Chapter Sixteen

Dimitri

''Aidan,'' I call out his name before slowly entering his office to find him staring back at me, closing the files he was analysing. ''I want to talk.'' My lips curve up into an apologetic smile and he does the same as he gestures for me to come inside and close the door behind me.

Aidan and I have fought a lot throughout this entire friendship. There's always something that we're unsatisfied about and we would bring the issue up. No matter how hard or how bad the fight would go, we'd come back to each other and work things out. It's either me or him, we'd push our egos aside. Our friendship is much important and we wouldn't risk losing it for something we can settle; we wouldn't want to lose the memories we made. We'd want to keep it forever.

''Are you okay? Feeling better?'' He asks, looking straight at me.

''I'd lie if I said I'm fine but I'm feeling better. Thanks to you,'' I reply with a smile.

''Now, now, what did I do?''

''You talked me into it. You've made me realise how off I've been and you even made me realise I still have two important things in my life other than trying to keep the family business alive,'' I lean back on the seat before clearing my throat. ''I need your help in something. It's very important and I trust you'd do just fine,''

''Sounds serious. What's up?'' He raises an eyebrow, both of his eyes are piercing through my own as a sign of him focusing.

''I want to start over. A new life,'' The words slipped my mouth smoothly without hesitation yet the look of confusion is written clearly on Aidan's face, somehow making me eager to explain more. ''I don't have much money left to spend but I can add it up after selling my apartment and shut down the hotels. I can't exactly sell my car since it was stolen,'' I chuckle which causes him to scoff.

''How much money do you have?''

''Three . . . '' I trail off.

''Three million?''

''Three hundred thousand,'' I correct him as he frowns.

''Euros?''

''Dollars.''

He clears his throat, ''So, you're saying you have three hundred thousand dollars and you want to start your life over? You want to leave all of this behind with three hundred thousand dollars?''

The look on Aidan's face shows uncertainty and worry but I don't blame him. My decision is a risky one but it's a better risk than putting Brody and Sophia's lives in danger. The person doing this to me is probably hunting me down and the unsettling feeling of being haunted by someone I barely even know is giving me anxiety—it's hard to comprehend. I'm risking to lose everything, my money, my life, my fortune and my hard work in order to keep two important people in my life safe.

''I know it sounds insane—''

He cuts me off, ''—Dimitri, it's absurd. You want to start over with that amount of money is not enough. When you start over, you'll need to buy a new house, a type of transportation like a car, you need to get a new job, you need to start thinking about transferring Brody to a new school and you just can't afford that right now.''

I sigh, ''You've got to help me out here. The more time I waste, the less I'll have. This man—this lunatic is going after me and my family, he's going to make me lose everything. I'd end up having nothing. You have to help me with three hundred thousand dollars because that's all I have in order to start fresh. I'll get more by depositing my savings but it won't make up to a million.''

''What do you mean? You had a lot in your savings,'' He stops for awhile to stand up before shoving both of his hands into his slacks' pockets, ''Dimitri . . . you had millions in your savings. What happened? Where did all the money go? And, who is this man after you? What does he want from you? Did you do something wrong?''

''Most of my money got stollen. One day, I woke up and there was nothing—I don't know how he did it. Some I had to invest for the hotels because I couldn't afford to pay their salary nor upgrade anything. I think . . . this man, the one that's after me, wants me to fall down to the ground with nothing left. That's when he'll show himself,'' I close my eyes to think for awhile before opening them again to find Aidan taking a piece of paper and a pen.

''Okay. Here's what we're going to do,''

I look down at the piece of paper as he starts to write, ''You're going to sell everything. Those expensive suits, those designer clothes and those shoes, everything. Sell them. Right now, even a penny counts. You're going to change your lifestyle, you're going to have to live like a normal person who has financial issues. You can't buy anything you want without thinking through, without thinking of what you need first. Do you get it?'' He scribbles on the paper, making me nod.

''I need to open an account.'' I say.

''Exactly, keep your money away from his grasps. Open an account under my name and I'll authorise it for you. This person, this man won't be able to track you down—I'll make you, Brody and Sophia disappear from the surface of the earth. The three of you need a new identity. Nothing will be put under your name: Dimitri Pierre Belrose does no longer exist. Just a man who disappears out of thin air into somewhere no one can trace,'' He continues to speak before taking another paper. ''You have to die, Dimitri.''

''That—that makes no sense. I have to die?''

''We'll make you die. Get you into an accident or something,''

''You do understand that if I die, I won't be able to come back, right?'' I blink a few times as he laughs, making me furrow my brows in confusion as he writes down 'fake your death' in big letters.

''You need a tragic one. The kind of death where they can't find your body. I don't know, go jungle-trekking or sky-diving and end up stranded or presumed dead and we'll held a fake funeral for you to mourn. Only me, Kenna, your parents and your stupid ex-wife will know that the three of you are still alive.'' He replies.

''Why on earth do we have to let Chloe know? She doesn't have to,'' I lean back, pinching the bridge of my nose.

''For all I know, she's a drama queen. If you and Brody are dead, she'd freak out—besides, she's his mother. He'd want to see her again one day when all of this slows down.'' He adds.

This whole plan seems plain out crazy, like it's made out of a movie. It feels like we're discussing a storyline instead of altering my new life. This isn't supposed to happen. None of this is supposed to happen because we were supposed to be just fine. It felt like minutes ago or even days where Kenna and Aidan were just laughing and I was there. Now, it's all falling apart and I'm slowly climbing back up to fix the broken pieces in order to make anew.

''Don't worry about your money. I'll know what to do,'' Aidan adds, immediately crumpling the papers before throwing it into the fire; making sure it burns and burns without a single trace left behind.

--

Sophia leans her back against the glass window as her eyes wander around the streets. Her hair tied up into a messy ponytail and her face steer clear of makeup with the scarf wrapped around her neck urges to hide the red mark I've left behind which causes me to smirk to myself, knowing how this woman standing in front of me is the sexiest woman I find alive.

As soon as her eyes meet mine, her lips curve up into a beautiful smile.

My arms wrap around her waist immediately before pulling her in for a kiss, finding her lips moving against mine in the same yet sweet motion. It feels as if I haven't seen her in years while I've only been away from her for a few hours. I lean back to break the kiss but to only lean in to her ear as I whisper, ''I can't wait to go home with you.''

She chuckles, ''What would we be doing when we get home?''

''A lot of skin touching activities,'' I smile down at her lips as she pulls me in for another kiss, making me realise how I'll never get used to this. How I'll never get bored of having her around me. How I'll never get tired of having her hands all over me and her lips always meeting mine.

Just as my hands move up from underneath her shirt, she starts to chuckle which causes me to grin through our kisses. However, we're both in public and going any further than kissing would end up being inappropriate and as hard as it is to keep myself away from her, it's best to do so before losing entire control. ''Mmm, something's vibrating.'' She says, trying to break the kiss.

''What?'' I frown in confusion before feeling something vibrate in my pocket. ''Right, my phone.''

''Who's calling?'' She tries to stand on her tiptoes, peeking on the screen as I smile; finding her behaviour cute. Probably because of our age gap, it feels nice to have her around me. Chloe and I were the same age, we were like mature adults—having Sophia around me, having her acting cute with me, something I've stopped having with Chloe as we grew. It's refreshing to have it back in my life with someone better.

''My ex-wife,''

''You can't say her name?''

''I can. I just don't feel like I have to,''

I pick up the phone to find her sobbing loudly which causes me to frown, ''Chloe, what's going on? Why are you crying? Did something happen to Brody?'' I ask, growing panic and anxious as the sound of different voices shouting from behind. ''Damn it, Chloe. What the hell is going on over there? Answer me!''

''You need to come over here. I'm at the hospital,'' She replies, her voice shaking.

''Send me the location and I'll be there,'' I immediately hang up the phone before grabbing onto Sophia's hand as I call out for a cab.

''Dimitri . . . is everything okay? Are you okay?'' Sophia asks, her grip on my hand tightens while I grow anxious at the thought of something ever happening to Brody. My mind feels occupied and I can't even seem to hear Sophia calling out my name even after we've stepped inside the cab and even when we've arrived at the hospital, it feels as if I'm walking on the ground with heavy burden on my shoulders.

''What happened?'' I ask as soon as I see Chloe in view.

''It's Brody—it's, it's my fault. I didn't know,'' She starts to grab onto my arm, the one I'm using to hold onto Sophia's hand which causes our fingers to grow apart but my mind is too busy thinking about Brody to even turn around and see if Sophia is alright. ''He started having trouble breathing and the doctors said it was an allergic reaction. I—I panicked, I called you as soon as we arrived at the hospital. Now, he's—''

I cut her off, ''—allergic reaction? What do you mean allergic reaction? Chloe, for god's sake, what was he eating?''

''W—What? It was just cake. White chocolate and macadamia cake that my friend made,'' She stutters, looking up into my eyes with fear as they are burning red from crying while I pull my arm away. ''Dimitri, I'm sorry. I didn't—''

''Fuck, Chloe! He's allergic to macadamias. He's allergic to all kinds of nuts. How can you not know that? You're his mum!'' I find myself shouting in the middle of the hallway with Sophia slowly rubbing my arm, trying to calm me down as I breathe out; seeing Chloe putting a hand over her mouth, completely in shock before falling to sit on one of the seats. ''How the fuck can you not know that?'' I add, in anger.

''He's allergic to nuts?'' She mutters under her breath.

''Hearing that coming from you makes it a whole lot worse. How can you not know your own son's allergies? He's allergic to nuts, he's allergic to mushrooms, he's allergic to eggs, he's allergic to—''

I am shortly cut off by her standing up and pushing me roughly against my chest which causes me to grab onto her wrists, preventing her from hitting me. ''It's all your fault. You took him away from me, you took him away from me, you asshole! How did you expect me to know about my son when I had little time to spend with him? I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!'' She screams, grabbing people's attention as I roughly push her away, causing her to wipe the fallen tears on her cheeks.

''How can it be my fault that you were the cause of this?'' I slow down, my voice low.

''Right . . . blame it on me like you always do. That's what you always do, Dimitri. When shit goes down, you blame the people around you, you neglect them, you forget about them and one day when you just realise how bad you've been, you are already losing everything. Just like how you lost me,'' She looks straight into my eyes, the words stabbing in like a burning knife, making me clench my jaw in order to hold back.

''You were the one with another man. How is that my doing? How is it that you were fucking another man was ever my fault? You never loved me, you never really did because if you did . . . you wouldn't have hurt me. You wouldn't have looked away from me. You wouldn't have found comfort in another man's arms. You're a hypocrite, Chloe. You're a goddamn hypocrite and I hate you for it.'' I breathe, ''How can we not see it when we got married? Our relationship has always been toxic. We were always holding ourselves back. You were always trying to fix things and you wanted to be right in every single matter. I gave in to you. Why? Because I was madly in love with you,''

''Stop it. Stop it right now!'' She grabs my arm.

''Yeah? You were the one who made things worse. You were the one who ruined what we had. You were the one who lost your own son because of your selfishness, because of your stupid urges to find love with another man.''

''I hate you, Dimitri.''

''The feeling's fucking mutual, Chloe.'' I roughly pull my arm away before storming down the hall, feeling my heart beating fast due to the unexplained anger buried deep within. It feels good to let everything out and it feels clear but the pain of her betrayal is still clear, still vivid.

It doesn't make me realise until I feel someone entwine her fingers with mine, ''You want to talk to me?''

''I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to see that,''

''Dimitri . . . we're all humans. We're all weak and vulnerable. I hate how she had hurt you in the past, I hate seeing your pain when you cry, I hate ever seeing you holding yourself back but I'm always here for you. I'm going to be here through it all because I love you. I want to be in love with you,'' She leans closer to rest her head on my shoulder before closing her eyes, making me grip her hand tighter.

''I said it, though.'' I chuckle, making her lift her head up.

''Said what?''

Our eyes meet, ''That I hate her. I never got the courage to say it to her face but I did,''

We end up laughing as I caress the side of her face, ''I'm proud of you. You've made it this far, you can't let her get into you. She's just trying to mess with your head. Just don't bother to pay attention—you've been a great dad to Brody, even after spending a short amount with the two of you, I can clearly see you deserve all the time you spent with him. Not Chloe, not anyone else. You took care of him, you gave him love, you are everything to him.''

''How did I get lucky to have you?'' I run my thumb across her lips before kissing her.

--

''He's awake,'' One of the nurses say which causes me to immediately make my way inside, seeing Brody laying on his back with an oxygen tube covering half of his face—seeing him smile as soon as he sees me and Chloe.

''Oh my god, Brody. I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry.'' Chloe makes his way towards him before kissing his cheeks, her tears streaming down her cheeks as she holds onto his hand; leaving Brody to smile back, only nodding in respond.

A doctor approaches me, ''Are you his father?''

''Yes, is everything okay, doctor?'' I ask.

The doctor gestures for us to talk outside and as soon as I step out, I see Sophia smiling at me which causes me to smile back as she stays still at her spot; giving me space. ''Your son is stable. He made it quick to the hospital and I'd say that you're very lucky and he's very lucky. If not, he could've faced serious issues even death. Your son's a fighter, there was difficulties in the operating room but he made it. Just give him a couple of days to rest and he'll be all better,''

''Thank you, doctor. He's not going to have any problems, is he?''

''No, he's good.'' The doctor walks away, leaving me to turn and look at Sophia; seeing her playing with her fingers.

I make my way towards her before slowly grabbing onto her hands, ''You want to come inside? Brody's probably wondering where you are. I'm sure he misses you,'' I utter slowly, paying attention to the little details; how her cheeks are slightly red and her lips are always slightly curved and how her eyes are darkly exciting.

''You sure? I don't want to ruin the family reunion,'' She chuckles and I join her afterwards.

''We can't exactly fight in front of him. She's not going to say anything to you,'' I run my hand down her cheek before slowly holding her by the waist. ''She doesn't have the right to say anything to you. You're mine, remember?''

''I'm yours? Mmm, when did we establish that?'' She smiles, leaning closer.

''Just now,'' I peck on her lips.

We both step inside to find Chloe and Brody smiling, at times like this, I appreciate having Chloe around Brody—it feels warm enough to see him close with his mother despite all the bad things she had done to me. Whatever mistake, whatever problem Chloe and I have, it's between us. We never and would never want to involve those issues with Brody; it's best if he doesn't know. He's not supposed to worry about that. ''Sophia, you're here.'' Brody smiles.

''Hey, Brody. How are you feeling?'' Sophia asks, grabbing onto his hand.

''Bad but I'm okay. I'm strong,'' He replies.

''Exactly. You're the strongest person ever,'' She pays no attention to Chloe who appears to be watching their every movement and hear their every words but I stay still at my spot, not wanting Chloe to react wildly even though judging by the looks on her face, she seems fairly calm.

''Even stronger than superman?''

''Who's superman?'' Sophia teases which causes Brody to laugh, ''Even stronger than superman, ironman, batman—you know, I can go on and on with this.'' They both chuckle as Chloe stands, making her way towards me before gesturing for us to have a conversation outside.

''I'm sorry,'' Chloe says as soon as she closes the door behind her, not wanting Sophia or Brody to hear our conversation; even when we did fight like crazy earlier. ''I'm sorry for not being a good mother to Brody. I'm sorry for not always being there for him and I'm sorry I hurt you five years ago. I blame myself on that,'' She adds.

''It happened.''

''I don't mean anything about what I'm going to say but sometimes I wonder if we were still a family. It'd be different, maybe you and I would've been different—we would've seen Brody grow together, we would've had more memories of the three of us together than just one of us out of the picture. I ruined all that for something I was selfish about and I'm sorry.'' She looks up at me, ''I don't expect you to forgive me. You don't have to. Why would you? But, I see how you look at her . . . that girl, she seems special to you.''

''She is. Very special to me,''

''Good. I may not like how she's close with Brody but I like how he's comfortable around her. If she's staying in your life, I know Brody might consider her as a mum than me. I'm not very good—I almost killed my son for something I'm oblivious of,'' She looks away, sighing before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear; something I would always do for her while we were together. The woman standing in front of me was the woman I once loved. I poured everything to her. Everything that I had, everything that I was given and now lost, to her. No matter how much she did hurt me in the past, she will always be the first woman I marry and the first woman to give me such miracle: Brody.

''You'll always be his mum.'' I respond and our eyes meet again, ''You're the woman who gave birth to my son, to our son. Brody will always be yours and mine—nothing can change that. No matter how far or how distant you might think he'll be, he will always come back to you. He's always your son. He's always ours. We might've changed, Chloe but I wouldn't blame you entirely on what happened. It was our mistake. It was my fault as well. I wish I was better and I wish you were better but things happened, it all happened and I'm sorry but I'm happier now. I know you are, too but when it comes to Brody, he is yours and mine. Remember that. No one can take him away from us,''

''That means a lot,'' She wipes away her tears before giving me her hand.

I shake her hand and we both smile, for the sake of Brody.