The Path to Love

Chapter 69 - Hunter's POV

"There are two hours until the event starts, Angelica! Is the ballroom decorated? Are the paintings in place? Has the MC, auctioneer, and DJ arrived? Is the kids place ready? Is everything done?" I asked my assistant, who had a cheeky smile plastered on her face.

"Hunter, it's cute when you're nervous." She replied, instead.

"Angelica, I don't have time for games! Is everything done like I asked you?"

"The people who were decorating just called me, the ballroom and the room the kids will be in is completely decorated. The artwork has arrived and been put on display. The security personnel will be arriving within the hour and the vendors have arrived for the kid's carnival. It looks marvelous down there. You should be proud of yourself. This is a huge accomplishment. Tomorrow, you will be the talk of the media outlets."

"I don't care about any of the publicity coming my way. I just want to help the Janeway. They deserve this."

"Why do you care so much about this organization?" She asked me. I was looking in the mirror trying to tie my tie.

"He thinks he owes them his life. They saved him as a child. Without them he would not have survived."

"Dad," I replied, turning around to face the man telling my life story.

"Son, it's nice to see you again after all this time." I turned back away from him to put on the mask I chose for tonight, a plain black one, that covered the top half of my face.

"You could have come to Toronto for the last month I was here. It's only a two-hour plane ride and you have your own plane." I replied, looking at him through the mirror.

He looked back at me through the mirror. "Yes, could have, should have, didn't. I had a lot to do in Connecticut. Besides, you seem to be managing perfectly fine on your own here in Toronto, just fine." I looked at Angelica, she was watching him with disgust on her face. Clearly, she wasn't fond of the man I call my father.

"I guess we will find out tonight, won't we." I replied, watching Angelica as she turned and walked out of the room, I assume to get ready for tonight's event.

"Tonight, is all about your accomplishments and the Janeway, son. Your assistant is right, you should be proud of yourself for accomplishing this in such a short amount of time."

"Well, I could not have done it alone that's for sure. Angelica and the team at Dawson Enterprises put in a lot of work, and overtime work to help pull this off. It will be a great evening for sure."

"And lucky for you, you get to remain sober for it all because you are still underage. Well done son, you are about to enter a brand-new world. There is even more publicity coming your way, you will not be able to have anymore secrets, you are going to be seen as lesser because of your age, so I suggest you act the part of responsible CEO for the whole night. There will be no time for childish behaviour." We walked out of the hotel room I booked for the night and headed to the elevator.

"Yes, dad, I am aware of the world I am entering. I learned about it the hard way, if you do recall."

"Yes, what a fun conversation that was."

"Fun for you but having that all over the news had the opposite effect for me. Where's mom? Will she be joining us tonight?"

"She'll be meeting us there, Hunter. She's not happy with your, um, choices."

"I am well aware of how mom would view my choices. She doesn't have the whole story or know of everything that happened here in Toronto. I'm sure if she asks Sam nicely, she could see her granddaughter whenever she wants."

"You are acting rather passive about this situation, son."

"No matter what you or mom do, I am not going to change my mind about my choice. I'm doing this to protect Sam and that child she carries. You and mom should know that better than anyone, especially with what happened when I was born. I am not going to be responsible for putting Sam or my baby in danger, when I can stay away and watch from afar and protect the both of them."

We boarded the elevator to head down to the ballroom. "You don't know what kind of hell Samantha has been going through, Hunter."

I turned to look at my father. "And you do?" I exclaimed. "You don't know what hell I've been going through. You don't know how hard this is for me to stay away. Dad, I've known her my whole life. I've loved her for as long as I can remember. There is no one else for me dad, no one else but her. But I made the choices I did in high school, I chose the wrong crowd and now Sam gets to pay the price of that." The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out, turning back around to face him. "I wanted none of this to happen. But it did, everything happened. The car accident, the gang, amnesia, life-threatening situations, consequences to my actions, it has all happened. I wish I could change it dad, I really do. But I can't. I now get to live with the consequences of my choices and so does Sam. I hate that I had to make the choice for us. She told me to leave, dad." The pain in my voice was evident. The elevator doors started to close, and I looked at my dad as all the pain of that night rushed back on me, like I haven't spent the last few months trying to block it out. "She told me to leave, sure she probably didn't mean it. But, you weren't there dad; you didn't see the hurt and anger in her eyes when she said those words to me. Deep down, she knew I would put our daughter in danger. So I did what she didn't have the guts to make me do. I left." As the elevator doors closed the remainder of the way, I put on my best poker face and turned around to walk to the ballroom, alone.