Chapter 7: The Dark Descent

Rominic groaned and placed his hand on his throbbing forehead. He was having a nasty headache. Throughout the drive back to the villa, he couldn't stop thinking about how his life did a 360. He woke up after managing to get an hour of sleep, like every other morning. He started working without food and the day was going miserably just like other days, but he didn't expect something to change this much.

He'd seen people react to their loved ones coming back from the dead, finding out their loved ones didn't die as they thought, and he thought it was ridiculous because he didn't believe it would ever happen to him. Sitting there in the back of his car, knuckles white from squeezing the door handle too hard and a nasty pain in his head, he realized that he was the ridiculous one.

He wanted to feel elated that his love was back, but he couldn't. There were a lot of things he thought about. First, the whole situation was a big shock and he was finding it hard to adjust. Secondly, when he thought about how she went as far as faking her death to get away from him and start her life afresh, it made his heart sink. That meant that she didn't need him. She moved on and decided to remove him from her life. He knew he deserved it but it didn't change the shitty feeling in his heart.

He felt that way. After all, he knew he would only make her hate him more because he'd bedamned if he let her go. "Fuck this," he cursed, running his hand over his face. Letting her go would be worse than death itself. Still, his conscience nagged at him, telling him that was selfishness. It wasn't right to get close to her and ruin her peace after what he did to her. He didn't deserve her.

"Sir, we've arrived," the head of his bodyguard spoke gently. Rominic looked to his side and saw that the door had already been opened and the head of his bodyguard stood there, holding the door and staring at him with concern. He lazily dropped his hand and weakly sighed. The tall, hefty man already knew what he had to do. He assisted him out of the car and used his body as support until they reached his bedroom.

Rominic grunted as he was dropped on the bed. His chest was heavy and his heart was suffocating. He fell back on the bed, moaning in pain while his guard carefully took off his shoes and socks. He sprawled his hands on the bed and opened his itchy eyes. His vision was blurry but he could see the bright blue sky pattern of the ceiling. "Hey, I need a drink," he said out of the blue.

Cadmus, the head of his bodyguards, looked at his boss with a scowl. The man was torturing himself too much, he thought. He'd been working for Rominic for eighteen years. He watched him make foolish decisions and suffer the consequences. Just like Stacy, he didn't feel sympathy for him because he was warned, but he only wished Rominic would be less hard on himself. “How could he be thinking of drinking on an empty stomach? He also has a headache,” Cadmus thought, but as usual, he didn't voice his concern and allowed him to do what he wanted. His job was to protect him from attacks, not self-made harm.

Rominic averted his eyes to Cadmus when he didn't say a word. Cadmus usually didn't respond to him in the first place but over the years, he'd grown quieter. Rominic laughed bitterly. He knew everyone was tired of him already. He sat up and snapped his fingers. Cadmus walked over to the small refrigerator without hesitation and poured him a drink, a non-alcoholic beer.

"You should pour me something stronger," Rominic sighed. Cadmus ignored him and gave the glass cup to him. After giving him the cup, Cadmus exited the room. Rominic watched him leave then grudgingly chugged down the small liquid in the cup. He looked at the empty cup and scoffed. "Stingy bastard," he threw the cup on the floor. The glass would have shattered if it hadn't fallen on the fluffy rugged floor.

Rominic fell back on the bed and slapped his forehead with both palms. He had no idea what he was doing but he knew he was restless and anxious. He took off his suit jacket and shirt, thinking about what to do. To hell with his conscience. He couldn't let her go, especially now they were five mini him. It was a shame none of them looked like her, but they were the children she bore from her womb, his children.

He felt a deeper sense of anxiety when he thought of her disappearing again. He pulled out his phone from his side pocket. He left his work phones in Stacy's care and he only hoped that she didn't misplace them now she was distracted. He dialed her number and waited for a few seconds before she received the call. "Hello, sir,"

"Stacy, I need you to pull the mother of those children aside and lock a tracking bracelet or anklet on her. If possible, place a bug on any of the children and make sure they do not leave that hospital. If she runs away with or without the children, Stacy, that would be the last day you breathe. Do I make myself clear?"

Stacy was silent for a few seconds before she responded. "Crystal."

Rominic hung up and bit his fingernail nervously. What else should he do? He needed to talk to someone but he couldn't think of anyone who'd be willing to accept his call. He would never call his sister even if he was dying, his second sister would be unavailable at that time, his mother would end up crying a river if she learned the truth of Lavender's existence (ignoring his complaint), and his best friend was in the middle of something. The only person left was his father.

Rominic hastily dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. The call rang out to his dismay. He tried again two more times. On the third try, his father answered the call. "Rominic, sorry I missed your call, I was trying to get rid of your mother. She made seaweed salad for dinner," his father's grouchy voice filled his ear.

Rominic clicked his tongue. "I would try to console you but Dad, I'm not okay,"

There was silence at the other end of the phone for a few seconds before his father sighed. "What happened?"

"Lavender is alive,"

"Ah, I see,"

Rominic knew what that meant. His father thought he was hallucinating again and that was him playing along. "No, no, it's true this time! It's her! I'm not delusional or crazy this time, she really is alive!"

"Nicky, I've begged you to stop throwing out your meds. Why do you keep doing this?"

"Dad, she had quints, I'm a father of five now. You can call Cadmus and Stacy, they'll confirm it. I'm sober, I promise," he said desperately.

"Hold on," his father said and hung up. Rominic impatiently waited. If he wasn't dizzy, he would have paced around his room to pass the time. He waited for five minutes but it felt like forever and he almost gave in to screaming out with frustration and calling the last person he would ever call. The phone barely rang before he answered it. "This is unbelievable," his father said immediately. "This… how?!"

Stacy couldn't confirm if the woman was Lavender because she'd never met her, but Cadmus could. Rominic already anticipated that. "I don't know, Dad, but what do I do? How do I keep her? If I let her go, I feel like I'm going to run mad completely,"

"Oh, you will. You have to use any means possible to bring her back with you, son, even if it's by force. That woman needs to return to her position and for goodness's sake! My grandchildren need to return to their place! I don't know how you're going to do it but make it possible, Rominic, I know you can. You have to!" Rominic grinned. He already knew what he had to do but he needed someone to agree, so he could completely push his conscience away. If his father, the kindest man he knows, could say that, then he's not in the wrong. Rominic convinced himself with that.

"We can't allow Mom or your tyrant to know yet,"

"Hey, that's my daughter you're badmouthing," Rominic rolled his eyes. "You know that I can't keep a secret from your mother. She'd catch me before daybreak," his father said anxiously. "What am I going to do?"

"Dad, please, I'm begging you, don't tell her yet. She'd fly over here and that might get in the way of my plans,"

"Isn't that a good thing? She can convince Lavender for you,"

"Between Lavender and your wife, who's going to get convinced?" Rominic asked, raising a brow even if the other person couldn't see it.

His father sighed. "I'll try to evade her for as long as I can. Get to work,"

"Darling! Where are you?!" Rominic heard his mother calling for his father and he expected the reply which only made him feel dreadful.

"I'm not in the study keeping a secret or anything! I'll never lie to you!!!" Rominic hung up and scoffed, glaring at his phone. ‘As long as I can my ass,‘ he thought. He clicked his tongue and dialed another number. He was calling his lawyer.

"Good evening, sir. What a pleasant surprise,"

"What are the odds of gaining full custody over children I didn't know existed until a few hours ago?"