The Xavier's Secret

Chapter One: The Four Families

Normal City, New York

Tuesday Morning

Mia Weller stood in front of the full-length mirror, closed her eyes, and leaned against the mirror. She wondered what Phillip Blake, the handsome football quarterback, saw in her. For the last two weeks, she avoided his invitations for lunch and dinner, but today, she failed to escape him. So, she hid from him in the restroom until she figured out what to do. 

She pushed away from the mirror and observed the person she should have never allowed herself to become. The cheerful twenty-one-year-old woman she used to be was gone, and reality replaced her with a broken, gloomy girl. Mia ran her fingers through her brown curly hair, which clung to her face, and attempted to salvage her appearance. Her hazel eyes lacked their sparkle and merriment for life, and instead, they appeared flat and empty. Her complexion appeared sickly from stress and lack of sleep. She gave up trying to fix her hair with a heavy sigh. 

Under normal circumstances, she would have welcomed his attention, but because of her family's unfortunate situation, she could never be happy. She felt awful for making him wait, but she had to push him away. She could not involve him or any of her friends in her situation.

She pulled out her smartphone from her purse and checked the time, but her phone vibrated. Her mother called her, so she swiped to answer the call and held the phone up to her ear. She swallowed the lump in her throat before saying with a soft voice, "Mom?"

"What are you doing right now?"

"I'm on campus. Why?"

"Your father wanted to know. He said one of his acquaintances messaged him about a boy hanging out with you recently."

Aside from her three friends, which her parents knew about, Phillip was the only person her mother could refer to, but she had avoided him until now. Mia stiffened. Phillip waited for her outside of the restroom. Her father must have someone watching her on campus, and because her father did not have the money to hire anyone professionally, he must have bribed the college staff to monitor her.

"Phillip is only a friend. I promise you, he only wanted to walk me to class to talk about a project," Mia lied. Her mother did not respond to her statement. Mia continued, "I know the rules, mom."

"If you say so, but if your father finds out you were lying –" 

"Mom," Mia interrupted, "I have class soon. Is that all you needed to tell me?" 

"Don't take that tone with me again, Mia. And no, I was calling to tell you to come by the house tonight. King will be here to tell us what the Rossi family has decided about your father's loan."

"We can't pay back the $500,000. I don't understand why dad even borrowed the money. How could he do this to us?"

"I'm sorry for putting you through this, Mia, but King requires all three of us to be there tonight. He wouldn't give us a reason. He only said that if one of us were missing, he would kill our family."

"I will be there," Mia whispered and ended the phone call. 

Phillip glanced up from the book he had been reading when he heard Mia exit the restroom. His honey-brown eyes crinkled in delight as an enormous, contagious smile spread across his face. She momentarily forgot the stress weighing down on her shoulders and returned his irresistible smile.

He stood up from the chair and held out her backpack. Mia took her bag and swung it over her shoulder. He ran his fingers through his short red hair, and Mia could not help but admire his muscled physique. When she realized Phillip knew she had been watching him, her face flushed. Phillip towered over her as the top of her head barely reached his chest, so he had an unrestricted view of her face.