The Billionaire's Unwanted Bride

CHAPTER 100

Aidan's POV
 
My family is complete now and my joy knows no bounds. It is as if the kidnap never happened. Sometimes, I feel like spending the whole day watching Lily  play, sleep or giggle, but I can't do that all day. 
 
I realize Lily only has my eyes but she has a striking resemblance with her mother.
Anna and I had gone out this morning to visit Tony and I wanted Lily and her nanny to come with us but Anna protested. Tony was surprised to see us but he invited us in anyway. I have no idea why I followed Anna until I got there. Tony was truly hurt and I realized a man like that can do anything.
 
I apologized to him for my behavior the other day and explained things to Tony. I didn't want him to see Anna as a bad woman so I told him I was the one who gave her the right to date other men while we were married. It was after she began to go out with him that it dawned on me that I might lose Anna to him and I didn't want it because I loved her and I had refused to admit it to myself.
 
He shifted his gaze to Anna and asked her if she loved me too and she nodded. I heaved a deep sigh of relief and held her hands in appreciation and happiness. 
 
Anna hasn't said the L-word to me yet, even after I keep repeating it to her ears before we go to bed everyday or during our lovemaking. I don't want to rush her, I want her to say it when she means it. I know she does but she is still trying to admit the whole thing to herself.
 
Now that I know what she means to me and how much she means to me, I will never let her go, no matter what. I want to do all it takes to make her stay with me, I still have the fear that she might decide to leave us someday.
 
"Don't get us killed, Aidan", she chuckles, making me realize I have been stealing glances at her since we left home. "Our baby needs us."
 
"Yeah, I just can't take my eyes off the beauty..."
 
"Shut up and concentrate", she laughs again. I join in the laughter. 
 
When we sober up, I peek at her and see her rubbing her hands over her stomach unconsciously. She said she has something to tell me when we get home and this thing she is doing is raising my curiosity.
 
Is there a baby in there? When she said I shouldn't get us killed, was she talking about Lily or another baby?
 
I am about to ask her about the surprise when I see Lucy coming out of the mansion in a hurry. Anna suggests we visit mother in the mansion today. 
 
Lucy has a small bag with her and she darts her eyes around looking for a cab. When she sees me, she begins to run.
 
"Lucy?" I park the car abruptly and get out. 
 
What is happening? Why is Lucy running after seeing me? Where is my mother?
 
I didn't wait any more seconds to voice out my fears to Anna before sprinting towards the gate. 
 
The gate is wide open and empty. I stop and check around, wondering what the hell is happening. Without thinking again, I race for the front door.
 
The moment I enter, I stop in my tracks when my eyes falls on the blood on the floor. My eyes bulge out in fear and I begin to trace the blood. I still can't hear anything and it seems the place is empty.
 
Did Lucy kill my mother? I ask within me, choking back the sob threatening to come out of me.
 
I can't imagine my mother dying. She needs to be alive for me. I won't forgive myself if she is dead, because I failed in convincing her to leave her pain behind. 
 
I hurry up the staircase and the blood trail is leading me to my father's study. When I am a few distances away, I hear his voice.
 
Father is inside? Where is mother then? 
I stop to eavesdrop on what he is saying. 
 
"Sign the papers now, Natalie, or I will kill you", he threatens and I gasp.
 
"Kill me already." I hear my mother's low tone.
 
I can't wait here and let him kill her. I knew my father would never change, despite my threat. I look around for a weapon but there is none. I rush to the door and enter.
 
"Aidan", mother whispers but I ignore her and go for my father. His eyes bulge open in surprise when he sees me and he lets go of the cigarette and the document in his hand.
 
"Aidan, welcome. I was just cleaning up your mother...." I didn't let him finish before punching his jaw.
 
"Easy there, man", he laughs as I move forward with anger to give him another but he dodges it and blows me in the stomach. I grunt and charge at him again in anger.
 
"You heartless fellow!" I punch his face.
 
"The heartless one is your mother", he says, pushing me away. "I stopped loving her when she cheated on me."
 
"What?" My hand hangs in the air. I turn to look at my mother.
 
"He is lying", she mutters weakly. Her face is bruised and she is on the floor without her wheelchair. She looks like someone who is going to pass out soon. There is blood everywhere.
 
Before I can come back to my senses, my father hits me and I fall to the ground. He begin to beat me up as he used to when I was a child, making the memories rush back and making me too weak to do anything. I just lay there, allowing him to do what he pleases, hoping he will let me be when he is satisfied.
 
"Aidan, get up and fight him back. He will kill you", I hear my mother say but I have given up. I don't know who to believe. 
 
Is he acting this way because my mother cheated? Did he stop loving her because she was unfaithful to him? I try to recall the happy moments we had when they were still in love but the memories were blurry and I can't recall them.
 
The beginning of my childhood now starts with the day he was beating me up and my mother came to intervene. She steps in between us and he slaps her aggressively. 
 
Mother stood her ground, saying she won't move aside until he promises not to beat me anymore. That wasn't the first time he would raise his hands to beat me. It was the last beating for me but the first for my mother. I guess he was pouring out his anger on me, instead of venting it on my mother for cheating. I guess he was doing all of this because he thought I wasn't his child. 
 
Am I his Child?
 
Only my mother can answer this question.
I remember how he pushed my mother after warning her severally to step aside. He pushed her down the staircase and she lost her leg. My beating stopped because I became defiant and I was always ready to challenge him but he began to beat mother.
 
Now I don't know who to believe. My mother who has stood by me all along or my father who showed me nothing but how to hate?
 
He punch my face one more time and I can no longer hear my mother's scream for me to get up. When I turn to see if she is still there, I see her laying on the floor unconscious with her hand trying to reach me.
 
I feel like dying right now but I can't. I am thinking of Lily and Anna. We haven't spent enough time together. I can't die now. Anna will be heartbroken.
 
But I can't fight nature. As my eyes begin to close on their accord, I suddenly feel my father's weight has been pulled off me. I can't hear anything but I see a man who looks like a cop dragging him away and I see Anna shouting and shaking me with tears streaming down her eyes.
 
I love you, I want to say but I can't say it as my eyes finally close and darkness invades my body and soul.
 
 

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A chapter to go😍

Will Aidan be fine?