03. Revelations and danger

 two years later

                Mia Miller 

I opened the car window, feeling the cold wind tousling my messy hair.

The cold weather always attracted me, but today it seemed to penetrate my skin, causing me shivers.

I looked at Lorenzo, who was sleeping in the car seat, and I recalled that night. Two years had passed, and he was identical to the man with whom I lost my virginity in the parking lot of a bar.

Discovering the pregnancy was a complete shock.

That pregnancy test made me collapse on the floor like a child. 

I didn’t want this child. But the moment he was born,I saw his face. 

Collin's betrayal, and the desperation of not knowing how to manage, all disappeared.

Only he mattered.

"Do you think this is going to work?" I asked, my voice trembling as I tried to keep my composure.

You must be wondering how all this happened…

And I even wonder for myself.

"The job there pays well," she replied, her determined look trying to convince me.

"What exactly do you do there?" I inquired, raising my eyebrows, anxiety consuming me.

"Mia," she looked at me, "do you want the job or not?"

"I want anything. I need to pay for my father's treatment," I confessed, feeling a lump in my throat thinking about his illness.

Another terrible news to follow: My father was diagnosed with cancer.

And he was the only person I had since my mother died...

The weight of worries hit me hard when I realized the desperate financial situation. Charlotte seemed to have the solution, although her secrets haunted me.

Pain and fear: that was all I felt. Mortgage, unemployment, bills to pay.

Tears were no longer enough to express the size of despair.

I made the deal with the bank to pay the mortgage , but now, unemployed, I couldn't even do that.

"I'll do anything for them," I thought , with burning determination.

I stared at my reflection in the car window, minimal changes in my appearance. My hair maintained the same texture, my green eyes shone, and I wore a simple dress, as usual.

"Explain this job to me," I requested, trying to focus on the crucial issue.

"Well, Mia… I work by pleasing millionaire men. Do you think I got this car, these clothes with a college degree?" she explained , and my eyes widened. "They give me what I want if I do what they want."

I was determined to do anything.

I felt like a failure, and if I had to lie with men to provide the basics for my father and son, I would do it.

"You would have enough money to pay the mortgage and your father's treatment. Just think about that. Being so beautiful, you can have any man at your feet."

I sighed.

Silence fell over the path as I watched my little one sleep, his features so similar to the man I was trying to forget. I preferred to keep this pregnancy a secret, fearing the consequences of involving someone else in the chaos that was my life.

I was Lorenzo's father and mother, proudly.

The path to the interview in the blessed club unfolded, while I lost myself in my thoughts, watching the New York sky through the window.

Somehow I considered life as something unstable.

Two years ago, I said I would marry Collin. We would be happy, we would have two children and a dog, but nothing will ever be the way we planned.  

And amid stupid promises came betrayal.

Some say they don’t understand the meaning of life. Others seek insatiably to fill their emptiness.

I wondered that myself. 

But after seeing myself with a son of a man who probably does not even remember that I exist, single mother and a huge load to account for I only say that the meaning of life is: to resist.

The world will destabilize you and people will fuck you psychologically and betray you, but you will find forces where you did not even know they existed. 

Because nothing is ever about us.

"Why are we going this way?" I looked around. "I’ve never seen this way before. It’s beautiful," I commented, smiling at the sight of cherry blossoms.

"It’s beautiful but empty. That’s why I always take this shortcut to the club; it’s so much better."

In the blink of an eye, our car was intercepted, and I heard a loud bang.

I felt my spine slam against the back seat and only had the strength to hold onto the baby’s car seat.

When I got up, stunned, we were surrounded by hooded men.

My heart quickened, and a chill ran down my spine, warning me that something terrible was about to happen. I immediately looked at Charlotte, who shared the same fear.

The action was swift and brutal. Armed men told us to get out of the car, pointing guns and shouting threats. Despair gripped me as Charlotte was violently taken, leaving me stunned and alone by the roadside.

One of them approached and took my son too. Lorenzo’s eyes stared at me, not understanding what was happening.

"Please take everything, but don’t hurt my son!" I begged, squinting.

"If you move before we leave, I’ll kill you," one of the men said coldly. "And don’t even think about calling the cops, or the kid’s going to pay for it."

The car sped away, leaving me there, lost and confused.

Despair mixed with fear manifested in uncontrollable tears as I tried to understand what had just happened.

 My son was taken, and I did not know who was behind this cruel action.

Upon arriving at that dark alley, I found Charlotte on the ground, bruised and dazed. Her eyes revealed a terror I could comprehend. 

My mind was spinning. But what terrified me the most was not knowing what to do.

"Where is my son?" I screamed."

Every second felt like an eternity, and the anxiety was eating me alive.

"What the hell," I screamed. "I need to save my son."

We called for help and managed to get a ride that dropped us off closer to Charlotte's car. I drove and left her at her parent's house with the car.

 I had no time!

My little child was only two years old, alone with those monsters. I needed to do something, but I was afraid of what might happen if I called the authorities. These men seemed dangerous.

Charlotte turned to me, still debilitated, and spoke.

"What did they do to Lorenzo, my friend?"

"I have no idea," tears streamed down my face. "I need help… I don't have the resources, I will go after his father."

"No!" she screamed, and I stared at her. "You shouldn't go after his father," she suggested.

I didn't listen to her, at that moment I was a desperate mother who would save her child.

I had no money, no resources, and nowhere to turn. Desperation pushed me toward a single solution: Lorenzo's father.

A man with whom I had shared an intense night and who was now my last hope.

As the tears mingled with the rain that began to fall, I wondered: why the hell did they do this?

What made him so important to these men?

Those questions echoed in my mind, making the despair even deeper.

My feet stepped in, and I noticed the facade; it was different from the night I remembered.The place where my life changed completely.

My hands were trembling, and my heart was pounding fast. I took off my wet coat and leaned against the counter, seeming to feel every beat of my heart.

I propped myself up on the counter and spoke to the tall man in front of me.

"I need to find a man, his name is Ethan," I said with trembling hands.

The possibility of finding him again made me almost breathless.

"Who are you?" he looked me up and down.

"Mia Miller."

I would do anything to have Lorenzo back, including confessing that I never told his father he had a son.