Thank you for the kind reviews, to the guest that asked if Eddie and Loren were cousins, that was cleared up at the beginning. Max was a widow with 3 year old Eddie when he married Katy, so he's not blood related to Loren at all. Later Max and Katy had Melissa, she is Loren's cousin.

We made a deal Chapter 10

Nathan glared at the woman standing in front of him. "You know what's going on! You've called every day for the past several months!"

"Don't get upset Nathan, this was your idea remember?"

"I gave her to your mom, she had someone ready to raise Loren, a family, until she decided to keep her and pass her as your child."

"I told her from the beginning I wasn't happy with her choice! I never wanted a kid, but she gave me no other alternative. And now I want what is rightfully mine."

"Yours? How is my fortune yours?"

"The day you took Loren from your daughter, it became my problem so I'm entitled to your money Mr. Gomez, and don't you dare cross me, I have evidence to send you to prison for life, I have every nasty thing you've ever done in this town, my mom kept very good records, just in case you thought of blaming her for all of this huge mess! And I'm not afraid of using any of it; we made a deal remember?"

There was noise coming from the front part of the house. Nathan walked towards the noise of the keys opening the door; he arched his eyebrow when he saw Tony walking his way. "We just spoke on the phone, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to…" He stopped when he saw the lady standing a few feet away from Nathan. "Oh you have company?"

Nathan growled turning to acknowledge the woman. "The great Lena Tate."

She smiled. "So this is your nephew? Pleased to meet you."

She extended her hand towards him. He barely touched it, slowly removing it. "You're Loren's mom?"

She rolled her eyes. "I am."

He turned towards Nathan. "Could we talk privately?"

Lean interrupted. "No need for privacy, I'm sure whatever you have to say to Nathan you can say it in front of me."

Tony looked at Nathan. "Why is Loren's mom here?"

She walked towards him with a smirk on her face. "You see Nathan is trying to get my daughter back into my life."

"I was told you ran out on her." He narrowed his eyes at this woman standing in front of him. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Your Uncle and I have somewhat of an arrangement going on." She narrowed her eyes towards the heavy set man standing a few feet away. "You mean you're the woman that's blackmailing me?"

Lena let out a loud sarcastic laugh. "If that's what you're calling it, but be careful my dear Nathan, blackmail is such a huge word."

He turned his back to Lena and faced Tony. "So why are you here?"

"I forgot to tell you I think I finally convinced Loren I'm serious about marrying her, I'm think I'm going to need a ring."

"You think? That doesn't sound too convincing."

"I'm slowly getting there; I had to get a little tough to make sure she believed me."

Lena stepped forward. "Did you lay a finger on her?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "No just a few pushes to let her know I was serious!"

Lena walked towards Nathan. "I was raised in a family where my so called father always hit my mother; I will not stand for that."

"This coming from the woman who walked out on her daughter? You have nothing to say in how we get this to work, Loren is stubborn, and she has to take Tony seriously." Nathan retorted.

Lena walked to the bar to get a drink. "Loren is your granddaughter Nathan! She was never difficult, she always did as told."

Tony walked to where she was to get himself a drink. "Well Loren isn't that little girl you raised, she's a grown 21 year old, who's befriended her own family without knowing, she's living with her cousin Melissa and Uncle Max hired her."

"For what?"

"She's a songwriter and sells what she writes."

Lean smiled and took a sip of her drink. "Ugh that's my mother's fault, she taught her to play both the piano and guitar, and I guess writing songs and singing came natural to her."

"Whatever it is she's doing, she's very good at it, now she's got Eddie wrapped around her finger and falling for her, isn't he her cousin?"

"Technically he's not." Nathan responded.

Both Tony and Lena turned towards him. Lena smiled. "He's the son of Max and his first wife, then.." She glared back towards Nathan. "She took the one thing I ever wanted in life."

"You weren't very good at it because evidently he fell in love with my daughter Katherine." He flashed a cynical smile.

That only reminded Lena of her past. Her cheeks turning a deep shade of red, she grabbed her bag. "I will be in touch."

She tucked her hair deep inside the snapback she wore and walked towards the door, and turned towards Tony. "Don't let me catch you laying another finger on Loren again."

She walked out slamming the door behind her. Tony turned towards Nathan. "So now she's calling the shots? "

"She's the least of your problems; you need to convince Loren that she's going to marry you."

Tony sat down still holding the drink he had previously poured. "So what does she have to do with your fortune?"

"That's none of your business, you have a job to do and you're going to finish what you will be paid for."

Tony sat crossing his leg. "So Uncle Nathan." He smirked. "How can I get something done to make sure Loren knows I'm not kidding?"

"What do you mean?"

"I told her if she doesn't comply with my request, a little.." He fixated his eyes on Nathan. "You know accident may occur."

Nathan laughed. "Hmmmm a tactic to let her see we're serious? "

"She's pretty stubborn and leaves me no choice."

"What do you need?" He asked as he walked towards the window overlooking his property.

"I don't know anything to make her see she needs to listen to what I'm saying."

Nathan looked at him. "You said Eddie is involved?"

"I can tell he's attracted to her, and she seems to be heading that way."

Nathan smiled. "She's exactly like her mother, I couldn't get Nora to understand that man she married wasn't a good match, but she insisted."

"He's back with her, you know that right?"

"I heard Max got the best P.I available to search for him."

Nathan leaned on his chair taking the last drink from his glass. "That's the least of my problems; I have to get Lena off my back."

"How much is she expecting you to give her?"

He slowly narrowed his look towards Tony. "That's not for you to know."

"I'm asking because you promise me a fortune."

"Don't start with me, I know what I said, we made a deal and that should suffice."

Tony stood up. "Yeah that's fine, work on that request I asked and let me know what we're doing."

He started to head towards the door and Nathan stopped him by placing his hand on his shoulder.

"One more thing."

Tony rolled his eyes, wondering what now? He faced him. "What?"

"Don't touch Loren again; I don't need Lena having more issues against me."

Tony rolled his eyes and nodded walking away. "Yeah right."

It was Sunday and Loren was looking in the full length mirror on the wall of the bathroom. She wasn't convinced if the top and Capri leggings she was wearing would do for dinner with Eddie.

Mel walked in and smiled. "You look amazing Lo."

She turned around making sure. "I don't know if it's Sunday dinner apparel."

"I'm sure it's not fancy place, he would have mentioned it."

Loren smiled. "I guess."

Mel sat on the edge of Loren's bed. "So does this mean you and my brother are..you know?"

"No Mel it's not."

"So the kiss you guys shared.." Mel widens her eyes and stopped. Loren turned towards her. "You were watching us?"

"Ugh Loren, it was an accident, I had stepped out to throw the trash and you guys were already standing by the door when I was walking back, and I hid behind the bushes."

"You're always doing that Mel."

"No I swear it just happened."

Loren walked towards the closet. Mel followed suit. "Lo what my brother told you was too cute, he's serious you know, he's not kidding."

"I know he's serious."

Mel screeched. "I know the kisses you guys shared convinced you right?"

"Ok I'm getting ready to leave." Loren grabbed her bag and headed towards the door.

"I swear I wasn't spying on you guys."

Loren opened the door, Eddie was about to knock. "Hey beautiful you're ready?"

She smiled. "I am." She turned towards her best friend. "Does this mean you're not following us?"

Mel sighed. "No Loren, have fun!"

She closed the door as Eddie placed his hand in Loren's back guiding her towards his car. "What was that about?"

"Your sister is nosey."

He stopped as they reached his car. "What's Mel up too?"

"Let's just say she's into everything she shouldn't."

He smiled as she opened the car door and let Loren in. They drove away. Eddie stopped at a small restaurant situated outside the city limits. As he stopped the car Loren slowly turned towards him. "Where are we?"

He arched his eyes. "This is owned by the lady who was my mom's nanny and mine as well."

Loren giggled. "I can't picture you little with a nanny."

"I was and let me tell you I was very cute."

She blushed. "Oh I'm sure you were, so what type of restaurant is it?"

He exited the car, walking over to her side and opened the door. Loren was still suspicious as to why they were there.

He held her hand as they made their way to the door, once inside Eddie smiled as he saw the most adorable older lady coming his way.

"Eduardo mi nino." (Eddie my boy)

She had to get on her tippy toes to reach him as she hugged him. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Great to see you too nana."

She smiled and turned towards Loren. "This must be someone special?"

He turned to acknowledge Loren. "Lupita this is Loren."

She turned her attention towards Loren. "You're so beautiful, you remind me of my Norita, and she was my precious girl." Then she smiled and turned towards Eddie. "I was Katy's nanny as well and then I was Eddie's nanny too."

Loren smiled. "I heard, thank you, you're so sweet."

She held both their hands and walked them to a table. "What can I get you both?"

Eddie knew deep down he wanted to impress Loren, he remembered how much she enjoyed the sopes and that was Lupita's specialty.

"Loren loves sopes and I know you make the best."

"I hand make them to order. I will be back with a good variety."

She walked away and Loren turned towards Eddie. "I could eat those every day."

"Wait until you try these, you'll never want anything else."

"So she retired from the nanny job?" Loren grabbed one of the menus on the table. "I love saving these."

Eddie smiled. "She was over 75 when she stopped working for my mom and aunt Nora, so they helped her open this place, she loves cooking."

Lupita walked back into the kitchen, her daughter Mia was sitting in the nearby table going over her list of patients.

"Mia you'll never guess who's here?"

"I'm sure it's someone you love, I can see how happy you are."

"It's Norita's nephew with a beautiful girl."

"Really." She got up placing her tablet on the table. Lupita was happy and kept talking. "She looks so much like Nora."

Mia walked to the small window that overlooked the restaurant. "You're right mama, she does."

"Eddie seems very happy." Lupita assured her.

"He's finally settling down? I haven't seen a picture of him with a different girl each week."

"When love strikes we all change, and Eduardito is doing that."

Mia sat back down. "You're making sopes?"

"Yes Eduardito requested them; his girl loves them."

Mia smiled as her mom rushed to prepare them. Mia looked back out the window and remembered that night Nora gave birth to that baby girl her dad gave away, something that haunted her since then.

Within the hour Lupita was placing a platter full of sopes in front of Loren and Eddie. "These are a little spicy and these aren't."

Mia arrived with a platter of rice and beans. Eddie saw her and got up to acknowledge with a hug and introduced Loren to her as well. Both ladies left and Eddie and Loren enjoyed their meal.

Loren took the last bite of her sope. "These taste just like my grandmother's."

"Really? I never thought no one could duplicate Lupita's recipes."

"They're amazing though, it was so sweet of you to do this Eddie."

Eddie stood up from the table and reached for Loren's hand. He guided her through the small restaurant and opened the door that lead to the small terrace. It had a beautiful view overlooking most of Los Angeles. Loren stood on her tippy toes to get a better view. "This is beautiful, I had no idea this place was on a hill."

"I knew you'd love it." He walked closer to her from behind. The cologne he wore was Loren's favorite and it suited him perfectly; she could feel her heart racing as he slowly got her attention.

"I want to see you exclusively."

She didn't want to look him in the eyes. "I thought we were doing that already?"

"You know what I mean?"

"I think you're rushing this Eddie, you need to make sure this is what you want?"

"I know what I want, I want you Loren, by my side, and if you can't see how much you mean to me? I haven't been doing a great job of showing it, plus I haven't been out with anyone else in a long time."

She slightly downcast her look biting her lower lip. "You haven't made the gossip news lately."

"And they won't." He held her chin, looking deeply into her hazel eyes.

He leaned in to kiss her; Loren carefully held his face as she allowed him to deepen the kiss.

A slight knock on the door pulled them apart. Lupita rushed in with a paper in her hand, she gave it to Eddie. "What is it?" He asked as he opened it.

"Someone left it on your table." replied a nervous Lupita. Loren's eyes widen when she saw the word BOOM written all over the paper.

Sorry guys! Chapter ends here. We know who's behind that! How far will Tony go? How will this affect Loren? Remember I'm pro-leddie so I don't want you doubting that part, but drama is so much fun! Kindly review and remember I luv you guys! Mari

I don't know if you've read Tia's fanfic "Meant to be" her name on this site is fallingxforwardx. Please read it, you won't be sorry, that would have been the perfect story for HH. See you soon!