My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus) novel Chapter 1079

Maximus knew full well that his daughter was going through a pivotal moment in her life. He could see it clearly—just as his children grew, so did their problems.

All he could do now was pray to every saint he could think of, asking for the wisdom to guide them the best way he could.

Maximus had already looked into Adrian Brown. In fact, he started digging the moment his daughter told him she wanted the father of her child to have some kind of relationship with the baby. So, in secret, he had investigated the young man's entire background.

To be honest, Maximus didn't feel like he had the moral high ground to call him out. Considering his own past with Mary, he was probably the last person who could throw stones. But this was his daughter—and for her, he had to step in.

After giving it a lot of thought, he decided it was time to have a man-to-man conversation with the boy. Without telling anyone, he reached out to Adrian. The young man was both surprised by how calm Maximus sounded… and a little terrified by that same calm.

Adrian had heard of Maximus Palmer—and not in a good way. In fact, his cousin Antonia had given him some of the worst impressions about the man. But after the truth came out about her, it was clear there were a lot of shades to the stories surrounding him.

In the end, if Adrian truly wanted to be a part of his daughter's life, he had to go through this test. He had to show that his intentions with Maximus Palmer's granddaughter were sincere, and that what he really wanted was to make up for lost time—at least with his child.

"So, you finally decided to meet with that kid?" Peter asked, with a touch of irony.

"Yeah. I'm seeing him today. I really hope he shows up. If he doesn't… then it'll be obvious that he only shows his face when my daughter's alone."

"Does Laura know about this?"

"Of course not."

"Why not tell her?"

"Peter, the day your little princesses become teenagers, you'll understand that some things are meant to be talked out man to man. In this case, the kid—like you called him—I haven't even had a proper conversation with him. So what I'm trying to do here isn't to scare him… I just want to see how he reacts.

"His reaction will tell me a lot. From that, I'll decide whether he gets to meet my granddaughter or whether I pay him off to disappear from their lives entirely."

"Hmm. What can I say? I'm absolutely sure my karma is my girls. I can already see myself a few years from now chasing off all their boyfriends. And it's going to be double trouble with twins… But I do know that if I just make the same face you're making now, more than one will think twice before getting close."

"Well, you know all the tricks guys use to charm innocent girls. So it's best you start preparing yours for what's coming."

"Yeah, as soon as they start saying they like some little boy at preschool, I'm going to start training them to spot the fake ones from the real deal."

"Don't you think that's a bit much?"

"No! Absolutely not! Don't you remember that I was a little flirt myself as a kid?"

"Well, yeah, but… you were a kid."

"Exactly. But even then, there are heartbreakers in the making. I can't afford to have one of my girls get hurt at age three."

"Peter, I think you're overdoing it. But fine… I know I'm not going to change your mind."

A couple hours later, Maximus arrived at the bar where he had arranged to meet Adrian. He had planned to get there early to catch him off guard.