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"What do you mean my grandfather managed to go to Madrid? What the hell do I pay you for?" Nathan shouted furiously after receiving a new call.

Suzanne pressed her lips together and waited; she didn't like seeing him so out of control. She knew that in this state, it was hard for him to think clearly, and that was dangerous.

After a few seconds of listening to him argue, she approached and hugged him from behind, feeling how tense his shoulders were.

"Do you want a massage?" she offered, resting her cheek on his back.

"I can't right now," he sighed, shaking his head and kissing Suzanne's hands. "My grandfather is in Spain, love."

"I heard," she murmured, kissing his shoulder blade. "That's good, right? You'll be less than three hours away then."

"I'll be back soon," he promised, turning to look at her. "The jet will be ready in twenty minutes."

"Okay," she said and smiled as she heard a cry. "I'll go check on the babies then."

She left the room while Nathan finished getting everything ready and ensured that his grandfather wouldn't move from where he was.

"Why Spain?" he couldn't help but wonder.

He couldn't understand it. His grandfather had been in London all this time, had gone far away to the United States, and then returned to Spain.

None of this journey made any sense to him; in fact, he felt like he didn't know the old man at all.

As he was about to leave, he saw Suzanne looking out the window with a sad expression.

"Love... what are you thinking so much about?" he took his fiancée's hand. "You're very quiet."

She shook her head, a lump in her throat, trying to rid herself of the bitterness that had lodged in her chest since she knew he was leaving.

"I... What about... Dylan and Jamie?" her voice came out in a whisper due to the lump in her throat. "They'll surely be very disappointed."

He hadn't thought about that, but it was the first thing that came to her mind to justify her mood.

Nathan ran his hands through his hair, uncomfortable with the sadness she carried.

He didn't want to leave her, but he had to get out as quickly as possible to intercept his grandfather and stop him.

"You can call them and tell them..." he made a grimace. "I'm sure they'll understand the situation."

"Mmph."

"What does that mean?" Nathan made her look at him, lifting her chin. "Honey, calm down. I promise I'll be back soon, okay?"

She swallowed and nodded, keeping the bad feeling in her chest.

"What good would it do to tell him? He still deserves to see if his mother is alive," she thought, her throat tight.

Nathan kissed her passionately, briefly feeling the bitter sensation that it might be their last kiss, but he quickly dismissed it as absurd.

"I love you, honey," he said, kissing her forehead. "Take care of our babies."

He approached the cribs and kissed his babies, suddenly feeling a strong urge to cry. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, caressing their cheeks.

"Take care of Mommy and let her sleep, okay?" he said softly, then kissed their cheeks.

Suzanne said goodbye to him from the door, trying not to crumble as she watched him leave.

She needed to be strong and forget about absurd premonitions that surely came only from her fear of Nathan getting hurt by his grandfather.

***

He arrived at Madrid airport, where his grandfather was finally being held while he arrived.

His hands trembled uncontrollably, all because of the hope he had in his chest that his mother was alive.

He wanted it to be true so badly that he was anxious.

"Calm down, you need to keep a cool head to face Jarek," he thought, taking a deep breath.

"Mr. Strong, you arrived very promptly," greeted the detective, shaking his hand. "They have managed to detain your luggage, and although he’s quite a wild beast, he has begun to resign himself.”
“Jarek Strong resigned? Not in a million years,” Nathan muttered under his breath. “What about the woman who was with him?”

“We haven’t managed to find out her identity yet,” the detective cleared his throat. “But I must tell you, sir, that she doesn’t seem to be in her right mind.”

“What do you mean?” Nathan frowned.

“You’ll see.”

Nathan’s stomach tightened when he noticed the bald head with small white tufts of his grandfather, one he knew well.

Next to him, a woman with black hair seemed deeply engrossed, staring at the lights in the room as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.

“Grandfather…” he said as he approached, noticing that the old man hadn’t even flinched at the sound of his voice or the knowledge of his presence.

“Well, well… you’re quite the show-off, Nathan,” the man said, turning to him with a smug smile. “When I was absurdly detained here for so long, I knew immediately it was your doing.”

He clenched his fists, feeling an overwhelming urge to hit him like never before.

“Grandfather, what are you trying to do with all this? Why were you hiding?” he approached him threateningly. “You’d better start explaining…”

“Always bickering, you two,” a female voice was heard, and Nathan felt his chest tighten.

His anger towards the old man had temporarily made him forget about the woman whose face he hadn’t seen yet, but whose voice he recognized.

He felt his throat tighten and looked at the old man, who had a smug smile on his face that he wished to erase with punches.

With trembling legs, he approached the woman, feeling like crying when he saw her face and realizing her eyes. He knew that what Richard had said was true: his mother was alive and standing right in front of him.

His chest was racing with emotions, and he knelt in front of her, sobbing for a few seconds, shocked.

“Darling… don’t cry,” the woman smiled at him, caressing his cheek. “You look so young, just as I remembered.”

“What?” Nathan frowned and looked at Jarek, who was looking at his daughter with sadness. “What’s happening? Why…?”

“Oh, Richard,” she spoke again, shaking her head. “You look confused. Are you okay, darling?”

Nathan felt like he was losing his breath as he realized the situation. He shook his head and a few tears escaped his eyes.

Richard? Had she called him Richard? He couldn’t believe it.

“I’m not…”

“Don’t…” his grandfather interrupted him with a tired sigh. “Get her out of here.”

Two large men entered and took the dazed woman, but Nathan tried to intervene, scared by everything and how they were taking his mother away.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking her?” he grabbed her hand, but the guards pulled him away. “Jarek! Damn it, what the hell is going on?”

“She is my Nathalia, Nathan,” the old man murmured quietly. “She is indeed your mother, but her mind is stuck 25 years back, when you were a little 9-year-old boy.”