Whatever he was doing, it was to protect his identity, to protect him from the dirty business he was doing. All in a bid to get his mother out of the hospital. No matter what he was doing to get there, he didn't care. All he desired was her complete healing and nothing else. “Bartender, a bottle of brandy for my friend too, thank you.” Without mincing words, the man decided to launch into details. He was ready to risk it all. He was ready to throw all caution to the winds as far as he got the financial strength to pay up his mother's bills in order for her to beat cancer. “Terry, I have a favor to ask of you.” “Anything, Jonathan. Just name it. I met you at this bar a few weeks ago, and I've tried to know you better. Seems you're finally letting me into your world now.” Nodding, the man laughed grimly. If only it was easy. He was a man whose reputation preceded him, a man who was feared by most people. Most people didn't even know in reality that he was a soft spoken man with a

Mark Darius ate the meat in his plate slowly, savoring the taste of the pork as he ate slowly. Since meeting Farida Atticus, he hadn't seemed to enjoy a moment of his time alone. Why? Because Farida Atticus occupied all of his thoughts. She was there in his head, the images of her beautiful figure and her green, large and almond shaped eyes destroying his reverie. Sighing, Mark Darius acknowledged that maybe he needed to give it another try. He had never been so drawn to a woman, so in love with a woman at just first appearance. But with Farida Atticus, he seemed to break all the rules. She turned a genius like him into a stuttering man, and that was because of how beautifully she had looked on the day he had first seen her. Shaking his head, Mark acknowledged that thinking about Farida wasn't the best step in his life at the moment. His life wasn't only in shatters, he was a walking time bomb, ready to explode at the bomb's control. At any moment, he could explode and, imagine

When they stopped at the Goshen fast food, Mark Darius felt his heart hammering in excitement. Trying to calm his nerves, he did some breathing exercises. The last thing he wanted was to stutter when clearly, he had been handed a chance with the woman of his dreams on a platter of gold. He didn't want to mess up this second chance, and he was going to take it with both hands. It was a golden chance, and letting it go was going to be a very big mistake. He didn't want that to happen, not at all. He removed the seatbelt that had Atticus bound, smiling at him. Instantly, the kid slipped his little hand into his, then gave his mother a cunning smile that seemed to say “gotcha!” It was clear that Farida didn't like her son attaching himself to strangers immediately on first meeting. But he didn't care. All Mark Darius cared about was that he was doing good, and that meant he had a huge chance to earn her number, that he had the chance to at least drag her from the unhappiness that sh

The next morning, Mark Darius was already up before his usual wake up time, brushing his teeth and then taking a quick shower. The kiss he had shared with Farida Atticus was evergreen in his memory, and he knew that it was going to be etched there throughout the day. God, it had been a wild few minutes. A wild few minutes that had left him breathless, that had left him wanting more, that had left him looking for things he certainly didn't want at that stage of his life. Farida Atticus was going to be his undoing. Even though it was late, he knew that he had known earlier. From the time that he had seen her in that office, to the time that he had played the good Samaritan as she was stranded in the middle of the road. It was something that he had known as soon as he had glimpsed her eyes. She was going to be a force to reckon in his life, a force that he had probably never even known that existed. He didn't want to put a tag on what they shared yet, but there was one thing

“So, Scar, are you saying that Karen doesn't pay you well?” Mark asked, finishing his beer and proceeding to just sit, ready to squeeze and wring out all the information he needed from the man seated across from him. “I don't work alone, I think you should know this already, Mr Darius. She has other workers and most of the time she has her hands full. The money that I receive is split between my men and I, and it isn't enough to cover my mother's hospital bills. This is why I decided to do this. You can guess how tough it was for me to even consider it.” Mark nodded, then bent, not relaxing on the comfortable sofa of the VIP any longer. “Well, Scar, how much is your mother's hospital bill and medical expenses?” Mark looked at Scar, watching him sigh. He acknowledged that even the strongest of men had their fears, and a man like Scar who had probably been shot multiple times was afraid of death not coming to him, but to his mother instead. “Twenty thousand dollars will cover e