Chapter 20

Sia breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the reporters left her in peace.
She knew that she desperately needed their help in portraying her in a good light, for the publicity of Magenta Fashion, but she couldn’t help but be on edge.Reporters had a way of adding hidden meanings to questions that appear innocent on the surface, eliciting answers from people and twisting them so they’ll mean something else. To the careless, answering any or all of their questions could mean the demise of their careers.
After the interview had been over, she grudgingly asked around for Julian once again and her excited secretary, Millan, had informed her that he, along with Leo and a “hot” friend of Julian’s were waiting for her near her makeup van.
So, she didn’t wait for the after-party and instead started for her van after talking to the security detail who was working under Julian.
“I’ll escort you,” was the man’s immediate reply.
“It’s all right, I’ll go alone,” Sia said instantly, tired of having people breathing down her shoulder the entire day. “Besides, there are guards at the door, and Julian is in the parking lot near my van.”
The man, who she was yet to know the name but who seemed to belong to a Chinese ancestry, nodded his head and informed the door guards via his radio transmitter and waited for a while before he declared, “All clear, ma’am.”
Sighing in relief, she continued on her way toward the van.
Since the models had already changed and gotten ready for the after-party, their vans had already left, leaving the once lit parking lot looking deserted.
Sia hurried down the stairs that led to the parking lot and hurried her steps. The night wasn’t that cold but it still made the hair at her nape stand at attention and a shiver to run down her spine. And it wasn’t one of pleasure.
She picked up her pace, almost stumbling down the last few steps, and ran to the exit. Once she was out the door, she could see her van and the three figures behind it. The parking was almost deserted by now except for a few vehicles at the farthest end of the lot. It had the feel of a scene out of a horror movie.
Sighing in relief, she slowed her steps. Big mistake.
In her haste to get to her van, she hadn’t noticed that the guards at the door were missing, or that the entire staircase had been devoid of people. But before her brain could process all the details, it was already too late.
A gloved hand covered her nose and mouth from behind. She recognized the faint stench of chloroform as her heart leapt into her throat. First came her weak struggle.
And then darkness.

* * *

“You two seem close,” Abhay stated, looking from Leonard to Julian.
“Yup! And since Julian likes Mom, I’ve decided to help him out,” Leo answered with a grin.
“Gee, thanks, buddy! I’m honored to be your charity case,” Julian answered with sorrow in his face. He even went as far as to wipe invisible tears from his cheeks and sniff twice to illustrate his point.
“Overdramatic much?” Leo deadpanned. Then he was running away from a furious-looking Julian who couldn’t keep up the pretense for even a minute before they both burst out laughing.
Abhay was about to stop them as his best friend tackled down Leo to the ground when Julian suddenly turned them over at the last minute so that he was the one who took the impact of the fall, their laughter filling the air.
Playing. Julian was playing with the kid. Something he rarely did outside the bedroom with his women. Julian seemed very different from the last time Abhay had seen him. And Abhay had known Julian for a very long time—ever since they’d joined Turner Security together.And if there was anything he was certain about Julian, it was he wasn’t like this—spending time with another person other than women.
Abhay felt ridiculous at being jealous of the two, but still, as he watched Julian help a laughing Leo get his ass off the ground, he couldn’t help the slight breathlessness he felt and the tightening around his heart. He had been the one who had taught the delinquent, angry teen to play, to vent his anger and let go of the past.And now . . . Julian was doing the same thing to another kid but without him. He was finally moving forward. And Abhay was worried as to what the future will hold for him.
When the duo came back to stand next to him again, smiling and fake punching each other, he tapped Julian’s shoulder lightly. “A word with you.”
Julian motioned for Leo to go inside the van and wait for his mother, since it was getting cold outside. Abhay’s tone also worried him. It was time for some serious confessions.
“What’s going on Julian?” Abhay hissed once Leo was inside. “Did I hear him wrong or did he just say that you ‘like’ his mother?”
“You didn’t hear wrong Abhay, I like Sia,” Julian admitted.
“You mean you lust after her and she ain’t giving you any? You’re confusing lust for like man!” Abhay argued back angrily.
“I know how I feel for Sia, Abhay. I know it!” Julian hissed back.
“After everything that’s happened to you, Julian, you still want to get involved with a woman? Romantically?” Abhay yelled back but not loud enough for their voices to reach Leo.
“Sia is not my mother, Abhay! I’ve seen Leo and the way she treats him. And I know that she can never be my mother. You might think that she’s playing hard to get but everything she has done ‘till now was because of her son. She would never hurt her own child the way my mother did!” Julian yelled back, his fists clenched, his jaw tight.
It was at that moment that both Julian and Abhay became aware of just how deep the former’s feelings for Sia went. He wasn’t just infatuated with her, and he wasn’t lusting after her, either. Julian had fallen in love with her. Whatever happens now, Sia was for Julian.