CHAPTER 5

Bryan's POV

The first sound that hit my ears is the crying sound of Jason disturbing the peace of the house. I furrow my brows in confusion, wondering if he has been crying since I left for work in the morning. 

When I said I was going to bring his mother, I didn't mean to do that. I just said that to him to make him stop crying.

Why the hell is he still crying?

I hiss at intervals as I walk into my room and peel off my clothes before going into the bathroom to take a shower. I am damn tired and I want to eat and go to bed early so I can prepare for tomorrow's convention. I finish taking a shower and come out. I look up to see the wall clock and the time says it is 10 pm.

I walk furiously to my briefcase and pull out the chocolate box I got for him before strolling out. The thought of him wanting Celine is annoying me. I am his father and I am supposed to be the most precious thing to him. I can give him what Celine can't.

I ignore the maid that greets me at the door and enter without knocking. A room has been prepared for him and Camila sleeps with him in the room. 

The moment I enter, he turns on the bed to look at the person intruding on his crying sessions. I see Camila bent in front of him in tiredness, probably begging him to stop crying after her failed attempts at consoling him.

"Mommy here?" He stops crying immediately and asks me. I suddenly feel bad for giving him a fake promise. I have no intention to beg Celine or bring her here. I am done with her. 

Taking Jason away from her was meant to end whatever connections between us. If Jason was still with her, then it means a part of me was still with her. I would have just gotten a better apartment for her, bestown her with a lot of money to take care of herself and Jason but I am doing this on purpose to punish her for what she did and not to have anything to do with her anymore. 

She betrayed me by not only going against our contract but also running away without telling me about my seed growing inside her.

What the hell was she thinking? I growl within me.

"No, Jason. You need to stop crying.....", I say in a low tone, pushing my anger away but he interrupts me by bursting into fresh tears. 

This time it tucked at my heart and I can feel how pained he is that he is no longer going to see the woman he has been with since he came to the world. I guess he is finding it hard to adapt to the environment here, even though it is better than Celine's home. 

His room is big enough to accommodate 20 guests. I am doing this to give him the life he deserves but I guess he is still a child to understand all of this.

Camila shifts her gaze to me, looking as though she is going to join Jason's crying sessions. 

"Camila, you can go", I order her. She nods and moves out, after looking back at Jason who didn't even notice she is gone. I take her place in front of him, hiding the chocolate box behind me in my right hand.

"Baby, stop crying", I coo him, hoping it will work. He wipes his tears and stares at me angrily.

"I want mommy", he emphasizes.

"Mommy is not available", I lie, hoping he will understand the message that his mother can not be here at the moment. He watches me for a while as if trying to read through me.

"You bad man", he says. 

It sounds like a question but I understand what he means. He sobs with his chest heaving up and down. I decide to present him with the chocolate before he goes into another fit of tears. I pull it in front of him and grin, waiting for the excited smile on his face but there is none. 

He glances down at the chocolate box and finally takes it from me, making me feel relieved. 

"Stop crying, son. You will be just fine", I touch his black curly hair. He is not saying anything, nor is he eating the chocolates. 

He gazes at me with his tear-stained face. "Mommy give you this?"

I gasp in surprise. What a smart boy! He is already having trust issues at this stage. What did Celine teach him?

"Yes, mommy gave me this. She said she will come to visit you soon", I smile at him and pull his cheeks. 

"Really?" His face breaks into a smile. He looks adorable.

"Yes. Eat up", I encourage him to open it himself. He fumbled with the box for a while and I decide to help him out. I open it and he takes a bite with a grin. He eats while I am watching him. When he is almost done, he stretch it to me to take a bite and I did.

I can't believe this boy before me is my son and he is this smart and cute. Never in my wildest dreams have I thought of having another child apart from Susie who died with her mother in a car crash. It was a horrible moment for me and I vowed never to fall in love or have a child anymore. 

Our family business is a dangerous one and our enemies want us to surrender by hurting our loved ones. 

My father is the leader of a mafia group here in New York and he has a strong army to protect him and my mother. My mother supported him and she is capable of protecting herself, without his help. 

Helena was my first love. We dated in high school before she left New York. We broke up because I couldn't cope with the long-distance. I dated a lot of women but none of them were like Helena. They were all after my money or my good looks. I felt Helena was the only woman on earth that can love me for who I am and not because of my money.

She realized the same thing and we came back together.

We made a lot of plans for our future but one thing was an obstacle, the fact that I came from a mafia family. It caused a lot of dispute between us, making us postpone our wedding several times. We were engaged for 4 years and she got pregnant and gave birth to our first child, Susie within those years, without sticking to a particular date for our wedding.

I wasn't scared because I had confidence in the kind of army I kept. But she was scared of what the future holds for us and our children. No sort of assurance from myself or my mother helped. 

I was able to convince her to let us get married before our second child comes into the world because she was already pregnant. She agreed reluctantly. She wanted me to promise her that I won't engage in any of the family affairs anymore but I couldn't promise. 

Our wedding date was fixed but we fought one night because she caught me cutting off a spy's ten fingers. She wouldn't stop crying. She slapped me and ran out of the house. Before I could recover from the sting of the slap, she was gone.

I called my right-hand man and quickly drove out to look for her. It was in the dead of the night and I never knew she left with Susie. She intended to go to the airport that night and go far away from me. I loved her but I didn't realize how much until I lost her.

She was attacked by the men laying ambushed for an opportunity to get my family. She tried to escape but lost control of the wheels and it crashed. I lost three important people in my life that night and something died in me. When the news got to me, my world came crumbling.

The ringing sound of my phone pulls me out of my reverie and I feel the wetness on my face. It's been 6 years already but the memories are still clear and the wound is still fresh. I doubt if I can ever forgive myself for pushing Helena to her death. 

I didn't want to get married because of what happened but now that I know Jason is mine, I will do all I can to protect him. I won't let any harm befall him and I won't let the mistake I made years ago repeat itself.

The phone rings again and I pick it up. It is a strange number.

"Hello", I say into the phone but there is silence at the other end. I take the phone off my ears to see if the call is still ongoing or it has been disconnected. "Who is this?"

"Erhhmm", a female voice stammers. "It's me, Bryan'', she adds and I know instantly that it is Celine.

"What do you want?" I stand up from Jason's bed. He is dozing off already with the last piece of chocolate stuck in his mouth. I lay him down on the bed and cover him up with the comforter.

"How is he?" She asks.

"That's none of your business", I growl in anger.

"Please, Bryan. Let me talk to him. I just want to be sure that he is fine", she cries over the phone and I wonder how she got my number. 

"I'm hanging up, now," I say.

"Wait", she mutters and lapses into silence. "I'm sorry, Bryan. I know you are hurt but please hear me out. I didn't do this on purpose. I was just scared."

"Are you done?" I am not interested in knowing why she did what she did. If I hadn't investigated, I would still be in the dark until this moment and Jason would be on the street, as an easy target for my enemies to use against me again. Never.

"I'm sorry, Bryan. Please forgive me and let me speak to my son", she sobs but I am not touched. I haven't even started my punishment with her, this is just the beginning.

"He is not your son, he is my son!" I snarl and disconnect the call before she can say anything.

I sigh heavily and keep staring at Jason's calm face for a while before standing upright. I walk to the door and turn off the light.

"Sleep well, son", I whisper into the darkness before closing the door.