Love, Lies and Billionaires

Only the stars were in the sky when Maren got down from the car with her eyes glued to her phone, which she has basically been staring at since she got out of the elevator at her company.

With calculated steps, she walked into the house and bolted the door behind her, then turned to the perfectly silent household of hers.

She walked up the stairs and got into her room, which she also locked behind her.

“Where did you get this?”

“Fuck!” Maren exclaimed and almost dropped her phone as she shut her eyes to suck in the fear which had just radiated through her body. She took a deep breath, then opened her eyes again.

“What the hell are you doing in my room, mom? And at this time of the night. Shouldn’t you be knitting a sweater in a rocking chair or something?” she asked as she began pulling off her clothes.

“Well, I felt my daughter’s been acting so strange and distant these past few weeks and decided that if she wouldn’t talk to me, maybe I should do some snooping of my own”

“You know that’s really disrespectful, right? Invading my privacy and all”

Mrs Sharppe scoffed silently. “Since when do we have boundaries? I disposed of your tampons as a teen, young lady”

Maren rolled her eyes at her mom’s character of always being so dramatic.

“Doesn’t mean you have to break into my room and go through my stuff like I’m seventeen,” she said, still not looking in her mom’s direction.

“Accept my apologies then, my love”

“Whatever, mom, I’ve been out all day. I really don’t care if you sell the house,” Maren added, not actually meaning it.

Her mom stayed silent for a while and just watched her walk around half naked as she prepared to have her bath. She waited and had patience till the shower was turned off and Maren stepped out.

“Now Maren, where did you get this?” she asked again.

Maren raised her head from the numerous cosmetics lined up in front of her and turned in her mom’s direction.

Her face turned pale for a second and her heart skipped a beat as she took a glance at what her mom held in her hands.

“I thought I lost it a long time ago, but I was wrong,” she replied and turned back to what she was doing. Blinking multiple times to get herself back on track.

“I think I was there for that part. Where did you find it?” her mom stressed further.

“I really don’t see why it’s such a big deal, Mom,” she replied, applying some pinkish coloured cream on her face still with her bathrobe on.

“You could make things a lot easier if you’d just answer the question, you know.”

“Kendrick. Kendrick found it. Actually, he had been with it all these years since the first time we met about six years ago,” Maren explained reluctantly.

Her mom fell silent and looked at the locker in her hands before opening it to view the picture inside.

Maren paused from what she was doing and turned to her mom. “I know that’s the only thing we have of dad that aren’t burnt or locked in the basement and I know you want it put away for good. But I really don’t want to do that.”

Her mom ignored her words and just kept staring at it with her brows creased.

“How did you meet the Kendrick of a man again?” Her mom suddenly asked, with her eyes still on the pendant.

“Urrrgh, mom. Are we really doing this again? We’ve gone over this a thousand times,” she grumbled as she helped herself to some clothes.

She turned as her mom was silent and caught the old lady giving her that warning stare.

“Alright, fine! I really don’t see how this all correlates, though.” She got out her laptop and placed it on her lap while she sat on the bed.

“The night I asked for your permission to have a girls’ night with Irene, we had too many shots and we both got drunk, but I was more than Irene was.” Her hands began typing like she was documenting what she was saying.

“Before the outing, Irene made me make a stupid promise that I’d get into a man’s bed that night, which, by the way, was part of her and Alexander’s plan.”

“So she apparently got me so drunk that when Alexander cane along I didn’t have the sense to resist, so we walked away from the main grounds to the part where the rooms were and that’s all I could remember till I met Kendrick again”

Her mom raised her brows at her when she paused and didn’t want to continue.

“Well, go on,” she urged.

“Come on mom, you’re making this seem like I’m some third grader reciting the multiplication table,” Maren whined.

“Well, you have to finish what you started. Go on!”

Maren just rolled her eyeballs. “Well, apparently what happened after that was when I was supposed to get a room with Alexander, he allegedly went off to probably speak to the manager or something and then drink me wandered off into another room where Kendrick was lodged”

“And that how the entire accident happened and I could remember so we’ll because that tattoo never left my mind even after that night”

“And just so I could remember, he’d taken the locket from me as a proof,” she said and ended her narration.

“You did say that night led to Nathan, didn’t you?”

Maren sighed, still not getting the point of the interview. “Yes, mom. I was too drunk to tear open a condom.”

Her mom fell silent after that. Her mind was obviously distant.

“Mom, if you wanted to chat you should have just said so,” said, typing away on her laptop.

“You’re right. I’d I wanted to just chat. I would have said so.”

“So what’s the matter? And please, can you quit staring at that thing like it’s some new item?”

Her mom paused for a while. “I’m just a little curious about how Kendrick got this. Because if my memory still works fine, this isn’t the locket your father gave you. It’s your father’s”