Chapter 5

• When Max arrives at the office, the guard runs towards him in a panic, to see in what condition his boss arrived, if the car is in such bad shape...
• " Mr. Hunter! Are you okay?"
• " Yes, calm down, nothing serious happened to me, except that the airbag went off and almost broke my nose."
• " Oh my god, your mother should know!"
• " No! I will be the one to tell her, thank you... just leave that thing there " he says pointing at the car and walks with some difficulty to breathe.
• He enters the building and everyone greets him warmly, although he can notice that some of the women look at him with lust, some do not hesitate to run their tongues seductively over their lips, blow kisses or wink at him.
• " Damn, they really recorded me " he says to himself with remorse, scratching his forehead and continues on his way to the elevator.
• When the doors open, he goes up and presses the button for the doors to close as soon as possible, those women scare him precisely because they can convince him to do something he shouldn't repeat.
• As the doors open again, he takes two steps before seeing his brother shouting on the phone.
• " Remove those videos at once or I will sue you for spreading pornography! " he hangs up and looks at Max, approaching him dangerously.
• Kevin walks to an office, Max follows him and closes the door to greet his younger brother.
• " Little brother! " but a punch to the chin silences him and leaves Max beside himself.
• " Do you hate taking care of my scandals so much? " he says, looking at him suspiciously.
• " This is not a scandal, it's a monumental mess!"
• " Don't swear, you know mom doesn't like it " he tries to lighten the mood with his brother, but fails.
• " I don't want to hear you now, to mom's office! Now!"
• Max walks in silence, annoyed and somewhat dizzy, when he enters his mother's office, she approaches to scold him for being late, but Max collapses without any cushioning and Lucy runs towards him.
• " Leave him, mother, it must be a new tactic so you don't scold him! " Kevin makes no attempt to help his brother, because he knows he can pretend to faint to avoid his mother's scolding.
• " Kevin, your brother is not well " she says trying to wake him up, but to no avail. Help me!
• " He must be faking it " Kevin tries to believe those words, because he doesn't want to think that he is the cause of his brother's collapse, I don't believe the blow I gave him knocked him out with a delay or something like that...
• " Did you hit your brother?! " Lucy looks at him horrified and he looks distressed, because Max doesn't react.
• " I told you I would, I'm angry! " he tries to justify himself, but it's too late. Lucy is very angry... with both of them.
• " When your brother wakes up, I will spank you for all the times I didn't in your life " she says through gritted teeth, not even when you put pepper in the dessert to get rid of the pet.
• " It doesn't matter, he deserved it and I already feel better " he lets out a snort and approaches his mother, helping Max to get up, dragging him to the couch.
• " You had to do this to him, just when we have to meet with the senator..."
• " Anyway, he doesn't want to go and I accept that he doesn't go, after last night's... scandal."
• " He's your brother " Lucy takes a small bottle of perfume from her purse and places it near Max's nose. You shouldn't hit him, god... Kevin, I'm so upset, I didn't raise you like this! You never disrespected your brother.
• " Mother, it's too much for me " they see Max starting to open his eyes and Kevin separates from them. This time he went too far, he had sex, with four women, in a public place. You disrespected you and me with that action.
• " He was supposed to be in one of the private rooms of the place, so whoever made that recording, in a way, invaded your brother's privacy..."
• " Stop justifying it, mother " he says rolling his eyes, because he doesn't like Lucy always taking Max's side.
• " I'm not justifying it, I also want to hit him with my purse " Max looks at her and can see his mother's eyes watering for just a few seconds, because she looks away right away " but I can't let myself be carried away by the first thing I feel."
• " And what will you do? Will you let things calm down as always? " she says sarcastically and looks at him as if she wanted to throw him out the window "."
• " No, this time I'm going to intervene directly " she touches Max's jaw and he winces " Are you okay?"
• " Well, until you stop criticizing my lifestyle and start worrying about me " he tries to sit up, but a slight pain in his chest prevents him "."
• " What's wrong with you?"
• " I had an accident, mother, that's why I arrived late."
• " An accident? What?! Kevin, you hit your brother in those conditions! " she stands up and grabs her younger son by the ear "."
• " Mom, don't you think we should take care of Max?! I didn't know anything!"
• " True " she lets him go and goes back to Max " Does anything else hurt, little one? Do you have any injuries?"
• " Only my pride hurts, because my younger brother hit me."
• " You hit yourself with that, with the video that came out everywhere " Kevin hisses and they both look at each other challengingly "."
• " Enough! We will go to the hospital... " Lucy's sentence makes Max stop moving, because he doesn't want to go to the hospital, that day is very important to him "."
• " No, we have a meeting with the senator in an hour " says Max, who sits down with difficulty "."
• " You don't want to go, go to your apartment " his brother responds lightly, but Lucy looks at Kevin and he raises his hands " Or come with us, it doesn't bother me."
• " I'll go, that senator owes me one, I'm the CEO and I want to afford to say no to his request."
• " Max, that's why I don't want you to go, do you have any idea of the prestige it would give us to develop a security system for a senator? " Kevin looks at him incredulously "."
• " I don't give a sh... a peanut " he changes the word at the last second, when he sees his mother's face ". He has had a grudge against me for a while and this is my chance to get even."
• " You're being childish. I knew you were irresponsible and liked to live like a teenager, but not that you don't give a damn about the company " Kevin scolds him "."
• " This company is my life! " Max stands up suddenly, but regrets it when the pain in his ribs stops him from moving forward "."
• " Prove it!! Either you stay here or you accept to work for the senator."
• " I don't work for anyone..."
• " Enough from both of you! " Lucy says in a tone that allows no more arguments " Max will go with us, but not to settle an old score, but to agree to cooperate with the senator " Max opens his mouth and she silences him by raising her index finger " I am still the owner of this company and your mother, you will listen for one reason or another, but you will not do anything that harms us."
• " I think I should stay " he says, crossing his arms " I am a shame to you, right?"
• " Don't worry about that, I already found the solution, we will see it in a few days. Today just shake hands with the senator and say yes to everything that makes me smile."
• " Jeanette told me something about your solution, is it true that you want to hire Sparks Public Relations?"
• " Yes, Phil and his daughter are the best at fixing these kinds of problems " Max simulates a smile with a grimace of pain "."
• " I doubt that Giselle will want to work with us, this one is a beast " Lucy pats Kevin on the back of the head and Max laughs, receiving one too "."
• " Don't call your brother that."
• " Thank you, mother, I think the accident wasn't enough mistreatment for my body, I was missing your scolding, thank you."
• " I'm sorry! " she covers her mouth with her hands and walks to get ice " You should go to the hospital."
• " No, I want to see the clown face of Evan Smith."
• " What did that man do to you that you speak with so much hatred? " his brother asks curiously "."
• " Nothing that concerns you " he hisses " they just need to know that he owes me."
• " It smells like he stole a girl from you " Max glares at him, while his mother turns as if she had detected something important "."
• " Is that it?"
• " No."
• " But, son..."
• " No! What Evan Smith owes me is honor... And don't start with your nonsense, Kevin! " his brother shuts his mouth and looks at him, as he takes the ice from his mother's hands and puts it on her forehead. " I'll let them close the deal with him, but I'm not going to lift a finger to develop anything for that jerk."
• " Max..."
• " Let's go, I'm hungry and I want to get to that restaurant before Smith's idiot changes the meeting place again."
• And so, the Hunter family heads towards that restaurant, while Lucy tells them to behave, as if she were a mother going to the supermarket with her young children and warns them that she won't buy them anything they ask for and certainly won't tolerate tantrums in public.
• As they leave the imposing building and Lucy sees the dent in the car, she gasps and holds onto Kevin.
• " Max Elijah Hunter, you're going to a hospital."
• " After the meeting " he freezes because, to be honest, he didn't bother to look at the car properly.
• Kevin pulls his mother and brother, makes them get into the car, sits in the passenger seat, and asks the driver to take them to the restaurant where the senator finally summoned them.
• It was all last minute, first it would be at Hunter Security Solutions, then at the senator's house, but a while ago, just when he hit Giselle, he changed the meeting place again.
• While Kevin eats up the journey pondering how to put out the fire his brother caused with his latest outburst, Max thinks that life will finally confront him with the man who stole what was once most important to him.
• That man who was his friend, is now his enemy and he will be able to show him how different he is from that naive young man he met in college.
• When Kevin stops in front of the restaurant, his mother takes his hand and looks into his eyes.
• " Whatever that man did to you in the past, please don't let the company pay for it... one more scandal and we will lose much more than credibility."
• " I know, I know the economic impact my actions last night caused, mother, I promise I will do everything possible to fix it."
• " I don't want you to fix it, I want you to end it " she caresses her son's face and smiles at him nostalgically, because she still sees that twelve"year"old boy, happy and full of life. " Let them help you change your way of life or at least, so that your hobbies don't become so..."
• " Public " he responds and she nods. " Doesn't it seem illogical to you? Hiring a public relations officer, so that my activities are not public..."
• " If you put it that way, it sounds stupid."
• " Sometimes I am " he kisses his mother on the forehead and gets out of the car.
• Kevin helps her get out and the three of them walk determinedly into the restaurant, which is surrounded by security agents. They are checked before entering and then directed where to go.
• " What if that idiot were the president " Max asks.
• " They would have checked you down to your underwear and surely they would be scared " Kevin responds.
• Max forces a smile and Lucy gives them a warning look. They approach the table where a man with brown hair is sitting with his back to them, Lucy steps ahead of her sons and stands by his side. Evan immediately puts down the newspaper, stands up, and extends his hand.
• " Mrs. Hunter, a pleasure to meet you."
• " The pleasure is mine, let me introduce you to my son Kevin " the man approaches and greets him in the same way " and my son Max."
• Evan extends his hand to greet Max with a neutral expression, while he stares at the man's hand for a few seconds, Lucy looks at him with wide eyes, so Max just gives a half smile, accepts Evan's hand and shakes it a little harder than he should.
• " Smith..."
• " Hunter."