"What happened?" Mary asked with confusion all over her face as she stepped into the unfriendly atmosphere of the study room.
"You might as well ask your daughter her reason for behaving mannerless!"
"Come on, Dad. Who's side are you on?" Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Of course I will never support you! Who gave you the right to approach Colton's woman and start threatening her?"
"You threatened the mother of his child?" Mary said in disbelief.
"Don't tell me you too actually believe that there's some bullshit baby in her belly? She's nothing but a pure gold digger! I don't know why you all aren't seeing that."
"What has come over you? I don't even recognize you anymore!" Troy said disappointedly.
"I'm not the evil person here, Dad. I'm doing all I can to protect Colton because I love him. I had someone investigate Mia. She used to date some guy who broke up with her recently. What if the baby is for that guy and not for Colton? She's from a poor family and of course, she would do anything to make her way to the top."
"Gracious goodness, Natasha, how can you even think such a thing? You should be focused on you, how to move on and what next to do with your life, rather than causing troubles or coming up with theories that don't make any sense. Besides, Colton is way too smart for him to allow himself to be duped!" Troy said.
"Gosh, Dad, you still don't understand me! I love Colton and I will do anything to protect him. For some reason, I think he's purposely involved in all of these just so he could avoid being with me!"
"I thought I raised you better, woman! If he's purposely avoiding you, shouldn't it sink into your head that he wants nothing to do with you? And besides, if you truly love someone, your priority will be to be happy for them even if it means them being happy with someone else and you staying away!" Mary said to her daughter.
"Can you both be more understanding? Colton doesn't love Mia. He's just using her to stay away from me. He likes me! He just doesn't know how to express it. We used to be the world's most admired couples. And we can be that again. Colton Royal likes me, he's just proving hard to get and I'm going to fight for him."
"You need to wake up from whatever obsession you have about Colton. You need to move on! All this you're doing is only making him hate you more. It's true that we would have loved for you guys to get married but can you just accept the fact that you and Colt are not meant to be together?" Mary said, wondering what the hell was wrong with her daughter.
"What? So I'll lose to that good for nothing Mia? Never!"
"Me and Colton's father have been friends since childhood and I won't allow you and your nasty behavior to ruin that. We could have been living in the streets by now if not for the collective efforts of the Royals and your brother and I think we have so much to be grateful to them for!"
"As your Father, I'm warning you to stay away from Colt and his woman. Just know that I won't give a damn if you cross your boundaries and Colton sues you" Troy said.
"You don't care if I get sued?" She said in disbelief. "Well, it's not like Colton will have the guts to put me behind bars."
"You will be shocked the day you get sued." Troy scoffed, not believing his daughter's behavior. "You know what? I think I'm thankful that Colton didn't subscribe to marrying you. He actually deserves someone better than you!"
.............
"I was about to send a search party after you," Caleb said to his elder brother after bumping into him in front of the elevator.
Colton frowned at him.
"Don't look at me like that, Colt. You had me all worried. You are always the first person or one of the first set of people to resume work. I was surprised when Rebecca told me you haven't shown up." Caleb said as they walked side by side towards Colton's office.
"Yeah, I was up till late in the night so I didn't wake up early. I also had a few things to take care of this morning." Colton replied. He nodded at Rebecca, his assistant/secretary, who greeted him and then proceeded to his office.
"You don't seem like yourself this morning. Is everything alright with you?" Caleb asked, shutting the door behind him.
Colton went over to his desk area and sat on the chair. He sighed, running a hand over his face.
Caleb went to where Colton was and sat opposite him. "You're scaring me, bro. Is Mia giving you a hard time again"
"What you saw the other day, when Mia came to my office, was a misunderstanding but we are cool now," Colt answered. He and his brother had seen each other after that day but Caleb didn't mention anything about it. Not that he didn't care or he wasn't dying to know. It was just that, Colt never seemed to want to answer any questions regarding Mia.
"That's good to hear. So what's bothering you?"
"Please, what the hell did I see in Natasha that made me date her then?" He asked.
"I don't know? Sex? More like friends with benefits. You both were fresh out of college and thought you knew it all. There were even rumors then that you both were going to get married."
"I was such a fool for ever getting involved with her" Colton massaged his temple.
"What did she do?" Caleb asked. He could tell that something had happened.
"She went to threaten Mia yesterday to stay away from me. I had confronted her about it and she's not even sorry for her actions. She didn't even look like someone that is going to back out. Her behavior today was so disgusting that I had to ask myself what made me date her in the past."
"I mean, if there's anyone that's meant to be troubling my present relationship, it should be Tina and not Natasha who I ended things with over six years ago!"
"You shouldn't get all stressed out over her empty threats. I guess she's just bitter that she wouldn't end up marrying you. She's a psycho. She has always been and heaven knows that I never liked her for you!"
"She's more than a psycho. She went as far as investigating Mia, like what the hell?"
"I'm sorry Natasha pissed you off but please, try to forget about her. Things are coming together for you which means you should focus on your happiness which is Mia and the baby and if you're worried about their safety, you can easily get a bodyguard."
"I've thought about it but you know how hard it is for me to trust people. I don't know if I can get Chad to do the job."
Caleb chuckled. "Chad is an investigator, not a bodyguard" he reminded. "But he should be able to get you someone trustworthy."
Colton nodded. "I'll talk to him. Thanks."
"So how are things going with you?" Colt asked Caleb. "You're still with that same girl?"
"Which Girl," Caleb asked.
"The one you went on a date with on Sammie's birthday"
"Oh, Tamara, we are no longer together."
"I'm not surprised," Colt mumbled, powering up his laptop.
"She pissed me off so I let her go!" Caleb said casually. "But I'm now with Eve. She's smart, funny, and damn, the sexiest girl I've ever laid my eyes on." He smirked.
"I remember you saying the same about all your exes. Just be careful, Caleb!"