Chained Princess

Chapter 10: Putting Old Flames To Rest

K I A R A ' S P. O. V

"Okay, thanks for calling. And I can pick them up whenever? Yeah, that's fine. Thank you." Setting the phone onto the table, I grabbed my beige Chanel purse and screamed into it.

"Stupid fucking..." My words turned muffled as I pressed the bag harder into my face.

"Uh, Kiara?" Tessa quietly murmured. I stopped screaming and slowly lifted up my head. The entire cafe had stopped whatever they were doing and stared at me like I was crazy or something.

"Sorry, just found out that the new Michael Kors dress is sold out." Most people nodded in understanding, this was the upper east side after all. A few just shook their heads and went back to their conversations.

"Okay, what the f**k was that?" Tessa blurted out, drawing my attention back to the problem at hand here. Her cheeks were a little flushed but I was guessing that was more to do with being embarrassed from my meltdown, rather than the heat.

"Sorry, that was the clinic. I can collect the DNA results now." Two weeks later and they were finally ready, meaning I would have to face Aaron again.

"s**t, should we go now?"

"No, she said I have all day and I'm not ready yet. Plus you have the florist to meet up with."

"Yeah but if you need some support..." I chuckled quietly.

"I really don't. What's it gonna tell me that I don't already know.

Tessa stared at me with a deadpanned expression. "That Tristan is the father instead." That outcome hadn't left my mind but, a mother could just tell right? My daughter was the epitome of Aaron. Her looks, her personality.

Hell, if anything we should be getting a test to find out if I'm really her mother.

"To be honest, I think I like that outcome better. At least then I don't have to deal with Aaron."

"Trust me, you still will. The two of you are like magnets, constantly drawn together even when one of you tried to repel. You can push all you want but in the end, it's inevitable."

She took a large sip of her frothy white cappuccino. All I could do was sigh and lean back in my chair pondering the proclamation.

Were we really inevitable? If so then what was the point of all this fighting, all this drama if we were just meant to be? Surely it should be easier though?

"Are you really going to stay for three months?" I hadn't even told Alessi yet. I was terrified of the whole conversation, what would come up, what he would say?

"What choice do I have." Aaron had made me a deal, a fair honest deal. I couldn't break it, I doubted he would even let me.

"You could run again. I would help you, your parents would. You know your dad would stop Aaron from ever being able to get close to you again."

I shook my adamantly. "I won't run. Not anymore, I've done too much hiding. It isn't fair to Anastasia, or the father, or even myself. Running isn't fixing the problem, it's just delaying the outcome."

To my surprise, she smiled. "There's my best friend. I've been waiting for her to come back."

"Wait what?"

"You've been this shell of your real self for so long. The Kiara who beat up Jason Lang when he tried to pull my pants down in middle school, the Kiara who put every b***h she ever met in her place, the Kiara who left her family for what she loved...that Kiara wouldn't have ran."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Maybe things would have been different? Her words could have triggered something inside of me and I would have stayed, avoiding all of this.

She simply shrugged. "You had to figure it out yourself. I couldn't do it for you. That wouldn't have worked." Crafty girl.

The waiter came with our bill and as usual we fought over who would pay. She won this time and I watched her grin victoriously as she swiped her card.

"Okay," She started the moment we set foot outside the cafe. "but the biggest question is what if it Tristan's? It's not as complicated as Aaron but at least there you know where the two of you stand. What if Tristan wants to try at a relationship again for Stasia? What if he wants you to move back home?"

"Maybe you should ask him yourself?" Our feet halted and I swear my heart leapt out of my chest. Slowly, we turned around only to be met with the man himself.

"Tristan." I breathed out. My heart crumbled a little finding know light or warmth in his usually happy facade. He always greeted me with a smile, well almost always. Just another reminder of how badly I had f****d up.

"Kiara. Tessa." He greeted curtly. His eyes then fixed on me, a little desperation lingering in his enchanting emeralds green eyes. I could never resist him with those eyes. "I think we need to talk."

Almost a mirror to what Aaron had said to me.

"Of course. I'll see you later Tess." I hugged her tight, salvaging these last few moments of peace.

"Text me everything later." Giving Tristan a pointed glare, she crossed the road and jumped into a cab.

"The results are ready, you can come with me if you want?" He nodded and we set about walking to the clinic.

At first, there was nothing but a tense awkward silence to fill the air. Sure, cabs blared, birds chirped but the silence between us won. It was that bad.

Eventually I knew I had to speak up, had to say something to try and salvage our friendship. The friendship that had taken so long for us to build. I wasn't willing to destroy it for anything.

"I'm sorry." I suddenly blurted out. He glanced my way for a moment, surprised. "I shouldn't have kept her a secret and I definitely shouldn't have left. I have my reasons, no doubt Aaron shared them with you." His silence was confirmation enough. "I really did think I was doing the right thing."

"I'm not pissed about that." We stopped walking, the clinic just across the road. Okay, we were having this conversation now. He shook his head. "Okay yes, I am pissed. Very pissed, but what hurt more was what would have happened if Aaron hadn't found out? Would the two of us just go our whole lives never knowing that we had a daughter? That's f****d up Kiara."

"I know, I know and I'm so sorry. Truthfully, I don't know what I would have done. I regret never telling either of you, if you wanted to back off I should have let you. I was terrified of that rejection and of putting my baby through the same thing. She's too young to understand what a father is now, but when she's older she probably would have started asking and I wouldn't have had any answers. I think the guilt would have eventually got me, it already had, I mean I feel so relieved that you both now know."

After a few more angry expressions and muttered words to himself, Tristan managed to compose his rage and let out a deep shaky breath.

"It couldn't have been easy, I know that. Leaving New York, your family, being a single mother and truthfully it was probably the best thing you ever could have done for that little girl. Getting her away from all this pain and bloodshed."

"I didn't think Aaron would ever leave New York, or the gang. I couldn't ask that of him anyway."

"And me?" Pain flickered across his face. "Did I ever cross your mind?"

"Of course and truthfully I wish you were her father but deep down, I know it's Aaron. She's like a miniature version of him which is very scary." To my surprise, he laughed with me. The first time it what felt like forever.

"She probably is his, I mean we only did it once compared to your what...five times a week." I quickly averted my gaze because it was definitely not five times a week. "Six? Seven?"

"Try twice a day?" I admitted, flushing red as the memories sunk to the forefront of my mind.

Normally we would f**k in the morning, then sometimes I might have surprises him at work although that was rare. Definitely in the evenings, mostly he bent me over the table whilst our dinner was cooking in the oven and Caitlin was sleeping. We almost always f****d hard at night. Mornings were for love making, nights were for raw hardcore f*****g.

So I guess it was at least three times a day, but from Tristan's slacked jaw, I didn't want to correct myself.

Once he finally recovered, he flashed me an easy smile. "Well, yeah most likely it's him. I'm here because, one I'm your friend, and two...there's a chance I'm a father. I won't give that up, not until there's proof."

"You would leave wouldn't you? If I asked you to come to Italy with me, or Russia, or Thailand, you would come, wouldn't you?"

"For my child, my family, I'd do anything. Aaron has family here though, Caitlin and the gang, he won't walk away from that so easily."

"I wouldn't want him to." I murmured, walking through the glass double doors and to the front desk. After telling her the name, she reached over to a large stack of files and pulled out an envelope with my daughter's name stamped on the front.

I held the surprisingly heavy material in my hands and knew that there was no going back once I opened it. This envelope held my future and right now, I had two completely different paths ahead of me. I just prayed this led to the right one.

***

The phone buzzed loudly on the other end, yet still, no-one picked up. I prayed he did, I prayed he heard because I never wanted to repeat this again.

It was hard enough typing in the number that Tristan gave me, the number that was now saved into my contacts, the number that led to him.

"Aaron Black speaking," His voice oozed dominance and authority, causing a flurry of arousal to hit deep inside my core. "Hello?"

I quickly realised I had been standing on the sidewalk, gawking at the raw response simply his voice invoked. "Um, hey it's me. I've got the results."

Haunting silence carried through the line. I glanced up, unknowing of what to do, and Tristan just flashed me a reassuring smile, telling me that everything would be okay.

"And?" I took a deep breath as my future altered and my life changed for the...well that was undecided yet.

"You're the father. Anastasia's father." I couldn't even describe the myriad of emotions that struck me as I read the results.

At first a sort of cosmic relief dawned upon because I had been right. I hadn't left New York, protected my baby for nothing. Then anger riveted my bones for some strange unexplained reason.

I guess I just needed to be angry for a moment.

Next I was graced by a glimmer of happiness, and then sadness consumed me. Horrible agonising sadness because I never would be free of Aaron Black. We would always be tied to each other. Irrecoverably.

Finally, there was guilt. Haunting guilt. That was probably the worst.

"Put Tristan on the phone." His next words.

I was stunned by the cruel nature of his cold stoic voice and passed it over to the confused man besides me.

"Hello? Yeah, no I'm fine with it. How about you? Well, that's sort of expected." Tristan laughed at something Aaron must have said and then stiffened at the next question. His eyes flickered over to me, only furthering my curiosity. "Yes, I read the results. Anastasia is your daughter."

Excruciating pain. That was what Aaron's lack of trust in me could only be describe as.

I know we've had our differences and I know what I did was probably one of the worst things a person could do but...did he really think I would lie to him? That I would try and trick him into becoming my baby daddy?

Tristan nudged me out of my raging rant. "He wants to speak to you." I bet.

Before he could speak though, I cut him off entirely. "You listen to me Aaron Black. I know that I lied to you and what I did was awful but for you to question the validity of my answers, for you to question my intentions with you as my daughter's father is just despicable!"

My breathing had turned heavy, fuelled by anger. However, as the anger slowly settled, the sadness and despair crept in. "You don't trust me anymore?"

I hated the way my voice broke. Like I was weak.

A long sigh ran through the line. "Of course I do Princ...Kiara, I just needed to be sure. Tristan is my friend and I needed to hear his answer too."

"Fine then, well now you jnow." I put the mask of a cold hearted b***h. My best mask.

"Yes and you promised to stay three months." Why did three months seem so long now?

"I keep my promises don't worry."

"I want to meet her as well. Soon." Even though Aaron had already held my daughter in his arms, I knew it wasn't real then. It wasn't a father holding his daughter, they were basically strangers. I wanted that to change but I also didn't want her to get attached.

Aaron was like a moth to the flame. He flew close enough to enjoy the pleasure of the heat, the light but never close enough to get burnt, never close enough to become submerged fully. Whenever the flame grew, he flew back. More and more until eventually, he moved onto another flame.

I had been that flame once, I'd be damned if my daughter was the next.

"Fine, we'll discuss a date and..."

"Tonight. You'll come to my house tonight, around seven, with the child. I trust you remember where I live."

"Of course but..."

"Then it's settled. I'll see you tonight." He ended the call, just like that. I guess the moment I had been dreading all this time had finally come.

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A/N: I think I kinda freaked a lot of you out by saying Kiara never got a DNA test but of course Anastasia is Aaron's. Otherwise this would kinda be a s**t story.

Anyways, who did you think the father was?

Also I think I might write bonus chapters after I finish chained Princess to sort of celebrate the finale!

This would include Tessa and Kalen's story of falling in love, alternate ending, fluffy scenes and your suggestions!!!

What do you think?