Chapter 13

•Robert's POV•

"Mom…" I sound as surprised as I truly am. "Come on in." I step aside to let her walk inside. Little Ana bouncing around happily as she came standing in front of me with her big brown eyes.

"Uncle Rwobert! Ana wants a hug!"

I already feel like a dick for not doing that the moment I saw her at my doorstep. I only give her a smile and as soon as I kneel down she almost immediately jumped on me. I was quick to catch her giving her a warm hug before standing up while picking her up. My mom smiling at the two of us.

"Ah I missed you little one. Where been you!?"

"Ana was at school!"

Both my mom and I end laughing. Ana is still 4 years old. Too young to go to school but she recently joined pre-school. Ana is Robyn's daughter my niece. Although Robyn and I rarely get along nothing can replace the soft spot I have for Ana. She's so sweet and there was always something special about that cute and innocent look of hers. My heart melts each time I see her. Finally, something to improve my awful day.

I walk in with her and put her down in the living room before I turn to my mom. "I just made some coffee…would you like some?"

For a moment, we stare awkwardly at each other. I have a feeling she's not here to visit her son probably was just sent here by my dad. But I would rather not cause a scene with Ana here.

"Coffee would be lovely." My mom replies after a moment of silence.

I decide to go get that coffee and on my way there I feel Ana tug the hem of my shirt. "Ana want milkshake too!" I beam at her, taking her hand and picking her up once again. I set her down on the kitchen counter, making that coffee and milkshake. I give her that chocolate flavored shake in a small cup before putting her down on the floor.

"Careful. Don't spill. Let me give you a straw!"

"Okay." Ana held her cup in the air obviously waiting for me to get her the straw. Clearly, little Missy here is growing much too fast for her shoes.

I go get a straw for her and once Ana is finally satisfied with her drink we walk back to the living room. I hand my mom her coffee before I go and sit down.

"Since Robyn was here I thought why not come with. Ana also wanted to see you. You haven't visited home for a while."

"Hard to go there when it never feels like am I right?" I give a sarcastic smile before I sit back. "If you're here to 'talk some sense' into me save it, Mom."

"Can't I just visit my son out of the bottom of your heart? I know that you and your father haven't been getting along lately, but that doesn't mean you have to alienate yourself from the rest of your family…"

"That's the thing. Maybe I am not the one alienating myself after all." I say back at her.

She doesn't answer me and just sighs which is a good thing. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Besides, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. It's what he wants. He wants me to get upset over this to make himself feel better.

Ana is busy staring at the TV before she gives me the remote. She probably wants to watch cartoons so I turn on the TV, changing over to the cartoon channel before she sits down and watches.

"So, what are your plans now?" My Mom asks me "Are you not at least going to consider doing something for your future. You are young Robert and already made it this far. You got your business, your house, and I feel sad to admit that even I once believed that you were going to ring the bells with Desna."

"I'm glad I didn't. Would've been the worst mistake of my life."

"Robert, don't say that…"

I slowly look at her, clenching my jaws. I then just drink my coffee before it gets cold, and I lose another cup of coffee for today. "It's true. She cheated on me. You have some nerve coming in here telling me that I am pushing everyone in my so-called family away when you guys never even support me. You only cared about Desna because of her father's status, and now that your reputation is at risk you want to blame it all on me." I pant after finally having my say. This is all very upsetting. I just wish my mom could support me at least. She's always in dad's shadow. She knows what it's like to be oppressed by him.

But Mon only stared at me with wide eyes before she lowered her mug. "…she did what?" She sounds shocked. "Robert… I didn't know…your father only said you ended everything with her, and when he talked to you about it you gave him an attitude. Quite recently, you were friends with that Cook boy again …and I just thought he had influenced you again and came to sabotage your life."

Okay, now she really did it. It's like my blood just started to boil. What is it with them trying to insult Nathan in every possible way?

As much as I want to latch out on her I can't Ana is here. But I am not going to leave it like this.

So, I clear my throat after counting down from 10 in my head and then swallow before looking at her. "Why do you hate him so much?" I ask her "What did he ever do to you?"

"Are you really asking me that?" My mom tilts her head the same way Robyn does with she finds something amusing. "They are people below our status."

"He runs his own business. If anything he is going above our status as we speak." Now to come to think of it. They said they hate his family because they are poor Nathan isn't. He cut ties with them and makes pretty good money on his own. "This was never about the money was it?"

My mom sees that I am onto something and quickly puts her mug down on the coffee table before she stands up. "Ana, we need to leave."

"Already!?" Ana pouts.

It gets up as I am not going to leave things like this. Something happened. Something big, and it's what made these people hate each other. I bet Robyn knows too. That explains why she's been a bitch to Nathan, too.

"No" I say, and then I leave my cup on the coffee table too. "You're going to tell me what's going on, Mom!"

"The less you know, the better. Come on Ana!"

"What's that supposed to mean!" I throw my hands in the air and already see her walk with Ana to the door. I want to go after her but with Ana here that's difficult. Ana is at the age where she becomes observant of things happening around her. I can't talk about these things in front of her.

"Goodbye Uncle Rwobert!" The little girl waved at me.

I huff and only wave back at her. My mom rather quickly went out the house. I remained standing there trying to make sense of what just happened but now I finally know there is something. I need to let Nathan know, so we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.

As soon as I saw my mom's car left I go get my phone. I see that I had two missed calls from Nathan. Dang it I was too busy arguing with my mother that I didn't bother having a look at my phone, it's also on silent. That explains a lot.

'I should call him back.'

I push tap the call icon on the screen and hold my phone against my ear‚ waiting for him to answer. But then there is no answer. He must be still at work. That's okay I can call him later. In the meantime I'll do some digging of my own.

But I don't know where to start. Not like Robyn will tell me anything. She and I aren't exactly on good speaking terms.

So, I spend the rest of the day in the living room trying to clear my head after thinking about everything. All I want right now is to feel his touch again. The dick pic has me rock hard whenever I look at it again and again. And now I just have that longing feeling for him.

I miss him.

~~~

My eyes slowly flutter open finding myself laying on the couch in the dark. I rub my eyes a little and groan before pushing myself to sit up. I then have a look at my phone and see what time it is.

10 fucking pm.

'And no sign of Nathan.'

I check my phone for any missed calls but I find none. That's strange. Why would he not call me back, and why would he not even come once to see me?

I am starting to worry a bit so I call him. His phone rings and rings. Finally, he answers.

"Hello?" It's a woman's voice. My heart suddenly drops. "Hellooooo."

I immediately pull the phone away from my ear and end the call. Staring blankly at the screen before it slips out of my hand. Did Nathan cheat on me?