I'm In Love With My Bestfriend's Billionaire Fiance!
Chapter 74: Who Is Maven?

Chapter 74: Who Is Maven?

(Casey’s POV)

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"I think I know who Maven is."

Jace and Ethan turned to face me as if I had grown horns on my head, they almost couldn’t believe it. My words were hanging heavily in the air and the minute they were out of my mouth, I regretted it. I knew at once that I should have thought it through before speaking up and also confirmed what I was going to say before I said such a weighty statement.

"Casey," Jace muttered. "What did you just say?"

"If I’m not mistaken," Ethan added. "She just said that she knows who Maven is."

"Whoa! You’re very much mistaken!" I retorted at once, shaking my head vehemently. "I said that I ’think’ I know him. Emphasis on the word think, Ethan!"

Jace looked flabbergasted, "what the fuck does that mean, Casey? Do you know this guy or not? Stop playing around!"

I got up from the couch and began to pace, "I’m not playing around, okay? I’m just... I..." I was at a loss for words, looking at the two of them. "Can you stop staring at me like that?"

The way they kept looking at me was as if they expected the entire world from me and I wasn’t in the right place to give it. It was like a heavy load on my shoulders and I was not going to let it settle.

Jace got up from the couch and walked up to me, he reached out and took my hands, "Baby, you’re not protecting this guy, are you?"

I felt insulted as I backed away from him, I had to fight the urge to slap him, "protecting? Are you fucking kidding me? This is the guy who is trying to ruin our reputation and almost managed to drive a wedge between us. Why the hell would I want to protect him?"

"I don’t know... because it sure seems that way when you choose not to tell us who the fuck he is, Casey."

I let out a deep breath and lowered myself back to the couch, Jace sat down beside me and took my hand. I sighed.

"I said I think I know him, that’s very correct. He looks familiar, that’s all. Like a face, I’ve seen a number of times. For now, though, I just can’t place it."

"Are you sure?" Ethan asked, looking at me with skepticism.

"Of course, I’m sure!" I snapped at him. "What reason do I have to keep this to myself?"

"Yeah, good question."

I rolled my eyes as I looked away from him, "I can’t remember where I saw him or how I even know him. But his face keeps replaying in my head, giving me this familiar scene. That’s why I am pretty sure that we’ve met a couple of times, but I just don’t know how or where."

"Well, if you’ve met a couple of times, that could suggest a form of relationship between you two, no matter how little," Ethan said.

"Yeah, and that could also mean that he knows who you are." Jace said, "he might know that you’re best friends with Kira, or you’re with me."

"Holy shit... could I be the reason that he chose to come after you both?" My eyes widened in shock at this horrible possibility.

"What? No! Let’s not even go there." Jace said heatedly. "But then, we have to consider another important factor in all this, what if you saw the guy here? Which is why he’s familiar to you. Maybe he was also stalking you and you’ve seen him do it. That could also be an explanation."

His analysis made sense, but I shook my head slowly, "I don’t think so. It feels recent, like not too long ago when I saw his face. And since all this started, I’ve been extra careful. I also know everyone in this estate, so if anyone out of the blue was in the neighborhood, I would have noticed it at once."

"Okay..." Ethan said as he took his phone back, "I get your point. What we have is good, because it means that Maven is probably not as thorough as he thinks he is. Also, you only have this picture, maybe when we find out who he is and get a better one, we might be able to get you to remember."

I gripped my head hard, closing my eyes as I tried to remember where I had seen that face. However, I got nothing. All I could see behind my eyelids was a smile. The smile seemed natural and sweet. If that had really been Maven, he was either a good actor, or he had no idea of my involvement with Jace. Which was it?

"Fuck!" I cried out suddenly in frustration. I was sick and tired of all this. This was the reason I should never have blurted out the fact that Maven looked familiar to me. Now, they were expecting me to work some kind of miracle and pull the memory right out of my head.

"Hey... take it easy, okay?" Jace said. "Slapping the shit out of yourself, won’t make you remember any faster but it would give you some serious headaches."

I let him take my hand and slowly squeezed it, "I’m sorry that I’m not of much help. I’ll have to think a bit and try to remember where I saw him."

"There’s no pressure, okay?" Jace said, "One way or the other, we’ll surely get Maven. That’s a given."

"Yeah, so just do your thing and have a good night."

Ethan began to pack up, when he was done, he glanced at Jace, "I assume you don’t need a ride home, do you?"

Jace shook his head, "Casey has had a long day."

"Seriously?" I muttered as I punched him playfully on the arm. "I’m very capable of staying on my own, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve been on my own long before you charmed your way into my life."

"Aww... is this your way of calling me charming?" Jace said as he smiled at me, bringing his face close to mine, "You might wanna be careful though, once you get on that path, it won’t be long before you call me your Prince Charming."

"Well, I don’t know about Prince, but you sure are charming, Jace Blackwood."

Just then, Jace leaned even closer and planted his lips on mine, locking us both in a fierce kiss. As I made to kiss him back, we heard a loud bang as Ethan noisily stood up. He had made the sound by smacking his palm against the table while jumping to his feet, causing Jace and I to slowly pull away.

"I’ll be on my way now," he said.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Jace replied and was about to kiss me again but I jumped from the couch and went after Ethan.

"So, what now?" I asked him. "What is the next course of action?"

"For now? Nothing. Unless during the night you manage to remember where you saw Maven. If not, we’ll have to wait until my guys at the station have run his image through the database. Once there’s a match, then we’d be able to move ahead."

"Okay," I said as I pulled the door open. When he stepped through, I muttered, "Thank you for helping us with this, Ethan. It means a lot."

"Well, what else could I do? Jace is my boss and also my friend. If someone is coming for him, I have a duty to prevent it."

"Also, thank you for being cool with our... thing. I know that it must have come as quite a shock and we didn’t make your job any easier with Jace sneaking off all the damn time. In my defense though, I had nothing to do with all that sneaking around, he came to those bright decisions all on his own."

Ethan smirked at that, "It wasn’t a shock really, I already knew that he was seeing someone. I just didn’t know it was you. You were the shock, Casey."

I smiled at him.

He waved at me, "Have a nice night."

"Have a nice night!"

The word rang dully in my head, but not in Ethan’s voice. It was in the voice of another man!

Without a word, I stood frozen, watching as Ethan climbed into the SUV, his movements stiff, deliberate—like a man carrying the weight of something unspeakable. I was going to be more careful now to make sure I didn’t repeat the same mistake of blurting out my thoughts.

The engine roared to life, its low growl filling the air as the vehicle rolled forward, its taillights bleeding red into the darkening evening.

I didn’t call out. I didn’t chase after him.

I knew exactly what was happening. The words Ethan had just spoken to me—they weren’t new. I had heard them before not too long ago.

From none other than Maven himself.

A chill spread through my spine, a slow, creeping dread that coiled around my ribs. The way Ethan spoke, the way his voice had trembled just slightly—it was all too familiar. The light tone, hearty spirits behind the phrase. It reminded me so much of the man I had been trying so hard to remember!

I turned toward the empty street, heart pounding.

Maven wasn’t done.

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