Chapter 74 MORE TO HIM
Once I was done, I headed back to the living room, where I met Troy. He had both his carriage and Jaxon’s ready, but Jaxon was nowhere in sight.
“You ready?”
I nodded in response, but then I caught him staring—from the hoodie I was wearing down to the sneakers on my feet.
“I’m glad that looks good on you,” he said with a teasing smile.
“Yeah, I mean it’s cool, but quite expensive,” I said under my breath, recalling the price tag I had seen on it.
“No, it’s not. Wait till you see how much each one Jaxon wears costs,” he said.
“Right,” I responded with a nervous smile. “Speaking of which, where is he?”
But before Troy could answer, his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He immediately pulled it out and showed me the screen. It read Jaxon.
He gave me a look that clearly said, speak of the devil, before picking up the call.
He didn’t even say a word at first, and the call lasted less than a minute, with the only thing he eventually saying being—
“Okay.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to say something to me.
“He left a while ago, so he called to tell us he’ll be meeting us at the airport. So let’s go.”
“Oh,” I said softly.
With one last look around the room, I followed Troy out as we headed toward the parking lot.
Just before we boarded the car, Troy went over to the truck and returned with my backpack.
“Here. I had it cleaned up for you earlier,” he said, handing the bag over to me.
I went through it, and everything was still intact, including my clothes. I shot him a questioning gaze.
“If you had this, why didn’t you bring it to me instead of buying new clothes?” I asked as he held the front passenger seat open for me.
“Because you were told to dress warm, and I was simply following orders,” he replied as I got into the car.
Following orders? Jaxon must have put him up to it.
He immediately got into the driver’s seat, and we drove out of the hotel, heading for the airport.
My gaze kept drifting back to him. I had been meaning to ask him something about Jaxon, but I didn’t want it to sound like I was poking into their business.
“Why do you keep staring at me with that look in your eyes?” he asked, even without looking at me, his gaze mostly fixed on the road.
“What look?” I blurted out quickly, dragging my eyes away from him and fixing them on the road ahead.
“Like you’re curious about something. Like you want to ask about something,” he said, his gaze meeting mine briefly before returning to the road.
I let out a sigh, unsure if I should ask the question that had been weighing heavily on my mind.
“Huuuuh…” I took a deep breath and decided against it.
“Aren’t you going to ask about whatever it is you want to know? Is it about Zoe?” Troy asked.
My eyes immediately shot up at the mention of Zoe’s name.
“Do you have any information about her?” I asked, my voice clinging to a thin thread of hope.
Troy’s gaze rested on mine for a moment before he slowly shook his head.
My shoulders slumped as I rested back against my seat in quiet defeat.
“But it won’t be for long. Jaxon and I are already looking into it,” Troy said, his reassuring voice calming me a little.
“I owe you guys a lot. Even though I don’t know how I’m supposed to show how grateful I am—especially to your boss,” I said, referring to Jaxon.
“Nah, you don’t have to pay us. We’re just fulfilling our own side of the work. We are partners, after all,” he said, a bright smile spreading across his face.
Unlike Jaxon, Troy had this free-spirited nature. He was far more lively and relaxed than Jaxon, and that only made me even more curious about their relationship.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, my right hand resting against the edge of the open window as I leaned on it, letting the wind brush against my face.
“Sure. What do you want to know?”
“How long have you known Jaxon?” I asked, turning my gaze toward him as our eyes met.
“Long enough,” he casually replied, keeping his answer simple.
“Is he okay?” I added, finally asking the question that had been on my mind since Jaxon nearly passed out at Billy’s beauty shop last night, just before the party.
I saw hesitation flicker in Troy’s eyes. His gaze lingered on mine for a moment before he looked away, fixing his eyes on the road.
I took his silence as an answer—until he suddenly turned off the road and drove into the empty parking lot of a mall.
I frowned in confusion.
“Why are we stopping?” I asked, but his gaze was fixed on his wristwatch.
“We have less than thirty minutes before our flight. We’re about ten minutes away from the airport, which leaves us with twenty minutes,” he said, only confusing me further.
“What are you babbling about?”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” he said, his eyes finally meeting mine. “Alone,” he added.
I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t hearing—or seeing—things.
“Me? Why would you want to talk to me?”
“It’s about Jaxon,” he replied, letting out a deep sigh.
He reached for his suitcase, pulling out a file before muttering under his breath—
“Troy, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Then he handed the file to me.
“What’s this?” I asked as I opened it.
Inside were pictures of a young Jaxon with his parents. He looked about Rena’s age in the photo and had the cutest smile—just like Rena.
I stared at that picture longer than I intended to. I couldn’t help but wonder how no one had ever suspected that Jaxon might be Rena’s father.
I wanted to look further into the file, but Troy stopped me.
“Now is not a good time. You can look at it later,” he said, his tone suddenly serious.
“Actually, about your question earlier—whether Jaxon is okay… well, he’s not okay. Not since he was twelve. Not since the accident.”
“Accident? What accident?” I asked.
But Troy’s face twisted with disbelief.
“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me that even if you don’t know much about him, you’ve never done a background check on him?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
When I first found out about Jaxon five years ago—after discovering I was pregnant with Rena—I never really went deep into checking his background.
Mostly because I was angry and believed he wasn’t worth it.
“Well, he’s Jaxon—that’s what I know. But I still don’t get what all this has to do with me,” I said, needing him to clear things up.
“I need you to help me expose the true identity of Jaxon’s mother.”