Just A Few Numbers Away

Chapter 104

Ghosts Don't Claim the Living

The heavy door of the luxury suite at the Hyatt swung open, but the opulence of the room offered Andrei no comfort.

His cheek still stung-a phantom heat where Aen's palm had made contact-and his mind was a chaotic blur of dark hair, sharp words, and the crushing realization of how far he had fallen from her orbit.

​"Where have you been, Andrei?"
​Camille was standing by the window, her silhouette sharp against the city lights.

She didn't look like a woman who had been resting.

She looked like a woman who had been counting the minutes.

​"Andrew has been looking for you. He wouldn't take a nap until he saw you."

​Andrei didn't look at her.

He walked to the bar, pouring himself a drink with hands that wouldn't stop shaking.

"I went to see her," he muttered, the glass clinking against his teeth.

"I wanted to know about our child."

​"What?" Camille's voice dropped, thick with disbelief.

"Have you gone mad?"

​"I needed to know, Camille!" Andrei turned, his frustration finally boiling over.

"When I saw her again... I just couldn't help it! It's been eight years! Eight years of wondering, of looking at every girl in the street and wondering if she had my eyes!"

​"And what about us?" Camille stepped forward into the light, her face etched with a mixture of fear and fury.

"What happens to our family? Are you going to abandon us for a memory? For a woman who clearly wants nothing to do with you?"

​"No!" Andrei shouted, the sound echoing off the high ceilings.

"I just... I just wanted to see our daughter. I wanted to know what she looks like. I wanted her to know me."

​Camille let out a harsh, mocking laugh that cut deeper than Aen's slap.

​"You think they'll allow it? You think you can just walk back in after nearly a decade?"

She walked toward him, her eyes burning.

"I know you researched her, Andrei. I know you looked into her husband. I did too."

​She grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her.

​"Whether you like it or not, you should stay in your lane. Aen's husband is not an ordinary man. He isn't just a singer or a pretty face on a subway billboard, Andrei. He is the System personified."

She paused, letting the weight of her next words settle between them like a death sentence.

​"Despite her past-the Taboo both of you committed-he accepted her. He didn't just hide her away; he acknowledged your daughter as his. He gave her a father, a home, and a future that you were too terrified to even imagine."

​Andrei flinched, his breath hitching.

The sting on his cheek from Aen's slap was nothing compared to the raw shame Camille was pinning on him now.

He had spent eight years convincing himself he was a victim of the numbers, but Camille was stripping that lie away.

​She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper.