Dana and Emma immediately turned on their stools and responded to Jayden who was now standing at the doorway of the kitchen in his white shirt and khaki pants.

"Good evening!" Dana and Emma responded.

Dana noticed that he had shifted his gaze from her and Emma to Lara who still had her back towards him. Dana turned to Lara who still wouldn't budge.

Jayden then shifted his gaze to Dana who had also returned hers by the sound of his voice,

"Let me speak with you."

Dana confusedly turned to Lara, turned back to Jayden and stammered when she had realized his gaze had sat transfixed on her, "M- me"? she pointed at herself.

"Yes," Jayden confirmed, adding while turning away, "And Emma. Follow me."

"Uh, yes Sir," they both responded as they began to abandon their seats beside Lara.

Lara immediately whipped her head to Jayden, confusion emanating from her arched brows but he had already begun to walk away from the kitchen in powerful strides.

What did he want with Dana and Emma? He'd barely even ever had a proper conversation with them.

"What's this about?" Dana mouthed to Lara as she and Emma had begun to follow Jayden.

"I don't know," Lara mouthed back, "Tell me everything he says."

***

Jayden unlocked his room door and walked in with Emma and Dana following before he closed the door.

He stood before them in his towering form, arms crossed as he contemplated on how to begin.

He shifted his gaze from Dana to Emma, his intense gaze heightening their curiosity.

"Is there a problem?" Dana asked, curiosity feverishly gnawing at her knees.

But Jayden just remained fixed in thought.

Looking at Emma, and from the little stories Lara had told him, he didn't think Emma would be capable of getting involved with his father; a married man in that sense. From Lara's words, Emma was more reserved, shy and morally upright. She couldn't even hurt a fly.

Now for Dana, he wasn't too sure. She had this sultry, fierce look. A daring flame in her black eyes. Lara had once told him that Dana was the type to say whatever she thought, or do whatever she wanted to do. She was free-spirited and took advantage of every opportunity, but gave good advice all the time.

Good in what sense, though?

"Lara tells me you're who she's closest to," his dark blue eyes fixed on Dana's black ones.

Even that in itself should contribute to the probability of Dana being the mistress, he thought. Lara had passionately defended the act and had vehemently refused to name the maid. It would only make sense that it had been someone she was very close to.

"Yeah..." Dana responded, but all she could think about was how Lara had managed to go through thirty damn days beside this Adonis of a person and remain celibate.

Jayden was crazy hot, she knew that. But standing in this close perimeter with him - this being her very first time- made her question so many things Lara had done and had not done.

"You know what happened then," he stated.

Dana inquired, "Know what happened where?"

"Lara and I. I know you knew about our relationship. You, Emma, Brie, Katy. You four."

Emma nodded and so did Dana, her black curly hair swaying in effect.

"She told you what happened yesterday?" he asked.

Of course, she did. Most girls lived as though a secret could murder them from within. They always needed to let something out. Just Anything.

"She..." Dana began, "Kind of. I'm really sorry, she can be stubborn at times..."

"Well," he brushed it off, "She mentioned my father?"

"Uhh..." Dana and Emma both glanced at each other wondering if that information should be disclosed, but Jayden had already received his answer from the anxious looks on their faces.

"Who is it?" he straightforwardly asked, "Tell me."

He didn't have the time to beat around any bush. His father had cheated on his mother under the same roof, in their very own bed.

He would not handle the matter trivially. He would make sure the mistress was put in her place. And his father as well.

Dana murmured after a moment of silence, "We wish we knew..."

Jayden decided to be brash as he went ahead to ask, "Is it you?"

The question was like a huge blow to Dana, crippling her in the knees and rendering her legs lifeless.

"Me?" she gasped, eyes widened beyond control.

"Yes, you," he held her surprised gaze.

"No!" she firmly denied, "Lo juro por Dios, it's not me!"

"It's not Dana," Emma added, holding onto her friend's arm. She too was nerve-stricken by Jayden's abrasiveness. Dana was very different from Brie on so many levels.

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" Jayden inquired, skepticism seeping into his flesh with every denial.

"Because I would never sleep with a married man! I don't do that!" she bit back, "Have you even seen your ma? I would be digging my own grave if I got involved with her husband."

Jayden kept his icy dark blue eyes narrowed in on her fretting black ones as she went on, "Even when Lara showed up at your door and humiliated herself after your trip with Kira, I warned her not to go. I told her to even forget about you," if her Latin roots weren't evident in her looks, they sure were blooming in her accent.

She went on, "I might look tough but I wouldn't even be able to do what Lara, she did. Go out with Mrs. Benson's son. I can't do that."

Jayden remained silent, gaze still holding the girl's frightened and somewhat defensive one. Her outburst seemed believable, and maybe, just maybe she wasn't the one he had been looking for.

He directed his gaze to Emma who had frantically been nodding her head in agreement during Dana's speech.

Then he directed it back to Dana,

"Where is Brie?"

Dana glanced at a gulping Emma before asking Jayden, "You think it's Brie?"

"Brie, Ella, Katy," he mentioned, then added, "But when I asked Lara if it was Katy, she strongly denied it. I don't know what to think. Everyone's making a fool out of me and my mother."

Dana and Emma remained silent. He wasn't wrong. Plus, he had narrowed in on the best potential culprits.

"I'm not gonna ask one more time. Who is it?"

"We will," Dana blurted out, "give you an answer tomorrow. Promise. You'll have an answer tomorrow."

"Hmm."

"Why don't we just tell him now?" Emma whispered, her dislike for Brie maneuvering its way into her decision.

"Not now, Emma," Dana whispered back and directed her gaze to Jayden who had walked away towards his bed. "We need to think this through."

"But none of us like Brie and she got herself into this mess," Emma whispered, "And her obsession with Mr. Benson is making her more dangerous as the days go by."

Jayden interrupted their whispering, "Tell Brie and Ella to see me."

"Um," Dana explained, "They aren't home. Also, Katy is asleep," she added to answer his next potential question.

Jayden remained silent, clearly giving his next statement a generous amount of thought, which was highly needed.

"Tell Lara to come see me," he said although his unpleasant memories wished he hadn't.

Dana nodded, "Sure. Anything else?" she looked at him as he pivoted his elbows on his knees, his joined hands supporting his head which rested on two thumbs, the rest of his joined fingers blocking his luscious lips from sight.

The man was clearly going through a lot. His father, his mother, his girlfriend, the entire household. And it made Dana wonder if Lara only added to the headache when she was supposed to depreciate it.

Had Lara been the beginning of his headaches? Was she the prime source?

Was she good for him?

Or was it all just trials couples had to face to emerge successful at the top?

Surely, all these questions would be answered soon.

"Sir?" Dana called when he hadn't responded to her question of if he had needed anything else.

Abandoning his thoughts he turned to her, his questioning look explaining that he hadn't heard her the first time.

"I was asking if you'd be needing anything else," Dana repeated, his unintentional striking gaze prompting her to absentmindedly press her fingernails into the soft flesh of her palm.

He responded, "No, no. Just Lara."

Dana and Emma both nodded and left the room to go tell Lara that she was wanted by Jayden.

***

:

Here is something I received from a friend and a loyal reader. She wrote a song inspired by . WHAT EVEN? I love you bb.

Here are her lyrics:

I tried hard to ignore those odds

But you come back and say those words

Sometimes I wish I could have walked away

But I still think about you each day.

I saw a forever

You showed a never

Threw my past in my face

Now I'm locked in place

Is this what I get for loving you?

And is it crazy that I still do?

I don't know if I should

blame myself or Destiny

I'm lost in your world and I

need to be free

I need to let you go but my heart will disagree

You took me up and brought me back down like a force

of gravity

Baby is it wrong to love you?

Baby is it wrong to love

What's a man to do?

Because I've had enough

If it's wrong, then make it right

If it's right, then hold on tight

Is it wrong to, wrong to love you?

***