SEVEN

"It's my car, so I'm driving." I huffed out.

Link ignored me as he took himself down the steps, walking down to my car as if he would actually be the one driving. I followed closely on his heel. 

It was several minutes of full on arguing outside the building between Link and I, and none of us were giving out any hints of backing down. He wanted to drive the car. To me, it was extraordinary how he thought his argument had any value whatsoever because the last time I checked, I was the owner of my car. And that instantly meant I was the one driving and I could determine who I extended invitation to, to join me in my car.

"We all know it's your car so stop repeating it." Link shot back at me over his shoulder. 

I glared at the back of his head, quickening my steps since he had longer legs than me, thus managing to walk further ahead.

"You don't even have the keys." I shot back at him, my voice rising a bit since he was near the car now. He halted in front of my car and turned around to me when I came down the long steps.

"Keys." When his hand stuck out expectantly, waiting for my set of keys to land in them I could do nothing but stare at it as if it grew another finger. And in that moment, I also established that I was forever grateful for Lexie who said she would keep Joy inside the building until I finished this showdown with Link.

"I'm baffled as to how you are managing to seem more insane by the minute," I said to him whilst shaking my head at him.

"And I'm baffled as to how you are still arguing outside the building as if you haven't got dangerous people after you," he countered, staring at me as if I was the one having a pointless argument with him.

"You are not driving the car, Link." I stated, the finality evident in my voice. I was standing with my hands crossed and holding my ground firmly. He was not going to render me utterly helpless to a point where I succumbed to every of his orders. I mean, what kind of person would I be and what kind of person would I be to Joy if I just bended the knee to every order shot my way by this man. And his orders were just insane compared to Lucian's - who actually seemed to care about my safety rather than proving his manliness.

"You don't know where to go."

I rolled my eyes at him, now getting to the point where I was done with him. "I'm going to the hotel, and that's final." I turned around and waved at Lexie who was staring at me from the large windows inside the building. She nodded and tugged on Joy who seemed engrossed in something the receptionist was telling her.

I walked around Link, purposely letting out childish grunts and mumbling under my breath, wanting him to think I was cussing him out. Which childishly, I really was cussing him out under my breath. He was totally insane thinking he could be shooting out demands to me when I just saw him yesterday after all those years.

He was nothing but someone from my past who I had folded neatly and put away to the back of my mind. And any minute spend thinking about him, I would be reminded of that endless torture he had inflicted on me for no apparent reason because his sister was fucking alive.

I got in behind the wheel and threw my purse into the back. I turned to look outside the window and saw Lexie coming down the last of the steps, with Joy bouncing down next to her. I risked a glance over to Link and saw he had his eyes glued on Joy. I could remember when he had walked inside the conference room and I knew the second Joy spotted him and he spotted her. It was as if all air was sucked out the room whilst also being filled with something heavy to a point where I felt as if I was suffocating.

I listened to their exchange with my heart beating loudly and my whole body itchy to grab my daughter and hide her away from everything. I only gave them a few words between each other before I interrupted them and ended it.

"He's nothing to her," I whispered those words to myself in the car whilst watching Link. It was clear, as clear as daylight what he thought the situation was. I knew what I had to do before he could give himself any more reason to pursue the idea that was clearly brewing in his head. After I had Joy safely inside the hotel, I was going to speak to him about it and end his idea then and there.

Lexie opened the door for Joy and helped her strap in. I rolled down my window and spoke to a straight-faced Link. "I'll drive to the hotel-" I started to say before he began to move and walk around to the passenger side.

I gaped at him when he stepped inside. "You can't be in the car!" I semi-shouted at him, whilst still gaping.

"I'll be with you all times," he closed the door and turned to me. "Or did you already forget what we discussed in Lucian's office?"

I heard Lexie strap herself in besides Joy as I threw myself back into my seat. Starting another showdown with Link inside the car with minimal space was not a wise move. And the only thing that kept me from actually starting it with him again was that I knew this was for the safety of all of us. And for that reason, I shoved my pride aside and started the car.

But still... damn this man. Damn him to the stars and back.

****

This was the plan. We were staying at the hotel for the night until all security measurements were in place in the house I was renting out. Fortunately, the couple who owned the place would not be back until the end of the month and Lucian was convinced everything would be sorted long before they came back.

Lexie hadn't checked in yet which was great as it meant she was staying in the room with me. And thankfully the bed was big enough to fit us all, and it meant after Joy was knocked out, we could have another chat.

We were cramped inside the lift with an awkward yet tension filled vibe coating all the adults. I wanted nothing but to get Joy in her room and then slip out to have a much needed conversation with Link. It was going to last only five minutes... heck we would speak whilst I would wait for room service to bring my food. And after that, he could camp outside the room and I'll watch movies with the girls for the rest of the day.

We came to our floor and we all ushered out the lift silently, surprisingly being led by a still bouncing Joy to our room. I spotted Quan standing outside his room when we came to mine and I watched as he silently communicated to Link. He probably did a whole check inside the room before allowing us inside which I was completely grateful for.

I had found out that the whole hotel was owned by Lucian, thus Quan had access to the master key, meaning he could come inside my room any time.

I unlocked the door and gave Lexie and Joy time to get inside before I whirled around to Link. He was leaning agains the wall, close to Quan's door and was giving me a hard look. "Five minutes. You and I have to talk."

Link nodded as if he could read my mind. "That we really need to do."

I agreed with him silently. A talk was what we really needed to do in order to clear up a few things. "I'll settle in Joy, order some room service and then come back out to talk."

Link nodded again. "Take your time," he replied coolly.

Heading into the room, I made quick work of getting the girl's orders and ordering room service. Lexie was eyeing me up carefully as I helped Joy out of her jacket and her shoes, watching me make quick work of that as well. "You're going to talk to him." She said as a matter of fact.

I nodded at her as I put Joy's shoe up against the wall near the door. "Yeah. Do you mind keeping Joy company?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

She smiled at me warmly. "You don't even have to ask." She came over to me and engulfed me in her arms. It was unexpected but I held on tightly. "Good luck," she whispered in my ear.

And hell did I need the luck with Link.

I pulled away from her, shot her a grateful smile before turning around to the door. I walked out the room to see Link still leaning against the wall but Quan was gone, his door firmly closed.

I motioned for him to follow me down the hall, wanting to be as alone as we could be without being far away. This conversation was going to last no longer than five minutes and I had planned it all in my head, mostly with it being a one-way conversation. This time, I was going to do all the talking and he was going to listen.

Once were a good distance away from the room, I turned to him. Determination was written all over me, with how I was standing and then with how I talked.

I dove straight into it, skipping all the builds up in order to ease into the conversation. Nope, that was not in my plan. "I know what you are thinking about Joy. You are not the father Link. I don't know what made you think that you were, but I will tell you right now you are not." I blurted all the words out and surprised myself at how cool and collected I sounded when I felt anything but that.

Link kept stoic in his position, his eyes glued on my face and showing no hint of what this conversation meant to him.

I carried on speaking, adding more fuel to the fire. But it was a necessity. "Her father was a firefighter named Hank. He doesn't know about Joy mainly because it was a one night stand a week after I arrived in Brighton. I never heard of him again. You may think it's wrong for me to not tell Hank but I tried calling him and searching for him but found out tragedy struck. That's all I'm giving you and I don't want to ever speak about it again."

He didn't believe me. If I could grasp at anything from his somewhat dead expression it was that much.

"Is that it?" he said slowly when he saw I wasn't adding anything further.

"Yes."

I spotted his hard jaw twitching, another indication as to what he was feeling. And that sort of jaw twitching was not something good.

"You want to talk about anything else?" Link said after no words was being said between us two for a long while.

I shook my head. "No."

"Well I have something to talk about."

I braced. "Go for it."

"It's about my sister."

An invisible punch flew into my side, nearly managing to knock me off my feet. He just tampered into a strict red zone and even though I had my pretend armour on from before in preparation to tackle the Joy topic, this was something no armour could protect me from.

I had buried everything related with his sister further than I had buried Link. It was the one thing I hadn't given myself to fully process and to dwell into it more than I should have. I had left it for what it was, a haunting reality. His sister shouldn't have been alive. I had knocked her over with a car when I was just sixteen, nearly seventeen perhaps. I had seen her lifeless body on the road and a helpless Link crouched over her trying to revive his sister. I had seen it all and had driven away still.

"I don't want to talk about it." I pushed out the words in a small cracked voice.

I heard Link's soft growl. "You wanted an explanation."

I looked into his dark eyes. "I asked six years ago." I reminded him. It was before I left and I knew I had cancelled everything in my old life but that one thing I really had to know. In that moment, I had to know why Link thought it was okay to allow me to think I had killed someone all those years.

"I'll still talk since you didn't give me the option to know about Joy."

I sucked in deeply. It was true. I hadn't given him the chance to agree whether he wanted an explantation for Joy but still gave him what I wanted to give him. So in return, he was giving me the reason for lying to me about his sister whether I wanted to hear it or not.

////

- Link. You are not the father... ??

- Guys, just to remind you by reading the comments so far in this story... This is a story lol, not everything is realistic although I try my best to make it realistic as possible. This is all pretend world and that means anything goes. Just a reminder lol :)