prefers to keep a physical distance between herself and any other person, except for Adam. Part of me wonders if it's a character trait or trauma, but I wouldn't want to make wrong assumptions that could lead to drama.

"It is ... highly different from London." She replied, smiling politely. I don't think I've ever seen her laugh.

"It's temporary." Adam mentioned, coming to us with the drinks he'd prepared. Much to my surprise, there wasn't one for his wife.

"Temporary?" I repeated, confused, offering a sip of my cocktail to her.

"Maggie doesn't drink alcohol." He justified, coming to sit beside her.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized, because it felt like I'd offended her, somehow. "But what do you mean it's temporary, Adam?"

"We're not staying in New York." He answered a bit evasively, taking a sip of his drink. "We're considering moving to California."

I legit gulped, taken aback. Adam hates the heat, why pick such a State? "Why California, in particular?"

"Maggie is tired of bleak weather," he chuckled, drinking some more.

Part of me wanted to point out that she was from London, which notoriously has a horrible weather, but I preferred to remain quiet. The more time I spent with Adam and Maggie, the more suspicious I felt. I never bought his 'love at first sight' explanation on why did he break up with the man we were sure he would marry someday, to instead marry a woman in a rush a woman he barely knows.

"Simone knows I'm coming, right?" I wondered, kind of wanting to test the waters. Every time I mention his ex, there's something regretful in Adam's countenance.

"Of course." He nodded, somewhat hiding away his face.

"You sure?" I doubt he's spoken to his ex at all since he moved back to America.

As if on cue, Adam explained: "A mutual friend told him about you and he agreed to let you live there as long as you need."

"He accepted a roommate he's never even seen?" I wondered, marveled.

Adam's smile seemed more than nostalgic, it was heartbreaking. "Simone is really open, he's got a vitality, a love for life that I'm sure will only do you good, Viv. I don't think he even considered saying no when he heard you needed a place to stay. He may seem a bit crazy and irresponsible, but he has a heart of gold."

There were so many things I wanted to say and ask, but I didn't dare. And yet, I couldn't help catching Maggie's remorseful look as she stared as her husband. A moment later, she excused herself, and I felt guilty for even bringing up the subject. There has to be more to it than what they let on, I just don't know what.

✨✨

CHRIS

"What do you mean, you're going to California?" I asked, taken aback. "You hate California, Adam." I reminded him. We went to Pasadena when we were kids, to see our uncle, he hated every single minute of the whole visit.

"People change their minds." He shrugged, continuing to pack his bags.

"What's going on really?" I inquired, eyeing the door. Maggie was in the bathroom, taking a shower, so I had time to talk about her. "You come here claiming you fell in love with a woman, you marry her without your family and friends, and now you're going to California, a place you swore to never step foot into."

"Love makes us do crazy things."

"Ugh, don't bullshit me with that." I grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Who is she, really? What the hell is going on with you, Adam?!"

I must have yelled too loud, or she was done with her shower, because the next voice I heard was Maggie's: "Maybe it's time we say the truth." She murmured.

"Go pack your things, darling." Adam said instead, slipping his arm out of my grip.

"He's your brother, Adam." Maggie sighed heavily. "He might as well know."

My eyes shot to her. "What exactly am I supposed to know?"

"Nothing." Adam insisted, going to her, but she stepped back. "Maggie ..."

"Just tell him." She murmured.

My brother sighed, turning to me. "Maggie had some ... problems with her family back home."

"What kind of problems?" I inquired, confused as to what could he possibly mean.

"The kind that triggers a fight or flight response." She interjected, her voice barely audible.

"Maggie ..."

She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm not Margaret Norton, marketing director born and bred in London." She explained. "My name is Nia, I arrived in England just a few months ago, trying to escape my father."

"Your father?"

Maggie, or well, Nia, went to sit on the couch, her head hanging low. "My father is ... not a nice person."

"She means he abused her for most of her life," Adam interjected, angry, "and he would have forced her to become his mistress, hadn't she run away."

"His mistress?" I repeated, confused as ever. "What?"

"He is not, technically, my father." Nia continued. "He married my mother when I was little. She was able to shield me from his inappropriate attentions at the best of her chances until last year ... when she died."

"Sorry to hear that." I murmured, starting to catch up on what they were saying.

"He wanted me to take her place." Nia went on. "In every sense."

"That's disgusting!" I groaned, unable to retain myself. "He couldn't possibly get away with such a thing, whichever the country."

"Unfortunately, he is ... a powerful man." Nia heaved a deep sigh. "My only chance was to run away, but I had no possibility of it."

"And that's where you come in." I filled in, directed at my brother.

"We met by chance, she was trying to outrun her father's goons." Adam went to sit beside her, to comfort her. "I couldn't protect her there, so, I immediately decided to come here." He placed a hand over her knee, and she welcomed his touch, starting to cry quietly. "We did all we had to, in order to expedite her papers for citizenship, and in the end she got it."

"So, why California? Why not stay here?" I asked, sitting down as well, because all this information was too much to handle, especially for an already hazy mind like mine. I quit my job just this morning, and I was going to prepare everything to go to London, but when I came to tell Adam, I caught him packing his things.

"Because ..." Nia squeezed my brother's hand, "my stepfather has found me." She sobbed. "He knows we're here, and we narrowly escaped his men."

"You need to go to the police, Adam." I started pacing, agitated. "This is too big for you, you're way out of your depths here." I continued pacing, my mind running rampant as a hundred scenarios formed, all involving Adam ending up dead in a ditch at the hands of Nia's stepfather.

"You really think he couldn't buy off cops here?" My brother scoffed. "We're going to California because Nia has relatives there. People that can help her."

I remained silent for a few minutes, trying to process everything they told me. Until one, single thought ran through my mind: "Adam, do they know where you lived in London?"

"I don't know, maybe." He frowned.

"And you sent her there!" I snapped, leaping to my feet, feeling anxious. "You sent my Vivy to the exact place where she will likely be endangered!" I started frantically looking for my phone, hoping she would answer my calls this time.

"They don't know her or anybody associated with me," Adam said calmly.

"You can't be sure of that." I called Vivian's phone, but as usual, I was sent straight to voicemail. "Damnit." I turned to my brother. "Call her, inform her, tell her ... she can't go."

"Chris ..."

"Adam, I'll never forgive you if anything happens to her." I kept on trying to call her, but nothing.

My brother grabbed the phone from my hands, and forced me to look at him. "She is safe." He claimed. "You all are."

I stopped fussing. "Are you sure?"

"You need to start making peace with the fact that everything is over between you two, Chris." Adam suggested, placing a hand on my shoulder. "She doesn't answer your calls and she's leaving for London tomorrow."

"Only four months." I murmured.

"They will probably hire her," he smiled, "she's good at her job, Chris, really good, and she could have gotten a lot more."

"Hadn't I held her back," I sighed, "I know." I pursed my lips. "I wanted to go to London."

"Now that would be a horrible idea." Adam laughed, regaining his usual cheerfulness, despite the fact that he was literally about to run away, to escape to the clutches of some powerful evil guy.

I took a deep breath. "Are you going to be okay, Adam?"

My brother smiled. "Of course." He winked. "Once we've reached Los Angeles, everything will be alright."

"Am I going to see you again, though?" I wondered, thinking maybe he was about to enter some sort of witness protection program, or be shipped off to some far away land where he won't be able to contact anyone.

"I just need to take Nia to Los Angeles, we'll solve everything, then I'll be back." Adam assured me, but I had some troubles believing it was as easy as he claimed.

✨✨

VIVIAN

"So," I grinned, eager to know everything, "did you have fun?"

"It was your party, Vivian." Sebastian smiled, glancing at me for a moment as he drove away from the restaurant.

"Yes, but did you enjoy it?" I turned my body to him as much as the seatbelt allowed me to.

"If you're asking me whether I liked your friends, yes, I did." He chuckled. "Although, I believe Laura is still on the fence with me."

"She is like that with everyone at first." I laughed.

Sebastian shook his head lightly. "She wanted to be sure I'm right for you."

I mildly blushed. "She questioned you, huh?"

"They all did." He laughed. "But Laura was the most difficult one to convince."

I bit my lips, aware of her reasons for being so careful and insistent. After such a blow as Chris was, Laura has decided to make sure that anyone that enters my life is fit for the job. She's always been like that, protective, but now more than ever. I guess it also has to do with her mama bear instincts being heightened now that she's pregnant.

"You have a nice group of friends," Sebastian mentioned as we entered a tunnel. "They care deeply about you."

I grinned, thinking fondly of that crazy bunch I've been with since college. We may have our differences, but in the end, we're always there for each other, no matter what. My smile faltered as I inevitably thought of Chris, but knowing that Shane and Nick haven't left him, and that even Beth is still talking to him, made me feel slightly better. Laura is the only one that will not even accept to be in the same room as Chris, and according to her fiancé, it's better that way, otherwise she may unleash her wrath on him.

They organized a farewell party tonight for me, which was a welcome distraction from the mess that is my mind lately. I'm so stressed out that I even skipped Aunt Flo's monthly visit, if you catch my drift. I would think it has more to do with Sebastian and I's intense sessions, but I'm sure it's just accumulated stress. It happened the same while I was studying for my finals in college.

As the car proceeded along the tunnel, I was surprised to see a vehicle behind us insistently flashing headlights. "Ugh, doesn't he know he can't overtake us here? Why are people always in a rush?" I complained, glancing at the rearview mirror. Sebastian did the same, but he looked somewhat uneasy. When he stepped on gas, I screeched, instinctively grabbing my seat. "Slow down." I demanded. "Sebastian ..." He didn't hear me or just ignored me, just kept on going faster, to the point that I was really holding onto my seat for dear life. "Sebastian, slow down." Nothing.

We were out of the tunnel in a couple of minutes, yet the same car was behind us. I turned around, confused, because it really looked like whoever was in that vehicle was following us on purpose. When I turned back to him, I didn't like the look on Sebastian's face at all. Something between anger and concern. And then it hit me. "Do you know that person?"

He switched gear, and went even faster. At this point, we probably were going over 120 mph. When he took a rough turn to the left, I started feeling really anxious. Whoever was in the car behind us was really following us, and based on Sebastian's reaction, they meant no good.