The Obsessed Mafia Ex

Chapter 5 - Sacrifice

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Tyler

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I get up after speaking to Lia, deciding to surprise her with lunch. I was about to get lunch for myself, but she told me her one o'clock canceled, and she’s now free for an hour, so I decided to put that hour to good use. My day in the office is pretty much done; from there, I’ll pick up the kids, and then I’ll finish whatever else I still have to do at home. This job makes me travel a lot, so when I can, I always try to spend as much time as possible with my wife and kids, but it isn’t easy since we work alternating shifts. So I grab whatever opportunity I get to spend time with her. I pack my things and quickly head out, but just as I head to the elevator, I hear someone calling me.

“Kim? What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Tyler,” she says, walking up to me.

“Do you have to be somewhere?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. What’s going on? Why are you here?” I ask her, and she reaches inside her purse. “I forgot to give you my number the other day... in case you wanted to talk... about Kiara,” she says, giving me the number, and I take it. “Have you had time to think about what I said?”

“No, I haven’t. I've been busy, and right now, I really need to go. Thanks for the number, and I will get in touch with you-”

“-Tyler... she’s my daughter too-”

“-A daughter you left, Kim. You’re the one who walked out on her. You are the one who didn’t want her. Don’t try and make it seem as if I have no right to be skeptical. You are the one without rights.”

“-You’re right. I’m sorry, I don’t... Look, I know what I did. Abandoned her, I abandoned you-”

“-This is not about me. You left me, yes. It hurt like hell, yes, but I moved on. I found my soulmate, and I’m happy. I don’t resent you for leaving me. I’m not keeping you away from Kiara because of what you did to me. I’m keeping you away because I don’t know what your intentions are. I hear you say you regret what you did and want to try and make up for it, but I don’t trust you, Kim. I don’t trust that if I let you back into my daughter’s life, you’re not going to hurt her again. Kiara spent months praying for you to get better so you could return to her, and you never did, and now, when she’s finally happy and has put all that behind her, you are here. Do not pressurize me.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m sorry, it seemed that way,” she says, and I take a deep breath realizing how worked up I’m getting. Thank God this floor's quiet. “I will call you when I decide on the next appropriate step, but right now, I need to go,” I tell her, and she nods, her eyes gleaming with tears, and walk away after that. I'm not trying to hurt Kim. If she genuinely wants to be in Kiara’s life, I’m happy, but how do I know that? How can I be sure she’s not going to hurt her again?

Ever since seeing her three days ago, this thing has been the only thing running through my mind. I’d rather she goes back to wherever she came from and leave us in peace, but at the same time, I don’t want to deny Kiara her right to try and connect with her mother. She loves Lia, and Lia loves her, but she knows Kim, and I know she still thinks about her. When Kim left, I never told Kiara the real reason. I never said anything bad about her to her. I would never do that. I told her that she was sick and needed to get better before she could come back and be a mother to her, and I know she’s been waiting for that day. I’ve also spoken to Lia about it, and she has advised that it may be a good idea for me to speak to a therapist since I have concerns.

I get downstairs to my car and call the place, ordering the food. I’m going to drive past and collect.

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Lia

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“I love you. See you later,” I place the phone down after speaking to my husband, and just then, there’s a knock on the door. “Aiden?” I say, surprised to see him back here again. “Hi, I hope I’m not disturbing you. May I come in?” he says, and I notice he has a bouquet in his hand. “I’m sorry, yes, come in,” I tell him, and he enters.

“I remembered how they were your favorite, and I just couldn’t help myself,” he says, handing me the white tulips. He’s right, they were my favorite but not anymore, not after what happened to us, but I don’t tell him that. I take them and thank him, also noticing that they are white. He used to buy me white ones when we had a disagreement and wanted to make up.

I had a one o’clock, but he had to cancel at the last minute, but I forgot to let Lisa, the receptionist know. I had told her I was expecting someone at one, and that’s probably why she let Aiden up. She thought it was him.

“So, what brings you by?”

“May I?” he asks, gesturing to the couch since I haven’t invited him to sit down yet, and I nod, “Please,” before taking my seat across from him.

“I won’t keep you. I know you’re probably busy,” he says, and I nod again even though I’m free for the next hour. “Lia, when I was here that day, I didn’t do what I came here to do. I came here to apologize to you for what happened with us-”

“-Aiden-”

“-Please, just let me. I need to say it. I know it may not be the time or place, but I need to say it. It’s been eating at me for seven years, please,” he says as I try to stop him. I had a lot of questions after our breakup, and for a long time, I thought I would never get over the whole thing without having those questions answered but then, the amazing people in my life help me move on. I fell in love and healed. I put his situation behind me, the questions, the pain, and the anger. I let it all go, but the look in his eyes lets me know that he needs to speak not for me but for him, so I let him. I don’t wish Aiden any pain. I wish him love, happiness, and peace. So, I gesture for him to go ahead.

“I’m sorry, Natalia. I’m sorry for hurting you like that. I should have fought for us or at least been honest with you. You deserved that much and... I want you to know I didn’t leave you because I stopped loving you. I never stopped,” he says, causing my brows to furrow, confused as I notice a tear trailing down his cheek. If he loved me so much that it still has this effect on him, then why did he leave me?

“Why then? Why did you walk out on me?”

“Remember our last weekend visiting my parents? The one we walked in on them having a big argument in the kitchen, and they couldn’t even stop even after we had walked in?” he asks, and I tell him I remember. I was worried about his parents after that, and I started noticing a change in him too. He had this sadness in his eyes the whole time, but he kept saying he was fine every time I tried to speak to him until I eventually backed off.

“They were fighting because of money problems. We were broke.”

“What?” I ask, shocked. He never told me that, and how was it even possible? Aiden’s family was wealthy. His father was a successful businessman. His mother was also a software developer with her own company. They were one of those rich families, they still are.

“My dad had gotten into some bad investments. Everything was falling apart, and they had been struggling for a while, and they never told me. I only discovered after that argument, when my father had already struck a deal with one of the people he owed to get my family out of the mess,” he says and pauses for a moment while I have a sudden bad feeling. “The deal he stroke, Lia... was with Briana’s father,” he continues causing my eyes to widen. “He offered to forgive my father’s debt and help him out for the mess he was in if I married Briana.”

“What?” I ask him, shocked.

“I know,” he softly says. “That was my initial reaction too. I was appalled, Lia. I didn’t believe it at first. I mean, who does that? Who buys a husband for their child? And what parent would ask their child to scarifies himself like that? But it was true. I told my father I couldn’t do it. I loved you, we were getting married, and I couldn’t imagine a life with anyone else,” he says, more tears now escaping his eyes, and I feel something wet running down my cheek and realize that I’m crying too.

“I told him no, and I was determined to go ahead with our wedding, but then, a week before our wedding, men with guns came into our home and beat up my father. They threatened to do the same to my mother if he didn’t have their money in two weeks and... and after that... when my mother begged me, I still refused. I didn’t want to do it, Lia. I didn’t want to lose you, I couldn’t live without you, but that day, looking at my father bruised with broken bones and my mother trying her best to still be happy for me and be present at our wedding despite knowing it possibly meant death to them. I couldn’t go through with it. I had to let you go, and I didn’t know how to look you in the eye and hurt you like that, not that what I did, didn't hurt, but I couldn't face you,” he says and pauses again, taking a deep breath while I’m busy muffling a sob that’s trying to escape with my hand. “I’m sorry, Lia. I’m sorry I chose other people over you. I’m sorry I didn’t fight for us. I was a coward who couldn’t even look you in the eye and tell you why he was breaking your heart,” he adds, and I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to respond to all this. I never expected this. Of all the theories I worked out in my head, none of them even came close to this. If I didn’t know Aiden, I would say he was lying, that he was making up some bullshit story, but I can tell he’s telling the truth. I could always tell when he wasn’t being honest with me, and I still can. I get up and hug him, tears still flowing from my eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that, and I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago,” I speak into the hug as we both continue to cry, but a knock at the door causes us to pull away from each other quickly, and my eyes widen, surprised to see my husband.