“You abandoned me in the middle of the night! You left me alone for five years!” Maya hissed as he lifted his hand to touch where her slap had left its mark. “I left to protect you! I left because I love you!” Nathaniel protested in a futile attempt to defend himself. —————————————————— Five years ago, Nathaniel De La Rue found love and a new life in Arlington City, but his past soon caught up with him and forced him to leave behind everything he had built, including his beloved Maya Miller. Now, Nathaniel is done running. He must confront his past to protect those that matter the most to him. After fighting for his right to live and accepting his rightful place in the De La Rue family, he finally returns to Arlington City. However, upon his return, Nathaniel finds that his world is not the same as he left it. Maya, the woman he loves, is engaged to another man. His best friend now works for the man who stole Maya from him. Furthermore, the woman who had cared for Nathaniel like a mother is being abused by her husband. It’s as if he has to start from scratch. But things have changed. This time he has the De La Rue Family by his side.
The first thing Maya did was to tell Nathaniel about the situation at home. She had ended their call in such a rush that Nathaniel was probably still worried about it.
"So someone hacked Alyssa's phone and pretended to be me?" Nathaniel asked as he summarized what Maya had said.
"Yup," she said, nodding as she ran her fingers through her son's soft hair.
"I'll have people moved—"
"No," Maya said, a little bit more determined this time. "You need to keep an eye on Xander and Jay, we have no idea if this a trap they've set to distract you or a trap to get to us."
"But Maya, if they come for you and I don't have enough men there—"
"Then we will be prepared," Maya told him in a soothing voice. She didn't want him to worry any more than necessary. "You made this place into a virtual fortress, for us and our children."
"I could still have missed parts, there could be weak points I didn't anticipate," he was clearly worried about them.