Two

She makes it back to her apartment with no sign of anyone chasing her, hoping to have stalled the man long enough to not see which way she went out the door. Now, she is going to have to lay low around the club when she is entering for her fights, if that man is a regular patron, he will surely recognize her right away after that stunt.

Maya is praying the room was too dark, but she knows deep down that her prayers won't be answered, her face was too close to his for him not to have seen her.

Trying to push down the terrible end of her night, she blindly pushes open the front door, taking a second to realize all the lights are off in the place. Though it is late, her mother usually waits up for her to finish work, thinking she works at some diner in the city, and at least the bedroom or living room light would be left on for her.

"Mom are you home?" she calls out, quietly taking off her shoes.

She is met with the roaring of her heartbeat and silence from within the apartment.

Now panicking, she rushes to the bedroom and pushes open the door to see her mother lying unconscious on the ground. Maya calls out to her mother and tries her best to shake her awake, but to no avail. Grabbing her phone, she calls for help with trembling hands, for the first time in a long time, tears streaming down her face.

Her mother has been doing so well for such a long time, Maya was just getting them to a comfortable spot with the money she was winning from her fights, they almost had enough for a solid savings.

But depending on what is wrong with her mother, knowing she has ongoing heart and liver conditions, no matter the issue it's going to cost Maya a lot just for her to be treated for a few days or until recovery.

Watching as her mother is taken away, she prays that it isn't too serious and hails a cab to follow the ambulance.

Please, let her be okay this time.

***

It has been hours since meeting that despicable woman, and Evander still hasn't calmed down. He has drunk himself into a stupor and has had multiple women try to occupy his time, but he has scared them all away by continuously raging about the woman behind the bar.

"Who the hell did she think she was? Soaking me with that disgusting beverage, then running away without even apologizing? I've never met such an ill-tempered, ugly girl before. If I ever see her again, I'll give her something to-"

Ezekiel clears his throat and loudly puts his cup down on the table. "Young master, it has been several hours since meeting her. Why don't you forget her and try to enjoy the night, isn't that why we came here?"

Evander chugs the remainder of his drink and slams his own cup down.

"You're right, Zeke. I have been letting that awful woman ruin my night and what might be the last time I can ever have this sort of freedom. Why did I ever agree to this absurd marriage? We were kids, for crying out loud. Who takes the words and promise of kids so seriously?"

The marriage between Evander Beaufort and his fiancé isn't as simple as most arranged marriages. This has nothing to do with religion or tradition; it is simply a power move.

The Beaufort family is direct descendants of French Royalty from Evander's mother side, and that therefore means her first born son must marry another royal member. Luciana Louvre is of both French and British royal descent, her mother's aunt being a British Princess and her great-grandmother French royal descent.

She is the perfect candidate for Evander and the Beaufort family, with both families being rather close ever since the two were kids. Although Evander and his mother are from China, he spent most of his childhood growing up in England while his father built his connections and grew his company.

Now, at the age of 25 he is moments away from taking over for his father, and finally having everything in his control. The only thing he needs to achieve is marriage, his parents not trusting him to be mature and responsible about running the entire country while they take the time to retire.

Evander had tried everything he could to avoid an arranged marriage, asking his father to give him some properties to manage and hopefully show him that he is more than capable of handling the company affairs on his own. But in the end, it wasn't enough, and here he is, weeks away from his own arranged marriage.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was anyone other than his childhood friend. Lucia has always been a thoughtful and kind girl, but something about her changed as she grew up. She went from being an innocent girl who followed Evander on every adventure he went on, to being a shallow woman chasing money and fame.

It took Evander awhile to realize her change, she was always putting on an act whenever he was around, pretending like she genuinely loves him; but he knows better. No woman could ever genuinely love a man like him, they only ever see one thing.

Be it pretty woman or ugly, they all have one goal in mind when it comes to becoming Mrs. Beaufort. None of them would ever care about his wants and desires or could ever have his trust. Although he acts like a womanizer or someone who has bed a lot of women, he has never really shown anything more than sexual attraction, the interest ending after one night.

Wanting to forget everything for one night, Evander drinks himself blind.

***

"Why did you let me drink so much?" Evander groans and rolls out of bed after Ezekiel's persistent bothering to wake up.

"You have a meeting scheduled today, I'm giving you enough time to get ready and be there and only be 20 minutes late. Better than usual, I'd say."

"Must not be that early if you're able to crack wise like that. What meeting?"

Ezekiel takes out the day planner and goes through everything Evander has scheduled for the day, starting with his meeting with the new hospital director at the VIP hospital he has recently bought. Another endeavor he picked up to help show his father he is capable without getting married.

The rest are simple lunch and dinner meetings to go over projects already in the works and discuss moving forward with new ones. Nothing Evander wants to bother himself with right now, but if he wants to finally achieve the freedom he has sought after so long, he needs to do this.

"Get my clothes ready and tell one of the maids to have a quick breakfast made, I'll eat on the way."

When they pull up to the front of the hospital, Ezekiel notices a familiar brunette walking out of the community hospital across the street, her face red and tear stained.

"Young master isn't that the woman from the bar last night?" he asks, though he doubts the young master could remember after how much he drank and how many women approached him afterwards.

Looking back at Evander, he almost seems awestruck at the woman, like he is seeing her for the first time although he very clearly saw her last night, when he almost ringed her neck out of anger.

"T-that can't be her. Come on, aren't I late for a meeting or something?"

Evander storms past Ezekiel and into the conference room where the awaiting party is seated around a long round table. They all silently greet him as he enters and takes the head of the table.

"Alright, today we are discussing the expansion of the hospitals east wing. Last week I asked you all to gather ideas on what we are lacking the most and can use for this expansion, I'll read through them now," Evander says. He motions to Ezekiel to walk around and collect all the papers from the other men and hand them over to Evander. His eyes drift through all the papers reading through the multiple ideas; cancer research, intensive care expansion, childcare unit.

None of them are bad ideas, but they aren't anything that they are lacking in. The hospital already has a top-notch cancer and disease research center, and they have one of the biggest intensive care and EC department in all of City A. They also have a separate building dedicated to children under the age of 12, with departments that include everything a parent and their child would need for long-term and short-term care, like a daycare and play center, cafeteria, and lounge area for parents to rest while their child is in care.

There doesn't seem to be anything else to expand on, but they need to proceed with this expansion to meet their quota for the end of the annual period. If they are under their usual funding this year, then they will receive less next year.

"I'll need time to go over these and think about each of them carefully. I'll arrange another meeting in a few days to discuss my final decision and get a group agreement on it. Thank you for your time, gentlemen, meeting dismissed." Evander stands up and leaves the room first before anyone else makes a move.

"You didn't seem happy with any of the proposals," Ezekiel points out as they're leaving.

"That's because none of them seem reasonable to proceed with. I need something other than what these geezers are giving me, there has to me some way to spend the funds needed before the end of the annual year. An expansion seems like the best idea, but it can't be for no reason."

Leaving the hospital, Evander climbs back into the car and instinctively looks over to the public hospital placed across the street from his, noticing that the girl from the other night is still sitting outside, wiping her face as if she is crying.

"Where to now?" Ezekiel asks.

"Hold on a second," Evander says, still watching the girl. He watches her until she finally gets up from the bench and walks towards the bus stop, waiting for the bus. Once she is gone, he tells Ezekiel to stay put and runs into the hospital she was just outside.

"Excuse me, miss?" he asks the woman at the front desk. "The girl that was just in here, long brown-red hair and short build, looks harmless but has a bit of an attitude-"

"You must mean Miss Reign, we're quite familiar with her here."

Evander smiles at the thought. "Yes, that would be her. I am her employer, and I was not aware that she had someone in the hospital. I would like to apply for leave on her behalf, if there is a chance you could provide me with a doctors note for her."

He takes out his ID card and shows the woman, watching as her eyes go wide when she realizes who he is. Not saying another word, she turns to her computer and taps away on the keyboard, printing off a sheet of paper moments later with the name and reason for her visit.

"Much appreciated, miss." He takes the paper and leaves, meeting Ezekiel back in the car.

"What did you do in there?"

Evander ignores him and looks over the paper he was just given.

Maya Reign admitted her mother into the hospital for liver failure and is currently awaiting treatment.

"Take this and get all the information you can on this girl, I want it by tomorrow. Now, drive me home, I'm quite tired."

Ezekiel gives him a questionable look through the rear-view mirror before looking over the paper.

Maya Reign.

Why does that name feel so familiar to him?