Reyona opened her eyes when she felt a soft kiss on her cheek.
She stared blearily at his mesmerising eyes.
They were clouded with worry at that moment, but they still stole her breath away.
Why were they fighting again?
"You look so beautiful when you sleep." He murmured to her.
She raised her brow in a "really?" gesture as she levelled her gaze at him.
As he countered her look with a smile while staring at her like he was memorising her features, she thought "Toss words at me. Accuse me of having feelings for my ex. Then walk out on me only to come back to wake me with a kiss and a half-ass compliment. Sure why not?"
As if he was reading her thoughts, he said "I am sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice at you that way."
What now?
He rubbed his hand over his mouth and jaw as he said "You were right. My decision was more because of you than any other thing. I guess I was… I was scared of losing you."
He did it again. He managed to disarm her with a few well-chosen words and those soul-stirring looks.
Before she could stop herself, Reyona raised her hand to trail her finger over his lips as she said "He didn't know who I was. Through it all, he was fooled by my change of voice, hair and shades."
She smiled as she saw the astonishment on his face.
"How is that even possible?" Maxwell asked as he touched her face. "I can pick you out of the crowd no matter what you have on."
Reyona smiled as her heart sighed. "That is why you are not him. There is no competition here, Maxwell. I am also sorry for accusing you like that. You were right. It is not fair."
He smiled and asked "Truce?"
She nodded "Truce."
He leaned forward and kissed her. She wrapped her hands around his neck and deepened the kiss with a hum in her throat.
Then she swore under her breath as she pulled back and said "What was I thinking?"
"Hold that thought." He said with an understanding smile.
Reyona looked away from him to further calm her hot blood, which seemed to have no comprehension of the right time or circumstances.
"Where are…?"
"We are almost at Kayooma. Stefan just told me minutes ago."
"Oh"
On their way home, he told her he had confirmed Thomas's whereabouts.
He had been staying at his mom's place since he got back.
"So it was really him?" Reyona thought. "Well."
"I actually have one other thing I want to tell you about," Maxwell said in the car.
"What is it?" Reyona asked carefully.
"Promise not to be mad?"
"Do I need to be?" Reyona countered.
"Just promise, okay?" Maxwell asked.
"Okay," Reyona answered.
"That is not a promise, but here you go", Maxwell said. "I brought that property."
"What property?" Reyona asked, and her eyes widened when she realised what he meant. "Ruth's home? Why would you…?"
"Not just hers actually, I bought the whole property around, but she was the one who was served the paper."
Reyona rubbed her hand over her head to try to process what he was saying.
"You wanted to send Ruth out of her home? Why?"
Maxwell looked a bit chagrined as he reached for her hand and said "She was part of those who hurt you. You wouldn't let me do anything for you. You practically hated being around me, but then I promised myself I was going to deal with Thomas for everything he put you through. His mother's place was the only place he had left. I decided to start with that. Apart from making sure he never gets employed in Kayooma again, I was going to do so much more. He hurt you and I wanted to make sure he never forgets who he messed with."
When she just kept looking at him, he continued a bit nervously as he said "I know you don't like it when people do things without talking to you about them. And maybe it wasn't the best thing to do but I…"
She leaned forward and kissed him.
She leaned back and said, "Thank you. It's nice to know that I have you in my corner long before I even realized it."
"You are not mad?" He asked with surprise in his tone.
Reyona sat back as she pushed her hair away from her face. "No, I am not…mad. I am just trying to process all this information at once. I think my brain is on overload" she said with a dry smile.
Then she looked at him. "Is there more?"
Maxwell shook his head slightly and said "No, nothing of significance again," he said automatically.
"Good," Reyona said while still looking at him.
He raised her hand and kissed it.
Love bloomed inside Reyona for no reason at all.
"Allysyn, please be okay," she thought as they approached his place.
The entire journey had taken them eleven hours.
The change of time zone was a bit jolting to the system.
They had left Sydney around 9 pm on a Friday and got to Kayooma around 8 pm on a Saturday because of the twelve-hour time difference.
Even though it was late, the staff were still fully active and from the look on the butler's face, Reyona could see that the staff knew about what had happened already.
"Welcome home, sir and ma," the butler said solemnly, as he collected their bags.
Jane and Meg were sitting by the phone when they got there.
Jane's face was blotchy with the signs of weeping and her eyes were red-rimmed too.
Megan was not looking any better either.
Together, they looked like they had had a long, unpleasant day.
That made Reyona feel even more guilty for dozing off on the jet earlier.
"I am so sorry, sir." Jane apologised as she came to meet them. "I didn't mean to talk about it but when I got back without Allysyn, I…"
"It is okay," Maxwell said, then looked at the phone. "Anything yet?"
"No, sir. I have not left here since the police left. I do not want to miss it, but there's been nothing. Maybe they were wrong, maybe there wouldn't be any…"
"They know what they are doing. Let's focus on what we can." Maxwell said briskly.
"Gather everyone together, Meg. I need to talk with them."
"Yes, sir."
"Where is Junior?" Reyona asked Jane.
"He is in bed. I just took him up a few minutes ago. I am sorry, ma, but he didn't want to go to bed even after I told him that Allysyn was only extending her sleepover. He just… I carried him to his room when he dozed off here, ma."
"That's fine. I am sure you did your best. Thank you for taking good care of them. We are going to get Allysyn back, okay? We are "
Jane nodded as tears filled her eyes again.
Reyona held back her own tears as she turned to Maxwell.
"I am just going to check in on him, okay?"
"Okay, I will be up soon," Maxwell said.
"Take your time," Reyona said with a nod before she turned away.