Chapter 218 The end
“I’m sorry I had to cancel. Let’s fix the date for tomorrow,” Samantha spoke calmly into the phone. She stood in the kitchen.
“What date?” Rayan asked, his face darkening as he stepped closer.
Samantha rolled her eyes at him and continued her call.
Rayan reached forward and snatched the phone.
“She has a man and won’t be coming on any stupid date. You know why? Because she will be very, very busy getting long, deep strokes all day tomorrow, because that is what she loves.”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “Rayan…”
She reached out to take the phone.
“I don’t think she will be able to walk. Find someone else. She’s mine.” He tossed the phone into the dustbin.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Rayan?” Samantha raised her voice, moving towards the waste bin.
He pulled her back to his chest. “I will get you another phone. That one is tainted.”
“I want my phone, not a new one!” She stomped hard on his feet with her heels, and he winced, raising his leg to hold it and standing on one foot. She ran to the dustbin and saw the call was still ongoing.
“Juliet, I’m so sorry about that,” Samantha said, embarrassed. “Reschedule tomorrow, please.” She ended the call.
“It wasn’t a man?” he asked, scratching his curls. “I thought it was,” he said, smiling.
Samantha’s glare could create a hole in his face if it were possible.
“So you think I’m a whore now? Why? Because I worked as a stripper before?” Samantha asked, her hands crossed over her chest, causing her breasts to push up.
“No… no, that’s not it. I would never judge you like that,” Rayan said.
“Then what?” Samantha shot back.
Rayan knew at this point he had to tread cautiously because she was trying to escalate this.
He took slow steps towards her. He cupped her ass and lifted her up to meet his eyes. “Because you are beautiful and a walking temptation. Any man would see that and want to take you from me.” He sighed.
“I’m insecure as fuck, so when I heard you say ‘date,’ I had to guard my territory fiercely.”
Samantha’s cheeks flushed.
“Vera has been so down, so I arranged a mini girls’ date for her and myself. But Maverick came up with his wonderful idea… so I asked the attendant to reschedule it,” she explained.
Rayan nodded.
She bit her lips and fumbled with his button. “So you don’t have any issue with the fact that I was a stripper?” She had been wanting to know his thoughts. Not many men would want women who danced naked for countless men.
“Never once,” he said, enjoying her reaction. He dropped a soft kiss on her lips. She wrapped her hand around his neck and kissed him back. They both melted into the kiss. He set her down on the kitchen counter, standing between her legs and pulling her closer so her heat could feel his hardness.
She pulled away, breathless. “Anyone can walk in on us right now.”
“You are so sweet,” he said, his eyes laced with desire. “Let’s go home.”
Samantha bit her lips. “I won’t be going back with you… I rented an apartment.” She had done it behind him because he wouldn’t have let her.
His face darkened again. “Why? You don’t want to stay with me?”
“I stayed there because the old man asked me to, for my safety, and since I was broke. But now I have saved enough…” she explained. “We can visit each other and do sleepovers.” She tried to soothe him.
Rayan didn’t like the idea, and refuting it or forcing her otherwise would not go well either. She would bite him before he even dared.
“Okay? Where’s this apartment so I can do a safety check myself?” He slid a hand into his pocket and brought his phone out.
She smiled, elated. She had thought they would have to fight before he agreed, but it was pretty easy.
“Baltimore Estate, G-line Street. It’s a thirty-minute ride from the Johnson family home,” she said.
“Okay… it’s a pretty safe environment, and it looks like it will appreciate more in the future.”
Samantha squinted, confused, watching him tap away on his phone.
“Done,” he said, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
“What’s done?”
Samantha’s phone rang; it was the agent who had rented her the apartment.
“Madam, please, I want to return your money to you. I didn’t know your husband owned the building. I’m sorry,” the man’s voice sounded shaken.
Samantha shot him a look. “You bought the building?”
“Yes,” he said, smiling. “I wasn’t joking when I said there wouldn’t have to be a reason for me to stay away from you. I could die—thirty minutes is a whole thirty years.” He kissed her.
Samantha flushed. He left her at a loss for words.
“Marry me, Sam,” he said. “Stay glued to me for eternity. Do me the honor—it will make me the happiest man in the world. Please?”
Samantha was quiet for a long minute. Rayan’s heart thudded. Did she not want to marry him?
“Maybe I—”
“I don’t see a ring,” Samantha cut in.
A bright smile broke across Rayan’s face as he took that as a yes.
“Actually, I don’t have a ring here, but… but… we can go get it now…”
He babbled on, dropping kisses on her face, lips, and neck between each word.
“Uncle Rayan, Aunty Samantha, there are kids in the house,” Liam said, unimpressed, as he covered Rebecca’s eyes.
“I’m getting married, Liam!” Rayan said happily.
Maverick held Heaven’s hand and led her through places she never thought existed in the mansion until they stopped in front of an old door.
Maverick pushed it open.
“This room was Aunty Adison’s.”
Heaven’s eyes lit up. “My mom?”
Maverick nodded.
“I had them clean it up a bit since it was dusty, but nothing was moved out of place,” Maverick said.
Heaven stepped inside slowly, her eyes taking in everything—the paintings, the furniture, the bed, the books lining the shelves. She drank it all in, trying to understand the woman she had never truly known through the life she had left behind.
This was her mother’s space.
Twenty-five years later… she was finally here.
“See,” Maverick hugged her from behind, placing a photograph in her hand. In it, there were faces blurred out. Maverick had done that on purpose so the faces wouldn’t upset her.
But her eyes were on her mother. She had the most beautiful smile in the whole world. Beside her was a young Maverick, maybe nine or ten.
“This was the last time she was here, and if I calculated right… you were here too.”
He pointed at Adison’s stomach.
Heaven’s breath hitched. Tears filled her eyes, but a soft smile grazed her lips.
“We were always destined to be together.”
A small smile graced her lips as she turned to meet his eyes.
“I didn’t think you were someone who believed in destiny and fate,” she said, sniffing.
“I didn’t,” he admitted. “I started believing when you appeared again after seven years.” He kissed her.
When they parted, she held on to him tightly.
“Maverick, thank you for giving me closure for them.”
Her voice trembled.
“I can live with the grief now… knowing they were real. That they were ours…”
Maverick cupped her face gently.
“Sky and Sunshine will always be remembered.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” he replied softly, gently kissing her tears.