The Billionaire's Authentic Daughter ▶️

8 4 | J U L I A

"Where are you going? You didn't have breakfast yet." Braxton's voice stopped me just before I could walk out the door.

I turned to face him. He was sitting at the table with his breakfast in front of him but he wasn't eating. He had his arms folded over his chest. "I already ate," I told him.

His lips parted and he looked down at the food. "Oh."

"It's just that there's only a few weeks left with Mr. Bennett so he wanted to extend the time. So I have to get there early," I rushed to add.

He nodded. "It's great that you're so dedicated."

"Yeah, I need to go now."

I felt bad for distancing myself from him but it was necessary. I didn't want to ruin any more friendships in his life and if our friendship was the price, then so be it.

So I had started with not eating with him. I ate my breakfast before him, lied to him that Mr. Bennett had extended the time, ate out after my shift to tell him that Jade or sometimes Jude or sometimes even my new friend Thwayya had invited me home for dinner. He never once questioned me about my excuses. He would just ask if I'd eaten and I'd say yes and then he'd try to talk about something else but then I tell him that Mr. Bennett told me to practice on my instruments or that I was tired and then he'd have no choice but to let me go.

When I got back home later that day, he had not returned. For once, I didn't have to come up with an excuse to not talk to him.

I immediately shut myself in my room where I began my nightly routine of searching for my mother and my potential twin sister who wasn't Juliet. I was sure it wasn't Juliet.

I had created accounts on every possible social media platform and had searched for both with the few clues that I had. I had also dug up old newspapers for the news about a baby who was found abandoned in a park. From that I got the name of the cop who had discovered me and who was assigned my case. I planned on talking to her, if she remembers anything from that night.

I had been doing this for days now but still had no luck with it. But I was hopeful and patient and I'd just have to look harder.

About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. I knew it was Braxton even before I opened it a crack, just enough to see his form. He was standing outside, still in the clothes he'd left in. He was staring at me but he had a faraway look in his eyes. He was here but he wasn't.

"What's wrong?" I asked when a few seconds passed with none of us speaking.

He seemed to shake out of his daze because he blinked and looked down at his shoes.

"I just wanted to let you know that Imani and I..." he looked up and smiled for the first time in several days. "We're good now. We talked it out and are back to being good friends. Everything's fine now."

That was a relief. I was afraid I'd done some serious damage to their relationship but I was thankful it wasn't the case and they still cared about each other.

"That's great. I'm happy you two are back to normal."

"Yeah," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I have," I replied even before he could fully get his question out.

"Ah," he said, then took a step toward me. "May I come inside for a second?"

Without thinking, my response was to close the gap in the door until I could only see him from one eye. "I'm sorry. I'm just in the middle of something and it's a little messy in here. Did you want to tell me something?"