The Billionaires(#1)

14 ||

MJ had just arrived home after touring around the city with Liam, trying different foods. She was calmer than she was earlier, and it was all thanks to her driver and bodyguard.

By the time she got to the apartment, she was exhausted and did not want anything at all besides sleeping, but all that faded when she remembered the boy she had met last night. Chad. She wondered if he had found the jersey and the money she left him. She had totally forgotten about him and hoped that Mr Brown had not found him sleeping in the storeroom this morning.

She took off her high heels and changed into white baggy sweatpants and a short-sleeved oversized T-shirt, and then she tied her hair into a messy bun. She left the apartment and walked to the storeroom, only to bump into Mr Brown who was just locking the door. " Mr Brown." MJ greeted in a firm voice.

"Missy! What is a young lady like you doing up here alone at this time of the night?" The old grey-haired man asked with a look of confusion as he assessed MJ. Mr Brown was a 62-year-old man who lived with his wife and grandchildren. He had been living in the building for over forty years and was hired by the owners of the building to be the caretaker since he knew the place better than anyone else did. He knew each and every person who resided in the place and was always patrolling the building for invaders. It was no surprise that he did not recognize MJ even though she had been in the building a few times before.

"I would ask the same thing about you; what is an old man like you doing out here alone at this time of the night?" MJ asked sarcastically, and the old man just laughed.

"Oh, meisietjie! Everyone knows I'm not just any old man. My name is Mr Brown; a well-respected man in the community." Mr Brown said proudly, and MJ scoffed.

"Jesus, I must be blind!" MJ said, giving the old man a tight smile.

"You are one funny young lady! Anyway, I was just doing some patrolling after my wife told me that she saw someone leaving the storeroom this morning. I thought maybe it was one of her things, but when I came to check the storeroom, later on, the door was open." Mr Brown explained, and MJ narrowed her eyes at him.

"That does not mean there was someone in here; you could have forgotten to close the door," MJ suggested, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No." The man shook his head. "Well, I did forget to lock the door last night, and I actually thought that perhaps it was age getting to my wife." He sighed, exhaustion visible in his features. "That was until I found this picture in here." He said and handed her a small, old picture. MJ frowned and took the picture from him. She studied it while Mr Brown continued, "these filthy kids are trouble; they run away from their homes and live in the streets, and bother other people, stealing everything they earned hard, instead of going back to school."

MJ's head snapped up and she looked at the old man with piercing eyes. "You are an old grumpy man! He was just a little boy; he could have gone for days without food." She said through her teeth, anger showing on her face. "Did he steal anything from the storeroom since you say he's a thief?" She asked venomously.

"Who the hell do you think you are coming here to insult me?" The man asked angrily, his body shaking. "Do you know that my entire family grew up in this building? This is where my father met my mother. I raised my children here!"

"Who am I?" MJ laughed bitterly and took a step in front of him. Mr Brown was taken aback because he had never met someone as rude as she was. He had noticed that about her the moment she walked up to him just now, and a few times before when she would come to the building and pass by without greeting him. He wondered what his sweet Sonya was doing with a woman like this; she was everything Sonya was not. "I am the woman who can buy this entire stupid building, throw your family out in the streets, and demolish it." MJ said coldly, and the old man's face turned white as she continued in her menacing voice, "And I don't care if this is where you met the president of America, or where your wife went loco. You'd better pray that nothing happens to that kid tonight in this cold weather, otherwise; I'll show you who I am." She said and walked away, and Mr Brown watched her and cleared his dry throat.

This woman had just threatened to demolish his building and leave him homeless. If she did that, then he would have to start over, more especially now that he was no longer working and depended on his pension funds. His children were now successful, but they seemed to have forgotten about him. With a heavy heart, Mr Brown unlocked the storage and left the door ajar. He looked at the staircase MJ took to the top floor and shook his head in disbelief.

MJ got to the rooftop and went to stand at the end. She crossed her arms and stared at nowhere in particular. She had not meant to be so rude to the old man, but when he spoke, it felt as if he was talking about her, and that made her angry. She had run away from home once and ended up in the streets, but Jorge did not know that and she was planning to keep it that way. Her secret was the same reason she was in this situation; Sonya found out about it and was using that to blackmail her. The influence was an old article about the street kids of London. The person in the picture happened to be MJ, and to her dismay, it ended up in Sonya's hands. Sonya was threatening to tell Jorge, and MJ knew that Jorge would not be able to handle the truth.

"Why are you sitting in the cold?" A little voice asked and MJ nearly jumped from the bench she had just occupied a few seconds ago.

"Chad?" MJ asked in disbelief, and the little boy just nodded his head shyly.

"The crazy old lady saw me this morning." He said in short breaths and hugged himself due to the cold. He was shivering, and all he was wearing was a small vest and torn trousers. MJ frowned; why was he not wearing the jersey she gave him? She wondered, and Chad noticed her confusion.

"Some girl joined us this morning; she was pregnant and she was running away from her baby daddy. He's a gangster and he would have hurt her and the baby if he found her, so I gave her the money and the jersey. I just hope she's fine." Chad explained, and MJ just stood there and remained quiet while studying him.

'Come with me, you must be hungry." She finally said.

"But-"

"No buts. You are going to stay at my place tonight." MJ said sternly, finality in her words. Chad sighed and followed her back to Sonya's apartment even though he was hesitant; what if this woman was a trafficker? What if she was a serial killer or something even worse? What if she was going to turn him into the police and force him to leave the only family he had ever known in the streets?

MJ opened the door and told him to wait in the sitting room while she disappeared to the bedrooms. Sonya's bedroom to be precise. She came out holding some towels, and then she went to the shared bathroom and turned on the bath for Chad. She emerged from the bathroom and told him to take a bath so that he could get warm. He was hesitant at first but obliged anyway. If this woman wanted to kill him, then she would have done it a long time ago.

MJ prepared a quick meal for him, dished up, and left it in the microwave while he was still bathing, and then she turned on the heater to warm up the place. This was another reason MJ dreaded coming to Cape Town at this time; Cape Town's cold weather. By March and April, it was already cold because it was the opening season for winter, and having escaped the cold weather in London, this was not something MJ appreciated.

About an hour later, Chad emerged from the bathroom wearing the same clothes as before, but MJ told him to get changed and gave him a set of new clothes exactly his size. Chad wondered how she knew his size. MJ had gotten him the clothes while she and Liam were gallivanting around the city earlier, and when Liam asked her whom the clothes were for, she told him that they were for a friend.

Chad changed into the new clothes and threw the old set into the rubbish bag MJ had given him, and then he went to eat his food while MJ watched him. Chad wondered why she was doing this; why was she helping him? Having lived in the streets almost all his life, he knew that many people were only nice when they wanted something in return, and usually it was to lure them into thinking that they were trying to help while in reality, they were only waiting for a shipment date. As if sensing his thoughts, MJ spoke up, "I was once like you, you know?" She said with a distant look. Chad looked at her in question, and she added, "I used to live in the streets too."