The Man In Her Life

Nadia’s mind swirled at the sight of the three people she resented the most in the world as they laughed and smiled together after they destroyed everything in her life and threw her on the street.

A merging?! An Engagement?! She will see to it so that none of that ever happens. She will see to it so that they burn to ashes along with everything they took away from her.

“Mommy! Are you okay?! Does your tummy hurt? Should I rub it for you?”

Nadia’s dry heaving stopped, and she sat down on the kitchen floor taking a deep breath when her five years old’s voice reached her ears.

The thought of Luke seeing her in this state startled her and she turned around looking at him. He was sitting beside her on the floor his wide and filled with worry.

What was she doing making her son worry about her like this? Seriously…

“I’m okay, honey. I was just having a hard time digesting the food that’s all,” she told him as she ruffled his hair and he nodded snuggling into her and rubbing her stomach with his small chubby hands.

The simple moment was so precious that Nadia was about to forget the whole reason behind her earlier state in the first place. But her hatred and resentment were still burning red and bright within her.

“What am I going to do without you?” She whispered affectionately to her son.

“You would be lonely without me, Mommy,” He said with an innocent smile, “I would be lonely without you too,”

“You’re right, I would be very lonely,” she said calmly patting her son’s head.

A few hours later, after Nadia was sure that Luke settled down, she made her way toward the office. Tapping on her phone, she watched as the makeshift wall parted open welcoming her into her secret working room. Her tech haven.

The room was filled with high-end equipment from computers to hard drives and anything she would need to conduct her business. She’d made sure to build this room in her office as soon as she bought the penthouse. This way she wouldn’t have to keep hiding her work whenever she has someone over.

Since she was little, her only escape had been electronics. Unaware of the skills she was acquiring, and how useful they would become to her in the future, she’d spent all of her childhood and adolescence honing her hacking and programming skills despite the constant opposition of her father.

“Let’s see what we have here… I leave you alone for a few days and you’re already thinking about an alliance… Maybe I wasn’t giving you enough of a hard time,” She mumbled as she began typing into her keyboard.

Then suddenly, as the screen began to beep announcing an intruder, she smiled. It seemed like they had indeed been very busy these days. Good thing she took the evening off.

She was working into the evening when she came out to check on Luke. He was busy playing with his construction toys when she peeked into his room. Making her way to the kitchen, she began preparing their dinner keeping her laptop in front of her as she closely watched the progress of her tracking software.

She was moments away from finding out what those people were plotting when she heard the doorbell ringing.

Luke’s small feet thudded on the floor, and he appeared before her his eyes shining with curiosity.

“Someone is here!” He said with a grin,

“Yes, someone is here,” She answered with a smile.

Not many people stopped by their house at this hour, Luke must be excited over their mysterious guest’s arrival. Nadia made her way toward the intercom and Luke followed her jumping up and down. Lifting Luke up so that he can satisfy his curiosity, she turned on the camera to see who it was.

To her biggest shock, Dean was standing at the door, still in his work suit, waiting for her to answer.

“Who’s that, Mommy?” Luke asked.

“That’s the person I’m working with,” she said as she contemplated what to do.

“Then he’s not a stranger. We can let him in!” Luke said as he pressed the in button shocking Nadia.

“Wait, Luke!” She said stepping back from the intercom, but it was already too late. She could see the door opening in front of Dean and him staring at it for a moment before looking up at the camera. He picked up his phone then and hers was ringing soon after that. With a deep sigh, she answered.

“So now you’re calling?” She asked and Dean chuckled through the phone.

“I thought you would tell me not to come, so I decided to improvise,” He answered.

“You know this is an invasion of privacy don’t you,” she said.

“Oh, come on. We're way past the formalities at this stage,” he said.

“No, we’re not…” She answered curtly making him chuckle again.

“Then why did you open the door for me? What if I was a strange psychopath looking for you,” He said.

A chill ran down her spine at that statement and she closed her eyes trying not to think about how true it could be.

“That was a mistake, and I could see you through the camera you know…” She argued back then sighed, “Why don’t you come up for now,” she said.

“Wow, I’m honored,” He answered back as he disappeared through the door.

Nadia looked back down at Luke, and he looked back at her with guilty eyes.

“Luke, what did we say about letting people in?”

“Not to let in strangers?” He answered softly.

“And what are strangers?”

“People you didn’t give permission to get in,” He sulked.

“Then why did you open the door before I gave you permission?”

“I’m sorry Mommy,” Luke said looking down guiltily and Nadia sighed as she heard a knock on their door.

Luckily, Dean didn’t come in and called to hear her verbal approval. Sometimes, it really shocked her how much of a gentleman he could be. Probably because she always sees either his playful side or his ruthless side ay the company.

“Alright, let’s go greet our guest for now, we will talk about this later,” She warned.

“Okay Mommy,” Luke said dragging his feet as he trailed behind her.

Nadia opened the door and Dean was smiling at her.

“Hello there,” He announced and before she could answer him she felt Luke’s fists balling against her legs as he gazed up at Dean with uncertainty.

She looked up at Dean to find him looking at Luke his face void of any expression as he watched in silence.

That’s when it dawned on her. Dean didn’t know about Luke! He didn’t know she had a son! How could she forget that detail?!

Her mind raced as she thought about what to do and what to say as the silence dragged on. She didn’t even know how good Dean was with children!

But before she needed to do anything, Dean grinned and then knelt before Luke.

“Hello, Little man. My name is Dean Wess. Nice to meet you,” he said politely extending his hand toward Luke who was shyly looking at him from behind her skirts. He looked up at her uncertain and she nodded at him.

Then Luke slowly extended his hand to Dean.

“I’m Luke, Luke Rowell. Nice to meet you,” Luke answered as Dean smiled shaking his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Luke,” he said.

Nadia was transfixed for a moment at their mini-interaction. Something tugged deeply at her heart before snapping back to reality.

“Luke, why don’t we invite our guest inside?” She asked him and Luke nodded.

“Would you like to come in, Uncle Dean?” He asked and Dean smiled and nodded.

“I would love that, thank you, Luke,” he said as he stood up and stepped inside closing the door behind him.

It took a few moments to settle Luke down enough and distract him with his show for them to have their conversation.

“You’re full of surprises today…” Dean said softly as he sat at her dining table looking at Luke with a soft expression. He had been like this since he came in. It was as if he couldn’t look away from him since the moment he laid eyes on him.

“You’re just too nosy for a boss today,” She answered and Dean looked at her seriously.

“I would have appreciated to know that you had a family, Nadia. We were working together for too damn long for me not to know this,” Dean said looking a bit hurt.

Nadia sighed feeling slightly guilty about not being upfront with him from the start.

“It’s just Luke and me,” She said not looking him in he eyes.

“How about his father?” Dean asked his voice sounding soft.

“He was never in the picture…” Nadia said.

Something flashed in Dean’s eyes and for a moment she thought he was angry, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

“Did he leave knowing that you were having Luke?” Dean asked.

“It was a one night stand and I never met him again,” She told as much of the truth as she could without delving into details.

“So the man you were talking about?” Dean asked and she smiled at him.

“It was Luke, all along. He’s the only man in my life,”

Dean chuckled at that shaking his head when she gave him a sheepish look.

“Well, he’s a reliable one. I can see how protective he is of you… You raised him well. Despite working all this time, wasn’t it too hard on you?” Dean asked looking at her with open understanding and suddenly, Nadia felt unsettled.

She didn’t expect from him to be like this. So gentle with Luke and thoughtful with her.

“It was, but we managed. We had a lot of people to help us and we always had each other,” Nadia explained feeling vulnerable.

It wasn’t easy raising Luke alone, and the way Dean asked her this question suddenly made her want to sit there and let him comfort her as she recounts her hardships.

“Well, then, the more reason you should have told me. The company could have helped you…” Dean said, “Hell, I would have helped you. Did you even take a proper maternity leave?” He asked.

“I took my maternity leave before coming to work for you. Remember? I was late coming into work and you had to hire temps for a few months. After things settled down, I was able to come to work,” Nadia explained, and Dean nodded reluctantly.

“I see…” He said with a sigh,

“You’re shocked,” She said looking at him with amusement,

“Of course I am!” Dean exclaimed then his eyes widened in shock as he looked at her.

“Hey, wasn’t my father the one who hired you as my assistant?” Dean asked. She nodded.

“According to the timeline, he should have done that when you were still pregnant. Then does this mean that…”

“That you just told your parents who knew that I’m a single mom that we were dating? That’s a definite yes,” She answered with a smile and Dean blanched.

Of course, no one wants to be involved with a single mom in the prime of their youth… Especially the heir to one of the most known families in the city.

“Thank God the subject didn’t come up when we were talking. I would have been immediately exposed!” Dean said shaking his head, “To think that I’m dating you and don’t even know about your son. Father would have definitely caught on to that. That was one lucky stroke of fate…”

“Wait a minute, so that’s your problem?” Nadia asked and Dean tilted his head.

“Of course, what else would it be?” He asked and Nadia sighed.

“Nevermind. So, tell me, why are you here and not at your parents’ resolving this misunderstanding?” Nadia asked, Dean grinned at her.

This cannot be good.

“Nadia, why don’t we get married?” Dean asked.

Yupp… she knew that this wasn’t going to be good…