29 Birthday celebration

After the five-day celebration of West Castle, Eliana Carter has spent the night at the Lambert sisters' house.

In the morning, Lily is the first out of the spacious bed. The three young ladies slept together after their improvised pajama party. She brushes her long black hair, sitting elegantly on the makeup desk, and looks at her little sister still asleep, hugging Eliana Carter's thigh like a pillow.

Eliana is also awake. She is lingering on the bed, leaning comfortably on the bed frame. Up until now, she was having a conversation on the phone.

She gently caresses the sleeping Ivy with one hand and holds her phone to her ear in the other.

"I'm doing okay! Work is fine too." Eliana talks with her interlocutor, speaking softly not to wake Ivy.

"Make sure you eat right. I do not care that you must maintain your appearance or whatnot. Eat properly." The woman's voice beyond nags, making Carter frown.

Because of the incessant loud ramblings, she moves her phone away from her ear and looks at it strangely as the voice keeps going. The scene becomes too comical, making Lily chuckle from witnessing it.

"Alright, alright! I know! I'm hanging up now." Eliana replies with a lazy tone.

"Wait, Reinita!"

Carter puts her phone back onto her ear. " What is It?"

"Happy birthday, Corazon! I love you!" The woman's endearing tone is entirely different from earlier.

Eliana is taken aback and smiles tenderly. "Thank you, Mama. I love you too." She answers before ending the call.

"Your mom seems to miss you dearly." Lily teases Carter. "Is she still in the Union?"

"Yeah! I miss her too, but we can still communicate regularly, so it's bearable."

"I see!" Lily nods at her answer. "We should wake Vy now. It's almost noon." She continues and climbs on the soft mattress to reach her sister.

"We prepared a small gift for you. But Vy would be sulking if she isn't present when we present it." Lily continues.

Eliana grins with anticipation. "You are making me curious now."

"We will pick it up later," Lily replies simply. "However it's a shame you still have work even though it's your birthday. If you had time, we could have done many more things." She continues with a saddened expression.

"Next time for sure! But we had a lot of fun yesterday. We even ended up staying up until the morning." Eliana reassures Lambert.

____

In the afternoon, Eliana and the Lambert sisters were strolling in the commercial district of Leven, stopping at every store and coming out with a bag.

After their shopping trip, a driver from her company (Alex Ent.) comes to pick Eliana up for work. She had a photo session as a cover model scheduled.

During the break at the studio, the staff brought Carter a cake with candles to celebrate her birthday to her grand surprise. The staff treated her well throughout the session, which ended on a high note for everyone.

In the early evening, she is finally done, says her thanks, and bids her goodbye to the crew. She goes outside to look for her driver, but instead, she sees Alex Maxwell casually standing in front of a sports car with a bouquet of colorful flowers. He was waiting for her.

"Looking for a ride, princess?" Alex says with a mischievous smile and walks toward her.

"Happy birthday!" He continues and hands the small bouquet.

Carter tries to hide her elated expression at Maxwell's mundane gesture. Everyone in her surrounding has wished her the same thing today. Even so, Maxwell's words made her especially happy, to the point of making her heart skip a bit.

"Thanks!" She responds, struggling to conceal her embarrassment.

Maxwell did not miss her bashfulness but decided to ignore it for her sake. He gently opens the door to let Carter in, then jumps into the driver's seat.

Both headed to a rustic bar, a few minutes' drive from where they were. The place appeared gloomy, making Carter a bit hesitant, almost disappointed.

However, Maxwell confidently pushes the heavy door of the place and leads the way to the inside. "Do not worry." He makes a relaxed expression to reassure Carter. "We will not stay long."

There they meet with Mathiew Calaway in another strange garment. "I need to finish something with this bastard first. After that, we should go grab a bite." Alex explains to Carter, and she decides to trust him.

"Any news? It should be the time now." Alex addresses Mathiew.

Calaway gives a wide grin and says. "That bastard pulled it off! It's a great success!"

The two men cheer their glasses, leaving Carter puzzled with the situation.

"What's going on?" She discreetly asks Maxwell.

Maxwell turns toward her and begins to explain. "Do you remember our previous talk about Talon Hopkins? We managed to corner him and his entire band."

"Wow, that's big news!" Eliana widens her eyes in surprise.

"Yes! Everything thanks to our friend who discreetly conducted the operation!" Mathiew says before looking behind at the front door. "Speaking of the devil!" He waves at the man entering the bar, Jared Thompson.

____

"Once again, let me introduce everyone!" Mathiew's easy-going attitude contrasts the location's somber decor.

"This is Lieutenant Thompson from the National Police. We were classmates in high school." Mathiew declares proudly, making Thompson perplexed.

"And this is Alex Maxwell, for whom I'm working right now." He adds.

Maxwell probes at Thompson for a while before talking. "It was a good thing we relied on you, Lt. Thompson. Without you, I do not know what we could have done." Alex gives a warm smile.

Jared stayed careful. He felt that, despite his friendly attitude, the young man in front of him was dangerous. In a different way than Talon Hopkins.

Looking at Maxwell, Jared had a sense of deja-vu. He reminisces about having met someone similar to him before.

"So, Lt. Thompson!" Alex calls out, pulling him out of his pensive state. "How is the affair with Doyle?"

"Doyle? You mean Ryan Doyle?" Eliana suddenly interjects.

"You will hear it from Lt. Thompson directly." Alex invites her to listen. Then turns to look at Thompson with a strangely cold gaze. He understood the meaning; Maxwell wanted Thompson to mask the whole truth in front of Carter.

"Hopkins handled the production of illicit films with real victims. With that knowledge, Mr. Doyle asked us to target the eldest daughter of Lambert's jewelry tycoon." Jared shares.

Carter was baffled. She could not believe what she was hearing.

Looking at Eliana's shocked expression, he then hesitantly followed. "Ms. Carter, although I was an undercover agent unable to act out, I still allowed Hopkins's gang to target you too. I deeply regret it." He admits, feeling guilty.

Carter didn't say anything. She just shrunk into Alex's arm, trying to forget the horror she felt at that time. But something else was pissing her off more. Someone wanted her friend to go through the pain she lived through.

"And now, what happened to him?" She looks at Thompson in Maxwell's embrace, tightly clutching the golden pendant around her neck.

Thompson notices Maxwell's gaze again. "Because of certain circumstances, he fell out of favor with Talon. He was beaten to near death and is in a comatose state right now."

Maxwell takes the parole. "We brokes his deal with Hopkins." He clarifies and grabs her hands to make her relax. "Hopkins was also arrested. There is no one who would hurt you or Lily anymore." He reassures her.

Seeing Carter calming down, Maxwell turns towards Thompson and Calway. "Gentlemen, It was a pleasure to meet with you today, but my companion and I have another appointment later." Alex helps Carter stand before forwarding his hand to shake Thompson's.

"I look forward to working with you again next time." He tells Jared and smiles, insinuating the continuation of their cooperation. But the smile gave Thompson a cold thrill in his spine.

"Likewise!" Jared awkwardly responds.

The moment he grabs his hand, Thompson finally remembers Leroy Richmond. Both, Richmond and Maxwell, had the same strange, intimidating atmosphere around them.

____

"How are you now? Calmed down?" Alex asks Carter as he drives.

Eliana still clenches on the pendant and nods. "Yeah! Still, I can't believe that Doyle would go that far. He even got involved with a gang."

"Who knew?" Alex pretends to be surprised. The truth is, he's the one who manipulated the things that got Doyle into this situation.

"I see him always creeping around Lily. So that's what he was planning from the beginning. That's really despicable." Eliana unleashes her feelings.

"I understand your point. Even if Lily is charming, he has gone too far." Alex humors her. "Though, the police could not put a charge on him. They lacked the evidence, it seems."

"Yeah! But if that creep approaches Lily again, I'll cut his balls off myself." As she speaks, Eliana makes a slashing gesture with her hand.

Although Doyle was not convicted, Maxwell was still satisfied. From the beginning, he planned to destroy Doyle's reputation. And, it won't take long before rumors circulate throughout the school. In Maxwell's mind, Ryan Doyle is no longer an obstacle to conquering Lily Lambert.

To change the conversation, Maxwell notices her necklace and asks. "Is that from your admirer?" He points jokingly.

His casual tone made Carter less tense. "If it is, are you going to be jealous?" She fires back.

"Perhaps, after you are mine now." He blatantly declares, making Carter's sensual face blush innocently.

A strange sentiment arose within her to clarify things with Maxwell. "It's a present from Lily and Vy." She reveals, hoping he wouldn't misunderstand.

"I guess I am the only one who did not give you a present yet." Alex playfully says.

"Let us properly celebrate your birthday!" He adds suggestively in a flirty manner., making Eliana red again.

____ End of chapter 29 ____