In Love With Mr. Billionaire

CHAPTER 42- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

"Ba bye!" I waved at Nadia as I ducked inside the limousine waiting for me. She waved back from her apartment's window, leaning into the darkness of the night, away from the light of her apartment. I tilted my head to look at her through the car's window. She continued to wave until the chauffeur drove away.

Only when she was out of sight, I closed the window and leaned back in my seat, next to Aaron.

Our flight landed in California only hours ago. Dylan was throwing a party at his parents' residence and that was our destination. Though it would be a sin if I landed in California and not made a stop at Nadia's place.

I wanted my first visit to her apartment to be a surprise for her. As expected, she was delighted to see us there. Although our stay at her apartment was a short one, I was incredibly happy to meet her again. The best part of it all was when Aaron had started narrating the downfall of the Marshall family, Nadia had listened intently with starry eyes and a face that looked as if all her dreams had come true.

She had wanted to join us at the party and requested me to tag her along. But that request had become void the moment she got to know Dylan was the host.

"You shouldn't have told her VanAssche was going to be there. It would have been fun to have her there," Aaron commented.

"It's all fun for you, isn't it Mr Woodwords?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "They both individually will kill me the moment I start playing cupid with them."

"It's not about playing cupid. It's just—"

"You just wanted to annoy Dylan," I completed it for him.

"In a way," he grinned sheepishly. It made me smile as well.

Though Aaron and Dylan may still not be that fond of each other, they have bonded nicely over getting James behind the bars and searching for my mother.

Melissa, Aaron's PI, is working with Dylan's team in California searching for clues that would lead to mom. The address James gave me had not directly led us to her, but it had given us a start. That was the first place she had gone to after that night. Though she had not lived there for long. It was a small, lively town where everyone knew everyone. But she had lived in isolation. Or that was what the residents there said about her. She never talked to anyone much and spent most of her days locked inside her little cottage. One day, some two to three years ago, she moved out of the town. The people claim they hardly knew her while she lived there so it was impossible for them to know where she had gone after that. Though the detectives and the intelligence team were doing their best to find her, I tried not to lose myself in fallacious hope.

The car stopped outside Uncle William's mansion. I clutched Aaron's hand as the chauffeur came around to get the door for us. Reporters and paparazzi were crowding around the place, and even after all this while, even after trying to get into that life with Aaron, I was still not used to people shoving cameras on my face. At least now I had someone to lean onto.

"I got you," he said as the doors opened and we stepped outside.

I kept my eyes ahead and my focus on Aaron. Sensing my distress—like he always did—he squeezed my hand as we walked in. The voices of the cameramen screaming for pictures were replaced by soft melodious music as soon as the doors to the mansion closed behind us.

Dylan spotted us instantly and excused himself to come and pull me in a hug. He shook hands with Aaron—a normal handshake unlike the last time—before taking us to meet Uncle William and Aunt Jenna.

"Caro, my little girl!" Uncle William exclaimed as soon as he noticed us.

I promptly scurried to hug both of them. It was more than a decade since I last saw them. Being forced to lose contact with them was hard initially, but then I had gotten used to it a little. It was at my wedding that I had felt their absence, craved for their presence, but Uncle William's health had prohibited him to travel by air. Now meeting them both I realized that I had missed them a lot more. Even when I didn't know that I was missing them, a part of me still had.