Madison's eyes widened with shock.
'A thousand-dollar tip? How is this possible?' thought Madison.
"It's true." Steph replied. "In fact, before he left the cafe this morning, he gave me another thousand dollar tip. Oh, and he used his black credit card to tip me. Can you believe that? I've never see a black card before until his first visit to the cafe."
Madison could feel her head spinning as she tried to digest the bombshell revelation Steph has dropped on her.
Her reaction was understandable. Up until her brother was kicked out of the house, Madison always remembered her brother being very frugal and barely had any savings to his name.
How was he able to go from broke and virtually disowned to twice giving thousand dollar tip in a matter of weeks?
Things clearly did not make sense to Madison whatsoever; but she didn't want to show her confusion to Steph.
"You and your cousin must come from a really wealthy family. Still it's nice to know that there are nice, rich people like you and Mr Derek." said Steph.
Madison was flattered; but she didn't feel like staying in the cafe any longer. Equally, she didn't want to put Steph in an awkward situation. So she was polite on her exit.
"Hey Steph, thanks for the free coffee. It's getting late though so I'll take my leave. I'll make sure to come here again. Say, do you mind exchanging contacts with me? We can go on our own girls night out." said Madison.
"Sure thing, Ms Madison. Thanks for your patronage. I look forward to seeing you again." replied Steph with a smile on her face.
Madison exchanged contacts with Steph before she got up from her seat. She made sure to give a generous tip to Steph before leaving the cafe.
'Two huge tips on a weekend. This never happened before. What a day for me. Okay, time to pack up for the day.' thought Steph as she closed the cafe.
Madison went back to her car parked at BDT mall. Before driving off, she had to collect her thoughts as well as really process the information Steph gave to her.
'Something must have happened to brother Derek. He's probably hiding important information from me. There's definitely more to this that meets the eye.'
'Well, that can wait. I still need to head back home and explain myself to that so-called family. Good thing I'm already done with my work and I've cleared my tablet so they won't suspect a thing.'
With her head cleared and thoughts straightened out, Madison started her car and drove back to the Smith household.
As she was driving out of the carpark, Nick Lopez, Derek's childhood friend and owner of NL Suits had just closed shop for the day and was walking to his car.
Nick went in his car and briefly looked up when he saw a familiar blonde woman drive her BMW past him.
Nick was at the moment mesmerised by the woman's beauty.
"Wow. What a beautiful lady. Where have I seen her before though? She reminded me of someone I once knew." Nick thought aloud to himself before driving back home too.
Amanda Walsh was already back at her house when she received a notification. She took out her phone and saw a message...from Madison.
'Hi Ms Amanda. I'm sorry to trouble you but I have attached a copy of my designs and proposals to you. You are the only person who has this copy other than the Quinton Consortium.'
'I have erased my copy from my tablet. I hope you understand my reasons for doing so. I do not want anyone from my family to know about my designs and try to steal them from me. Not this time.'
'Brother Derek seems to trust you a lot. If he trusts you, so do I. Thank you for doing me this big favour.
Madison Smith.
P.S. I really hope you and my cousin go on a date soon. You two really fit each other. Trust me.'
Amanda could only blush at the last sentence of the message.
"I promise you Ms Madison, your secret is safe with me. And yeah, I do have feelings for your cousin. It would nice to go on a date with him." Amanda mumbled to herself before heading to her room.
At the Townsville airport, a private plane touched down and parked itself in a private hanger at a restricted corner of the airport, where a Rolls Royce was parked in wait.
Standing outside of the Rolls Royce was Derek and his driver Hector.
The plane door opened and transformed into a flight of stairs, like any private jet would. Out came Derek's parents, Peter and Lea Quinton, with Owen Beck in tow.
Everyone was all smiles as the Quintons embraced each other. Owen too greeted Derek, before exchanging hugs with Hector. That showed why Owen was the most trusted person in the Quintons' eyes. Owen was respectful to everyone, including their driver.
"How was New York?" asked Derek.
"New York was fun, son." replied Lea. "It would have been more fun if you joined us."
"Come on now, dear." Peter interjected. "You know our competent son has to settle down in his new role. Maybe next time, when he's more settled down then he can join us."
"Woah, Dad. Competent? That's all you can say about your long lost son?" Derek joked with his father.
Peter just gave a look to Derek that implied, 'Really, son?' Derek could not help but laugh.
"I'm just kidding, Dad. Lighten up. Anyway, I'm happy you both and Owen made it back safely." said Derek.
"We're glad to see you and Hector in high spirits too." replied Owen. "Speaking of which, how are your projects with Amanda coming along?"
"Progress is going smoothly as planned, Owen. With that said, I need you seniors' opinion on something. Let's talk more over breakfast tomorrow." replied Derek.
Peter, Lea and Owen were wondering what Derek wanted to ask them; but they agreed with Derek's notion. Hence, everyone entered the Rolls Royce with Hector driving the car out of Townsville airport.
Throughout her drive back to the Smith household, Madison could not shake off the thought that her brother Derek had been hiding very important information about him to her.
Nevertheless, she swore to herself that she will protect Derek from her family any way she can.
Madison drove into the Smith family garage and turned off her engine. Before entering the house, she sent another text message to another of her contacts.
'OK. That's done. I'll call it a day today.' thought Madison as she entered the Smith house.