Love Me One More Time (Nick and Alaia) novel Chapter 24

Nick

“We received this invitation.” Bárbara walked over to where I was and showed me the

paper, placing it on the outdoor table in the garden of our house. I read the contents and could see that it was a Russell family event taking place in a couple of weeks.

They were doing it to introduce the company’s executives and celebrate the expansion of their businesses into more cities across the country.

“It’s her,” she said and sat down across from me. I looked up and glanced at the invitation again.

“You knew,” she said, “you knew she was back.” Her words sounded like an accusation.

“Why is it so important for you to know?” I questioned, leaving the card on the table.

“You know the story perfectly well, you’re one of the protagonists. She was in your life for over two years, now she appears out of nowhere as the heiress to a huge empire, that changes a lot of things.”

I observed her.

“It’s impossible not to think that you two…” She fell silent and although I tried not to think about the past, her return brought back all the memories I’d tried to suppress, over and over again.

“I was thinking of traveling in those days, but I think it’s a good idea to go to that celebration,” she said and looked at me.

“You’re not going,” I said, standing up.

“But, Nick…” Without answering, I left her to go to the office.

In the garage, I got into the car that belonged to my father. He had always been a Rolls–Royce fan, although I wasn’t, I preferred other types of cars, less ostentatious; however, he had a great preference for them, so much that there were two more vehicles of the same brand that remained stored in the garage of my mother’s house. I liked to use them from time to time to remember him in his best moments.

I parked the car in the area designated for me and took the private elevator up to my office.

“Good morning, Sir,” Kathe said as soon as I entered my office.

“Good morning,” I replied as I shrugged off my suit jacket.

“The new equipment to be installed in the technical building has arrived, and the authorizations for the works starting this month have arrived. You must confirm your attendance at the T–World company event.”

“Confirm my attendance,” I said, sitting down behind my desk to start my day.

I had got up to get a glass of water from the minibar in my office after spending a few hours on various documents when suddenly the door to my office opened and I heard the footsteps of a couple of people.

I turned around in surprise, even more so when I saw Asher and Alaia in the doorway. My ex–wife’s gaze was cold, as it had been from the first day we met. It was obvious that I had hurt her, yet she had moved on and now she was going to marry her best friend Cedric; someone I had never supported.

“Just like you did with Bárbara,” my mind had reminded me, and I pushed the thought aside.

She talked about a house and the needy people who lived there, which made me realize that

she hadn’t changed in that aspect, she still cared about others. After looking up the address, I managed to locate the property, it was one of the buildings that was going to be demolished in two days according to the permits.

It was one of several facilities that belonged to my family, which had been loaned to the state years ago and we had washed our hands of them, until now, when we decided to expand our investments and businesses.

I checked the status of the project and saw that we’d already invested several thousand dollars in buying supplies, and materials, and we had paid for the permits to be delivered in record time, which led me to think that we would lose more than half of what we had invested plus the expenses that would be generated by suspending the work if we gave them more time. I thought it was unnecessary, it was only one family that lived in that house and they were the ones who had agreed to leave as soon as we had given the eviction notice.

So I let her know that I couldn’t help her. And so she was in a rage. Always so passionate.

“Of course, there’s nothing an insensitive pig like you can do.” Those words came from her soul.

And as much as I wished for them to bother me more, they didn’t. I stared at her. Those eyes that used to look at me with love and now only reflected hatred.

Could I blame her? No.

Will arrived and made me look at him, stopping me from looking at those eyes that were making me lose myself in them once again. They left, leaving me with Will.

“s**t, are you okay?” My cousin checked on me. “It looked like she was going to stab you,” he had said, half amused, half concerned.

“Are you ever going to take anything seriously in your life?” I questioned, going to my desk.

I saw movement outside and inside, I walked a little towards the entrance of the house, and I saw several girls and a few children playing in a central courtyard. That’s just too many people to be just one family.

“You must sign for the service, sir.” One of the men belonging to the moving group handed me a digital reader to capture my signature.

“Oh, no, the director of the home is in that office, or you can look for the person who hired them, they are on the second floor,” a woman intervened and spoke to the man.

“I’m sorry.” The man told me and walked to the second floor.

“Home?” I said to the woman who had just spoken.

“That’s right, it’s a home that helps single mothers and their children. Mrs. Alicia has housed us for several years until now, that…” she paused, “the owners have decided to evict us, proving that they are heartless and soulless people, I’m sure they will have a place in hell,” she said bitterly and I had to admit that I was taken aback by the news, so I had paid no attention to her wishes for me and my family.

Someone called the woman and she politely said goodbye to me. If only she knew that I was one of those people she considered heartless and who would surely burn in hell. I walked a little further towards a double door that had led out into the large courtyard where the children were playing with three women watching over them..

I found myself standing in front of the patio which had not been in very good condition but at least it had been tidy. I quickly sent the order to Kathe to put everything on hold regarding the construction and gave them a month to move out. Needless to say, I warned her that it was urgent.

I noticed a little girl screaming while another one was chasing her. I thought she was after the red ball the girl had been holding in her hands. I was distracted for a second when something touched my shoe, I looked down to find the little red ball, I bent down to pick it up and in a second a pair of little white sneakers landed in front of me, I looked up holding the ball in my hand and when my eyes scanned the flowery trousers and the pink shirt, I reached the little girl’s face.

Her tiny eyebrows were furrowed. She barely looked at my face and I was left staring at her, paralyzed, because I found something familiar about her, too familiar, that I had stared at her while she reached out her hand without changing her expression.

Still confused by the little image in front of me, I looked at the ball.

“Is this yours?” I questioned and she changed her expression.

“No, Oshua,” she said and pointed to him. I supposed she said, Joshua.

Without further ado, she took the ball and walked away babbling a thank you. However, my eyes didn’t lose sight of her. The little girl laughed and shouted happily until she said.

“Mommy.” She greeted someone who was a few meters to the left in front of the manager’s office. I couldn’t see the person because a column was covering them. I was so drawn to the situation and with a thousand questions in my head, I walked a little further to see a woman of about 30 years old approaching the girl and adjusting her hair ribbon leaving a kiss on her cheek. Immediately, the girl went back to her friend.

That was when it dawned on me and I realized that I had been overthinking it, that the girl didn’t look like her, and I had been seeing things where there had been none.