It took a while for Desmond to process everything that he had just heard.

She placed a hand on his shoulder to offer comfort, which he took and placed on his chest as his breath hitched out of anger and disbelief. "I cannot believe it. I mean I had a gut feeling that Jaime killed my dad, but it beats me how heartless one has to be to kill their own dad."

Zaria was in disbelief when she found out about it too. What was worse, Jaime and Samantha had ganged up to frame their own biological mother for the murder. No matter how much she hated Lucy, even though the latter had disappointed her for the better part of her life, she would never do such a thing to her.

But then again, Jaime and Samantha were a selfish duo who would do anything to achieve their goals and that did not exclude hurting the people who cared about them the most.

"It will be alright." She coaxed him in a low tone.

He frowned. "What baffles me is that he accused my mother of it. That's his mother too. Doesn't he have a heart? And Samantha… that ungrateful brat." He gritted his teeth and ran a hand down his face to prevent himself from exploding in anger.

She continued to sit there silently, not interrupting him and let him calm himself down. He sat for a few minutes with his hands shaking and she knew that he was so angry he could be the next murderer if he met either of his siblings right now. Just when she wondered whether or not she should say something, he sprang to his feet and stormed out of the room.

She trembled from his outburst, but she had seen it coming. Not sure whether or not she should follow him, she decided to let him have some time to himself. In the meantime, she took out her phone and found that she had received a text message from Ximena.

[Where are you? Are you in the mood for some blueberry muffins?]

She stared at her phone screen unmoving for a while and slumped into the backrest. Of course she wanted blueberry muffins! She was always in the mood for one or two. However, she couldn't leave Desmond on his own. At the same time, she couldn't tell Ximena the real reason why she could not accompany her, or she would be asking for a round of endless lectures.

Thinking for a moment, she drafted a message. [I can't for now. I'm so sorry T_T. I'll be home late, could you help me feed Des? The spare key is in the old spot. The food is in the left storage shelf in his room.]

She checked the message again to ensure she had not given herself away and sent it when she was certain that Ximena would not detect anything.

However, that woman was a psychic. Her reply came a few minutes later.

[Of course I'll be glad to feed the little darling. Take care of yourself and if that Fort guy tries to force you to do anything, hit him right in the balls and paralyze his entire generation.]

Zaria burst into laughter at whatever hatred there was between Ximena and Desmond. It was as though the two of them were enemies in their previous incarnation, they just couldn't stay in the same space and maintain a second of peace. She knew for a fact that Ximena was a strong supporter of her being with Ryan, which might explain her dislike towards Desmond.

Luckily, Zaria knew that her happiness was the most important thing to Ximena, so the latter would soon start to accept the fact that the man she liked was Desmond and not Ryan. Glancing in the direction that Desmond had left earlier, she went to the kitchen.

When she was done cooking and was about to give him a call and ask where he was, she heard movement from the staircase and sure enough, he was back. He had just taken a bath and had a white towel around his waist, exposing the upper part of his body that had her averting her gaze.

He had not done it on purpose but when he saw how flustered she was at the sight of his seductive body, a smile graced his lips. This was probably the best reward he had ever gotten from his strict schedule of working out—not that he had always done it to get rewards. It was only to keep himself fit.

He wanted to tease her but his senses were filled with the aroma of food that smelled so delicious that his stomach grumbled. "You cooked dinner?"

She snapped out of her trance when she heard his question. She looked up but didn't dare to look down at his abs to avoid embarrassing herself by drooling. "Go and wear some clothes then come back and eat." She ordered, making him chuckle.

"Are you sure you want me to wear my clothes, and not drop the towel?"

"Do you dare?" She mumbled, not daring to be too loud as she knew the kind of idiot he was. He could simply drop the towel and blind her.

Luckily, he knew what not to do and went back upstairs, feeling her gaze on his back as he made every step. He laughed but didn't expose her.

By the time he returned, she had set the dining table and was waiting for him.

The food tasted better than it looked and smelled and if he wasn't too full, he would have loved to clear the entire table. Thinking about it, he decided that he would keep the rest of the food to savor later. If only Zaria was not his executive assistant. He should have lured her into becoming his chef instead.

Zaria was not sure what the man beside her was thinking but she stood up when they were done eating, and the servants appeared as if by magic to take the dishes away before she could do it.

"I will try to talk to the hacker and ask him if he can retrieve the video." She spoke as they got back to the living room.

He had almost forgotten about the matter and was a little slow to catch on what she was saying. "Okay. Thank you so much."

"You don't need to thank me." It was only right for her to bring the truth to light after hiding it for too long.

He thought about how things had progressed since his father's death and that included his sister's fake tears on the day he was buried. Soon after, fake news erupted, with all versions of tales about the cause of his demise. Speaking of false news, he looked at her questioningly. If she knew the truth all along, why did she accuse his mother? Could it be that just like the others, she mistook Alyssa as the culprit and only found out the actual truth much later?

He was still deep in thought when her lips landed on his, taking him by surprise. It was not the first time that she was initiating a kiss but he found it sweet each time she did. He held the back of her head and returned the kiss, deepening it as his thumb caressed the back of her neck.

Her hands caressed his face as she paused to whisper, "Don't let it get to you. I will do my best to help you."

If any other woman said this to him, he would scoff and send her away with a sneer. However, after witnessing Zaria's stunts, he knew that her capability was not to be underestimated.

Nodding, he pulled her onto his lap. "Then let me thank you in advance."

He pressed his lips against her, unbuttoning the front part of her blouse and sliding it down her shoulders. He paused and when she continued to caress his hair while kissing him, he gently grabbed her left breast through her blue lacy bra that was of the same shade as her skirt.

"Desmond," She whispered.

He paused his actions to look into her eyes. "Do you want me to stop?"

She was out of breath and she shook her head, holding his hand that was still on her breast so he wouldn't stop.

"Mmh?" He probed for actual words.

"No." She bit out.

"No what?" He asked insistently, making her wonder if he really didn't understand what she meant.

"I want to hear it from your mouth, Zaria." He whispered, his voice making goosebumps rise on her skin from how alluring he sounded.

"Don't stop." She answered then felt awkward about being so direct in front of a man, but she didn't care since they both liked it anyway.

He was satisfied with her answer. "Then I won't." As soon as he finished speaking, he reached behind her back and undid her bra, letting it fall on top of her blouse that was on the floor. He then cupped them in both of his hands.