Chapter 39 You aren’t leaving me again
A few days ago, Karen had shown interest in inviting a friend to the party. Van tried to discourage her, but it was useless without revealing everything.
"He saved me at the club and has been wanting to see me. This is the time to make it up to him," Karen insisted. To her, it was rude to just cut Wade off after helped her.
Van was reluctant but eventually agreed after conducting a few more investigations about Wade. The foster family that had adopted him before tragically passed away a week later, and he was back in the system.
A year later, another family adopted him, a mafia family based in Mexico. Wade had decided to make them proud after meeting some of the children under the system.
Their experience made him to count himself lucky. It wasn’t easy to find good parentage, and his record had been clean since then, nothing like the Wade his real parents had turned him into.
Van left after giving Octavia a few instructions about the arrangement, and Karen texted Wade. ‘I will be attending a party at Hudson Yards this Saturday. If you want to come…’
She left the rest for him to figure out, which he did. ‘Yeah, I’d love to come and can pick you up,’ Wade replied.
Karen sent him the dress code but had no idea about the location. Meeting the family, Octavia lowered her guard because Wade appeared responsible, his hair was neatly cut and his suit was well fitted, his manners impressive.
Joe on the other hand, had a bad feeling about it, especially knowing that Karen was his half-brother's wife. However, there was no way to keep her away from Wade, as Van had strictly instructed to keep that information from her.
"Do you mind accompanying me to buy a gift?" Karen asked. Joe was about to answer before realizing the question was meant for Wade. The latter was excited to be with Karen, away from the family.
"Sure, I know a place," Wade replied.
"It’s not right for him to take her," Josh hinted in a whisper, but Octavia felt helpless. "Van said she’s strong enough to defend herself," she whispered back.
Karen was allowed to ride with Wade, and the rest of the family showed up in the limo Van had sent to pick them up from the airport. When they arrived at the gift shop, Wade realized that Karen wasn’t just buying for the birthday celebrant.
"You look like you want to buy the whole shop," he teased. Karen smiled. "I know little about his family, so I’m just guessing, and I don’t know what they like."
Wade was also at a loss, as he didn’t know much about Karen or the family she was buying the gift for. “I think what matters is your heart.”
As the cashier totaled the items, Karen noticed Wade reading something on his phone. It was a profile of someone familiar. No, she must be experiencing those hallucinations again. There was no way the Roger she knew was the richest man in the world.
No wonder Van had advised her to stay away from the news. Now she felt like she had betrayed him.
“400k,” the cashier said politely. Karen handed her card, but Wade also removed his. “It’s the least I can do. I’ll pay.”
Karen couldn’t accept. “No, these are gifts, so I can’t let you pay.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” Wade insisted, but Karen politely refused. “If you do, you’ll never see me again.”
Wade’s expression turned grim, and he retrieved his card. Karen had a mystery he was determined to unravel because she was the first woman to reject his kindness.
He felt like complimenting her again, though he did so twice already. “You haven’t told me much about yourself,” he hinted as they entered the car. Karen smiled. “There’s nothing interesting about me. I’d like to know more about you.”
“We can talk on the journey, but I’ll need an address.”
Karen texted Octavia and forwarded it to him. The moment he received it, his eyes squinted. “Do you know the celebrant?”
It was difficult to connect the dots, especially when the address led to Dawson’s Glam Hotel. That party was rumored to be strictly by invitation and was being held in honor of Roger Dawson.
No, that couldn’t be the party they were attending. Perhaps there was another one being hosted at the same venue. “No, but someone invited me,” Karen informed him. Wade recalled the man who took her away at the club.
“Let me guess, your sugar daddy?” he asked, instantly regretting it when Karen frowned, “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry, but that night, he said he was your daddy.”
Karen didn’t know how to explain her relationship with Van, so she casually responded, “He meant it literally. So, tell me how you managed to own such an expensive club.”
Wade’s eyes widened. That man sounded like Don Gio, but Wade didn’t get to see his face clearly.
“When my parents died, I was adopted by a kind family. They gave me a kickstart,” he explained. “Now, I have four and working on more.”
Karen nodded. “I see.”
Wade was disappointed by her response. Meeting with her over an hour ago, she smartly brushed everything about her to the side.
“You don’t seem like you want me to know you, Mavis.”
Karen smiled at him. “What’s the rush? We just met.”
Wade nodded. It wasn’t wrong for her to keep to herself, and that energized his interest in knowing her more. The rest of the journey was in silence, and with the high level of security in place at the hotel, he requested to see the invitation.
“I don’t have one,” Karen said as she got out of the car before Wade could open the door for her. She was stunning, yet her behavior made it hard for him to cross boundaries.
“You should have waited for me to open the door for you.”
Karen was unremorseful. “What would my hand be doing then?” she asked jokingly. Wade shook his head. She was even more fabulous in that red stylish tulle top with sequin embroidery evening dress chic fitted with long sleeves.
Wade had worked in the club for seven years but never met a girl so impish and yet innocent. “May I help you, ma’am? Your invitation,” he heard a bouncer saying, as a valet took his car key to park the car for him.
“We are with Octavia and…” she didn’t finish speaking when the bouncers moved out of the way, stunning even Wade. He was so caught up in how she carried herself that Karen had to walk back to pull him with her.
That was when she joined her finger to his, and as they entered, she was amazed by the atmosphere that instead of untangling her hand from Wade’s, it rather tightened.
Roger was not the first person she expected to see there, imagining him guarding someone as important as the celebrant, but just like before, he was seeing her as a little girl, only answerable to him.
“Do you have a death wish? Do you know she’s married?”
His question drew everyone’s attention, and Karen was only processing it before she felt her hand loosen from that of Wade with a force, and the next moment was the smashing sound against the wall.
She had known Roger to be violent against those who deserved it, but now she knew he was insane.
“Roger?” Karen trembled and turned to where Wade lay, unconscious. She hastened, but before she could get to check on him, Roger pulled her back. His arm wrapped tightly around her slender waist. “You aren’t leaving me again.”