Love Me One More Time (Nick and Alaia) novel Chapter 70

Alaia

I observed the garden from the office window, hugging myself and pressing my arms with my hands. I didn’t know what I was thinking about–there were too many things in my head. One of them was stronger than all the others, and it scared me. I couldn’t allow myself to feel this; I had to fight against it. I lived two years without him; I could do it for the rest of my life.

I sighed.

“Princess, the invitations have arrived,” Cedric’s voice brought me back to reality.

“What invitations?” I asked, not quite understanding what he asked. I turned halfway to see him holding a card in his hands.

“It will be exactly in a month,” he said, and my eyebrows knitted together. So soon? It seemed like there were several months left. He walked towards me and handed me our wedding invitations. The fine paper brushed against my fingers; it was exactly the design we ordered.

“My lawyer told me the divorce papers should have arrived by now,” said my best friend and fiancé, and I glanced at a stack of papers on the desk.

“That’s right,” I replied as Cedric looked in that direction.

I opened the invitation to read our names on it, along with the date and place, and I felt confused. This wasn’t the place we had seen.

“A castle?” I asked, pronouncing each letter. “It’s too much.”

“I know, sweetheart, but it couldn’t be any other way. You know my mother, my family.” He looked at me with a complicated smile on his lips.

“I still think it’s over the top.” I shook my head from side to side. “Your family is investing a lot of money in this,” I moved the card.

“Let them; it’s nothing for my family.” He shrugged, looking at me for several seconds and placing his hands on his hips. “Aly, you seem strange.” I turned to look at him, and his blue eyes observed me intently.

I lower my gaze. “It’s nothing,” only that it seemed my mind and heart were at war.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, taking the card from my hands.

I looked at him and then at the card. “I am,” I confirmed, nodding more times than I should.

Cedric exhaled and nodded thoughtfully. We talked a bit more about sending the invitations and the wedding until it was time for him to leave; his flight to Amsterdam departed in a couple of hours.

Once he left, I stepped out of the office and went for a glass of water.

I heard my daughter’s high–pitched scream and knew something must be happening.

I went out to see Nick entering the house. He was wearing sunglasses, which he removed upon reaching the children.

“My Angel.” He hugged Alana, and she wrapped her little arms around his neck.

“Buddy,” he fist–bumped Noah, and Noah hugged him.

Today, he was leaving for a trip to Europe; I knew it would be three countries and would take a week, so he decided to come to say goodbye before taking the flight. He spent all afternoon with them yesterday, but apparently, it wasn’t enough. Nick knelt before them.

“Dad will be back soon. I’ll call you often.” He held their little hands. “I could buy you a couple of phones, but I know your mother wouldn’t agree,” he said. Nick looked at me, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “So, I’ll call you on her phone.” He pointed to me, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going to miss you,” he caressed each of their cheeks and hugged them again.

The hug lasted several seconds, and I pursed my lips, not understanding what was happening.

Nick tried to pull away, but my children clung to him and refused to let go, just as they have done with me so many times. Moved, he pressed their small bodies against him.

“What a tender image,” Tino arrived behind me, and my body jolted

“Dear God, do you want to give me a heart attack?” I said, and Ash laughed from the other side of my back.

“Daughter, just look at them,” he pointed out.

I couldn’t deny it; Nick managed to steal his children’s precious little hearts.

After a few minutes, Nick carried both of them to the car. I decided to follow, understanding what he would do.

“I love you,” he said to Noah and handed him to me, doing the same as Alana, who was received by Ash.

“Have a good trip,” I said, and Nick looked at me in a way that made my body react on its own, and he smiled.

This jerk.

My children waved goodbye to their father, and he waved back in the same way.

“What happened to his lip?” Tino asked. Nick had a mark on his lower lip, a sign of what I did to him a few days ago in his office. The scar was only noticeable if you looked closely, as his beard covered most of it.

“Noah, Alana,” I said, extending my hands toward them.

“I come in peace and am unarmed, Alaia,” the man said, raising his hands. “What could I do in front of all these people?” he questioned, raising his arms.

“I imagine this isn’t a coincidence,” I said, taking my children’s hands, who hadn’t stopped looking at Killian.

“You’re correct,” he looked at me from his position and then at the kids, not standing up. want to meet the children; they are Garnetts after all,” he tried to touch a lock of Alana’s hair, but I moved her, so his hand remained in the air.

“I think you are the least suitable person to meet them. Do you forget you were the one who wanted to get rid of them?” I said, controlling my fury and indignation.

“Of course, I remember. It was my grandson and me,” he insists. “But things have changed. The children now exist, thanks to you being smarter than me and these fools at that moment.” He looked at the men behind him and shook his head. “Your children will inherit great fortunes and must learn what comes with them,” he commented, looking at them, and I can’t help but snort.

“You can save your fortune, Garnett. As you already know, my children need nothing that comes from you. They will learn to be whoever they want from the right people. In life, there are things worth much more than several million in a bank account,” my blood boiled, remembering that all this started because of the money and power of that family.

“I don’t want a negative figure like you around my children, so I won’t allow you to get close to them, let alone meet them.”

“Fine, maybe I should use legal resources then.”

Son of a b***h!

“Go ahead, use them, but remember who I am and what you’re up against,” I stood firmly, sure he couldn’t beat us. Not wanting to continue, seeing this man’s face, I took two steps back, taking my children with me.

“Mommy, the ball,” Alana looked at me and pointed to the object in Killian’s hands.

I looked at Killian, and before I could tell my daughter that we’d get another, he extended it to her. Alana let go of my hand and went for it.

“No, no, no, no,” she wagged her little finger in Killian’s direction as soon as she was close to him. She took the ball and returned it to me. I was perplexed by the child’s reaction when Noah.

let go of my hand and approached the man.

“No!” he said, facing him, and returned to me.

“They have characters, like their mother,” Killian found the children amusing. He stood up. Gavin and the other guy stepped a bit closer to Nick’s grandfather, and he raised his hands.

“You’ll hear from me. If I were you, I wouldn’t trust my grandson. He’s still the same heartless bastard who abandoned you,” he looked at my mother up and down and turned away.