Angel of Death

Chapter 7 - A Bouquet of Azaleas

There's a knock on the door and I immediately head for it.

I've been a bit hyper aware since the phone call I received that I'm sure it was Marcello. I don't want to seem crazy but I'm so sure it's him that has Alina. I've been looking through the Ivanovs' past and the only other threat they've had died because Leonid killed him.

My excessive thoughts from that day make so much sense to me and I can just feel that I'm right. I don't have any proof yet, but I will soon, and I'll find Alina and kill that bastard.

I open the door to Akim standing there. I push him back and walk out the apartment closing the door behind me immediately.

"What are you doing here?" I question holding the doorknob behind me.

"Why are you whispering?" He whispers back causing me to become annoyed.

I'm whispering because my mama is here making me food because she says I don't look healthy especially not with the eye bags she saw on me this morning before I covered them up.

"Meet me in the flower shop down the street." I order him before quickly going back into the apartment.

"Mama, I'll be right back I'm going to go buy something down the street." I enter the kitchen and she gives me a weird look.

It's the best excuse I could come up with.

"Okay, be safe." With that I put on some slides that are by the entrance and I head out the apartment and toward the elevator.

In just a few minutes I am walking to the entrance of the flower shop and almost run into Akim who walks out of it. My attention immediately goes to what he is holding in his hands as he wears a soft smile on his face when looking at me.

He's looking at me with the softest and dreamiest grey eyes the way he has always looked at me. I hate that it makes me feel things, so I look away from him and down at the bouquet in his hands.

It is a bouquet of azaleas.

The urge to cry hits me as I remember him giving me an exact bouquet of these flowers on our first date. He then would proceed to give me one each time he would see that they were about to die in the vase I would put them in.

"They're for you, love." Akim hands me the flowers that I so badly want to throw back in his face but we're in public, so I won't do that.

I take the flowers and don't even thank him for them because I can't. I hate him and I hate that I love him after all the pain he has put me through.

"Your mother was there." He states and I nod because apparently, I can't talk anymore.

"Yeah, I could smell her cooking from a mile away." He gives me a smile that I hate staring at because it's something that used to make my days.

"If I would have known I wouldn't have shown up. I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me looking for you." He looks away from me for a second.

"My mama thinks I'm the one that left."

Akim stares at me in confusion and at the same time I can see that he feels like an asshole. Good.

"Why?" He questions with a look that is not understanding at all.

"I didn't want her to hate you..."

I can see how much I'm making him regret everything and I'm glad that I am. He deserves to feel every single ounce of pain he has caused me no matter how much it hurts me to see him hurt.

"Why are you here?" I immediately change the subject after seeing the look in his eyes.

He stays quiet for a few seconds as if still thinking about what I said.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay. You ran out the cafe and you didn't seem like you were fine." He softly responds to my question.

"We didn't even get to work together." He adds causing me to mentally sigh.

It feels so wrong for some reason to not be able to tell him about his own daughter. I mean it probably is because he has all the right to know but I can't bring myself to do it. I feel like things would maybe get out of control if everyone knew.

Marcello or whoever has her can probably use that to their advantage. Now that I'm thinking about it that is probably what they want.

Akim can't know. At least not yet because I know that I have to tell him at some point. There will be a time where I won't be able to hide it from him anymore even if I wanted to. I also don't want Alina to grow up without her father.

I know exactly what it's like and it leaves some sort of emptiness in you. There has always been this part of me that so badly wanted love from my father. I don't want my daughter to relive that part of my life. I don't want her to feel that emptiness or craving.

"I was fine. My mama had called me and-" I stop talking when realizing what I am doing.

"Why am I even giving you an explanation?" I sigh closing my eyes for a brief second at my stupidness.

"It's none of your business and you should really stop caring." I look at him with all seriousness.

"Don't come looking for me again either." I don't let him speak any longer or let this conversation go any further.

I turn around and begin my walk back to the apartment. I actually decide to take my time and savor the few minutes of alone time until I finally get home.

I walk into the kitchen where my mama still is, and she seems taken aback when she looks at the bouquet that I am holding in my arms.

"That's what you went to go buy?" She questions and seems to be thinking at the same time.

She has seen these flowers before.

"You've been thinking about him." She states with a concerned look on her face. No, I've been having to work with him unfortunately.

"I still don't understand why you left him, but maybe this is your sign to look for him."

I've made it seem like some mental thing was going on with me which is why I left him, you know because of the trauma that my papa caused me by leaving us. She also thinks that I found out about my pregnancy until after I had left him and that I had no contact at all with Akim and that he basically disappeared because of me.

It's messed up I know.

"I'm fine, mama. I just saw them at the flower shop earlier and couldn't stop thinking of them, so I went to go buy them."

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