Chapter 10

All three of them freeze before doing a scan of the room. They don't see him from our table but that doesn't mean that they won't go looking for him. Huxley looks at me with concern as he scoots closer to me.

"Are you sure he is here?" He asks me.

"I saw his friend George staring at me while I was on stage. Anytime George is in this setting, Christopher and his other friends are with him. It's the only way he can go to a bar without his wife, Lora," I tell him. George and Lora have been married for almost 10 years now. He used to be able to go to the bar or club by himself but after an incident that was taken out of context, she makes him take his buddies with him.

"If that's true, we can go somewhere else then. If you want to," Grayson say across from me.

"It doesn't matter to me, honestly. If you guys want to go somewhere else, we can." I know they want to go where Christopher is not because they want to avenge me. Like I told them over and over, they don't have to do anything because he will get what's coming to him.

Megan gets up and stares, "I want to do something before we go." After a quick glance at me, she disappears into the crowd. When the person on stage finished up, the announcer takes the microphone again to announce the next person. Looking closer, I see Megan standing by the booth as she looks in my direction.

"Up next is Ms. Natalia again singing 'I hope' by Gabby Barrett. Come on up Natalia," the DJ says as he spots me in the crowd.

Making my way back to the stage, I am smirking evilly at Megan the Petty, who is looking at me with an evil smirk of her own. Leave it to her to take advantage of a situation she could be as petty as she can and not get reprimanded for it.

The DJ hands me the microphone when I get to the stage but I also see him hand a second one to someone else. Turning, I see Huxley holding the microphone as he takes the spot next to me. I guess this is now the duet version.

The song starts and I sing the first part. As the music progresses, I finally see him in the crowd. Christopher is at a round booth in the left corner of the room with his friends. He is looking at the stage like he can't believe he is actually seeing me. Huxley and I get into the song like we are singing to the ones who hurt us in the past. It just so happens that mine is in the room.

When the song is done, I give Huxley a hug as the crowd claps for us. Heading to our table, I see everybody is waiting on us to leave for the next place. Getting to the truck was successful without being stopped by Christopher or his friends. I put the truck in drive and we set out to go to Bucks instead. Before I pull out on to Broadway, I glance back and see Christopher looking around the parking lot like a mad man. I don't understand why he even decided to chase after me. He is the one who decided that I wasn't good enough anymore.

"Out of all of the bars on Broadway, why did he pick there?" Grayson asks from the backseat.

"My thoughts exactly. I did not plan on seeing him tonight," Emily says from beside me. She is sitting in the center seat of the front seat between Huxley and me. The back has Grayson, Megan, and Jaxon. Thankfully them two aren't going at it after the unexpected turn of events. Adam and Everett are following us in Adams Camaro.

"It doesn't matter now. We left and hopefully won't see him anymore tonight," I tell everyone as I pull into the parking lot of Bucks.

Parking the truck in our normal spot, we head into Bucks for a good rest of the night. Walking in, the sound of the live band hits my ears that makes me have a feeling of comfort. The staff sees us and welcomes us like they always do before they bring us our drinks. Zara see's Emily and me in the room as she finishes up one of the dances. The next thing I know, she is pulling us out to the floor to do the next one with her. The night finishes off without anymore run ins with Christopher.

The only question on my mind is: Why did he chase me out to the parking lot?

Christopher POV

I'm going over some paperwork for the publishing deal that Frank Anderson and I have negotiated. His company has an upcoming artist that is wanting to publish her life story of the struggle she went through to get to where she is now. There is also the event I have been invited to on Friday that Anderson Records is hosting. My phone rings on my desk as I finish up the documents. Grabbing my phone, my best friend George's face shows up on caller ID. George and I have been friends since we both attended college. He is now the proud owner of a very successful food chain and also helps me out in my marketing department. Answering the phone, I ready myself for the pitch he is about to give me.

"Hey G. What's up man?" I answer after I place the phone to my ear.

"Hey Chris. Nothing much. I was just wondering if you wanted to accompany us tonight? We are going to 'Wanna B's' for some drinks," Georges voice comes through the speaker.

"I don't know man. I really need to finish up the prep work for this new deal with Anderson Records. Maybe next time," I tell him. I didn't really feel much in the partying mood. The past three weeks have been eventful. There is also the fact that I can't seem to get Natalia off of my mind.

When I was meeting with Frank Anderson on the start of this business deal, I didn't expect to see her in a bar of all places. Chelsea had disappeared to who knows where. I was rooted to my seat in shock when I noticed that it was her on the table leading the dance that night. What threw me off even more was Franks daughter, Emily, was right beside her. The two acted like they knew each other very well but I don't remember her ever knowing any of the Anderson family. Chelsea, unfortunately, had to come with me since Justin, my negotiator, was out on sick leave with the flu. She knows how to act in the public eye when she accompanies me on those types of meetings... or at least I thought she did. I could not take my eyes off of Natalia the whole time she was in my line of sight.

After the dance, the way she talked to Frank infuriated me. She should know how to talk to people of his status and how she talked to him was just out right rude. I was shocked to know that she in fact knows him and then was even more shocked that she didn't work at Bucks, but owned it. Emily glanced at me when they announced Natalia as the owner and smirked. When she got off the stage, we walked over to her where I saw her talking to the man from the pictures that day along with another female. Quickly, I realized who he was and got mad all over again. After all of this time she is still seeing him.

As we stand there, Chelsea finally makes her way back to us. She is cutting through the crowd looking like she was just on her back. She realizes who we are speaking to and immediately starts to insult Natalia. My anger raised at this before I remembered that I used her in the plan to get back at Natalia. The other female got defensive at Chelsea's accusations as the music and talking stopped. Emily even jumped in and reprimanded Chelsea. Finding out that this Jaxon guy was a member of the Anderson family started to make sense on how she knows Natalia. Chelsea was escorted out of the building to my relief because she was starting to ruin my chances at this deal. From then on, she is not to be at any of my meetings for potential collaborations or deals.

After my run in with Natalia, I had dinner with my mother and father. When I was leaving, someone knocked me out and I woke up tied to a chair in a basement. Men came in and beat me but never asked me any questions. Days passed before a team of agents rescued me from the thugs. When the one they called boss got shot, I wanted to help them but was stopped when they pulled a gun from their team members hip and shot a person behind me. The persons sleeve lifted slightly and I saw a tattoo on their wrist. It looked familiar but I couldn't place it. They get me out and ask me questions as to why I was being held. My thoughts went to Natalia at first but then they informed me it was because of the situation I witnessed in New York on my last visit.

"Come on man. You have been doing nothing but work lately and need the break," George says drawing my attention back to the conversation.

Thinking about it for a minute, I decide that it might be good to get out. "Sure man. I'll meet you there."

"Awesome, be there around seven tonight. I'll see you then," George says before hanging up.

I put my stuff away and get ready to leave for the day when Chelsea walks in. She is carrying an envelope in her hand with a phantom smile on her face. "I had this dropped off to me a moment ago. It's addressed to you," she states while handing it to me.

The seal is still in place which makes me wonder why she was slightly smiling when she came in. Opening the envelope, I pull out pictures of Natalia. She is sitting in the park with a little kid that looks around four or five. The pictures show her playing with the boy but the pictures are at an angle that I am unable to see his face. Just from the look on her face, I can tell that the boy is her son. This hits me like a ton of bricks when the realization that she had a kid with the man she cheated on me with.

"What is it this time?" Chelsea asks with a small smirk.

Putting the contents in my briefcase, I turn to her with a hard expression. "Last time I checked, you were my assistant not my business partner. It doesn't concern you," I tell her as I direct her from my office. She looks mad that I dismissed her but goes anyway.

I have my driver take me home to change out of my suit and head to Wanna B's. I find our group and go join them for a night of fun. George goes to the bar to get us all some shots when I hear a name called to the stage that has been on my mind for weeks. Looking at the stage, I see her grab a microphone and start to sing. I never knew her voice was so beautiful but she also never would sing in front of me. The song she is singing seems like she is speaking from experience and it makes me wonder if she really thought that I didn't think of her as the center of my world. When she is done, George reappears with our shots, looking shocked.

"Dude, I almost didn't recognize her. I told you a long time ago that she wasn't the person you were trying to make her out to be," he says as he hands everyone their shot.

"Evidence doesn't lie. I saw it with my own eyes," I tell him before downing the liquid. The burn in my throat reminds me that this isn't a dream that I am seeing Natalia.

"But evidence can be faked. Did you catch them in the act? Did you let her explain everything?" he starts questioning me. Now that I think about it, I never really gave her the chance to explain. I jumped straight to a conclusion and never considered the pictures were faked or made to look bad.

"You're right. I should have talked to her about it before I did anything. I know I messed up but I don't know if she will even talk to me," I tell him as my mood goes from partying to wanting to go home. What I really want is to talk to her and see if I can have a second chance. I don't care if she has a possible kid. If she does, then I will be there for them too.

Gathering up the courage, I go to stand up to find her when she is announced on stage again. This time, she is accompanied by another man that looks familiar. They both sing a song that has me rooted to my spot. The song they sing feels directed at me in a way but she still looks beautiful.

They finish the song and I make up my mind. Getting up, I make my way through the crowd to find her. I almost give up when I see her walking out of the door. A group of drunks are standing in my way to get to her. I get around them and rush out the door to catch up with her. When I open the door, I don't see her anywhere. Looking around like a mad man, I try to find her but fail.

After a few minutes of searching, I decide to go back inside to get my mind off of her. I just hope she will give me a chance to talk to her. Only time will tell.