Mad Summer Love

The Story

Summer was sitting in a taxi looking out the window at the city going by, as a tear slid down her cheek from recalling what they had together. She didn't ask for the assignment, but here she was on her way to see the one man she never thought she'd see again. 

After the car pulled up to his house, she stepped out, taking a deep breath. She straightened out her knee-length black skirt and made her ascent up the stairs, her red heels clacking the entire way. She wanted answers, but that was not why she was there. This was an assignment and she needed to remember that. 

As the door opened, she saw a man standing there who appeared to be the butler. "Could you tell...," she swallowed hard, trying to force out the name she hadn't said in years. "...Maddox Altera that Summer Rayne is here from The Daily Reporter?"

Maddox was pouring over documents at his desk when one of his staff announced the journalist had arrived. Without looking up, he waved a hand inviting that she be let through. He still wasn't sure this was a good idea, but the business had changed since he took over. He was tired of the scrutiny from every federal agency in the country and the public perception was no longer good for profits. Still immersed in his work, he heard her entrance, but continued to read. 

"Please, Miss Ray....." The word caught in his throat when he glanced up to point her to a chair across the table. "Summer?"

Summer strolled in and walked over to the seat in which he had indicated and sat down, crossing her long legs and pulling out her notebook. "Hello, Mr. Altera. I'm Summer Rayne and I'm here to interview you for a piece we're doing." She looked up at him and smiled, but it was a cold smile, a forced smile. She was here on business, she kept reminding herself. "Now, where shall we begin?"

Maddox couldn't help staring; it had been years since he had seen her and she was as beautiful as he remembered. He had tried to keep track of her for awhile but she seemed to drop off the planet, now he knew why. Her name wasn't all that was different though, the way she looked at him was too. Summer smiled, but it was an expression that didn't touch her eyes. He saw only coldness there, and it hit Maddox in the chest like a knife. He wanted to apologize to her, tell her everything, but those weren't the words that came out. 

"Of course, Miss Rayne." Maddox spoke with a cool confidence, betraying no emotion, a practiced gift from a time when doing so might have cost him everything. "Where would you like to begin? As I told your editor, I envision this as a way to tell the city that I am not my father. My businesses are all very legal and no one gets hurt. When he died, I changed things; albeit slower than some would have liked, but these things take time."

Summer listened to him speak like there was nothing between them; as if nothing had ever happened between them, but she knew better than anyone that there had. So, his father finally died. He was a bastard, but he was his father. 

"I'm sorry about your father," she said softly as memories of her mother's funeral flashed across her mind. 

He had taken over the family business after all. All of those times he said he didn't want to take part in it and yet, here he was running the whole damn operation. 

Summer cleared her throat, in turn, clearing her thoughts. "So, tell me about the improvements you have made," she requested as she began taking notes.

"Yes. He died 10 years ago, near the end of May. The family managed to keep it out of the papers. I took over then; I didn't plan for it, but my sister, Sophia, and my brother, Francis, were still children and my mother couldn't do it alone," Maddox trailed off; it wasn't the question she had asked. He cleared his throat. "To your original question. We have made a lot of improvements in the business model. All our finances come from legitimate sources, taxes are paid and our more questionable side deals have been terminated."