Chapter-12

Layla Alberto's POV

"I can come by myself. He didn't have to send you." I say as I sit in the back seat of the car Ben sent to pick me up. His driver is smiling at me. I smile back.

"My kid suffered from cancer and is now cancer free, living the life of a kid as he should. It is all because of you. If it wasn't for you Trust fund..." He looks away for a brief second before meeting my eyes in the rear view mirror. "Thank you, Ms. Alberto." The gratefulness is clear in his voice and face.

"You are welcome. You kid is happy and that is all that matters."

That's what the trust fund is for. Anyone who needs help will be provided the help they need.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Damon." He replies. The kind smile is still present on his face.

I open my phone and check the messages. I have a new message from Ben.

Waiting for you.

I smile, but don't reply back. The anxiousness in my heart is still present. Not about what will happen when I reach there. Definitely not. Not matter the past, I know Ben would not hurt it. It is because of the message I got last night. It gave me a sleepless night. I didn't reply back. I could only wonder who sent it and why.

What do they mean that not all that happened that night? What else happened?

I replayed the whole night in my mind but nothing. Then I just gave up. It might be someone pranking me or trying to get some money out of it. This is not the first time. But something in the back of my mind doesn't let it go.

"We are here, Ms. Alberto." He opens the door for me and soon we are in the lift going up to his penthouse.

As we enter, I hear a voice of a woman. It's a very familiar one and instantly a grin takes over my face and I walk faster into the kitchen to the meet the person. She looks at me and her face mirrors mine.

"Oh my God! My Lovely girl!" She comes to me with open arms as I do the same and we hug.

It's Jessica! Ben's mom! She knows more about how much of a crush I had on her son that he ever did. She knows all the excuses I made to meet her son. She had a smile like she knew when I was asking about him.

"You grew up so beautifully!" She says as we pull away.

"How are you?" I ask as she leads us to the table and we sit down. Ben is nowhere in the room. His cook Maria is here. Ha! He said he would be waiting! Lies!

"I have been well. I miss your Mom sometimes. How is she?" She asks. They have been good friends.

"She is good. She would love to meet you."

"Are you and Ben together again?" She asks excitedly. What?! She doesn't know what happened ten years ago I guess.

"No." No. No! NO! Her face falls.

"I am sorry. Ben never tells me anything. Just like always." Her eyes wander away as she shakes her head feeling a bit sad. She is still holding my hand lovingly. She looks up at me. "You know I have only ever seen him smile genuinely when he is with you." My breathing stops. Don't believe it! This was ten years ago! I tell myself.

"Jessica, I-"

"I don't know why he broke up with you. I just know that he did." Tears start pooling in my eyes as his words ring in my head. I got to fuck your father's pride! I can't see to forget them. "But you have to know, everything changed with him after that day. He got so obsessed with becoming rich." She stops like she is remembering something.

She puts her hand on my cheek.

"I just know he did all this to get you. He wanted to become rich so he can have you with no guilt."

What?

"He was always inferior that we are not at par with you, that he could not give you any happiness. He wanted to become more for you. Do you know since when he has been in love with you?" She asks and my eyebrows pull together.

"Since we were sixteen." I remember that's when he started making his moves. She laughs.

"No. He starts loving you the day you told him you want to marry him... when you were four and he was six." I remember as I kid I said that to my dad holding Ben's hand.

"No. That couldn't-"

"Trust me. I am his mother. I know." She assures me. "Since that day he worked so hard to be good and not falls in bad books of your father and mother. He always controlled himself from doing anything stupid. I know the amount of times he jumped over the work's quarters at our house to come to you at night. I have seen him countless times staring at your balcony from his room to get a glimpse of you."

I didn't know all this. I knew that liked me and I wanted to make him fall in love with me, but that was it.

"He didn't want to become rich. He just wanted to work for your brother once he is done with studies so that he can stay close to you and replay Mr. Alberto for helping us."

I remember that Mrs. Henderson's husband was a rich person as well. He showed false claims that he wasn't bankrupt and when the news came out, so many people have already lost their money. He later committed suicide. That's when Papa took them in. Papa told me he took them in because of me. Because I asked him to help them when I saw Ben crying. I don't remember it.

"But one day, he came... said he doesn't want to be at the quarters or didn't want me working there. He said he is going to work hard to be rich. He said he is going to give me everything back so that I don't have to work. He said money is the highest power." She stares at the wall in front of me like she is remembering that day. She turns to me and puts her hand on my cheek.

"Jennifer-"

"Yet all this while he was not happy, until he saw you again." My heart skips a beat at her words.

"I think you might be wrong. He-"

"Trust me." She cuts me off again. "I have seen him when he is with you ten years ago. That teenage boy is still in there." I stay silent. I know Jennifer doesn't lie. I know how much she used to adore me. That teenage girl is still in me too! "I don't know what happened between you both all those years ago. But I know that you two loved each other. That kind of love never ends."

It never did! I could not get over him even after all these years. He is still there in my heart. I am not denying that! But what of the words he said?! How he broke my heart?! Who is to say he won't feel insecure and break up again? I can't handle another rejection from him! My ego is playing a bit of a part too! He can't just march back, be rich, act romantic and have me back!

"I just ask you to give it a thought again..." She pauses as our eyes meet. "If you can." Just in time my phone pings and it's a reminder about the shareholders meeting that we have today. I remember that I need to get some signatures from Ben and confirm a few details before the meeting.

"I need to speak with him." I say as I get up.

"He is in his room." She says and we both chuckle. Whenever I used to visit his apartment when we were teens, I used to ask her the same thing and she used to reply the same. I go to his room and it's already wide open. I go in and the scarf that I gave him yesterday... it is right on the bed side table. I go and take it before smelling it. It smells like a mixture of him and me. I greedily absorb it.

Fuck! There is his smell! How I missed it?

I hear some rustling in the closet and go to the closet with the scarf still in my hand. But as soon as I enter a little scream tears through my mouth.

"AHHH!!" I close my eyes and turn away. "Don't you know to close the door?!"

As I entered the closet, he just removed his towel and I accidentally saw his... his... thing! I mean I know that I have seen it before. But it's been ten years. I wasn't expecting him to flash me like that. I hear him laugh.

"Are you fucking laughing right now?!" My back is facing him.

"Come on. It's not like you haven't seen it before." I hear his footsteps come closer and try to run out of the closet, but he holds my hand and pulls me back. My back is pressed against a wall and my hands are over my head. His body is pressed against mine and I can tell that he is not wearing anything.

"What the fuck?! Let me go you asshole!" I wiggle in his grip. "Put some clothes on!" I wiggle more trying to free myself.

"Please wiggle more. You are helping make it harder." He whispers in my ear and I gulp. I just saw that thing and it is huge. Just like every part of him has gone big... it did too.

"Stop it, Ben!" I command.

"But I don't want to." He breathes against the neck of my skin, kissing it intimately. "I missed your smell." He licks the skin behind my ear and I bite my lower lip to stop myself from moaning. "You scarf only helps curb a part of me." His hand still holds my hands over my head and his other hand pulls me closer to him by my waist.

Ah! I feel him! All. Of. Him!

"I needed this daily dose of you. We should make it a regular thing." He speaks as he keeps kissing my neck. Yes! Yes, we should! He sucks on my skin and all of my defenses collapse. My leg lifts itself to put it around his hip and pull him closer so I could feel him. I feel him smile against my skin. I let out a loud moan as he sucks harder. He knows all my soft spots.

"Fuck!" A whisper leaves me. I am so getting lost in him and then... Suddenly... He is gone. He is not near me. His hands are not on me and I open my eyes feeling cold. His back is facing me as he runs his fingers through his hair, gripping it likes he wants to pull his hair out. A towel is hanging around his waist now.

"Fuck!" He bangs his hand on the table. I gather myself and got to him before putting the scarf that I am still holding on the table.

"What the fuck, Ben?!" One minute he is on me and the next he is cold. "If you plan to play any games with me, I am telling you, this time-" He whips his head to me and pulls me closer.

"No games, My Little Star. No games." He whispers looking into my eyes. "I just lost control for a second there." He puts his palm on my face and love seeps through his eyes. His eyes fall on my neck where he just sucked and he runs his finger there. I gulp down my desire. "You remember how I much I love my marks on you?"

How can I forget? You made point of it to. You gave me hickey on the same place everyday so that I bear it like a tattoo. You loved showing it off and keeping the guys away from me. I had to conceal it every day before going home. Ah! How much I loved it?!! Like a fool!

"Should I give you one every day?" He asks.

"Should I chop you dick into pieces?" I ask and he chuckles.

"It's yours to do as you please. But I can think of better ways you can put it to use." He says and I push at his chest trying to stop the blush from spreading my face but failing.

"You have become crude! Let me go!"

"Never. What should I do to get you back to me?" He asks like he is desperate. My heart tugs and I just want to forget what happened ten years, how he broke my heart, how much it hurt and how I never got over him. I can just be back in his arms. I don't have to yearn for him. He still likes me. He can still be mine! "Be mine. Forgive me. Be my Queen, My Little Star!" He whispers and places his lips on mine.

My lips move along with his. It's like I never forgot how we kissed. It's like I am waiting for it. My hands go around his neck. He lifts me up by my waist and places me on the table before continuing kissing me. His hand goes over my back and pushes me towards him. I am pressed all over him.

"Do you know how much I love you?" He asks rhetorically and puts his lips on mine again.

Love? Did he just say Love? I pull away. He looks at me. His hand is now caressing my face. I push back a bit and he looks at me confused. I get down the table and adjust my dress. He pats my hair back into place.

"You have a shareholders meeting at ten today. Be there on time." I speak sharply and turn around walking out of that closet.

My heart is racing like I just ran a mile and my mind is filling with the memories of us both that I deeply cherished.

How is it so easy to fall for him?!

My phone pings and I pull it out of my pocket. It's that unknown number again. A text message.

Do you remember what happened after you dozed off from drugs?

I frown. What? Is this even real? What if someone is just trying to threaten me and get money out of me? Why can't I catch a break?!!

I can't keep ignoring these messages though. I have to tell someone about it.

Benedict Henderson's POV

I sigh as I take the scarf that she put on the table and smell it. I am fucking obsessed with her. Not that it's something I didn't know.

I was not supposed to scare her with the L-word! It's too soon!

Fuck! I just want to be with her already! I have built all of this, made money, became the third most powerful man in the country right after the Duke and his son! As stupid as it sounds, I built my body and made myself strong for her! Still! Still it's hard to get her! I want us to be like we used to! It's so hard having her so close and not being able to have her!

My phone rings bringing me out of my thoughts. I pick the phone up to see who it is and a smile creeps up my face. I was waiting for his call for years now.

The Duke! The. Fucking. Duke! Lucas Alberto!

A/N:

Hey my cute dumplings!

Just be together already! How long are they going to tease each other? But a call from the Duke? Ben's game has finally come to life.

Tell me what you think.

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