Another family time out and both children held hands while they ran about the arcade. Nova hugged a big stuffed bear that her father had just won her a few whiles ago and Elijah grabbed her left hand as they rounded the grounds looking for more fun games to play, their parents walked leisurely behind them.

"I want the car." Nova chirped excitedly.

"No, I want the motorcycle." Elijah disagreed. He had seen the most beautiful boy about his age sitting on a motorcycle and he wanted to play the game side by side with the boy.

"No, the car." Nova shrugged and pulled her hands off Elijah while she gave pouty look to the mothers. "Elijah won't ride the car with me." She complained.

"Elijah, be a gentleman and ride the car with her." His mother had scolded him softly.

The twelve-year-old hissed and reluctantly walked Nova to the car and helped her to get in. With eyes locked on the boy that stared back at him, he got into the next car beside Nova. The game was about to start when the car door next to him slide open and the boy he had seen before jumped in and now he sat just closed to the boy while Nova sat on his left-hand side, putting him in between both of them as if fate was asking him to choose.

"Hello." The boy called with the most beautiful smile he has ever seen from a boy.

Elijah stared at the boy speechless. He was scared, he knew the boy caught him staring as he also saw the boy's eyes lingering on him while he fought what game to play with Nova.

"My name is Christian." The boy introduced and laughed when Elijah didn't speak.

"You are so handsome." Elijah had no idea he spoke out loud neither did he know that the game had started a long time ago and Nova who played alone soon caught the staring competition going on between Elijah and the new boy. She had climbed out of the car and even then Elijah didn't notice she had left. Angry, the little girl went to get her father and Elijah's and they had so happened to walk into the conversation just when those words had left Elijah's mouth.

Jared pulled his son out of the car and glared at the other boy. He didn't say a word but looked at Adams and then sent Nova to get the mothers so they can leave.

The day was over and Elijah was pulled by the ears until they got to the car park, his father let go of his burning ears to open the car door and have him shoved into the backseat. Nova soon got in along with the rest of the family.

His heart beats erratically in his chest until they got home, his father had sent Nova and the mothers inside while he and Adams stood with Elijah before them.

"What was that you said to the boy?" His father had asked and Elijah was certain his eyes were as red as fire themselves. He was terrified.

What has he done wrong?

"I-I t-told h-him t-t-that-" his father has never slapped him so hard his entire life. His words came to an abrupt stop as he rubbed his burning cheek, his eyes spilled uncontrollably.

"You don't say that to boys and when next you see a boy looks at you that way you run, run away. The only one you admire in this life until you die will be none other than Nova. Do you have any idea how badly she was hurt today? You made her cry, Adams and I will not forgive you if you ever do that to her again. Do I make myself clear?!" The man yelled and Elijah stumbled on his shaky feet with eyes so blurry that he couldn't even see the men before him.

"Elijah?" Adams called when the boy fell to the ground. His head connecting with the hard concrete and a line of red flowed from where his head had hit.

****

He soon woke up in the hospital the next day without any recollection of how he had ended up there.

His mother sat beside him, squeezing his cold hands into hers.

"Mom?" He called startling the woman.

"Oh, God my child." She kissed him with tears running down her face. "I am so happy you're awake, I was so scared."

"What happened?" He asked.

"You fainted and your head broke on the hard floor. I am so sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone with your father." The woman cried harder and Elijah remembered the reason why he had fainted.

His father had slapped him and was yelling because of the boy he saw and liked.

His heartbeat increased at the thought and the monitor started to beep loudly. His mother panicked and went in search of the doctor.

When he eventually woke up again, the whole family was present and he felt a little better but when he did meet his father's eyes at first his heart had skipped but he didn't pass out.

After he was discharged and sent home, he went back to the Elijah they wanted. He showered Nova with so much love as they wanted, he went anywhere with her and did everything she wanted even when she had insisted he took her virginity at sixteen and he was eighteen at the time. After that dreadful night, she had told all her friends that Elijah was her husband and they were getting married. Elijah engaged her the day he turned twenty and he didn't even get to experience life as he was always found in the presence of Nova. He had seen girls who took interest in him while growing up but none dared speak to him. His father and Nova's have been the most homophobic people he has ever seen. They despised the sight of gay people or anyone found under that umbrella thus making life very difficult for him. When he had made friends with Andrew they had suspected their relationship until they saw what womanizer Andrew was then they left them be.

What they didn't know was that Andrew was into both men and women.

Elijah concealed his own feelings, shoving them deep down to the extent it felt as if it was never there, to begin with, and with Andrew by his side, he hid his feelings so well and his family was proud of the man he had turned out to be.

************

"Elijah?" Rachel's voice brought him back to the present.

The pictures had fallen to the ground since his fingers were too shaky to hold them.

Andrew gathered the photos and shoved them back into the envelope from which they came.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Rachel sounded panicked. "Someone is blackmailing you."

"But, who?" Elijah felt sweaty all of a sudden, he tore his shirt open and threw it across the room.

He was hot.

"Hey, relax, we will take care of this." Andrew held the man in place. He saw the fear taking over, the last thing he wanted was to let Rachel see Elijah that way.

"Relax?!" Rachel yelled. "Are you being serious right now?" She asked Incredulously.

"Yes, yes I am."

"Are you crazy!" Rachel shouted. "This is serious. Do you have any idea what would happen if this gets out?!" She faced Andrew.

"What could possibly happen that hasn't happened before?" Andrew fired back more angrily. Elijah was pacing the room, his hand buried in his disheveled hair and cursing profusely.

"His company will be affected, his family will be affected and don't even get me started on-"

"Rachel?!!" Andrew warned. "Get your head down here, the world is more accepting of these things, so it won't blow up the way you think it would."

"Really, this isn't about the world, Andrew. This is about the company. Are you telling me that if this gets out, that every member of the board would be so accepting, staff, business partners, investors all over the world, all would be so accepting?"

"Who cares if they are not?!" Andrew yelled back.

"I do, and he does too!" Rachel pointed at Elijah who now sat on the floor with face buried in his palms. "This is blackmail and we need to find out what they want so we can take care of this."

"Did you see any number on that envelop?" Andrew threw the envelope at her and she cussed.

"I am sure they will send another or try to contact him next, this is how these things worked," Rachel replied more calmly. "In the meantime, we need to make sure this doesn't get out. Burn the pictures if you most." She told Andrew giving him back the envelope.

"Elijah?" Andrew walked towards the man who is now muttering to himself like a lunatic.

"He was so beautiful that day, I didn't know what got into me, I lost my mind, I couldn't control myself and when I saw him heading into his changing room, I went after him, I didn't know someone was around, I didn't know someone saw..." The man ranted in agony.

"What's done is done, there is no need to talk about the past, we need to face what's before us right now." Andrew held his friend's hand and squeezed.

"Did you know?" Rachel asked, referring to Adrian being transgender.

"No, no, I didn't. I couldn't have known. Did you know?" Elijah asked and she shook her head.

Elijah was confused, what was that bulge he's always felt whenever he was pressed tightly against the young man?

Why didn't Adrian tell him?

Elijah cried and fell into Andrew's arms.

"You have to fire him, it's one thing to be gay and a totally different thing to be in a relationship with a transgender," Rachel whispered.

"Have you gone mad?" Andrew winced, aghast at her choice of words. He couldn't believe he has been sleeping with this woman. He made a mental note to break up with her once this was all over.

"No, but this is precautions that need to be taken. If people saw this picture where he was kissing Adrian, it may not cause too much of a fuss but when they saw the one with the boy naked then we will have a much bigger problem on our hands."

"This is ridiculous!" Andrew went on his knees to gather the man in his hands properly. "You should stop talking." Rachel has been annoying and he didn't want to listen to her anymore.

"Adrian." Elijah got up on shaky legs and wiped at his eyes. "I need to see him." He staggered towards the door. Andrew walked slowly behind him.

"Why do you need to see him?" Rachel asked shocked.

"Adrian is no different from me or Andrew." He met Rachel's eyes.

"He is!" She cried.

"No, he's not," Andrew fired back.

"Why, Elijah?" She asked confused. Isn't he thinking about all the things that could go wrong? His wife? His children? Someone could be out there waiting to get more pictures of them together. "Why?" She asked again.

"Because he is a man and he is mine." Elijah pushed the door open and walked out.

Andrew threw one long look at Rachel. "We. Are. Over!" He whisper-yelled then went after his friend.

Rachel stood stunned by his word.

************

Adrian had just hung his newest collection of painting in his bedroom when he heard his door pushed open.

He turned around in a rush and almost tripped and fell.

He has forgotten to lock his door, again.

His eyes landed on Elijah.

He never thought he would see him look that way ever. His eyes swollen and red from crying too much and he was shirtless and looked rather too weak that Adrian wondered how he was still standing.

He made to reach the man but saw him staring at the painting he had just hung in his bedroom.

The naked portrait of him.

He finally let Noah paint him that way. He felt he could trust the boy since he has done nothing but make him happy in the past month.

"How could you?" Elijah asked to the shock and confusion of the young man.

"What?" He whispered.

"This is all your fault?" Elijah yelled out and threw a single photo at him. To say that he was shocked when he saw the exact picture that was in that painting hanging in the boy's room would be an understatement. He was completely perplexed by that painting. Adrian had been naked for another to paint him.

How could he be so irresponsible?

Didn't he think about him?

Adrian reached for the photo that had fallen to the ground and turned it over.

There he was, lying on Noah's bed, naked.

This was him the day Noah had painted him.

How could you, Noah? He had mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. For letting Noah use him this way. Noah had sworn he wasn't going to take a photo after Adrian had caught him with his phone. Adrian saw him tuck the phone aside.

He felt ashamed.

Confused and out of breath.

Elijah saw the boy's expressions and he knew.

"You didn't know?"

But how could he not have known, he had given his consent for the painting to be drawn and perhaps the pictures to be taken too. Elijah wondered in disbelief.

I didn't know about the picture. Adrian cried in his mind and Elijah heard him.

"Noah?" He asked.

Adrian pushed the man away from the door and bolted out of the building.

"Adrian!" Elijah yelled the moment Andrew rushed into the room. He too was stunned when he saw the naked painting in the boy's bedroom. "He fooled him!" Elijah rasped. He has never been angrier his entire life. He felt his body transformed into a totally different person and for once in thirty-eight years his heart reflected his masked facial expressions.

A strength so profound filled him and he dashed after the boy in a haste but by the time he got down, Adrian was gone.

"Get John, he will take us to where he is." He told Andrew.

"And a shirt." Andrew pats him on the back and smiled before walking away.

***********

On his way home, he cried, the picture crumpled up in his hand. He thought about going to Jonathan but he needed answers first.

Noah betrayed him.

Why?

Why would he do a thing like this to him?

He said he loved him.

Adrian roughly cleaned his tear-filled eyes and climbed out of the bus when they got to his stop. He ran into the house taking all three boys seated in the living room by surprise.

"Adrian-" Oliver was the first to see him but the excitement was soon knocked out when Adrian grabbed Noah out of the sofa throwing him halfway across the room.

"Babe-" the word stuck in Noah's throat mixed with blood from a broken lip. Adrian pounced on the boy and punched him repeatedly before Oliver succeeded in dragging him off the almost unconscious Noah.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Oliver gripped the boy's stomach tightly preventing him from escaping.

Noah slowly got up with trembling hands and terrified eyes. He was bleeding from everywhere and was hurting all over. It was as though a car ran over him.

"You bastard!" Adrian thrashed around Oliver's strong grip. "How could you? What did I ever do to you?!" He yelled reaching for his back pocket and pulling the crumpled up photo out then threw it at Noah.

The confused and bashed up boy reached for the rounded ball of white and untangled it to discover the most shocking sight ever.

He was surprised, but also guilty.

"You promised me, you weren't going to take pictures. You lied to me!" Adrian foamed, yet still trapped in Oliver's grip.

"I can explain." Noah started.

"Shut up!" Adrian yelled.

"Please listen to me." He begged.

"I said, shut the fuck up!" He broke free and launched at the boy again but only succeeded in delivering one punch before Oliver grabbed him a second time.

"I took a photo, OK! Just one photo! I knew I shouldn't have but I am not responsible for this!" He jabbed at the photo roughly and dropped it to the ground. Oliver got a glimpse of the photo and he too, met Noah's stare with as much hate as Adrian held.

"How dare you?" He seethed.

"I didn't do this, I swear!" Noah cried falling on his knees.

"How about I let him go so he can just knock life out of you right now?" Oliver was infuriated by the sight of Noah.

Noah cried, he wasn't crying from his aching body, he cried from his burning emotions. He has failed the only boy he ever truly loved.

"Fuck!" He quickly got up on his feet to look around the living room. "Fuck!!" He yelled out again.

"What?" Oliver asked the boy rounding the living room as if in search of something.

"Two days after I had painted you, Famous had asked to use my phone, I completely forgot that I haven't deleted your picture from it but as soon as I remembered I had rushed back into the living room and grabbed the phone from him. I deleted that photo right there and then before I handed it over to him!" Noah cursed.

Oliver let Adrian go as realization sets in. They all looked around the room and didn't find the boy. Adrian rushed towards Famous locked door kicking it open but discovering an empty space.

Famous was nowhere to be found.

The bastard ran away.

He had escaped just when they had been distracted fighting.

He knew.

He's succeeded in ruining his life just as he had always wanted.

Adrian stared at Noah, he was disappointed in the boy. This was all his fault. If he hadn't taken the picture then Famous would not have got a hold of it.

Who knows who the boy gave the picture to or what they are capable of doing with it.

Adrian was glad Famous wasn't in the room or he would have just ended up a murderer.

"I won't forgive you for this." He told Noah before dashing out from the house in a chase after Famous.

Famous was long gone by the time he got down.

As he paced the road in desperate need to find a bus and head over to Jonathon's, a black car pulled up and Adrian was forced into the car. He fought but lost the fight before it had even begun as he was heavily sedated when a white cloth met his nose and he inhaled.

Adrian passed out.

**********

Elijah and Andrew had just pulled up at the building that John had assured them it's where Adrian comes to, he has even gone up into the house with him once and so the man led them to the right door.

Elijah banged on the door and Oliver answered.

He was shocked to find Elijah Wealthmoor at his doorstep, he poked his head out to the passage and saw heads poking out from doors and phones clicking pictures of the man at his door.

Elijah shoved the boy aside and stepped into the room.

"Which one of you is Noah?" He asked and John pointed to the boy directed. He was stretched out on the sofa with a bag of ice resting on his bleeding face. Elijah was somewhat disappointed seeing the boy like that as he didn't know where to begin with, him. "So it was you, who leaked Adrian's picture?" He asked but before he could answer Oliver stood up for him.

"No, it was Famous, he ran away even before we knew it was him."

"Famous?" Elijah asked.

"Yes, him." Oliver pointed to the picture of the boy on the wall.

Andrew pulled out his phone and took a photo of the boy in the picture and then facing Noah he asked. "Adrian did this to you?" He knew it had to be Adrian and he was impressed. The boy nodded and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Where is he?" Elijah inquired, his body rigid with so much anger.

"He left just a few minutes before you guys came, I thought it was him who came back when I went to get the door," Oliver replied.

"Anywhere else he could have gone?" Elijah was losing his cool. The fact that he was found in a place like this would be news many would most certainly be interested in, and somehow he knew this will not end well for him.

"Jonathan's." Oliver quickly went into his bedroom and when he returned he gave Elijah a piece of paper with a phone number written on it. "He always made me keep this just in case." He told Elijah.

Elijah pulled his phone out and dialed the number at once.

"Hello." The man called from the other end.

"This is Elijah Wealthmoor and I am looking for Adrian." Elijah couldn't believe he was calling a total stranger directly from his own private number.

Things he wouldn't do for Adrian.

"I haven't seen the lad in three weeks, he promised to visit this weekend. Is everything alright with my boy?" Jonathan's voice cracked as panicked crept in.

"Address?" Elijah ignored his question.

After Jonathan had called out his home address the call ended.

"If he shows up here, call me." He told Oliver and dropped his card with him.

Andrew pushed a hand in his pocket and pulled out cash bundled up in a paper band and gave it to Noah. "Get yourself treated, you look like death." The laughter in his voice didn't go unnoticed by all.

As they left the building Elijah was certain his and Andrew's faces would be all over the media by now but he could care less. His main concern was to the fact that Adrian has gone to where he didn't know.

"Where to, sir?" John asked once they were seated in the limo.

"To the man's address, I don't believe him," Elijah said as a matter of fact.

"He will be fine," Andrew assured.

Elijah smiled and his phone beeped. He reached for it and saw the caller ID he frowned.

"What?"

"Billy is missing." She cried.

Elijah felt the phone slip out from his grasp and his eyes watered instantly.

Andrew took the phone and pressed it to his own ear. "What happened, Nova?"

"Billy is missing, we can't find him anywhere." She cried into the phone.

"What?" How?" Andrew asked.

"I don't know, you guys get over here soon." She hung up.

"Could Adrian?" Andrew started.

"No, if he was with Billy then Oliver would have mentioned it. Besides, Billy was right there when we left for the worker's lodge." Elijah remembered the dog lapping at his hand when he ran out of the mansion. He's even told Billy to stay when the dog wanted to run out with him. His heart falling apart as fear made his entire body tremble, his fingers buried in his scalp feeling the scar from when he was twelve.

Andrew saw the man crawling back into that hole and he reached for his hand squeezing them tightly into his. Elijah tensed, his heartbeat could be heard even by Andrew.

"Calm down, we will find them both." He kissed the man's lips and Elijah dragged out a long sigh. "I love you," Andrew whispered.

"I love you." Elijah didn't know if he had actually spoken the words out loud.

"Are we still going to that address?" John asked.

"No, let's go home," Elijah whispered, too weak to keep his eyes open, his head resting on his best friend's.

A very long-awaited chapter for my beloveds!

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