Chapter 5 : Max´s Reckoning

Chapter 5 : Max's Reckoning

The days after that night with Davina, Emmy, and Sofia felt unusually quiet. Max, who had always found noise comforting club beats, laughter, flirtation now found himself sitting still, thinking.

He couldn’t name the feeling at first. It wasn’t guilt, nor was it regret. It was something slower, heavier: the sense that maybe, just maybe, he wanted more than stories and one-night memories.

That’s when Mia called.

He had met her a few months earlier at a private rooftop event. Older, elegant, commanding in presence. She was a mystery wrapped in silk and red lipstick, and Max had been drawn in like a moth to flame. Their chemistry had been immediate. Their nights together, luxurious.

But Mia came with rules to Max, no questions, no expectations, and no entanglements.

She called him again one evening and invited him over. He went without hesitation, but this time, something felt different. She poured him a glass of whiskey, sat closer than usual, and looked at him like she needed to say something but wasn’t sure how.

Before she could speak, a voice echoed from the hallway.

“Mom?”

Max turned to see a young woman walk in. She was strikingly familiar, even. Her eyes landed on him, and she froze.

He froze too.

“Natasha?” he said, stunned.

She nodded slowly, jaw tightening. “You. You’re the man. The father of my twins.”

The room went still.

Mia stood between them, stunned. “What are you saying?”

Max looked between the two women, realization dawning like a storm.

Months ago, during a whirlwind trip to Durban, he’d had a brief but unforgettable encounter with a girl named Tasha. They hadn’t exchanged last names. She’d disappeared the next morning, leaving behind only a note: Thanks for the freedom. It was real.

He never imagined she would be Mia’s daughter.

Mia sat down, hands trembling. “You were with my daughter… and with me?”

“I didn’t know,” Max whispered. “If I had.....”

“Would it have mattered?” Natasha asked, bitterly.

A great Silence followed, you would hear their hearts pumping.

Max stood. He couldn’t run from this. Not anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “To both of you. I made mistakes. I never meant to hurt anyone. But I won’t walk away again.”

He turned to Natasha. “If those twins are mine, I want to be in their lives. Not just as a name. As a father.”

Natasha looked at him for a long moment, then nodded once. Not forgiveness, not yet. But maybe a beginning.

He left the house that night. Not in the way that one decision can change a man, but in the way that truth does slowly, permanently.

Max was no longer just a story other people told.

He was becoming the kind of man he’d never dared to be.

The very next day, Max made a call to Natasha.

"I want to know for sure," he said. "Not because I don’t trust you, but because I want to step into this fully without questions, without fear. Can we do a DNA test?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then Natasha spoke, not coldly, but with surprising calm.

"I expected you'd ask that," she said. "And you're right. You deserve to know for sure. The twins deserve that too."

Mia, overhearing the conversation, joined in. "Let’s not waste time. We’ll do it this week. You’re asking with respect, and that means something."

Max felt a wave of relief.

It wasn’t about proving anything. It was about stepping forward with clarity.

Within days, appointments were made. Swabs taken. Results pending.

For the first time in his life, Max wasn’t just reacting to life. He was walking into it deliberately, openly, and ready for whatever truth waited ahead.