Money Is No Match For Love ch. 24
by lordoftheringsfan
 

     "I don't know how to sing like that." Simone said.
     "I'm sure you do," Max said. "I'll play a tune. All you have to do is put it to words."

     "I'm not good at that," Simone said, trying to get Max to get the hint and change the subject.

     "Come on, hand me my harmonica." Max said.

     "Fine, if it means not hearing you blab." Catrina said, tossing the harmonica into Max's lap. Max placed the harmonica on his lips and started to play. Simone tried to take her mind off of what Max was doing, but the slow music was a blues song, there was something about the song that made her think of Chad. Taking a deep breath as she lost herself in the moment, Simone started to sing.

     "Where are you now? I lost you too soon. You should be here now. I lost you too soon, and I don't know how, I didn't know. Where will you go? Are you with her now?" Simone sang. "I miss you so. I lost you too soon. Where are you, are you with her now?" Simone continued to sing, not realizing that Max had quit playing his harmonica in amazement.

     "Yeah, right." Olivia said.

     "She says she can't sing worth anything, and then she goes and does this?" Bev asked. "What's she trying to pull?"

     "I think Max seems a little taken with her," Cynthia said with a smirk as she watched the dazed look on Max's face as his eyes fixed on Simone as she sang. The others eventually got tired of listening and left the room. Soon, Simone had stopped singing.

     "Wow," Max said. "And you said you didn't have it in you."

     "I didn't know I did either." Simone said.

     "Come on, someone just doesn't know how to sing like that." Max said.

     "My mom never allowed me or my sister to sing." Simone said. "She's always hated music."

     "How can someone like this hate music?" Max asked in disbelief, showing Simone the cover. Simone pushed the tape away.

     "Because it broke up our family." Simone said.

     "How can music do something like that?" Max asked.

     "When my mom was into music, she was involved with this guy Julian Crane." Simone said.

     "That rich guy from the other side of town who always looks down on everyone?" Max asked.

     "Yeah," Simone said. "At my sister's best friend Theresa's welcome home party for her brother Antonio and his fiance Sheridan, who is really his brother Luis's fiance, which was at the mansion since Theresa is Julian's wife, there was this strange fog that kept making everyone have these visions of what could have been if they'd made different choices, my mom and Julian had one. I walked in on them together. Daddy was so furious."

     "That sounds rough." Max said. "No wonder you don't like music too much."

     "If all of that wasn't bad enough, it turns out that my mom and Julian had a long lost son who was stolen after he was born." Simone said. "When we found out who he was, nothing was the same."

     "Who was he?" Max asked.

     "Well, he turned out to be the guy I had a major crush on. Chad Harris." Simone said.

     "The guy you liked turned out to be your brother?" Max asked. "Damn."

     "Oh, you haven't heard the shocker yet. I was leading me on, but he was really in love with my sister Whitney. I kept telling my best friend Kay that she was wrong about those two liking each other since Whitney was always busy working to be a tennis player like my dad wanted her to be, but it turned out that Whitney and Chad were seeing each other. They slept together."

     "She slept with him?" Max asked.

     "Yes, my sister stabbed me in the back like that." Simone said, bursting into tears. Max put his arm around her.
 

Rebecca paced around the room later that night, wondering when Julian was going to show up again. Luckily, she had managed to avoid TC as much as possible that day. Rebecca wondered why she couldn't get over Julian after all of the mistakes he had made since they'd been together.

A while later, Julian had arrived at the apartment. He parked his car a safe distance away where Agent Freeman or TC wouldn't be able to see him and walked towards the mansion.
"I have to get everything out in the open," Julian said to himself. Just as Julian was almost to the fire escape, he heard footsteps sneaking up on him. Julian turned around and screamed when he realized that it was an attacker, since the man was dressed from head to toe in black. Julian tried to run, but the next thing he knew, he felt a blow to the head and he fell to the ground, barely conscious.

     "What was that noise outside?" Rebecca asked, hearing a faint yell. Rebecca ran to the window and looked down in dread when she realized who the yell had come from. Rebecca walked down the fire escape and rushed to Julian's side.

     "Pookey?" Rebecca asked Julian, who was lying half conscious on the ground. "Pookey, speak to me."

     "Rebecca?" Julian groaned. Rebecca realized that the attacker could still be around.

     "Julian, can you stand up?" Rebecca asked.

     "I think so," Julian said, weakly forcing himself to stand.

     "We have to get you inside through the fire escape." Rebecca said.

     "But I can't go in there, Agent Freeman and TC will find me." Julian said.

     "Forget Agent Freeman and TC," Rebecca said. "That attacker is probably still out here." Julian realized that there was no talking her out of it and followed Rebecca through the window. Once they were inside, Julian passed out in Rebecca's arms. "Pookey?" Rebecca asked. "Pookey?" Rebecca stared down at Julian and realized in dread that he had passed out. "Oh no, Julian, how am I going to keep Agent Freeman and TC from finding you if you don't know what you're doing?"