Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five
The nurse was back in the room by the time Kelley walked out of the bathroom with Milana. The nurse smiled and nodded her head as Milana got settled back into a clean bed. The sheets had been changed and Steel knocked on the open hospital room door holding two brown paper bags.
“Perfect timing,” Kelley said as the nurse left them.
Steel unpacked the food and pulled one of the visitor chairs outside into the hall and closed the door. Kelley settled on the edge of the bed again and handed her the Styrofoam plate with her breakfast sandwich. Milana had avoided his gaze ever since she'd asked him if he was going to take their son away from her.
“Eat, please.”
Milana picked the sandwich up and took a small bite. Kelley smiled at her and bit into his own breakfast sandwich. After Milana had eaten half of it, Kelley cleared their trash from the trolley and silenced his phone for the fifth time. He switcehd his phone to silent and looked at Milana, even her face seemed skinnier and he had no idea how Kyzer had been born healthy.
“Thank you,” Milana said as she lay back on the pillows.
“We should talk, unless you’re tired.”
Milana lifted her head and nodded. “I’ll sign the divorce papers. All I want is maintenance for Kyzer.”
Kelley took her hand in his and shook his head. “There will be no divorce, Mila.”
“You said you wanted a divorce,” she said with a stronger voice.
Kelley clenched his jaw tightly before looking at her again. “Because you’d left me.”
“You know exactly why I left,” Milana bristled, anger flashing in her eyes. Kelley chose to ignore her anger because it was a trigger for his own.
“Did you know you were pregnant when you ran?”
“No. I found out later,” Milana said in a much softer voice.
“Steel bought a pregnancy test for you on the island.” Milana’s eyes snapped to his and understanding dawned in her eyes. There really wasn't much that Kelley didn't know or find out.
“I suspected on the island. I was going to use the test, but then your mother was there and then we came back and I’d just sort of pushed it to the back of my mind. Then I saw that video.” Milana closed her eyes and swallowed. “I couldn’t … it took me back to all those places my uncle took me to and I could hear his voice in my head telling me how you’re a regular visitor there …”
“I’ve never lied to you, Mila, and I’ve never hurt you. I’ve never done anything to make you think that I’m like them. I’m not the bad guy here and you know that,” Kelley’s voice hardened with anger.
“Why then? Why would you do that to her?”
Kelley clenched his jaw and straightened his shoulders. “Because she came to me expecting back into my life. She’s the ex-girlfriend I told you about. She wanted compensation because I’d shot Charles and their whole network had collapsed.”
“You sounded so in control, like you were enjoying the show.” Milana’s eyes were clenched shut again and Kelley shifted closer to her.
“I wanted to humiliate her, to hurt her. I wanted to make sure that she never stepped foot into my world again and that was the only way to do it.”
Milana’s eyes locked onto his and she looked at him hard. Kelley had no idea what she saw or what she was looking for but after a good couple of minutes, she lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Kelley wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I’d never do that you, Mila. I’d never hurt you.”
She sniffed and pulled away from him. “You wanted to divorce me.”
“I was angry because you’d left without a word, an hour after you told me you loved me. I was pissed off and I told everyone to let you go, not to look for you, especially when I saw that you took two grand out of my safe.”
Milana smiled and looked down. “I needed cash.”
“You should’ve called me when you found out. You should’ve come home.”
A tear ran down her cheek and Kelley swore under his breath. He wrapped his arms around her again and closed his eyes as her hands wrapped around his waist. He let her cry and by the time she pulled away again, a wet spot was prominent on his dress shirt. He could care less about the damn shirt, the only thing that mattered was that she knew the truth and believed him.
“Can I see my son now?”
Kelley smiled and picked Kyzer up from the bassinette and placed him on Milana’s lap. She stroked his head, smiling at the fuzzy dark hair and traced the features of his face with her finger. “He’s so beautiful,” she whispered.
“He’s perfect.”
A knock sounded on the door and two seconds later it opened and Steel popped his head inside. “Mrs Alexander is here.”
Kelley looked at Milana and then at Steel before nodding his head. Laura Alexander swept into the room with a bright smile on her face and two large bags in her hands. Steel followed her inside and Kelley had to smile at his protectiveness.
“Milana! You are positively glowing!”
"Thank you, Laura," Milana said with a smile and Kelley turned to greet her.
Laura shoved the bags into Kelley’s hands and pushed him aside to look at Kyzer. “Oh, he’s gorgeous! What did you name him? I can’t believe I’m a grandmother!”
Kelley shook his head as Milana smiled. “Kelley named him Kyzer.”
Laura turned to look at him through narrowed eyes. “That makes him sound like a dictator!”
“He’ll be the opposite of one,” Kelley said as he placed the bags on the two seater couch in the room. Laura seemed better than she had when he'd left her on the island and he wondered how she'd found out about the baby.
“Alright, go have some coffee or something. Leave me alone with my daughter-in-law and my grandson,” Laura shood him out of the room.
“Who called you?” Kelley asked her with a frown as he stopped in the doorway.
“We both know it wasn’t you.” She glared at him. “But I forgive you with everything that’s happened. Now go!”
