AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I mentally face palm. Of course he’s gotten big, Katerina. The last time you saw him, he was a baby.
“Thanks, I guess,” he tells me with a shrug, the action reminding me so much of his father. “Dad told me you’re my mother.”
“Yes. My name is Katerina.”
“Katerina,” he says testing it out. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
I just stare at him, unsure where this conversation is going. He’s too calm about all this. I thought he just found out I was alive today. I look at his father and he seems just as confused as I am.
Then when Nate speaks again, my heart breaks. “Where have you been all this while?”
Forget breaks, it practically shatters. The tears I’ve been trying to keep at bay start to flood past my eyelids. I slowly lower myself onto my knees so that I’m eyelevel with him.
“Nate,” I say softly. “I am so, so, sorry. I could spend the rest of my life apologizing to you and it still wouldn’t be enough. I’m your mother but I wasn’t there for you. I left and I never should have left. Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but I did it because I had no choice.”
He listens quietly and then he speaks.
“But you’re here now?” he asks.
I nod without hesitation. “I’m here now. I won’t go anywhere again. I promise.”
He nods too, very slowly. But then he doesn’t say anything. My hands shake as I work up the courage to ask something else.
“I’m very sorry, Nate but can I just give you a hug? Just one hug, please.”
He looks towards his dad and I don’t know what Xander does but then he’s looking back at me and nodding again. I pull him into my hands and for the first time in nine years, I feel like I can finally break.
“Oh my baby,” I say as tears fall down my face. “My beautiful, perfect boy.”
The last time I cried so much was when I left him on that doorstep. And because he really is perfect and the sweetest person on earth, he hugs me too, his small hands going around in circles as he tries his best to comfort me.
My body shakes and racks with sobs but I hold him through it all. And he lets me.
CHAPTER 16
Xander
When I walk up to the terrace the cool night air gently brushes against my face. The city lights twinkle below, casting a soft glow on the surrounding buildings. Katerina’s silhouette outlines the backdrop of the night sky as she stands in front of the railing. Her long blonde hair practically dances in the breeze.
“Rico I’m fine, I promise I haven’t been crying,” she says, her voice soft but firm.
I’m sure he would believe her if it wasn’t for the little sniff after that sentence.
“I’m fine,” she repeats. “When have you ever known me to fall apart?”
The short answer to that would probably be never. But considering what I just watched minutes ago. Her breaking down as she hugged her son for the first time, I’d say that’s changed. Katerina’s world is extremely different from mine. I can’t say I know much but what I do know is that it’s a world that preys on weakness, failure.
Living with my father, growing up with him was hard. But I can’t even begin to imagine the life she must have lived. And while I don’t think she hates her upbringing, she seems very comfortable actually, I do know that whatever I went through must have been child play compared to the expectations she’s had to live with.
“What’s going on back there?” Katerina questions. “With Papa? Have you gone to meet Sophia?”
Whatever he says on the other end makes her shoulders slump. I watch as her hand grips the railing tighter.
“He’ll calm down,” she murmurs. “He has to.”
She falls quiet again for a couple seconds before speaking.
“Yeah, I’ll probably head over to a hotel or something. Call me when you get to Sophia’s. And Rico? Thank you.”
