Chapter 32: The First Trial

“If you don’t meet with Mr. Xavier immediately, you will lose Drew forever.”

As soon as I read the text, my eyes widened. What the fuck?

I kept the phone back in my pocket and rushed out of the penthouse to the elevator. I hurried downstairs and finally saw him sitting in the reception. Max. I need to talk to him about this.

“Hey! Finally.” I heard him say with a smile as he got up and looked at me.

I smiled back uncomfortably and he noticed it. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to show you something. Wait.”

I took out my phone and showed him the text. He looked carefully at the number and then the messages; then he looked at me back.

“Why did you even reply to the number in the first place?”

I sighed. “I thought it was Ava, the classmate Drew said he liked. I just thought maybe there was an emergency or—“

“If there were an emergency, don’t you think the teachers would call you?” He looked a little on edge.

“I am—I am sorry. I just—“

“It is okay now. We need to solve this problem. I can’t lose you.”

I sighed and kept a hand on his shoulder. “You’re never going to lose me. We just have to take care of this matter.”

He nodded and gave me my phone back. As he started to move out of the place, I stopped him. “Where are we going?”

“I need to talk to someone if we want any chance of saving Drew and you,” He looked forward towards his car. “And so I am going to meet someone but you’ll need to stay back. The best you can do is keep yourself safe till I find a way out. You will be of no help if you’re in danger.”

“I thought you understood the importance of letting me actually help you!” I said and sighed. “I know I might not be the most experienced but maybe one day you were also like me. Maybe you also just wanted to help your peers!”

“It is not a school assembly, Scarlet!” He said with a higher tone as he turned around. “Do you understand the depth of this situation? The risks? And you want me to put you out there too, so you can what—die!?”

“I can save myself, Maxence!” I shouted. “Why are you behaving like Xavier right now!?”

He looked at me and sighed. I sighed too and looked sideways. “I am sorry, Scarlet. But I can not take you with me. If you think of anything you can do, just message me. I will tell you if it is safe or not. If you really wanna help, I will let you, but you will need to do it as I say it. Okay?”

I nodded and gave him a big smile. “Thank you, Max.”

“And don’t ever call me Maxence again, even if you hate me.”

I chuckled. “Sorry!”

He shook his head and walked over to his car, driving off in a hurry. I sighed. Thankfully, we hadn’t grabbed any concrete attention around or else it would have been so awkward!

I turned around and returned inside the reception. I needed to do something for Drew. Should I pick him up from his school?

I messaged Max. “Should I pick up Drew from school?”

He replied after a moment. “I will send another vehicle behind you just in case. If you wanna go, you can do this.”

“Okay, thanks.”

I kept the phone back in my pocket and went outside the building. I saw a car who stopped in front of the place. It looked suspicious enough for me, so I went over.

The driver gave me a nod, so I assumed that Max arranged them for my safety.

Finally, I booked a cab and decided to go to the school.

______________

The car stopped in front of the school, and the other car stopped a little away. I got off and the cab driver drove off.

I looked around the place and everything seemed to be rather normal, to my relief. I went over to the reception.

“Hello ma’am. This is Scarlet Walker. I wanted to confirm that Andrew Walker of kindergarten is here?”

“Sure ma’am, please have a seat,” The sweet lady said as she made a call to the teacher and asked her about Andrew.

Finally, she kept the phone down and gave me a small smile.

“Your child is in the class right now, you don’t need to worry. He will go back by the bus as planned.”

I nodded and smiled. “Thank you,” I uttered slowly, “But I need to take him right now. There is some… stuff that needs to be dealt with.”

“May I have a reason to write down?”

“Personal reasons.”

The lady nodded half-okay-ly and then called the teacher again. This time, she asked her to bring Drew to the reception.

“Please wait ma’am,” she said as she kept the phone down. I nodded.

The teacher came into the reception area in no time. Andrew looked at me confused but I smiled.

“Hey Drew!” I smiled and hugged him. “We have to leave right now. Let’s go.”

He nodded slowly. I gave a smile to the reception lady and the teacher before walking out of the school premises.

“What’s wrong, mommy?” Drew asked me as we walked over and waited for a cab.

I looked at him with a worry-free face.

“Everything is fine, honey. We just need to go and I will explain the rest later. Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

I was looking forward when suddenly he spoke again. “Mommy, where is daddy?”

“He’s… working.”

“Oh, okay.”

I sighed. It was so weird to hear him call Max that way but of course, it had to be weirder for Max and Drew.

Finally a cab came and I took it right back to the penthouse.

______________

I received a call after a few moments of getting into the cab. It was Max.

“Hey Max,” I said as I picked up the call.

“Scar. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Of course. How’s everything there?”

“Cool. How’s Drew?”

“He’s good too.”

“Okay. I just wanted to know that. I will be back home soon, yeah?”

“Yeah, Max. I am waiting.”

“Yes. And uhh, don’t pick up any calls from any numbers anymore, unless they are from me. I think the people who messaged you would try to reach you via different numbers. Okay?”

“Okay, Max.”

“Yeah. Bye, Scar.”

“Bye.”

The call ended and I exhaled. Drew looked at me curiously but I smiled. “Nothing to be excited about, Drew. We’re just going back home.”

“Home is exciting!”

I laughed as I realised how innocent and naive he was. I would never let him grow into someone like Xavier. Boys… they can be hard to understand sometimes. They want love and affection, but they never show it. It was so hard to give Drew what he wanted, being a single mom — but it would be so much better with Max around.

He would understand him in the way I never could. I want nothing more than Drew to not grow up like his biological father. I just wish he never finds it weird to show his emotions; and I hope he understands that it is okay to feel the emotions and let them flow since he is also human.

“Mommy?”

I came out of my thoughts as I heard Drew. I gave him a smile. “Home is really exciting, Drew. You are right. More than ever now because it is actually a home.”

I didn’t know how much of what I said went through his head, but he smiled and nodded like one of the grown up guys.

“How far?” I asked the cab as I got a little restless. I just wanted this endeavour to go fine otherwise Max would think of me as someone who couldn’t do anything right. It was like how the first performance of a child is always so anticipating and the biggest thing for the child in mention.

“Just a few minutes,” The driver replied.

I looked out of the window. I still needed to keep Drew safe if I hoped to create a good impression in front of Max.

…

The driver kept driving for a few more minutes before I finally figured out something was weird. The road was completely new and I was oblivious to the path.

“Mister, where are we going?” I asked as I got worked up.

He didn’t say anything, confirming my suspicions.

“Okay Drew,” I whispered in Andrew’s ear, “I think we need to get out of the cab forcefully. Just hold on to me, okay?”

He nodded. I took him in my arms and took out my clip to break the glass of the cab by its sharp edge.

Just as I was about to break the glass, the cab came to a sharp pause and I realised we were surrounded by numerous cars.