"Ready?"

"Shoot. I forgot something" Maggie said rushing back inside. Stephan was taking her out to have some drinks. After spending a week at the farmhouse, she was ready to go anywhere. The place was awesome but she needed to see other people. Aside from the staff that came and went, there was only four of them in that house. They'd basically done everything that could be done indoors, playing games, watching movies, reading books, even cooking. She couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed cooking.

Stephan had been right. Not everything was about money. If she had chosen one of the places she always went to, she wouldn't have had this much fun. She felt at ease with everyone and even thought that she could be friends with Amy. When they weren't bickering, they found out that they had a lot in common. Finding out she wasn't just a mere assistant but a heiress was a bit of a shock but she got over it. Rich kids wanted to leave like ordinary people all the time. Amy was no different.

She had agreed to take them to a local pub where her friends were waiting for them. Maggie had decided to go because she missed hanging out with people. The last time she'd gone out with friends was when she was back at the RS agency. Sheila and the others had coaxed her into going to a club to just drink and rewind. That was more than five years ago. She was so eager to leave that she'd forgotten her phone in her bedroom. As she was coming back down, she decided to tell Mr. Miller they were leaving.

He had been kind to her. Aside from letting them stay in his house, he instructed his staff to give them anything they needed. Unlike other rich men, he was laid back and easygoing. He even joined them in their games when he wasn't busy. Outside his study, she raised her hand to knock and stopped midway when she realized he was on the phone. Maggie would have left if she hadn't heard him mentioning her name.

"Except for Jamie's, everything else should be divided among them equally. They're both my daughters and even though Maggie doesn't know it yet, she has the same rights Jamie has..... Yes..... The house in England and this farmhouse go to Maggie, the beach house in Cancun is Jamie's. She loves that place....."

Maggie took a step back. What the hell was he talking about? Had she heard him right?  Why would he give her a house? From what she'd heard, it looked as if he was talking to a lawyer about his will. She didn't have anything to do with him. Why was she getting a house? Was Stephan... They're both my daughters. That's what he'd said. Both, as in Amy and....her? Impossible. She thought spinning around and running outside. No way. It was all her imagination. There was no way that man was her father.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost" Stephan said.

"Nothing. Let's go" she replied opening the front passenger seat but Amy rushed inside and stuck her tongue out. The normal thing to do would have been to start a tugging war to get her out of the seat but Maggie was still in shock and confused. She blankly stared at her.

"I believe saint Maggie has finally shown herself Stephan. Look at her, she's not even trying to fight with me over the seat. What changed? Did you see Jesus on your way out?"

Blinking, Maggie let go of the door and sat in the backseat quietly. Her mind was whirling with so many thoughts that she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Little things she thought were weird but hadn't paid attention to started to make sense. The first time she'd met Mr. Miller and shook hands with him. His trembling hand made sense now. And when she'd caught them talking about Amy's sister, the alarm on their faces made sense now. They thought she'd heard what they were talking about. Every time she and Amy wanted something, Mr. Miller would always tell Amy to let her have it because she was the guest.

But she wasn't a guest, was she? What did they think they were doing? Inviting her to stay at their house and giving her anything she asked for. Why would they do that? Was Stephan in on it too? Had they decided to lie to her together? No. He wouldn't do that. She was starting to trust him. He did everything to make her happy. She loved how he always found a way to make her laugh. And every time he kissed her without notice. She thought it was adorable how he brushed his nose against hers after kissing her. He wouldn't hide something like that from her if he knew the truth.

"Are you sure you're fine Maggie?" he asked turning to look at her. She couldn't say a word so she nodded.

"Don't worry, I think she's scared of meeting my friends. I promise they won't bite you Maggie" Amy said in a singsong voice. During the drive, she chatted nonstop with Stephan. All Maggie could hear was their voices but didn't understand what they were saying. She nodded a few times and answered them without knowing the kind of questions they were asking.

Nothing made sense to her. How could Mr. Miller be her father? Even though she didn't spend time thinking about what her birth father looked like, she never would have imagined that it was that man. She'd decided to live her life alone. If her birth parents weren't interested in looking for her then she wasn't going to lift a finger to look for them. To her the possibilities were either they were dead or not interested. That was why she hadn't hired anyone to look for them. But now that she knew who her father was she didn't know how to feel.

Already they'd lied to her. Could she trust him? When was he planning on telling her the truth? Did Amy know who she was when she started working for her? Is that the reason she had decided to be her assistant? Or was it to spy on her and find out the things she liked so they would butter her up before telling her the truth? The more she thought about it the angrier she got. By the time they stopped outside the pub, Maggie was furious. She jumped out of the car and went straight to the bar.

"I need a drink. Something strong" she told the bartender. He poured a clear liquid in a glass and handed it to her. She threw her head back and swallowed everything in one go then asked for another one.

"Slow down Maggie. We're here to have fun,  not get drunk" Stephan said moving to stand beside her while Amy sat on the chair next to him.

"You should leave me alone Stephan. I'm not in the mood to have fun"

"Why? You couldn't wait to come here. What happened to change your mind?"

"I need a drink and space to think. I'll be right here so go have fun, I'm not going anywhere"

"At least tell me what happened"

"For the last time, leave me the fuck alone. What part of that don't you understand?" she snapped slamming her glass on the table.

"Whoa, calm down Maggie. Whatever it is that made you angry isn't Stephan's fault. There's no need to talk to him like that" Amy told her leaning towards them.

"You're right. So leave me alone before I start placing the blame on you. I said I wanted to be by myself. Is that so hard to understand?"

"You're angry and on your way to getting drunk Maggie. I'm not leaving you alone"

"You don't want to do this with me right now. I am angry and confused and want to lash out. If you both know what's best for you, you would let me be"

"No...."

"Let's go Stephan. She's asking for time alone and I think we should leave. Wait for her to calm down"

"I'm not leaving her alone Amy"

"We'll keep an eye on her. I can see my friends. Let's go and say hi. Hopefully when we get back she would have calmed down"

"I'll keep an eye on you Maggie. If you need me just say so" he told her. She didn't bother acknowledging what he'd said. She was already on her third drink and all she could feel was the way the drink burnt her throat as she swallowed it. Everything else had gone numb. She hated how familiar that feeling was. It brought with it memories she'd tried to bury for so many years and the what ifs questions.

They were the worst because all she could think of was that if she'd grown up with her real father, her life would have been different. She wouldn't have lost.... everything she had lost.

------------------

Stephan didn't understand how she'd gone from happy to angry. Had he done something to upset her? No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't remember if he'd done something wrong. So what had made Maggie so angry? Did she fight with Amy?

"Hey, did you guys fight over something?" he asked Amy. She shook her head no and went back to talking with her friends. He sighed turning to see if she was still drinking. He had a mini attack when he couldn't see her and rushed to the bar "Where is she?"

The bartender pointed to his left "Bathroom"

"Oh" he breathed a sigh of relief dropping to her seat. He didn't go barging in there because he knew how long women took whenever they went to the bathroom. After waiting for a while, he realized his mistake when a guy approached the bar and said,

"The lady who was sitting here said that the people she came with would pay for her drinks"

Stephan snapped his head towards the man "What did you just say?"

"You heard me. Are you the one who came with her?"

"Yes. Where is she?"

"She left like twenty minutes ago"

"So why are you telling me this now?" he snarled jumping off the stool.

"Because she told me to wait for twenty minutes before telling the bartender that. She also paid me some good dough so I couldn't refuse"

"Dammit, get out of my way" Stephan pushed him aside and ran outside. Maggie was angry and drunk. He didn't know what she was going to do or where she was going. Jumping in the car, he called the farmhouse but no one answered. That made him more anxious. Where was she going? She had a twenty minutes head start. Who knew where she was. It scared him to think that she would do something stupid. He shouldn't have left her alone.

Breaking all speed limits, he pulled up in front of the farmhouse and hurried inside. He almost missed Mr. Miller, who was sitting on the porch.

"Have you seen Maggie?"

"She's gone" he said in a sad voice.

"Gone? Where?"

"Back to LA. She somehow found out that I was her father"

Stephan dropped on one of the chairs finally understanding what was going on "How?"

"I don't know. She came back and asked how long I had known she was my daughter. I couldn't lie to her Stephan"

"What else did she say?"

"Nothing. After that she packed her things and left in a hurry"

"I'm going to call Amy and tell her to come back. I have to follow Maggie in case she does something stupid"

"Do you think she would hurt herself?" the panic on the older man's face made Stephan rethink his answer. He didn't think Maggie was capable of hurting herself intentionally. But she could do something stupid that would eventually lead to her getting hurt.

"Don't worry sir. Maggie is a smart girl. Even if she's angry she wouldn't harm herself. What would her fans think?"

"You're right. She loves her fans. She would never do anything to make them worry. Hurry, go and see if she's okay"

"Will you be fine sir?"

"Don't worry. Just go after Maggie. She needs someone by her side"

That was true. The only problem was if she would accept help. He knew first hand how proud she was. It wasn't going to be easy to convince her to listen to her father. He knew what she'd gone through and he also knew what she was thinking. That she wouldn't have gone through all those hardships if she had grown up with her family. She was going to blame them for all her hardships. He knew her too well to the point of anticipating what her next move would be.

Since she'd taken the last flight to LA, Stephan requested a private plane because he couldn't wait until the next day. It pissed him off that the formalities were going to take two hours but it was better than waiting for twelve hours. His chauffeur was waiting for him at the airport when he arrived. Stephan instructed him to go straight home. If Maggie wasn't in her house, he would call all her employees and ask if they knew where she was.

It turned out that he didn't have to call anyone but the hospital. Maggie was in her house alright. It looked like she had taken some drugs and trashed her house. There was blood everywhere and he guessed she was too angry to realize she had been hurt. He wondered if this would be her breaking point. She kept too much inside and was bound to blow up someday. Was today the day?

*****************************************

Someone by the name of richiwais asked for drama. We have lots of that coming up darling.

I want to see how long it will take you guys and Stephan before you have enough of our Maggie. Only the strongest will see this to the end 😜😜