Muddying The Family Name

Susan gave him a sheepish look.

"I mean, not officially yet, but we were going to. After we get to Luxembourg,. There were circumstances here that..."

Maxwell had no idea how he was so sure of it, but he just knew. "It was an affair," he stated simply, and he saw her eyes flash with anger, the pitiful look gone in an instant.

"I met him first!" she said shrilly, then reduced her tone when she saw his raised brow "I am sorry, brother. It is just that it made me seem like the other woman. She was the other woman. He did not love her as much as he loved me! I have children with him, whereas she had nothing. Nothing at all. She doesn't make him as happy as I do. We were going to go away and have a new life, then. She trailed off.

"Then you got arrested. Bit of karma there, sister, don't you think?" He said it in a droll tone that made her look up sharply at him. He knew that she had a retort on the tip of her tongue for him, but she swallowed it because she had to get what she wanted first.

Wise decision. He mused. But then, the mother-daughter duo had never been short on their cleverness. They had it in abundance to use on their unsuspecting prey. He couldn't help but think that history was repeating itself, even though in a varied version. This time, his dear sister was not married to the man. Yet. And the man's wife did not have a gullible son. He couldn't help but wonder how the woman would feel if she knew what her husband had planned for her. Not that it concerned him.

Yet he asked, "You said, children. How many?"

"What?" Susan, who was regulating her breathing and counting to ten before she talked to avoid saying anything that could affect her, looked at him in momentary confusion before she realised what he was talking about. She smiled "Three, three beautiful children," she said proudly

Even Maxwell was amazed "Three children and his wife did not find out." He shook his head as he wondered how anybody could be that gullible.

Susan smiled self-satisfactorily. "We were very..." Her smile diminished as she looked back at him. "Why are we talking about my children when we should be talking about how you would rescue me?"

"You tell me," Maxwell shrugged.

"You were obviously the person that... Never mind. Do you want me to beg? Okay, I would beg. Please help me," she said curtly.

A fine way of begging. Maxwell thought as he shook his head. "Was it yours?" he asked.

"No, of course not. What are you talking about?" she fired back.

"Are you a user?" he asked simply.

"Wha..what? What are you talking about?" she looked at the door like she was expecting someone to pop in and drag her away, then looked back at Maxwell "Why would you even say such a thing?" she asked in a vicious whisper.

"Maybe because you are jumpy, twitchy, and look like you would like to bash my head in with one hand while patting my back with the other?" he asked with his head tilted like he was truly considering it, then he smiled at her wide-eyed look "But then, it might be because of being cooped in here for so long, right?"

Susan swallowed hard as she replied, "Right, that could only be the reason. Why would I..."

"Are you sure you don't want to have a hit? Just a small one right now?" he asked again, so suddenly that she blinked.

The temptation was so strong that she almost climbed over the table to ask him if he could get her any, but she knew that would be stupid, and that would mean admitting it. Who knows if it was the agency that asked him to... could that be so?

Susan looked at him with a narrowed eye. "Are you baiting me, Max?" She stood up in anger, without a glance, as her chair toppled over. "What are all these? Are you going to help me or..."

The door opened, and Ty entered. "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah, we are fine," Maxwell said with his eyes on his sister.

"Okay," Ty replied as he looked from one to the other. "You should be ready to leave in five minutes, Mr Rohan."

"I would be done before then," Maxwell replied, and he smiled inwardly when he saw Susan's eyes widen.

Ty closed the door quietly behind him.

"You…you are going to leave?" Susan asked with evident fear.

"Of course, you don't expect me to stay here with you, do you?"

"You won't help me? Your sister?"

"My half-sister. On paper," Maxwell clarified before adding, "You really think I would step my feet in here if I did not want to help you?"

The evident relief in her expression disgusted him. He wanted to be far away from this manipulative idiot, who was apparently on her way to being a cokehead, but as he said,. He was here, and he would help. Family matters.

He asked her other necessary questions, and he informed her that a lawyer would be with her in court by Monday before he left. Steve was not in his seat when he got back to his space, so he left without saying goodbye.

Maxwell knew that getting a lawyer was the right thing to do, which he would do, but as Steve had said, with no concrete evidence that the cocaine had been planted, as his dear, whiny sister had insisted, she could end up in jail. He wouldn't miss her or anything, and he personally believed that being in jail might teach her a lesson or two, but he was a Rohan after all, and they take care of themselves no matter how screwed up they might be.

Andre had given Susan the family name. Maxwell was obliged not to let her muddy that name.