Stephan watched Maggie and Amy as they sat there quietly without saying anything to each other. He wondered if they'd fought again but discarded that thought. They wouldn't be sitting together after arguing. They both had a volatile temper. Actually, now that he saw them together, he realized that if he'd looked closely he would have seen the similarities between them. Eyes, nose, the way they frowned. It was right there in front of him. How could he not have seen it?

After he'd had a falling out with his father when he was eighteen, he had done stupid things in order to get back at him. Since he knew how much his old man valued his reputation, Stephan had tried to embarrass him in front of his friends. It worked, until one day at a party where he'd planned on getting drunk and acting like an idiot, a man had approached him and told him that whatever he was planning wasn't worth it. Instead, he'd advised him to grow up and be better than the person he hated.

It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Stephan had told the man to shove it but instead of getting angry like any other adult, he'd laughed and said the younger generation needed to come up with better insults. His reaction was what made Stephan stop and listen to him.

Back then, he hadn't known their lives would be connected the way they were today. Mr. Miller's advice had helped him become who he was today. He'd done all he could to beat his father and become more famous and more successful than him. He had surpassed his old man's expectations and rubbed it in his face every chance he got. So when five years ago Mr. Miller had asked him to take a model under his wing, Stephan thought her situation was the same as his. That's why he'd never asked a question about Maggie and how she knew the Millers.

Digging into her background had been out of curiosity, to find out why she was the way she was. He hadn't gone as far as to find out who her parents were. To discover that she didn't know the Millers at all had been a shock. But when Thompson had told him that she was his daughter, he couldn't believe it. He very much wanted to know how that happened, what had caused them to be separated but he couldn't ask. If anything, Maggie had to know the truth before he did. Already he felt guilty that he couldn't tell her who the Millers were.

Of course it wasn't his place to say anything but she was going to be pissed when she found out they all hidden the truth from her. So before that happened, he needed to gain her trust first. That way she wouldn't kick him to the curb. It hadn't escaped him that she wanted nothing to do with him because he affected her. He wasn't one of her boyfriends whom she made sign contracts and NDAs. His feelings towards her were honest.

Back in her bedroom he'd lost his mind for a second. His aim was to tease her a little and see how she would react. Since he'd never seen her blush, he was aiming for a little embarrassment. But then she'd walked out of the bathroom with only a towel around her. His actions couldn't be helped. If he hadn't left when he did, things would have taken a drastic turn. Which would have been a mistake because she wasn't ready. Rolling his shoulders, he opened the front door.

"Who died?" he asked moving to lean on the porch railing in front of them.

"No one. We're just enjoying the view. Right Maggie?" Amy said smiling.

"We were. Until someone showed up and blocked our view"

"My bad, beautiful. But in my defense, I offer a much better view than the trees. Don't you think?"

"Definitely" that of course came from Amy while Maggie stood up replying

"Way to ruin someone's afternoon Stephan. I'm going for a walk. Don't follow me"

He wasn't going to. Right up until she said that, then he felt it was his duty to actually follow her and aggravate her further "Now I will have to follow you. Do you want to come along Amy?"

"No thanks. I'm going to call my friends and inform them that I'm back"

"Okay. I'll go with her, in case she gets lost" hurrying after her he yelled "Wait for me. Why are you walking so fast?" to his surprise she started running telling him to get lost "Hey, stop"

"Go away"

"Dammit Maggie, stop" in a hurry to catch up with her, he stumbled on a rock. The only reason he fell was because he heard her laughing. A real, honest laugh that caught him off-guard and made him freeze. For a moment, he lay on the ground, propped up by his elbows, listening to her. She must have thought he was hurt because she came back and kneeled beside him.

"Are you okay?" she asked looking for injuries. The orange glow of the setting sun cast it's rays her face, so that her brown eyes shone brighter. Her curly hair framed her face and his hand moved on its accord, tucking it behind her ear.

"You have dimples" he murmured

"Yeah. Everyone knows that. They are my trademark"

"For some reason, I feel like I'm seeing them for the first time"

"Oh, I see. You're trying to distract me so I would forget about your fall. Nice try old man" she said standing up "You should fall more often. That was funny as... "

"Old man? Did you just call me old?"

She took a step backwards then another "Yeah. I'm pretty sure you dyed your hair... Aaahhh" she shrieked trying to get away from him. 

"Who are you calling old? I'll show you just how old and fit I am" he yelled going after her. Thanks to his long legs, he caught up to her in seconds and wrapped his arms around her just as the fell and rolled on the grass. Maggie squealed with laughter until they stopped, with her on top of him "Call me old one more time" he threatened tightening his grip around her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it" she said smiling down at him. If he wasn't in love with her, he would have fallen for her right at that moment. After five years, he had the pleasure of seeing what her real smile looked like. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Flipping them, he kissed her before she realized what he was about to do and avoid it. It turned out that he shouldn't have worried because she wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him back.

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

Thompson watched Maggie running around while laughing happily, through the window in his study. It filled him with both joy and regret to see her that way. Over the years, he'd wondered what it would have been like if he'd gotten to her mother before it was too late. Would his life have been different? Would he have been happier? Having Jamie had lessened the pain of losing her but he had never forgotten about the child he had thought he'd lost.

While on his trip around the world, he'd met a beautiful woman from a small village in Kenya. Her smile had swept him off his feet from the second he saw her. As a man in his mid twenties, he had been ready to settle down with her. But they were two people from two completely different worlds. She was just from the village, while he was from another continent. Her parents had taken one look at him and decided he wasn't fit to be her husband.

Skin color, background, religion, beliefs, upbringing, there was so much keeping them apart. So much gap between them. While he had gone to school to university level and was well versed in different languages, she had barely started school. After learning the basic things like writing her name, her parents had pulled her out of school claiming she didn't need to be educated further than that. Such a big difference but he still loved her. Because she was beautiful, kind and the most innocent woman he'd ever met.

Thompson had spent days trying to convince them to let him marry their daughter. After a week of begging, they'd come to an agreement. He would go back home, settle everything there then return to the village and marry her. They wanted him to relocate and he had no problem doing that as long as he had her. They'd even given him a piece of land and built him a hut where he'd spent the next two weeks. On the night before he left, Halili had visited him, saying that she wanted to be with him in case she never saw him again.

If he'd known that was the last time he would see her, he would have never left. He would have stayed and said to hell with everything else. But he was young and reckless. He'd gone back home where his parents had given him a hard time about relocating to a small village in the middle of nowhere. He'd wasted time going back and forth with his parents when he should have been with her.

By the time he'd had the chance to return to the village, a year and a half had passed. So much had happened. The second Halili's parents had seen him, they'd kicked him out, blaming him for their misfortunes. He'd tried asking them what was wrong but they wouldn't talk. Her father screamed at him while her mother cried silently beside her husband saying that they should have waited.

He had wandered around the compound until one of the villagers took pity on him and told him what had happened. Halili's parents had found out she was pregnant and made her life a living hell. They got rid of the baby when it was born then married her to another man. She'd jumped into a river and drowned because she couldn't take it anymore. Her body was found days later by people from the next village. Since he couldn't do anything for her, he'd gone in search of the baby. According to her parents, they'd left the abomination in the middle of the forest to be eaten by wild animals.

He had prayed for a miracle. Thompson hadn't had a chance to grieve the loss of Halili because he was busy looking for the baby. After a year of looking, he'd gone back home heartbroken, believing that his child had met the same cruel fate it's mother had. His parents had married him off to another woman hoping she would make him forget about Halili but it was all in vain. He'd lived with so much regret and guilt blaming himself for Halili's and their child's death. Jamie might not remember it, but he wasn't there for the first two years of her life. He had been busy wallowing in his pain to realize that he'd been blessed with another daughter.

It hadn't been easy. Getting over his suffering so he could take care of the child that was alive. But he had. And he'd given his little princess everything he couldn't give the child he'd lost. It was because he had never forgotten Halili that he was able to recognize Maggie. He'd gone to South Africa for business and almost got into an accident when he'd seen a billboard with a picture of her smiling. At first he'd thought his Halili had come back to life, but after calming down, he'd realized that the woman on that billboard was too young to be the love of his life. Which only left one other possible explanation. She was his daughter.

Tracking her down had been easy. But no matter what he did he couldn't approach her. He didn't know where to begin. So he'd spent hours watching her working. He made sure to go to all the shows she was in and when Stephan had hired her, he couldn't be more proud. Because he was a coward, he decided to help her without her knowledge. She wasn't aware that he hadn't missed any of her shows. He was always there, cheering her on among the crowd. He also made sure she got the best deals and that no one took advantage of her.

Of course that didn't even begin to make up for the years he hadn't been there for her, but at the moment, it was all he could do. His biggest regret was that he'd stopped looking for her. After finding out how difficult her life had been, he couldn't stop blaming himself for giving up so easily. He should have never come back without her. But all his guilt couldn't change the past. The only thing he could do was ask for her forgiveness and hope that she would understand him.

If not then he would stay out of her life. All he wanted was for her to be happy. As a father, it was hard to see both his daughters interested in the same man. Stephan was a good boy. He had no idea how Amy felt so he couldn't be blamed for anything. It scared him to think that both his girls could be at odds because of Stephan. Life had a funny way of taking things away from a person. At the end of all this, who knew what he would lose?

Taking his phone out, he called his lawyer "Lieberman, come on over for dinner tomorrow. I think it's time to change my will"

"Change your will?" Jamie asked barging in.

"Yes. Now that your sister is here, I think it's only right you both have equal shares of the inheritance. Is that a problem?"

"No. I'm pretty sure that she doesn't need anything from you and I have no problem sharing anything with her. Except for Jamie's dad. I won't share that" she replied referring to the jewelry store that was named after her. It was estimated to be worth billions of dollars but he knew that wasn't the reason Jamie wanted it. Her mother loved jewelry and she'd started the business for their daughter. He had provided the funds and technically he could give it to whoever he wanted but since it was the only thing Jamie wanted, he let her have it.

Hopefully, no problems would arise about it in the future.

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When I say that, it means problems will definitely arise. Big problems. 😜😜

This chapter was about giving you an insight to Maggie's origins. Is it like you imagined?