Leaving love

Strawberry ice-cream and a past revealed

After I got both of us drenched in the rain he called someone and spoke to them in a rushed manner. When he was done, he drove me to his apartment where I fell asleep in his arms. I woke up to the smell of raw food and something burning. I padded to the kitchen to see Nick throwing away something and slumping on the floor. There were burnt bits in the kitchen in certain places an when he saw me, Nick blushed a little and scratched the back of his head.

“Hi Lia.” He said awkwardly.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“You had such a crap day yesterday I figured I’d try and make breakfast. I failed miserably.” He got up and grabbed a small tub of strawberry ice-cream, grabbed two spoons and dumped them in the tub. I giggled and he smirked at me.

“You are not going to tell me are you?” He asked as I shoved a spoon full of ice cream into my mouth. I smiled and shook my head. He was getting it. He sighed and shook his head at me. We ate in companionable silence and after that he drove me home to mom who had obviously been crying.

“My baby girl. You’re okay.” I froze but embraced her back. She dragged me into her study and still looked upset. “Don’t ever do that to me again! You hear me!” I nodded my head.

“Mom…I found a way out of the contract…” I said softly as I refused to look into her eyes. She grinned at me happily.

“What is it?” She demanded. My eyes filled with tears.

“The contract states dad needs an heir to the company. Mimi and her brothers are dad’s illegitimate children…” I said. I let my voice trail of but my mom just looked sad.

“So it is true…” She whispered brokenly.

“What do you mean?” I asked. She sighed.

“The rumour that your father’s mistress had his child... Or children in this case…” She said dejectedly.

“You don’t know about your father and I’s story do you?” I nodded my head. “When I was younger, I lost my mother and my father was in debt. He did a lot of odd jobs here and there because no one would hire a blind person. Your father’s father was my fathers close friend at the time. So my father went to him for help. At that time your father…He appeared in the tabloids often and Your grand father needed to keep him out of there…That’s where I come in.” She paused to steady herself.

 “Your grand father refused to hire my father but instead made a deal. In return for giving him work and paying off his debt, I had to marry your father. And so I did. Slowly I fell in love with him, but he hated me. He slept around and openly brought his mistresses in to stay. It was hell and I fell into depression. Then, on one drunken mistake, we slept together and created you and your siblings. I was delighted, I thought it would tie him down to me. I was supposed to have quadruplets. 1 girl and 3 boys. You were hidden by your siblings in the ultra sound so I wasn’t aware you even existed. Your father never cared until I went into labour. After I gave birth to all of you, he was about to leave…” She wiped a tear away before continuing.

“Until the nurse brought you out in a little pink blanket. She wasn’t sure you would survive because you were a little small and underdeveloped. Your father instantly loved you from that moment on. He did everything in his power to keep you a live and you lived. After that I almost never saw either of you again. He  had brought you overseas to Italy to stay with him and his mistress overseas. It wasn’t until you were older did I finally have enough and demand he came home. You were about 5 years old at the time. The first thing you said when you saw me was ask who I was. When your father told you, you threw a big fit screaming that it was a lie, that your true mother was in Italy, you wanted your family back. And I hated you for that.” She took a breath and wiped more tears away. Mimi, Cam, Dyl…It all made sense now. Her mother’s mother bird instinct. The tears. Oh god.

“And I hated you for that. I won’t deny I loved Vivian more than you, she reminded me of myself so I cared about her more. Then Nathaniel started spending more time with you, it seemed like you were trying to take away everyone I loved. And I lost him, what made me more upset was his death wish…He wanted me to take care of you. And I guess I wanted to do that too but I could only see me losing everyone I loved to you. And once Vivian left I realized how unfair I was to you but I couldn’t stop myself from resenting you.” It wasn’t until she hugged me did I realise that I was crying too.

“But once that contract was pulled out, I was so angry. I was angry I couldn’t stop it in first place. I couldn’t let you have my fate. Even now I’m still not enough for your father. I don’t want you to feel this pain. It hurts.” She choked out before crying some more. I hugged her close to me and cried with her.

“I’m so sorry mom. I’m so so sorry.” Mom pulled me to her and together we cried to our hearts content. Later mom picked up her phone and told me to call Mimi’s mother so Mom and her could have a heart to heart. She wouldn’t let me come with her so I moved on to the harder topic.

How to break up with Ant.

I tried over and over again to form the words but I couldn’t.

When mom came back she smiled at me. “Lia. I have some good news. Cameron agreed, he’ll be in training to become the boss. I’ll tell your father when you leave.” She explained happily.

“Leave?” I demanded.

“I can’t put you in the middle of this. So you will be going with Madeline and her family back to Japan. I’ve enrolled you into an international school there. It’s connected to a design school. They should be teaching interior design. Your plane leaves on Saturday, I know it’s short notice but it’s for the best.” I smiled at her and launched myself into her arms.

Ant will have a clean break and Nick will have a fresh start.

As much as the thought hurt. It was the truth.

“Nathalia, there’s something else I found out and I think you deserve to know it…” My mother said and I looked at her carefully. My blood froze in my veins.

I really had to go.