New Beginnings Read Online Free PDF

talking about the drugs. She had heard her parents whispering about it, anxious and worried.
    “Those were dark days, Ella.” He paused. “I’m a different man now.”
    “I know.” She smiled weakly, hoping that it was true. “Why did you turn to drugs, Max?”
    He looked up at her and she saw the lost look in his eyes, turning them from a sky blue, to a thunderous purple. “It was a mix of things. I was lost. I was rich. I was in love with someone who I felt I was forbidden from loving. I wanted to get lost in another life, another place. Alexis provided me with an escape and we dragged each other down a deep, dark and dirty hole.”
    “Why Alexis?”
    “She was beautiful, she was there, and she was willing.” He sighed. “And she let me do whatever I wanted to do.”
    Ella stared at him with wide eyes. She wanted to know exactly what he was talking about but felt weird asking her brother about his intimate life. “So did you love her?” she asked him anxiously, she knew that would be the one thing Sophie would never be able to get over.
    “No.” He laughed bitterly. “There’s never been anyone for me but Sophie.”
    “Good.” She stood up. “Let me try calling her to see if she will come home.”
    “Please.” Max’s eyes lit up.
    Ella sighed as the phone went straight to voicemail. “No answer.”
    “That should make me feel better, that she isn’t answering your calls but it doesn’t.” He shook his head. “God, I hope she is okay.”
    “Look at that, a billionaire asking God for something.” Ella laughed.
    Max rolled his eyes at his sister. “Help me put Jacob down, please.”
    “Okay.” She took the baby from her brother’s arms. “Go and find me as many blankets as possible and bring them in here. You’re going to have to buy a crib tomorrow.”
    “Yeah.” He looked at her with wide eyes. “Sophie already had one picked out I think, I guess we can just get two instead.”
    “Yeah.” Ella’s voice was soft. She felt sorry for her brother but he was the one who had gotten himself into this situation. Why didn’t men think sometimes?
     
    ***
     
    Ella left thirty minutes later and Sophie still hadn’t arrived back at the apartment. She wasn’t worried as she could only imagine what Sophie was going through. She must be devastated. Ella knew that she wouldn’t have handled it half as well as her friend and she promised herself that she would stop being selfish and would be there for her friend. Heaven knew that Sophie was going to need her more than anything right now.
    She walked into her apartment and sighed at the musty smell resonating from the kitchen. She hadn’t tidied up in ages and it smelled like she must have left something old out, which was now rotting. She looked at the fruit flies flying around and bit her lip. She knew that she needed to clean up but she was just so tired and stressed. She had tried to be upbeat and happy so that Max wouldn’t feel bad but she was still pretty devastated and heartbroken. No matter how she tried to tell herself that Joseph was bad news, she just couldn’t stop thinking of the way his eyes lit up every time they were together. The way he had made love to her slowly and gently and the way he told her he loved her, and that he wanted to be with her, that she was the one for him. How they’d laughed watching ‘The Simpsons’ on TV and taken turns trying to imitate Bart’s voice. She’d believed him when he said he was leaving his wife and wanted to marry her. She’d believed him when he’d pledged his undying love for her. But it had all been a lie. What a fool she had been. She looked in the kitchen one last time and walked slowly to her room. She’d deal with the kitchen in the morning.
    She walked straight to her laptop and turned it on. She paused for a moment before typing in reallove.com quickly. The bright cheerful website beckoned her to create a profile and meet her soul mate. Photos of happy and gorgeous