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“Oh, well, if he’s out of the picture then, that’s a good thing. Especially if he was a bastard. But if he wasn’t... trust me, honey, you’d want your baby growing up to know he has a father.”
At that time, I didn’t take her words to heart. The second I’d heard it; I sent the advice straight to the trash. I was convinced that, if he had the chance, Alexei would be a terrible father, considering what he did to me. But now, as I watched him crouch to Xander’s level, I couldn’t help but wish I’d considered the doctor’s advice.
Their resemblance was stark and pronounced. The green eyes. Same hair and facial structure. Xander looked like a younger version of his father, except for his cute dimples. I wondered if he had put the pieces of the puzzle together.
My boy sniffled and pointed to me with tear-stained cheeks. “Mommy, come. Tell the bad man to leave my mommy alone.” He waved his little hands as if trying to swat Pavel from the distance. “Mommy...”
“Pavel!” Alexei’s command was sharp, and the man’s grip loosened.
Without thinking, I ran to Xander and scooped him into my arms. He cried even more and wrapped his small arms around my neck. I patted his back while trying hard to muffle my tears. “Mommy...”
“Yes, baby, mommy’s here.” I kissed his hair and cheeks. Anything to soothe him. He held me tight and pulled his head back. “Mommy don’t cry. The bad man let you go.”
I laughed and choked on a sob. I kissed his hands and Alexei rose from the ground. He did not look happy. He glared at me with wrinkled brows and his eyes as cold as a glacier. I chewed my bottom lip, and avoided his gaze, keeping my eyes on Xander who placed wet, sloppy kisses on my cheek.
I cleared my throat. “I... I, uh, think you should forget that you saw this—that you saw him. Forget everything. Turn a blind eye and leave us alone. We don’t owe you anything.”
His head bobbed up and down in slow motion like he considered what I said. But he remained fixed on the spot and for the first time looked at me puzzled. “The boy...” his jaw muscles twitched and the vein in his neck pulsed. “Is he, my blood?”
Ignoring the question, I bounced Xander in my arms. “Can you please tell your men to leave? Can you all please just leave us alone? You’ve come in here and destroyed our home. What more do you want? Are you going to burn it to the ground, too?”
The tremor in my voice echoed, but they were the least perturbed. I wanted to scream and disappear. I didn’t want to see him, standing here in front of me. I thought I’d buried him, along with everything else in my past. I never imagined he’d return and would meet his son in such an abrupt manner.
Alexei tapped his gun against his thigh and put a hand on his waist. He swung the gun, gesturing to Xander. “For the last time, Vanessa, is the boy mine?”
Alexei was undoubtedly one of the smartest men I’d ever met. Smart and sly. He’d proven to have ears and eyes everywhere. My shoulders sagged. I didn’t have any fight left in me and I wasn’t sure I could keep avoiding it. What was the point anyway?
It could not be denied that he could see it with his own eyes, Alexander was his son.
Tears shimmered on my eyelids and prickled the back of my eyes. It was time to wake up to the reality that faced me: I could never outrun this man or hide anything from him.
Time to tell the truth.
I tightened my arms around Xander, pressed my face on his small chest, and breathed,
“Yes.”
He stiffened. “Yes, what?”
“Yes.” I held my head high and looked him in the eyes. “He is your son. That night...” My throat closed up. I couldn’t think or talk about it without feeling hot all over. “I got pregnant.”
He took a step back and, for a split second, I imagined him yelling, “Liar! You are fucking lying, fucking whore! That child is not mine! Say it... Say it!” before he turned around and stomped away with the rest of his men trailing behind him.
But he didn’t. Instead, he waved his gun and said, “Come with me.”
Fear gripped my lungs.
Maybe it would turn out to be worse than I thought. A private execution, or another kidnap, of my son this time. But one look at him told me that was all in my head. He was livid, yes. And looked like he wanted to shoot something down. But there was a softness in his eyes while he waited for me to calm down Xander and hand him to Pavel.
“Don’t worry, baby,” I cleaned the tears off his cheeks. “Mommy’s coming back. I promise.”
I flashed him a reassuring smile, kissed his head, and followed an agitated Alexei to the spare bedroom in the hall.
The second we stepped through the threshold; he slammed the door shut and pressed my back against it.
“Why?” he growled and searched my eyes with his. Veins popped on his neck and forehead. If glares could kill, I’d have been six feet under already. He looked pained like the merethought of knowing he had a child all these years twisted his gut. “Why did you run away? Why did you hide him from me?”
I hung onto the hope of making it out of the room alive and opened my mouth to speak. “I’m sorry, okay? I promise I didn’t... I didn’t know I was pregnant until two months after my escape. That night... it didn’t even sink in that we’d had unprotected sex. I just suddenly noticed I had skipped a cycle and... and I went to the doctor, took a test, and... that’s when I found out, okay?”
