I am not going to
run When the sound of her room door cracking open echoed in her ear, Miss Grace jumped from her sl
eep and looked over at her daughter, standing in the doorway. “Peach, honey… It‘s five am… What‘s th
e matter?” Miss Grace asked, sitting up in bed, her voice still raspy with sleep. Pouting, Peach shut the
door, walked over to her mother, and climbed into her bed, hugging her.
“I am nervous, mama… Not even
the internet knows how much he‘s worth…. It was easier when he was just an ordinary man, but now…
” Peach trailed off as she held onto her mom. 1
Smiling softly, Grace stroked her daughter‘s hair, and after a while, she whispered, “Honey, wliy did you
fall in love with Elijah?”
“The first time I met him, he was grumpy, but his eyes told me a different story… I could tell he was hurt
… Maybe there was something about his wounded soul that made me curious, and then he slowly unra
veled his personality…” Peach whispered.
Then she raised her head to stare at her mother, mumbling, “How he treated his friends, how he cared f
or those around him… He seemed so genuine when we were together… Underneath all his brokennes
s, anger, and frustration, I saw someone worth loving, worth being patient withi, caring for, respecting…
Someone who deserves happiness. I wanted to make him that person. But, why I love him is somethin
g I can‘t put into words… I just felt like he was the one.”
“Do you feel any different now that he‘s a third–generation multi–
billionaire?” Miss Grace inquired, smiling.
When Peach shook her head, she kissed her daughter‘s forehead, whispering, “Love is pretty scary wh
en it is true. You are with your husband for who he is, and not what he is, and that kind of feeling is wha
t love really is… For better or worse, sickness or health, in riches or poverty… You have loved him whe
n he was nobody, now you get to stand by him with your chin high as a proud wife and love him as you
have always done.”
His back resting against the wall, staring at his son, Mr. Maxwell sighed, saying, “You were right, but no
t hundred percent.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“About what?” Elijah asked, wondering while Peach sneaked out of the room an hour ago.
“Not only Matt, but all four of your men report back to me, after all, I made them take an oath to have m
e updated about your every step…” “others have weirdos as stalkers. Mine is my dad. Joy.”
“Your wife gets so much praise in all of their reports… and just one day with you guys and I do see why.
She‘s precious. Your mother will be proud.” “That‘s why I want us to do this.”
The sound of the door opening made both men turn to see Peach entering the room, and when their ga
ze rested on her, she gave a weak smile. “I will excuse myself.” Mr. Maxwell said before leaving and clo
sing the door behind himself.
Looking at her husband, Peach‘s feet felt frozen to the ground until Elijah said softly, “Come
here.”
Slowly, she took steps closer to him, and when she reached
the bed, Elijah pulled her onto the mattress next to liim, liissing slightly in pain.
“I hate this, not being able to lold or treat you like I used to because of my bruises,” Elijah whispered.
Suddenly, placing her hand on Elijali‘s chiest, she could feel liis steady heartbeat underneath her palm,
and then she rested her head on liim, listening to it as she munbled, “This is enough for me.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Elijah‘s lips as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his
torso as he ignored the pain, kissing hier temple, and murmuring in response,” After my bruise heals, l
et‘s take a trip to Bordoria? I want to take you to the home that holds all 111y childhood and most of my
adulting, nicmories. Also, my motlier really wants to meet
you.”
“I would like that very much.” Peach answered, turning hier head to face him, smiling.
Tlie long hand on the wall clock rested on ten, and the brightness of the television reflected in Josh‘s ey
es as he watclied Senator Butcher deliver, if I could go back in time to the second Josh Hayes approac
hed me, I would liave done things differently, like remember that Elmer Hayes is behind bars because o
f Elijah Darius… I mean, Elijah Maxwell stood up for
his wife‘s right, fought for her, and gave her back the company that her grandfather gave her in his will
…” 1
“This bastard is throwing me under the bus to save his ass now that he knows who that bastard is.” Tos
h muttered, taking a sip from the wine bottle in his hand.
“Because if I had remembered that, then I would have also known that the Hayes liad a motive to frame
and ruin Elijah Maxwell‘s reputation… it saddens me that I was naive to ignore those things and acted
from my heart because Jessica Astor was a friend of my daughter
and I was tricked by her and Josh Hayes to act a fool and hurt an innocent man.”
“Bullshit! What a load of it!!”
The sense of frustration that boiled inside Josh was evident as he slammed the wine bottle down on th
e table.
“I now know that I owe Mr. Maxwell an apology, and I am never too big of a man to do so. And I also un
derstand that the Hayes, well, Josh Hayes is not a man to be trusted, and in the future, I want nothing t
o do with such scum,” Josh scolded at the television as he watched the serious look on Mr. Butcher‘s fa
ce after he uttered those words.
A bitter laugh that sounded more like a cry escaped Josh‘s throat as he shook his head, and he took an
other swig from the bottle, draining it. “My Secretary is already reaching out to Elijah
to schedule a meeting to personally apologize to him.” Mr. Butcher stated.
“That‘s honorable
and all, Senator Butcher. But some people may say that the only reason you are doing this is that Elijah
Darius is now Elijalı Maxwell. What do you want to say to those people?” The reporter hastily asked. “
Of course, he‘s only fucking doing it because of that!! Josh screamed, grabbed the whiskey bottle, and
threw it across the room with full force.
Then he laughed loudly, slamming his hands down on the table, but his laugh was cut short lowever wh
eu he heard luis office door open and his secretary, Lakor entered, closing the door slowly behind him.
“Boss, you know low we lost 20% of our
investors when you and Iris pot adivorce? Well, the Senator‘s speech has only been on the air for five
minutes, and we have a worse crisis than that.” Laker quickly spoke.
“Wiat? How bad is it?” Josh questioned as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, gripping. the armr
ests of the chair tightly.
“At this rate, the company is going to crash within less than a month… it‘s not only the investors, but we
have super pissed clients on the lines.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
“I see.”
Suddenly, Laker‘s eyes widened when he saw his boss stand up abruptly, aggressively shoved all of th
e things on his desk onto the ground, and scream, “It‘s all that bitch fault.”
*The hell,‘ Laker mumbled in his head, taking a step back.
“She had to go running her mouth to that bastard and betray me!”
“Okay… I will be stepping out now, boss.”
Suddenly, his phone started buzzing like crazy, and Josli snatched it off his desk, answering it quickly.
His dark eyes glanced over to Larker, shutting the door, and then he blurted out, “What is it, grandma?!”
“Come home, now!” Madam Jewel‘s voice boomed through the phone. “Everyone is there, isn‘t it?!”
“Just get here!”
The living room of the Haves mansion had this weird, tense energy as everyone sat stiffly. their express
Finally, when Josh walked into the room, the tension only seemed to add up
in the air, and as soon as he took his seat, Madam Jewel said, “We have to sell Revest, and you need to
A cold chuckle left Joshi‘s throat as he crossed his legs, leaning forward in the chair, looking straight at h
“Did you know that within the hours it took you to get here, Mr. Astor released a press statement, claimin
into doing your plan?!”
“It was that bitch idea from the very being!” “It does not matter, Josh! The Butcher and Astor are using yo
“Grandma –”
“Reinvest is going to crash if you insist on keepin, it. To salvage this mess, we have to sell the
company. I will host a press conference
removing the rest of the family from the situation, and you will have to travel.”
“‘You guys are throwing me under the bus too?! Wow, you all are lıypocrites and cowards!”
Watching her grandson stand from his seat, Madam Jewel cried, “Josh, sit back down. Your
father has already booked the ticket… even him knows that this is for the best.”
“Screw all of you!! I will figlit my own danın battle!” Josh snapped.
Frowning, Dean glared at his son‘s back and let out, “Josh, don‘t do anything stupid that will mess you u
“That bitch has already fuck up my life, and I am not leaving until I mess up someone else‘s!” Josh uttere