One Night Stand With My Husband’s Brother

He could remember when Mackenzie dragged the phone from his hands. This was the exact picture on the screen, her daughter!

Chase’s heart and mind raced with a speed that made it impossible for him to think straight, or breathe.

He needed an explanation, and he needed it immediately.

As if the one image he saw had not done more than enough damage, he got a notification. Nora had sent in three more.

Chase didn’t want to look at them. Once he saw the photos, he wasn’t sure what he will find, but his curiosity got the better of him.

He swiped on his screen and continued to go through the rest of the images.

They were DNA tests.

Chase squinted his brows and pulled his phone closer to his eyes. He clicked on the first image.

Cameron Torsney and Chase Axford. Result…99. 9% match {MATCHED}

Cameron…Torsney…what…?!

With his heart in his other hand, he scrolled and found the second image.

Calista Torsney and Chase Axford.

Result…99. 9% match. {MATCHED}

SUSPECTED RELATIONSHIP: FATHER AND DAUGHTER

Father and daughter?!

He felt lightheaded. The walls of the car were closing in on him. He needed…. he needed air.

The next message was a text from Nora.

“These images are authentic, sir. Our tech team verified them. They’re genuine shots of both individuals.”

Chase leaned back in his seat, still holding his phone in his right hand.

“Chase, are you alright?” Richard had been observing his son for the past five minutes, sensing that something was amiss. There was an unsettling aura around Chase that was hard to ignore.

Even now, when his father was calling out to him, Chase seemed distant, almost as if he couldn’t hear properly.

Richard peered at Chase’s phone screen and recognized the little girl’s smiling face. It didn’t take long for the memory to resurface he had encountered her before.

“This is the photo of the little girl I met at the hospital garden, Chase. I remember! Do you… know her mother or someone related?” Richard inquired, looking up at his son for an explanation.

Chase’s gaze remained fixed on the image, his complexion turning pale, as if the blood had drained from his face.

“Yes, I can’t be mistaken. That’s the same little girl, the one who I thought resembled your mother. But why… why are you so affected by this, Chase? She’s a clever one, she even wears glasses.”

Chase’s attention remained transfixed on the photograph, causing Richard’s concern to intensify.

“Is something troubling you, my boy? Did you discover who she’s connected to? Chase?”

Suddenly, Chase turned sharply toward his father’s voice. He swallowed hard, struggling to maintain his composure.

“Father, could you do something for me?”

Richard let out a sigh. “What do you need, son?”

“I know where we need to go, Sandstone Park.”

Richard almost chuckled at Chase’s quick deduction. “How did you figure that out?”

Chase dismissed the question, his urgency palpable. “Please, just head there. I’ll meet you there.”

“Chase?”

“Stop the car, Maxwell.”

The driver complied, parking at the nearest available spot. Chase swung the door open and stepped out of the car. Despite his father’s inquiries, Chase didn’t spare him another glance.

He crossed the road, hailed a taxi, and hopped in.

“134A, Greenwich Avenue,” he instructed the driver.

The driver nodded and sped off. Chase dialed Nora’s number on his phone.

“I need one of my drivers at Miss Torsney’s residence within fifteen minutes. Can you arrange that for me?” His voice was cold and controlled.

“Her place is a bit far, about thirty minutes away, sir.”

“It’s urgent. Aim for twenty minutes, Nora.” Chase ended the call, still fixated on his phone’s screen, grappling with his thoughts and emotions.

“We’ve arrived, sir,” the driver’s voice broke his reverie. Chase lifted his head and gazed out the window, his mind swirling with a storm of thoughts and uncertainties.

Today was her day off, so she should be at home. It was the reason he had not stormed straight to the office.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Chase prayed to everything he knew, that he would see Mackenzie at home and she would tell him the internet was playing another prank on him.

That this was another revenge ploy by Selene, to get back at him.

A small laugh erupted from his throat.

Of course, it had to be a prank. Mackenzie would have never kept it away from him if it were true.

His laughter disappeared and made way for a frown.

She wouldn’t dare.

Chase got down from the taxi and started to head towards her door. Behind the metal door lay the answer to all his questions.

“Excuse me, sir. Your fare!”

Chase halted in his tracks. He turned around and reached for his wallet, took out a wad of cash and handed it to the driver. He was on his way to Mackenzie’s door once again.

“Sir! It’s more than! Your change!”

Oh! For the love of…

Chase turned to glare at the driver, and the man flashed him a nervous smile before leaning back into his seat.

“Thank you sir!” He called out, and drove away immediately.

He got to the front porch and stared at the tiny door of Mackenzie’s home. Chase wanted nothing more than to kick the door off its hinges, grab Mackenzie, and ask her what the fuck was going on.

The adrenaline that coursed through his veins, mixed with his confusion and brewing rage.

He tried to stay calm and rang the doorbell instead. No one answered on the first ring, he tried again, and still no answer.

He banged the door for the third time, before he heard a voice call from inside.

“Who’s there?! I’m coming!”

Chase counted the seconds in his head until the door opened. He found Felicity, and she found him too.

Her eyes widened, visibly taken aback by his presence. However, the shock in her eyes soon dissolved and made way for an emotion he knew too well; fear.

She knew why he was here.

“Hello, miss Weston.”

Oh! Shit!

Felicity managed a smile, even though her legs and every joint in her body was starting to tremble.

She had been trying to reach Mackenzie since she read the article an hour ago. It had already reached over three million people, so how was he not to find out?!

She was only happy Mackenzie’s face hadn’t shown, but her identity and name was smeared all over the article.

“Where is Mackenzie? Today is her day off, and I know she’ll be at home.” Chase looked over Felicity’s shoulder, a stern frown on his face.

Felicity swallowed hard.

“She went to…she took the…. uhmmm…” She shook her head, as though trying to organize her thoughts.

“She took the kids to Sandstone park about an hour ago, and…”

Chase turned his back to her before she could finish her sentence. The company’s car pulled up in front of Mackenzie’s house, and he hurried towards it.

The driver tried to pull the door, but Chase was faster. He jumped into the car, and gave the driver orders to take him to Sandstone park, as quickly as he could.

The one hour drive to the park lasted for a million years as far as Chase was concerned. Once he got to the park, he alighted from the vehicle and walked straight towards the gate.

The crowd around gasped when they saw him. The security at the gates did not bother asking for entrance fee. They knew who he was, and possibly the hell he was about to raise if he caught sight of Mackenzie.

“What is he doing here?”

“Did you read the article?”

“Oh! My! Scandalous!”

Chase had never been one to pay attention to gossip or whispers that never made it to the front of his face, but this time, it struck a chord within him, and the wrong one.

His phone rang, and he picked the call when he saw it was his father.

“Where are you, my boy?”

“At Sandstone park. Where are you?”

“Underneath a beautiful coconut tree. I’m glad Maxwell had some old clothes in his trunk. I am sitting on one now. Hurry up, boy. Come enjoy the view with your old man. Sitting here alone is beginning to bore me out.”

Chase heaved a sigh. His eyes did a quick spin around him.

“I’m coming, father. You’ll see me soon.”

“Oh! For heaven’s sake, Chase! Come on over here and…hey there little fella! Be careful now…don’t fall, here you go. That’s a good… Chase? Are you there?”

His father must have been distracted by someone, or something.

“Yes, I am.”

“Get over here right now.”

That was not the voice of a bored old man, the tremor in his voice sent chills down his spine.

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

As Chase walked, he tried to call Mackenzie over and over again. The phone continued to ring, but Mackenzie wouldn’t pick up.

Chase stopped trying. He needed to focus on finding his father. He didn’t know if something was wrong with his father. As long as Mackenzie was in this park, in this city, he was sure to find her, no matter how long she tried to avoid him.

From a distance, he caught sight of his father holding on to someone. The closer Chase got, the more he could clearly see that his father was holding onto a child.

When had the mighty Richard Axford gotten so good with children? His father had always been careful with children whenever they got to this pack.

First, the girl at the hospital, and now, this little boy.

He got close enough to call out to his father, looking over him to see if he was in pain.

“Dad, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

The little boy in Richard’s arms turned in the direction of Chase’s voice.

Once their gazes locked, Chase froze.

His limbs, his muscles, they all failed him in split seconds. He continued to stare at the little boy while his throat ran dry.

Richard was the next to look up at Chase. He had been as shocked as his son was, it was the exact reason he had called Chase.

“Son, what’s going on? Isn’t this…”

“Cameron! Where are you?!”

The little boy was alerted by the voice. He picked up an action figure from the ground and smiled at Richard.

“Thanks for helping me find my daddy toy.”

“Your daddy toy?” Chase asked. His eyes continued to dance from the boy’s face, to the toy in his hands.

The boy was like a mini version of him!

Richard cleared his throat and tried to pull himself together.

“You are Cameron?”

The boy nodded. He turned to the little girl screaming his name, and smiled.

“Calista! I’m here!”

From afar, a little girl ran towards them, beside her was an orange puppy dog. Her two pigtails kissed the wind as she ran, and the closer she got, the deeper Chase’s heart sunk in his chest.

The little girl found her brother and held his hand.

“Where did you run off to? Mummy was searching for you! She wants to get us ice cream.”

The girl in the photo was holding onto her brother.

His limbs could not hold him up. He lowered himself and clutched his knees with both palms.

He did not need a DNA test to confirm anything. The truth was staring at him, in the form of his twin four year olds.

Calista turned to look at Richard, a bright smile stole across her cheeks immediately.

“Hey! I know you! You’re the nice man from the hospital!”

Richard forced a smile.

“You do? I remember you too!”

While his father tried to act normal, Chase knew he could not. His heart squeezed in his chest, and he found himself falling to his knees. But not without pulling the two confused kids to himself and hugging them so fiercely, he feared their bones might snap.

The moment of truth, wicked truth that slapped him across the face.

He knew, from the second he looked at the boy.

When he hugged the children, a stray drop of tear ran down his right eye.