She sighed and knew that that was something she would have to figure out later and looked over the article titles one more time to see if there was anything that she had missed. And then she saw it, “Mitch Gold Not So Happy to Welcome Maxwell Van Harkel to the Family.” Suddenly she was alert. Mitch Gold. The name sounded familiar, he was obviously someone related to Alexis but she wasn’t sure whom. She didn’t think that she had met any other members from the Gold family. She clicked on the article and gasped. There was a photo of Mitch Gold and Alexis Gold cutting the ribbon at some event. She studied his face and cringed. There on the screen staring back at her with a huge grin was Mitch, the guy Maxwell had gotten into a fight with at the Pub on her first night in Winterside. The guy that she had been dancing with that had gotten a little too hands-on for her liking.
She bit her lip and tried to think back to that night. They hadn’t acted like they had known each other, she hadn’t seen recognition in their eyes but she had been so drunk she wouldn’t even have noticed. She thought back to the blood on Max’s face and wondered if the fight they had that evening was about a lot more than some dirty dancing. She looked at her watch and sighed. The library was going to be closed soon and she didn’t have time to dillydally. She decided to try to find out more information from Ella about Mitch when she got back to town. She wanted to find out more about Max’s past now and she needed to focus on that.
She spent the next thirty minutes furtively looking at newspaper articles but none of them mentioned anything about his being in jail. The librarian gave everyone a five-minute warning and Sophie started packing up her things. She was about to shut down the computer when she saw a headline that made her heart stop. “Does Maxwell Van Harkel Have an Anger Problem?” She clicked on the headline that belonged to a small newspaper from Upstate New York and perused it quickly. The article stated that Max had beaten up a guy so badly that he had to be hospitalized due to the severity of his trauma. It also stated that Maxwell had been sent abroad to evade jail time and that he should have been sent to a mental institute instead. Sophie frowned unsure of what to think. At the bottom of the article, there was a link to another article. She clicked on it quickly and saw a retraction stating that the author of the previous article no longer worked for the paper and had written the article in error. Maxwell Van Harkel had travelled abroad to learn the family business and he had no mental issues.
Sophie quickly went back to the original article and wrote down the author’s name. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with the information but something inside of her told her to write it down. She grit her teeth wondering what she was getting herself into, Max’s world was starting to seem darker and darker and she didn’t know whether she wanted to be a part of it now that she was going to have a baby.
She walked out of the library caught up in her thoughts. She loved Maxwell but she didn’t think she really liked him. He had treated her horribly and she didn’t think this was a healthy state of mind for her or her baby.
Chapter 11
Sophie arrived home feeling hungry. She hadn't eaten dinner, she'd been too depressed but now she was feeling ravenous. She walked into the empty apartment and sighed: she missed Ella and wished that she were back home already. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water before picking up some takeout leaflets and walking to the living room to check them out. Her mind felt numb from all the information she had read at the library and she just wanted to veg out and forget about everything for the evening.
Her heart froze as she walked in the living room for there, sitting on the couch in the dark, was Maxwell. He was sitting back casually but his eyes were on her like a hawk. He looked angry and she stood still wondering what he was doing there.
"It was nice of you to call me back." His voice was low and full of venom as he stood up and walked towards her. The streetlights shining through the windows illuminated his body, though his face still looked dark and thunderous.
"Oh sorry." She smiled at him weakly and reached into her bag to grab her cellphone. "It was off." She powered it back on and six voicemails and text messages came through from Maxwell.
"You hung up on me." He was standing in front of her now, so close that she could feel his body heat radiating onto her skin.
"I had to get off of the phone." She looked up at his face and made eye contact with him. "I figured we could talk later."
"Did you now?" He grabbed her hand and took the leaflets out of it. "You're hungry?"
"Yes." That's why I have the leaflets in my hand, she thought to herself.
"You didn't eat?"
"Not yet."
"That's not good, Sophie." He sounded angry again. "You need to eat."
"What?" She was confused as to why he was so upset that she hadn't eaten as of yet.
"You are eating for two now. You and my child."
"Your child?" She looked at him in resentment. "Since when did you start caring about the baby?"
He looked at her with incredulity on his face. "I will always care about my child. No matter how much the mother lies or tries to manipulate me."
Sophie looked at him in shock. "How dare you call me a liar?"
"Well, aren't you?" He looked down at her, his tone sardonic and she turned away. His eyes once again captivated her. He seemed to have this uncanny ability to look directly into her soul.
"No." She walked to the couch and sat down, needing to distance herself from this man who made her feel too many emotions at once. "How did you get in?" She changed the subject.
"I have a key." He walked over to the couch and sat next to her. "I do own the apartment."
"I thought Van Harkel Corp. owned it," she tried to sound as snarky as possible.
"Actually no," he smiled at her. "I own the apartment personally."
"Oh." Sophie wondered why he bought an apartment he didn't live in. She knew he wasn't making enough from her rent to make it worth it as an investment property.
"I wanted to talk to you today, Sophie but you didn't give me a chance."
"How was dinner with Alexis?" She looked at him hungrily, taking in his smart appearance. He was wearing a navy blue Polo pullover over a white shirt with grey trousers. She could still smell his cologne and she had an overwhelming urge to push her face into his chest and breathe him in.
"It was fine,” he answered curtly. "What do you want to eat?"
"I'll decide when you leave." She reached for the remote and turned on the TV.
"I'm not leaving tonight." He turned towards her and moved closer. "In fact, not only am I not leaving, I also have plans for us."
"Plans?" She looked at him suspiciously. "You want to talk all night?"
"No. The plans I have don't include talking."
"What about Alexis?" She looked at him incredulously.
He frowned at her. "She doesn't matter right now."
"But you went to dinner with her."
"And?"
"Why didn't you spend the night with her?"
He laughed and looked away. "She’s not who I wanted in my bed tonight."
Sophie swallowed, dismayed at how happy that made her feel but the happy feeling was fleeting. What really did his comment mean? Only that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Maybe he would go to Alexis's bed tomorrow. Maybe he only wanted her because she had ignored his phone call.
"I don't want you in my bed tonight," she lied.
"I don't care what you want," he chuckled and came closer towards her. She moved down the couch until there was nowhere left to go. She sat there looking up at him and sighed as she felt his lips crush down on hers. They tasted salty and she found her tongue darting out of her mouth to lick his lips. He groaned and caught her tongue in his mouth and sucked on it slowly. She felt herself melting against him. She couldn’t resist him. He was her drug and she was too doped up to care about the consequences. She felt his hand reach up to her breast and his fingers ran around her nipples before he cupped them.
“Seems like they are getting bigger already.” He grinned at her as he pulled back to pull up her t-shirt.