If you haven't read the previous chapter, do so before you read this.

Welcome backkk. What's the time at your end?

-PREVIOUSLY-

Jayden and Lara were getting their lovemaking game on. Sis wanted it raw but jayden bae was like "HELL NAW SIS. I don't wanna preg you! Who got time for that?"

okay excuse that^ wtf.

real previously

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Lara and jayden were getting freaky. Lara told the boi that she was ready for some JaDDy action. he got off the bed to get some cds to protect his weapon from her warzone, but something on his phone caught his eye.

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Basically, i'm trying to lighten the mood for the upcoming tension.

have you heard Fire on Fire by Sam Smith?^ It's so beautiful gah. Thanks RavenAngel for this.

this chapter is quite deep with a few flashbacks. take care.

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Concern pushed Lara off the bed to find out what had strangely stolen his attention. She stood beside him in her nakedness as she inquired, placing a hand on his muscled arm and waist, "What is it?"

"What is this?" Jayden turned his head to look her in the eye.

Lara immediately picked up the confusion and curiosity blazing in his crystal blue almond-shaped eyes as he turned the iPhone's screen towards her.

The only thing she could see was a text message from an unknown number. And its contents had her gaping like her lips had a strong repellency for each other;

'Your father isn't as faithful to your mother as you think he is. Ask Lara for more details. She knows everything. She's not as honest as you blindly think she is.'

"What... What- who..." words had abandoned Lara like she was complete toxicity and rational thinking had taken a vacation. Suddenly baby language began to make sense to her. For that moment she felt what it was like to be mute; to want to voice something out but not permitted to by forces unseen.

For that moment, she felt trapped.

All she could do was to stare into Jayden's questioning eyes as her heartbeat accelerated with each and every passing second beneath her naked flesh.

Who had sent that? And how had the person known she had been aware of Mr. Benson's infidelity? How had the person known about his infidelity, anyways?

The worst part was that Jayden hadn't worded a thing, the corners of his dull pink lips as straight as a pole as he earnestly awaited Lara's possible take on the message he had received since her name had been mentioned.

"W- w- w-" she stammered, terrified of Jayden's reaction to anything she would have to say.

She should have been honest with him from the moment they had become serious with their relationship. She knew she should have told him what she had known about his father. He did not need to find out this way... To find out about his father's unfaithfulness, and her knowledge of it.

Two blows at once.

But who had sent it? Who was behind the message?

Lara finally recovered from her brief paralysis as she inquired in a murmur, looking up into the skeptical eyes of the man she loved, "Who sent this?"

Jayden had registered Lara's clear reaction to the message. He didn't need a bachelor's degree in psychology to know that there had been some truth to it and that Lara had been concealing something.

Suddenly, the walls in the room started to close in on him as his heart began to pump faster. Lara needed to speak, and she needed to speak fast.

Lara snatched his phone and tried to call the number, but it went straight to voicemail. She even noticed that he had called the number six times.

She couldn't even return his searing gaze. Who knew one could feel claustrophobic in a room where the walls were more than thirty feet apart?

"Lara," Jayden's low voice turned stern, "What is this?"

Lara vigorously shook her head out of anxiety. "Jayden..." she trailed off.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he beseeched, "What does this mean? What do you know about my father?"

"I-" she fidgeted with her fingers before barking, "It wasn't my truth to tell!"

The words had already sunk into his nerve endings before she could retract them.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Jayden's retort catalyzed the upturn of her tummy propelling her to blurt out,

"He cheated on your mother."

This wasn't how he was supposed to find out about his father's infidelity. Not this time. They were supposed to be making love right now.

Lara's insides ached as if they had been sat on by a sumo wrestler as she regarded the miniature flinch in Jayden's crumbling demeanor.

"No," Jayden backed away and shook his head, "My father would never. He wouldn't. He loves my mother more than his own life. He's at the hospital, by her side at this very moment."

"I'm sorry," Lara wiped a travelling tear, "I wanted to tell you but," she hesitated, "It wasn't my truth to tell."

"And how in God's name do you know this? Huh?" Jayden took steps forward, the sight of her nudity making him angry as the unwelcome thought of Lara being involved with his dad sickened and revolted him.

As if reading his unwanted thoughts, she spoke, "I saw him with someone. I would never-"

"Where?" Jayden demanded, towering her in a mist of fury.

"His room," she replied, "He was with someone in bed..."

"When? And as much as I hate to be talking about this, what if it was actually my mother?"

Lara shook her head. "She was on him... naked... And that is not what your mother looks like. It was a few months ago..."

Jayden's chest grew heavy with pain. "You've known this for months?"

Lara gulped, failing to steady her wary eyes on his blazing ones. "What happened to no secrets?" he asked, "Complete honesty?"

"I-"

"For months," he cut in, "He's been cheating on my mother for months, and maybe years. I can't believe he would do this. My mum might be difficult sometimes but she is a faithful woman. She is faithful and loyal to the people she loves."

"I'm sorry..." Lara touched his arm, the pain accumulating in his chest and on his face growing rapidly.

"Who was it? Katy?" he inquired, "She was with him at the hospital where my mum was freaking about to develop a heart problem."

"No, it's not!"

"How do you know?"

"The hair colour," Lara gulped.

"What was the colour of her hair-"

Lara cut in, "I don't know!" her eyes darted like the ticking of a vintage antique grandfather clock.

Jayden paused, holding her agitated gaze before murmuring, "Wow."

He walked away from her towards the mahogany dress table in front of the dressing mirror and with his fists, punched into its hard surface out of angst, his bare shoulders getting tenser.

Lara stretched her arm out in worry but remained still. It was either that or her face, and he would never hurt her.

His deep, cold voice penetrated the silence that had filled the room, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I said it wasn't my truth to tell," Lara sternly repeated, gaze engraved on his back.

"Then whose was it?"

Lara was confused. "Jayden, who else? Your father!"

He swiftly turned to face her, "Yeah, because he's gonna walk up to me one day and say, 'oh hey son, guess what, I freaking cheated on your mum and I thought you should know'.

Lara frowned but he continued,

"Lara, you knew something about my father I didn't know. You should have told me! If it hadn't been for this message from God knows who, I would have been kept in the dark believing that my father is the most honourable man in this world. When I praise him, you probably laugh at my lack of knowledge."

"Of course not!" she marched towards him. "Mr. Benson is- he isn't- people make mistakes and-"

"Are you justifying his actions?"

"I-" she shut her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything that could be taken out of context.

Lara knew that Mr. Benson had put his son before anything else. She remembered the night she had overhead Mr. Benson saying to Brie after Mrs. Benson had confronted the maids, 'Anyone against my son, is against me. Not even you can change this'.

Jayden's wellbeing had been his father's top priority. Lara believed that Mr. Benson's infidelity was a matter to be dealt with between himself and his wife, only.

A shitty husband he was, yes, but a great father.

"I think this should be dealt between your parents," Lara said, getting closer to Jayden, "Your father's relationship with you is different from his relationship with your mother. He even gave us his blessing to be together. I'm not supporting what he did, I'm just-"

"Yeah, he probably gave us his blessing because he's fooling around with a maid as well!"

Silence hung in the air as his words sank into her system.

Fooling around with a maid as well?

What was that supposed to mean?

"Wait... Lara-" he began to say when she had returned to the king-sized bed in a haste. "You know I don't mean that."

"As well?" she put on her nightdress, gradually covering her nakedness, "Fooling around with a maid as well."

"I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, sure you didn't," she straightened her dress, "You love me."

"You know I do."

"Your statement proves otherwise," she glanced up at him, brown eyes exuberating hurt, "Maybe you went through all this trouble to get into my pants?"

"You know that's not true-"

"Do I!"

"Where the hell is this from?" his thick black brows furrowed as he watched her drag her trapped hair strands from beneath her straps, "Turning tables here?"

"What do you think 'fooling around with a maid as well' means?" she got up from the bed and marched to stand before him, "You break it down for me."

"It didn't come out right. I am sorry," he repeated. "You're my girlfriend and I take you seriously. What we have is real."

"But if you're saying your father said yes to our relationship because he's involved with another maid, it only means we, maids, are so freaking easy to be used by you Bensons. And it means he didn't see any true feelings you had for me."

"True feelings is all he saw from me."

*flashback*

"What in Heaven's name is going on between you two?" Mr. Benson growled at his son, "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Lara is your personal maid. She shouldn't be anything more. Why her? Of all the girls, why your personal maid? Do you want to go down that road again? Do you not remember everything that happened because of it? You want to see your past repeat itself?"

"Dad, let me explain things to y-"

"How long has this been going on?"

"It's not the same as before." Jayden began to explain, "It's different with her."

"Spare me the 'different' talk. I'm not about to see you go down that road again. End whatever you have with her."

"I'm not doing that."

"Why? I know Lara is young and beautiful, but getting yourself involved with your personal maid might open doors from the past and we don't want that."

"I know, but it won't happen. Lara and I have connected over the past few months and what I feel for her is real. It's growing. I really like her, and she makes me feel..." He hesitated, then rephrased his words, "She makes me want to be serious."

His father was silent as he critically observed Jayden speak,

"She's not just a simple fling, no. What we're having is real and we're willing to take it as far as it goes."

"Till she enters the university?" his father asked. "Till she breaks your heart? Leaves this house? These are dead ends, son. Why start something you know will not last? Something you know isn't even possible to see through to the end?"

"We will work something out when the time comes but for now, this is what we want."

Immense silence filled the room as Mr. Benson mentally replayed his son's words and deliberated what to do concerning the matter.

Lara was his personal maid and considering his past with his personal maids, things were bound to end badly. Mr. Benson did not want that for his son. He had been through enough already, to indulge in a new potentially scarring experience.

But glancing at his son, the riveting emotion in his deep blue eyes unveiling itself as his words began to reflect in his eyes, he decided to ask,

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"A hundred per cent," Jayden answered affirmatively.

"If this is what you really want, I will try to be supportive."

But before Jayden could display his relief to the news, Mr. Benson added, "But if she in any way, plunges you back into your past, I won't forgive her."

"It won't happen," Jayden assured his father.

*flashback over*

"Do you see me as your easy maid or as your respectful girlfriend!" Lara yelled.

"If we're in this building right now celebrating our month together and our thirty-day rule, you should know the answer to that," he answered.

Then he went on to ask, "Why the hell are we arguing over this? You knew about my father's infidelity. You kept it. If you're trynna twist this on me with these absurd assumptions-"

"You loathe cheating just because your ex-girlfriend cheated on you, and no, I'm not justifying his actions, but even you've made terrible mistakes which were justified so don't make it seem like he's committed an atrocity and you're a saint!"

"What the fuck, Lara?" Jayden was absolutely taken aback by her outburst. "I never said I was a saint. And if his root is that my mother isn't attractive to him like before-"

"Don't try to justify yours," she retorted, chest slightly heaving with energy as her gaze confidently held his.

"I'm not! I paid for my sins and you know this! I am still paying so don't you come and lecture me on this subject," he sternly warned her. He wouldn't allow it.

His strict warning made her lower her tone, "I was saying this because I don't think it's your father who initiated it. I think it was the other way around, and that he was seduced by this person."

"So it gives him the right to cheat?" Jayden queried.

Lara spat, "Did your past give you the right to, t-," she stammered, "to hurt Kira!"

Shock consumed every inch of Jayden and had rendered him utterly speechless. Had these words really come out of Lara's mouth? Lara's?

"It damn well did not, and that's why I paid for it with the house arrest, the loss of her friendship, the years of probation, the restraining order, the tedious sessions, and I am still paying with the lifelong memory of the incidents. I sent myself to court to be punished because I didn't believe my crime should be justified and I wanted her to be happy. So no, Lara, my past did not give me the right to hurt Kira."

Lara stomped away from him to sit on the bed once more.

"I honestly never knew-" Jayden lowly began but Lara cut in,

"Never knew what?" she threw him an annoyed look. A look Jayden hadn't seen in a very long time.

The last time he had seen this look, she had been accusing him of hurting Florence based on the twisted stories the maids had told her.

"Lara, a month ago when I told you everything about my past, you never behaved this way. Why now?"

"You're judging him. You of all people. That's my point."

"When did I judge him? If my memory serves me right, I denied that my father would cheat on my mother, and then I wanted to know exactly why you kept it from me. I asked if you were justifying his actions based on your statements, and you just told me I've made terrible mistakes which were justified, so..."

Silence.

Jayden shook his tilted-down head disbelievingly, "Me of all people," he looked up, "If anyone's judging here, it's you."

"Your father loves you more than anything but you're going to let this come between you two when it should be dealt with him and your mother."

"He hurt my mother who is currently in the hospital, did you know that? Also, her hospital admittance could be because of his lover."

"You hurt Kira."

"What does Kira have to do with my father's infidelity?" he exasperated. "Why are you using this against me? I opened up to you in all truth, trust, and honesty, and you use it against me? Why?" he beseeched her.

He went on, "What is with the comparison? Is this a game to you? A game of whose sin is bigger? Think this is funny?"

"No."

"Well if you're all about the comparisons, I faced the music for my sin. Has he?"

"Not enough. You can't pay for a sin like yours."

"A sin like mine. And you say I'm the one judging? I can't pay for my sin. D'you want me to turn back time, get the same pain inflicted on me or kill myself? Which would be enough, for you? What would you like me to do to my sixteen-year-old self?"

She shook her head and joined her hands on her lap as she murmured, almost inaudibly, "You're lucky Kira is like, the nicest, most sacrificial person on this planet. If it was me, I would never forgive you."

The pain in the deepest portions of his heart intensified. And he started to wonder if he even had the right to feel that pain. He most certainly did not.

This girl could say things that would crush his soul into several pieces of little to no return.

The same girl who made him believe in love and happiness.

"You're absolutely right," he told her, "I have never met anyone like Kira, and I don't think I ever will."

Silence dispersed in the gloomy atmosphere.

Just two seconds ago, he had been professing his unconditional love for her. They had been rolling in the sheets, kissing, caressing and loving like tonight was their last night together. He had never seen this coming.

Jayden murmured, still a few feet away from where she sat, "I am not the same teenage boy from my past. I'm a man now. A changed, healed one. And you, OF ALL PEOPLE, should know this."

She didn't return his gaze.

He continued, "I also never expected this from you. This judgment. An outsider, I would understand. But you? You know every single thing about me. Every. single. thing. I never hid anything from you. I told you everything no matter how uncomfortable or emotionally painful it got for me," he paused. "A revelation concerning my father has turned into a highly unexpected execution for me."

Lara rubbed the back of her hand in anxiety.

Jayden spoke, "You know, maybe you're right again. Maybe I don't deserve any happiness. Maybe you deserve someone worthy of having you and not a fucking douche like myself if that's all you see in me. Maybe we should break this off so I don't burden you with my tainted, horrifying past."

He went on, "You wouldn't have to worry about giving your precious virginity to an undeserving moron like myself. A moron who goes around hurting people for fun."

"I never said you don't deserve happiness. Everyone does-"

"Doesn't sound like it," he surprisingly snapped, "I think that some type of people don't. People like ME," his voice rose at the last word as he grew defensive, his heart rate speeding.

She turned to him, black eyebrows raised, "You're getting defensive?"

Why shouldn't I when the one person I thought I could go to