Chapter Twenty-Three - Ava

If anything happens to Ethan, I don’t know what I’m going to do. This is a mother’s curse. Kids are young and they’re bound to get into trouble and have things go wrong, but it doesn’t mean I can’t hate it. I didn’t want to be in the meeting with Dimitri there anyway, but he’s the last thing on my mind, even with his threats.

I raced out of the car and into the hospital suite looking for him. Emily told me not to panic, and that it wasn’t serious, but I didn’t care. All I knew was Ethan was hurt and I needed to get to him on the double.

The call took me by surprise, but in some ways, I think it was a blessing in disguise. “Hi, Ava. I hate to bother you,” Emily had said in a scared voice, but I didn’t care. I told her to call me if she were ever unsure of anything to do with Ethan. He’s my world, and there’s only us.

“No, don’t be sorry. What’s going on?” I chewed on my nail, wanting to be done with the Raven’s Peak deal and Dimitri’s not-so-subtle digs the entire meeting.

“Ah, Ethan has fallen off the bed while I was making lunch and hit his head. Please don’t be angry, but I’m taking him to the emergency room right now. I’m so sorry,” she blubbered in a panic.

“Send me the details of the hospital, and I’m coming there now.” I went into solution mode, thinking I would speak to Emily face-to-face when I saw her. I knew Ethan could be a handful because he’s such an active boy.

“Okay. I have him in the waiting room. I can assure you; he’s going to be okay.”

I didn’t want her reassurance, I wanted proof with my own eyes, but as I stand with Ethan’s warm body hugged on to mine, I’m happy. My boy is smiling goofily with a multicolored Band-Aid on his forehead. “You gave Mommy a fright. Don’t ever do that again, okay?”

“Mommy, I’m fine. Band-Aid make it better. I wanted to fly.”

I hug him again, rubbing his head as I crouch down so I can see his face. “Baby, you can’t fly from the bunk. You gave Emily a fright too. What have I told you about climbing onto things and jumping?”

Ethan pouts, putting a finger in his mouth. “That I might fall and hurt myself?” I run my hands through his hair, his blue eyes bright.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. Mommy loves you, but you have to listen, alright?”

“Okay, I will.”

As I stand, ready to take Ethan out, the door opens, and Dimitri is standing there with a straight face. Fuck. Vomit rises in my throat as I hold on tight to Ethan’s hand wanting to run out of the hospital with him in tow, but Dimitri is blocking the door.

Ethan looks at the man with playful curiosity, the past coming back to ruin me. “Mom, who’s that?” He points his little finger up to his own father. This day can’t get any worse.

“Um, this is an old friend,” I tell him as Emily herself puts two and two together. She knows about Dimitri. I’ve told her the full story, but her mouth hanging open isn’t helping me out.

“Old friend, huh? How far we’ve come,” Dimitri answers bitterly, but his face quickly softens when he looks down at his son. “Ava, we should talk,” he adds in a polite tone as I ask Emily to look after Ethan for a minute and I kiss into his soft hair one more time.

I would have thought I might not be calm in this situation, but there’s no more flight or fight left in me, only a bone-weary tiredness. Dimitri doesn’t just want to talk inside the hospital. No, he wants me out of it. We walk towards the exit in silence, side by side. I’ve got no other choice, so there’s no point resisting.

We walk to Dimitri’s SUV. “What do you want, Dimitri?” I ask in a weary tone.

“Get in, Ava.” He points to the passenger seat, and I slide in, sitting in the crux of the door so I can be as far away from him as possible. Dimitri fumbles with the keys in his hands, looking down at them. I can’t tell if he’s pissed off or sad. I wish I knew which. “You have a son now.”

His blue eyes don’t hold the anger I expect. No, they hold pain, and longing. Shit. That’s even worse. “Yes. I have a son.”

“What’s Ethan’s birthdate?”

Fuck. I didn’t expect him to ask that. Now the panic rears up again. “September. He’s a spring baby.”

Dimitri scoffs, his fingers tapping on the wheel, his brooding energy hanging over me. A deep whirlpool of nausea sweeps me up as I put a hand over my belly to stop it, but the memories and the grief of our relationship float to the top, destined to take me under.

“Right. So, you had Ethan eight months after we separated. This means you were pregnant after we first had sex.” I can see the inner workings of his mind ticking over, and I need to come up with a lie. Fast.

I want to protect Ethan. I can’t let him go to Dimitri. No. I just can’t. “I don’t know what you’re talking about because Ethan was born premature.”

That brooding energy has metamorphized into white-hot rage. “Stop with the fucking lies, for fucks sake!”

Bracing myself, I hold on to the car door as Dimitri spontaneously starts the car driving off, alarm bells ringing in my head. No. My baby is back in the hospital. Fuck!

“Dimitri! Stop!” I yell as his jaw clenches like steel while he hysterically laughs. “Slow down, you’re going to get us killed!” His foot jams on the accelerator as the SUV hits a dip on the road out of the hospital. He speeds through a red light, cars leaning hard on their horns, his face in a menacing snarl.

“Nope. Ava, I’m not slowing down until you tell me the truth!” I feel part of myself wanting to detach from my body. I don’t have to experience this trauma, but I white-knuckle it, quickly putting on my seat belt as I watch the odometer click up.

“Okay, okay Dimitri! I had Ethan when we were separated.”

“Is he my blood?” Dimitri asking me this question spirals me back to the day I left his mansion heartbroken and my life in complete tatters. He still thinks I slept with another man. Years have passed and he’s had the time to dig deeper and find out the truth, but he hasn’t. He’s just in his own head believing whatever he believes.

A small voice inside me tells me to protest, to fight him tooth and nail to listen to what I have to say and remind him that I told him the truth as plain as day, but he didn’t want to hear it.

“You know what, Dimitri?” I spit out bitterly, a lump lodging in my throat.

“What, Ava?” he cuts back as he lets off the gas a little.

“For a man who has access to so much, and with so much power, you still only see what you want to see. I don’t give a fuck anymore; you believe what you want to believe,” I tell him, giving up in defeat. Whatever he’s going to do to me, he can. All I want to do is protect my son and get back to him in one piece. I haven’t figured out the rest, but if I can get back to Ethan, then everything’s going to be okay. “Even if Ethan is your son,” I stipulate. “You better stay the fuck out of his life. He doesn’t have a place in yours.”

I realize Dimitri’s driven us in a wide arc around the hospital as we re-enter the parking lot.

“Then you’re going to give me a DNA test, and then, Ava, I’m not going to stay away from my son. No, you have one week to pack your stuff. He’s coming back to Chicago with me where he belongs amongst his family roots.” Dimitri’s used to dishing out commands and controlling everything and everyone around him, but not this time. I will fight tooth and nail for my son, even if it means putting my life on the line.

“No. You’re not going to do that. I refuse to give my son away to the dangerous playground you live in, Dimitri. What’s he going to become? A ruthless fucking bloodhound like you.”

The corners of Dimitri’s eyes crinkle into a devastating smile as he chuckles, stopping the car and facing me, his eyes chilling me to the bone. “You don’t have a choice,” he concludes arrogantly. “You might think your fancy law degree is going to get you somewhere, but you have no idea of what strings I can pull to gain custody of Ethan.” His eyes glower as I take the gut punch, winded, knowing it’s true. My hands are being tied behind my back, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“You wouldn’t—” I shake my head, tears stinging at the back of my eyes.

“Oh yeah, I would. I’m a monster, don’t you remember how I got Raven’s Peak.” Tears slowly roll down my cheeks. I’m trapped by a monster and one I can’t escape from. I’m horrified by the thought of Dimitri having the power to take my son from me, and if I want to see Ethan again, I’m going to have to answer Dimitri’s commands.

Chapter Twenty- Four - Dimitri

One week later…

There’s a light breeze in L.A., but there’s redemption coursing through my veins as I stand on the tarmac, the sweet revenge I wanted for Ava, falling right into my lap. Together, we’ve got a son, and that’s one thing she didn’t lie about.

I had the DNA results rushed through using my connections.

“Yes. I want the results from the lab rushed through, and I will pay extra under the table. I don’t care if you have to work overtime to do it. Get me the results and get them back to me in the next three days or else,” I advised the head of the pathology lab.

He overdelivered, producing the results in less than forty-eight hours. Viktor delivering the news with an envelope. “Here, I think you’re going to be pleased with the result.”

I’d taken the envelope silently from him in my Chicago office, the wait for the results—agonizing as I replayed the movie of Ava betraying me over and over again on loop. What if it wasn’t my kid? But again, the evidence was too great. I saw Ethan with my own two eyes. The kid was a doppelganger for me in the flesh and my seed was not going to stay in some condo in L.A. with Ava as a single mother. No. I would give him the world, and he would live like a king.

I opened the envelope staring at the results again and again searching for the right information, my name in the fine print in the bottom right-hand corner.

Father: Dimitri Utkin. Confirmed. I’d thrown the paper on my office desk, standing, fuming that Ava would add another knife in my back, keeping my son from me without my permission.

“Ah, Ms. Knight. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. I’m going to make your life a living hell on earth.”

“Sooo, not okay with the result?” Viktor chipped in, but I’d forgotten he was standing in my office. Grinning, I turned around to him, his smirk mirroring mine.

“No. The opposite. This is fucking too perfect. Revenge has fallen right into my lap. I want you to track Ava for the rest of the week, and maybe give her a shove in the right direction if you smell anything fishy.”

“Already on it, but my dibs are on her coming with Ethan to Chicago.”

“Oh. I want her there. How can I inflict the maximum amount of heartache if she’s not,” I countered with a wry smile. “But I’m going to rip away everything she holds dear. Then she’s going to see what type of monster I can really be.”

So, it was decided my son was coming back to Chicago with me. I didn’t tell Cara the truth. Ethan is my son and she’s going to have to deal with it. With my shades on, I wait for Ava and Ethan to arrive. I don’t care about her fucking career, her happiness, or how badly I’ve fucked things up for her. She took something from me when I gave her my all, and I would never let a woman do that again.

She knew she had no choice but to come with me. My legal team is too strong for her, and it would have been an easy win for me in the courtroom. If she defied me, I planned to pull out all the stops, including her infidelity during our relationship, and showing how bad a parent she is for not telling me she was with child.

Ava never stood a chance. The sun’s direction changes, causing me to drop my sunglasses down on my head, covering my eyes. Despite the revenge I’ve enacted, I never planned to take Ava away from Ethan. No. That was a back-up plan in case she decided to make foolish moves.

She might be a high and mighty lawyer, but she’s not a stupid one. I hate Ava. With every bone in my body, I hate her for what she did to us, and the secret she carried for four years without my knowledge. She arrives and my heart rate picks up as Viktor walks beside her, making sure she doesn’t make a last-ditch attempt to escape.

It’s not as if she hasn’t done that before. I’ve got hired guns in place if she does, but given she’s walking with Ethan hand in hand, I assume she doesn’t plan on doing that. The anger lifts as Ava walks to the plane, sophisticated with her shades on. Ethan’s carrying some sort of bear in his hand, and he’s pointing at the plane. A part of me softens when I see him. He has the same wide-eyed wonder about the world as his mother, but he’s too young. I can’t parent the little boy by myself.

Ava reaches me, her pretty mouth tight as she places a protective hand on Ethan’s back. He buries his face in Ava’s leg. I’m bringing her along for good reason. She’s his mother, and Ethan needs her for survival. If there’s one thing she is, it’s a good mother. I can see that, but once Ethan is old enough, maybe Cara can step in and play the role. She’ll have to learn to give up her coldhearted ways, but I don’t give a damn. I’m going to send Ava away, dragging out my revenge over several years, just like she wants to milk the Raven’s Peak deal until the end.

She’s lucky I haven’t found some way to annihilate the contract and put her in the poor house on the street. Once Ethan sees my smile as I lift my sunglasses, I crouch down to his level, not wanting to intimidate the little fella.

He’s mine. My flesh and blood, looking up to me, and Ethan doesn’t think I’m a bad man. He doesn’t know that unless Ava’s tainted him against me already. She better not have, otherwise I’ll send her packing quicker than intended.

I can’t tell what’s behind her eyes, and I’m sure she won’t show me. Either way I don’t care because I’ve got what’s mine. A son. It feels good to meet him, and there’s something we both did right together producing him. I can’t believe I have one. There’s no shame, only happiness when I look into his eyes.

Ethan steps forward courageously, his finger in his mouth. “Hey, Ethan. Have you ever been on a plane?” I ask him, running a hand over the back of his neck, wanting to hug him, but letting him take the time to get used to me first.

“No. It’s loud! Big jet plane.”

“That’s right. A big jet plane. You’re going to be on it with me. Are you ready?”

Ethan nods, a big grin on his face. Looking into his innocent eyes makes me want to cry. I can’t believe I have a son. This is a dream come true. I didn’t know when I would have one or if it were a good idea, but seeing Ethan answers all those questions.

As much as I hate it, Ava is the perfect mother figure for Ethan. Cara is one I’m going to have to work on if I decide to go through with our marriage. “Dad?” Ethan says, chewing on his brown bear’s arm.

Tears glisten in my eyes as Ava watches the exchange from a short distance. “Yes,” I tell him enthusiastically. “I’m your father, Ethan.” I draw the little boy into a hug, my heart opening to him. He lays his tiny head on my shoulder, and I lift him up in my arms. “My big strong boy.”

He grins showing me all his teeth, holding his bear up to my face. “Can Mr. Bear come too?”

Nodding, I laugh a real laugh, like the ones I used to share with Ava.

“Yes. You can bring Mr. Bear and whatever else you want.” Ethan spreads his tiny arms open wide, his bright blue eyes shining as I take him up the stairs, Ava cutting a solemn figure following behind with a duffel bag.

“Yay! Mommy, Mommy, we’re going on the airplane! Mommy!”

“Yes, we are, Ethan.” Her voice is strained, but Ava’s sharp tongue has done nothing but get her in trouble. There’s no way out—I’ve banished any hopes she’s ever going to have. Soon she’ll be a washed-up lawyer who lost her son, broken and lost forever.

I’m Dimitri Utkin, and I always have a master plan. It’s how I got on top, and it’s how I’m going to stay on top.