"You guys want pizza?" If Kimberly would've opened her mouth any wider, she would've eaten the slice in one whole bite.
It had been quite a few minutes since Maxon and Sebastian were up in their penthouse in The Bentley Hotel. The aftermath of their deed, perspectively Maxon's deed was still burdensome. Neither one of them had regained their habitual equanimity and Kimberly seemed rather negligent about the revision in their stance.
"No." Sebastian and Maxon croaked in unison but not before they spared each other an errant look. Although Sebastian had no part in vandalizing the car, he still felt guilty for aiding and abetting his friend.
"Why do each one of us has fucked up families?" Sebastian squirmed in his seat probably thinking about his two older brothers and a little sister. Although Aurora loved him to death, Michael and Logan seemed to hate their youngest brother.
They'd often hit him for little mistakes. And not just a slap on the wrist or a scolding, both of them were trained in boxing and they spared no justifiable opportunity to experiment their skills on Sebastian. Lee WonShik paid no heed as he, himself was the one who ordered his older sons to hit the youngest on accounts of inconsequential mistakes.
"Maybe it's karma?" Kimberly suggested licking her bottom lip amidst her chewing.
Sebastian sighed, his gaze momentarily lingering on the stoic architecture of their Bentley Hotel's Penthouse Suite. The living room was like a perfect magazine cover. The couch was cream but inlaid with fine green silk; leaves embroidered so delicately that they might have landed there in spring and just sunk in, but in reality, they took hundreds of hours to sew. The white curtains were linen, the kind of white that is untouched by hands and devoid of dust. A cursory look to the right showed the almost hidden cords that are used to open and close them. There is no television, no bookshelf, no dining table, only the chairs arranged around the bespoke fireplace which leaped with a gas flame. The floor was highly polished wood, dark and free of either dust or clutter.
Maxon might've been physically present there but he wasn't mentally listening to any of what his friends were chattering about. His mind kept racing back to the paternity test and his father's hurtful words.
No one can ever love you, Maxon.
His father's words had left a cavernous impact on Maxon, more than he anticipated. It had never really hit him until that moment that there was in fact, no one, who loved him unconditionally.
Sure, he had Sebastian and Kimberly but he knew that their friendship was built on a flimsy thread of emotional voids and codependency. The moment the thrill of their spiteful schemes would end, their friendship will go down the drain.
Maxon had acknowledged the fact that Ruxton was never much of an affectionate parent, ages ago, he'd always take care of his sons' financial needs as well as their academic needs but never the one to spend quality time with them.
But today, he had crossed all limits.
Deep in his heart, Maxon would've preferred Ruxton's kicks and punches over his excruciatingly unendurable words.
"No, I don't believe in that shit." Sebastian finally said, snapping out of his self induced trance before tearing a piece from the pizza.
"You don't believe in evolution either!" Kimberly snorted, crossing her leg one over the other as she wiped her fingers on a piece of tissue before tossing it on the crystalline table.
"It's a little hard to believe that we came from monkeys." Sebastian snorted, rolling his eyes as he comforted himself in the large loveseat.
"If we time it back to eons ago, we actually came from fish, no, to be precise we came from tadpoles."
"And you ask why I don't believe in evolution?!" Sebastian threw his hands up in the air with a slight grunt, a single lock of raven black hair falling on his forehead. He paid no heed to his disheveled appearance as he resumed munching on the said pepperoni pizza.
Just as their banter proceeded, it was interjected with a soft knock on their door. The trio exchanged skeptical glances and Maxon could practically see Sebastian squirm in his seat. He told his friend to stay seated as Maxon proceeded over to the peephole.
Two armed men in a dark blue uniform stood before the locked door with their eyebrows knotted in a tight curve.
One of them had all the usual height but without the bulk. He must be pushing forty yet he had the build of a teenager with lithe muscle under his uniform.
"NYPD." Maxon mouthed over to the duo as sweat started forming on his own forehead.
Is that all Ruxton contrived to do? Lock him in prison? File a lawsuit? Maxon could get out of any lawsuit with an army of Harvard graduated lawyers behind him. Maxon wondered if at times he overestimated his own father.
But it was all too dubious to be real. Ruxton was aware that Maxon could get out of the prison by simply bribing the underpaid officers. That's what he did every time the NYPD had a warrant against any of the Kingsley brothers.
The police officers entered into their penthouse suite. They were the epitome of authority with their gun hanging idly at the hip, the living room reflecting in their over large sunglasses. Maxon couldn't help but imagine that they must be sweating in that crisp blue uniform. He almost felt empathetic towards them.
"Let's do this." Maxon sighed with a despondent look, surrendering himself without restraint. It would merely take seconds for him to get out of the prison.
Child's play, Maxon scoffed, a smirk curling up his lips.
But something wasn't right there.
Arresting his own son would cause a whirlwind of scandals and Ruxton specifically wanted to avoid any and every gossip that could brew and potentially cause a dip in the Kingsley Enterprise's shares.
So the question here was, why?
The cops flashed Maxon a frown with a befuddled look before they brushed past him. Maxon's heart fleetingly stopped, his conscience brewing up scenarios where Kimberly would be taken. His eyes widened as he followed their course of the path, ready to defend her if required. The muscly officer with his old partner traipsed their way past the girl and over to Sebastian.
"Mr. Sebastian Lee?" The one with the muscles - whose name on his name tag read Obadiah - asked.
"Yes?" Sebastian's gaze landed on Maxon's fleetingly and the dark-haired boy gulped in fright. Kimberly was stunned to silence as her eyes danced from Maxon to Sebastian and then over to the cops.
They heaved out an arrest warrant before handcuffing Sebastian and trawling him to the door unwilling as they brusquely neglected the duo's protests.
"Hey! Hey!" Maxon called out to them. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sir, you're obstructing justice. I suggest you stand down." The older officer's sharp look was enough for Maxon to take his hands off the cop's collar and throw them at his own side.
"Sebastian, what did you do?" Kimberly tightened her fists into a firm ball giving the boy in the cuffs a disapproving glance.
"Kimberly, he didn't- Hey! Hey!" Maxon yelled at the cops. "You can't drag him like that!"
"Sons of bitches." Kimberly muttered under her breath as she threw the government workers a stinky look.
"Maxon, do something." Sebastian looked at his friend, pleadingly before focusing his despised gaze onto the officer. "What did I do?"
"You're under arrest for destruction of private property."
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"I need to talk to you about something." Maxon addressed in a rather gruff pitch. He couldn't hold the bitterness and the brewing indignation in him anymore. It was like a TNT, could blow up any moment.
What really pissed Maxon off was that his father was aware of Sebastian's family background yet Ruxton pinned all of it on him.
Ruxton was aware that Sebastian's family was a traditional Korean family who would go to violent measures to discipline their sons. He was aware that Sebastian was hit and punched brutally every time he committed a mistake and now being charged for vandalism? It would not sit well with Lee WonShik. His punishment would be unimaginable, probably sentencing Sebastian to South Korea until he made something of himself.
"I think you're here to ask me for a favor." Ruxton didn't even bother to spare his son a solitary glance. His heavy eyelids hung at half-mast, giving him a weary, monotonous look.
Maxon clenched his fists, restraining himself from hitting the man who raised him. "Sebastian has nothing to do with the damage to your car. I did it. So, please-"
"You want me to call the NYPD and tell them that it was my own son who did it?" Ruxton snorted like it was the most moronic thing to ask. Slamming the synthetic file onto the table, he twirled around in his chair, facing his son completely now.
Ruxton's face was stern, even a little melancholy, in repose, which was transfigured every time he smirked. He had a long boned face, tapering to a pointed chin, the same widely spaced sight with a steady but slightly ironic gaze and the amber yellow eyes he shared with Ahren and not Maxon.
"Please." Maxon had to suppress the bottled up angst even to utter the desperate plea. Maxon could view the satisfaction on his supposed father's face and he desired nothing more than to smack it off. "It wasn't Sebastian's fault."
"You think I didn't know that when I called the cops?" Scoffing, Ruxton took quick strides over to where Maxon stood. Standing tall, overpowering his son like he always had. "I don't want him to pay for the damages."
"Then what is it that you want?" Maxon ran his hand through his close-cropped hair three times in quick succession and fixed his father in a stare that could have frozen the Pacific.
To avoid looking into his father's fiery eyes longer than necessary, Maxon took a quick swap at the sanctum, Ruxton spent most of his time in.
Ruxton's office was painted grey, and it had only one floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road. On the grey desk sat a MacBook Pro, a sleek black notebook lying open, and a stack of papers sitting under a turtle-shaped paperweight. In a corner, the air conditioner was blasting at high speed which sent a few shivers down Maxon's spine, and there was a swivel chair in the middle of the office. A bookshelf, bursting with books was in a corner, with yet another stack of papers under a paperweight that was shaped to look like a tuft of grass. A few pens were lying on the papers, but some had fallen onto the top of the bookshelf.
"I want you to sign the confidentiality agreement. Speak no word of the paternity test to anyone. If you stop sabotaging me, I'll stop meddling in your life."
Massaging his temple, Maxon thought about it. Rather there was nothing to think about. If this meant Ruxton will stop targeting his friends and back off for good, he would do it in a heartbeat. He had never won against Ruxton and he never will. Maxon just had to accept his own cursed fate for being raised by a man like him.
"Where do you need me to sign?" Maxon gritted his teeth, holding back the curses.
He could practically see Ruxton smirking although his back was faced against him. Ruxton turned around, with a smug plastered across his face. A look which screamed that he had utmost control over Maxon and his life. That every decision Maxon took would be manipulated and influenced by Ruxton and there was nothing Maxon could do.
He forwarded a thin synthetic file with a dozen papers inside. Flicking through the papers, reading the underlined key points Maxon grabbed the pen from the pen holder.
"Now, about the car." Ruxton snatched the file the moment his son was done signing. "You'll pay for the damages from your trust fund."
Maxon merely nodded not being able to hold his ire in anymore. He had bottled it up far too long and it was about to blow, sooner rather than later.
"If you couldn't hold back your anger, you should've driven off a cliff instead of wrecking my car." Ruxton's eyes narrowed, with his lips thinning into a straight line of irk. "You made a scene in front of everyone to screw me over. You should be thankful that I'm letting you go with just a slap on the wrist."
"Why are you doing this? What could you possibly gain from hurting me?"
"I was teaching you a lesson, boy. Sebastian was just collateral damage," Ruxton smirked through his teeth. "If I really wanted to hurt you, I'd go for Kimberly."
Maxon clenched his fists, ready to throw a punch at the mention of his weakness. She was a sensitive topic and Ruxton knew where to wedge for the wound to hurt.
"Put down your claws, Maxon." Ruxton grabbed his papers and stacked the files, aligning them at the corner of his humongous desk. "You're in no position to attempt something like that."
Maxon released his grip as he focused on his breathing, trying to calm down.
"And about your friend, I'm guessing you know whom to call?" Grabbing his suit jacket, Ruxton walked passed his son with a gruntled scoff but not before bumping his shoulder with Maxon's hard enough to throw him off balance.
Anger boiled deep in his system, as hot as lava. It churned within, hungry for destruction, and Maxon knew it was too much for him to handle now.
But he had to regain control, now wasn't a time to dwell over his daddy issues. It was time to bail his friend out of that god awful place.
Bringing his phone into his palms and pressing the number of the one person who could bail Sebastian out of prison without the media getting a whiff of it, Maxon stuck the phone to his ear with a burning hope in the pit of his stomach.
"Hello?" Maxon bit his lip, praying that Sebastian would forgive him for calling this person. But Maxon had no other choice.
"Mr. Lee?"