|| LORENZO KING's POV||
" Excuse me, Mr.King! You are taking it wrong! I am not the Valentina that you are looking for."
Her cold, emotionless voice left me awestruck. It was more like she was putting a strong barrier between us. When I left her embrace and looked into her eyes, it was vacant again. It seemed like she was the puppet similar looking like Valentina. Though she was denying her identity, her body had already given her answer. She went stiff and rigid when I pulled her into my embrace. I could be no less sure that she was my Valentina.
However, how she changed her identity or what was she doing here were all mystery. I acted along with her. It was better to face her anger rather than loosing her for eternity. Taking a step back, I apologized with a knowing smirk, her cheeks getting on fire,
" Ops! Sorry! I was just wondering.."
She shot a glare of not convincing. Going over to take her chair, she spoke in a very professional voice,
" Please take your seat and let me see the case for a while."
She looked so grown up and mature. Her entire aura had changed from a seductive woman to a tough one. The tone that she used sounded so dominating and seductive at the same time.
Was she my Valentina for real?
I couldn't keep my eyes off from her. I wished to kiss her hard until she admitted that she was the same Valentina Avery, the mother of my child. As she studied the case, I paid close attention to her each features. The way her lips twitched whenever she read something, everything seemed familiar in my eyes. I couldn't be so wrong and there was nothing called co-incident.
After a short while, she slammed the files shut, her tone once again sounding professional,
" So, the land belonged to the two brothers. One of them has died and the property now falls under his son who is in jail. Why is he unwilling to sign the documents? According to the law, he should agree with the decision of his uncle since his uncle is the legal owner."
Edmund responded on my behalf,
" That's not the main issue, Madam. He wants to take the land fully. He has been threatening his uncle to not sell it off. He was a part of gangster. That's why, he was showing off his power. His uncle is now hesitating although he had taken the money already."
Valentina nodded with understanding, sighed before standing up to leave in hurry,
" Consider it, done. I will take care of the case personally. Since they have taken your money,they are bound to handover the land to you."
I blurted, stopping her in her tracks,
" But it can be dangerous for you. You know, all the lawyers refused to take our case."
I was damn worried for her. After all, she was a woman who had no one to support once upon a time. She replied with a scoff, so hurry to leave me,
" They can't even touch a single strand of my hairs. I will see you later, Mr.King. Also please recognize the person first before hugging her. Your act can be count as inappropriate."
I smiled at her bossy attitude, loved each moment of it. When she headed outside of her office her, I also followed her in rush to see where she was going. Although she acted calm on surface, I guessed that she was irritated with my behavior. This time, I wasn't going to let her go so easily.
Once we got down, a car was waiting for her from the beginning. More than five guards were waiting for her to get into the car. The scene left me speechless with multiple questions. When I wondered where she was going, a uniformed guard greeted her with respect,
" Princess! Madam asked you to go home early!"
PRINCESS???
_______________
The Next day,
|| VALENTINA'S POV ||
I couldn't sleep well last night. Whenever I closed my eyes, all I could see was him in front of me. The way his face lit up after watching me made it worst for my aching heart.
Why did I had such a bad luck? Why did I lose everything?
I had no answer for all these questions. I found that it was the best idea to decline my previous identity. Besides, Lorenzo came here to stay for days only. After that, he would be gone again, back to his son and fiance. He had his own life now and Valentina Avery was just his temporary emotions.
Lorenzo seemed worried about my safety. But he didn't know that not only the cops but the entire military actually followed our orders. I had no one to fear in this country. Besides, it would be their bad luck if someone offended my family.
About Lorenzo's case, I stayed up all night to study his case and found out that I needed some requirements and information from him. In this thought, I called him in the morning to ask for the answers but he directly said that he was busy. I should go to his mansion to collect my answers. I couldn't understand why I had to go to his house when he could give me his answer through the call.
Sighing to my bad luck, I decided to go to his house. Since I had accepted the case already, there was no going back to my decision. Putting on the professional dress that I usually wore in my law firm, I drove for his mansion personally.
The weather was hot today. I felt a little uncomfortable in this blue coat. When I arrived at the location, the beauty of the mansion dumbfounded me. It was pink in color. Various flowers bloomed on its entrance. It wasn't so big but too attractive to take my eyes off. He really didn't stop spending his money. Even in foreign countries, he had his own personal mansion.
Recovering my casual aura, I entered the mansion without any security query. It looked like Lorenzo did tell them in advance that I was coming at his house. Once I scooted closer to the living room, a little voice shouted from the indoor area,
" I AM NOT EATING!! GET OUT!!!!"
My heart dropped into the bottom of the ocean. To guess who it could be, tears rolled down from my cheeks subconsciously. I couldn't stop my feet anymore. Without caring about anyone else, I followed the direction of the voice and ended up being in a room.
ELIJAH!!!!
I pressed my hand over my lips to hold down the whimpers, coming out of my mouth. I didn't know that Elijah came with Lorenzo as well. My baby was all grown up now. I tried so hard to get his picture but Lorenzo never brought him in the limelight. His security was always very strict. So, no one didn't know his face very well.
I looked down at the mascara on the floor. The plates were all broken, milk scattered all over the places. It seemed like he had broken everything. Why did my boy become so wild?
Guilt surged into my heart. Putting down my hesitation, I approached him slowly,
" What happened to this young boy?"
The servant recognized me because of my black coat. She gave me an apologetic smile to tell,
" Young Master doesn't eat or sleep well. We were just persuading him but he.."
She stopped talking when Elijah glared at her. I couldn't hold back my smile because he looked exactly like Lorenzo when he glared like that. However, he got light brown hairs like mine. I couldn't be less proud of that. Waving at the servants, I asked for the plate, surprising them,
" Understand! Give it to me! Let me try!"
They were asking me to not get bothered by him. But how was I supposed to act blind when my son wasn't eating?
Picking up a new plate of food, I went over to sit next to him. He watched me curiously. Surprisingly, he didn't act wild whenever I was around him. Maybe he could sense that I was his mother. Holding the tears in my eyes, I asked him softly,
" Hi baby! I am Valentina, your father's friend. Do you want to hear a story?"
Elijah puffed his cheeks again,
" I don't want to eat. I want to go outside. They don't take me anywhere."
My heart ached for him badly. Lorenzo was so busy with business that he may have no time to spend with Elijah. My poor baby!!
In a flash of moment, my motherly instinct was all awake again. Wiping the tears secretly, I held up the spoon into his mouth and promised really,
" If you eat it, I promise to take you outside. Okay?"
His little eyes lit up excitedly. I never felt so happier like this ever. His smile was nothing but a heaven to me. I fed him full and finally, he seemed sleepy. Although the servants said that they would be putting him on sleep, I was reluctant to break apart from my baby. I held him up in my arms and sang lullaby to coax him to sleep. Less than ten minutes later, Elijah had fallen asleep in my arms. By that time, the servants were all gone already. Using this opportunity, I kissed on his head to tell him how much I missed his presence in this years.
" Wow! I didn't know that Princess Valentina is so skilled in handling babies!", a voice grew behind my back. I jumped on my feet to whip my head back in shock.
Lorenzo stood there in a towel only. Upper part of his body was stained with droplets. Smell of fresh showering gel was coming from his body. He looked like he just showered right away.
I took several steps back from Elijah. My palms were already getting sweaty in nervousness. Swallowing hard, I replied weakly,
" Yeah..I have nephew and nieces.."
His eyes grew dark at my words. Giving me a mysterious smile, he led me outside,
" Come outside!"
_________
I noted down all the information as fast as I could. Lorenzo didn't bother to put on his clothes. I guessed that he was doing it on purpose to torture me. All the time, his naked eyes stuck on me.
When I planned to run back to my house, Lorenzo suddenly blurted, halting me between my steps,
" My son grew up without mother. So, he is really stubborn. I am sorry if he bothered you, Princess. He is just a pity without his mother's love. I hope, you understand that."
His words pierced through my soul, cutting my heart into pieces. I was the one who made him miserable. I thought that he wouldn't be lacking anything without me. Keeping my chokes down, I muttered before running away,
" I..I understand.. It's nothing really.."
After returning from Lorenzo's Mansion, I cried harder that night. My poor son was suffering there while I was leading a princess life here. Nothing was more painful to hear that he was actually being unloved. So, I decided to stay on his side as much as possible until he was here with his father.
_____________
The next day, we went to meet with the land owner. He was a man around seventy. Although he was aged now, he was still very cunning. He was using his nephew to delay the signing process. I was with Lorenzo at that time. When the old man recognized me, he bowed at me respectively,
" Oh dear lord! It's princess Valentina."
I corrected him coldly,
" It's lawyer Valentina. I have come to send you a legal notice."
Lorenzo watched our interaction in awe. Probably he never expected that a little girl like me was capable enough to fight a legal battle now. When we came out of the house together, Lorenzo received a phone call from his butler.
" WHAT??", he shouted so loud that I was startled at my spot. I asked him in worry, watching his face turning pale,
" What happened??"
He replied briefly before running to his car,
" Elijah had an accident."
_________
I had no idea how we arrived at the hospital. When I got there, I was already panting. I didn't care what Lorenzo thought about me. But the news had broken me into pieces. All I wanted to see was my baby, Elijah.
Tears kept pouring from my eyes consistently. The doctors were all dumbstruck to see when I entered his ward. With a gasp, all of them were bending down to me,
" Princess!!"
I ignored everyone around and went over to see Elijah who was now properly bandaged. His tiny head was wrapped with white tapes now. On our way back to the mansion, I heard that Elijah went over the road by mistake while playing with the dogs. Then a motorbike hit her hard. He fell off on the street and had a slight scratch on it.
" Aunty...", he called me with a weak smile on his face. I went forward to pull him into my hug tightly. My tears kept falling down when I told him repeatedly,
" I am so sorry..I am so sorry, baby!! I am sorry..I really..."
At that moment, I felt that in our adults argument, our baby suffered the most. Maybe, he would have been safe if I was by his side always. The doctor asked me hesitantly,
" Princess this is..."
For the first time, I used my princess identity to pass my order, still holding Elijah in my arms,
" Do everything to cure him as fast as possible. If anything goes wrong with his treatment, all of you will suffer."
Lorenzo said nothing to question me. He came to my side and caressed his son's head to ask,
" Hey big boy! Are you still hurting?"
Elijah replied in his baby voice,
" No daddy! I am fine! I like aunty Valentina. Can we take her with us at home?"
Lorenzo chuckled, giving me a knowing smirk,
" Then you will have to ask your Aunty for that. I don't think that she will listen to me."
Suddenly, the door of the burst opened with a bang. A woman's piercing voice echoed in the air,
" Where is my baby Elijah?"
I tilted my head back to find Kylie, dressed up in a short fitting dress. My face lost all the colors after finding her here. She looked at me, hugging Elijah. Her face went pale to rage as she started shouting like a maniac,
" Lorenzo.. what the hell.. What is this witch doing here? How can you allow her to go to Elijah? Wait.. Don't tell me that you have come here for her? Oh my god! This stripper has bewitched you again."
She was shouting and scolding like a mad woman. Elijah in my arms furrowed in disapproval. I understood that he didn't like this woman as well. As I intended to get up, Kylie rushed forward to snatch Elijah from me. She grabbed onto Elijah's arms painfully hard and started fighting,
" Give my son back to me! You are just a surrogate to him. Give him back!"
I almost laughed out loud with her words. Did she just call him her son?
Elijah had my sperm and he was born from my own flesh and blood. Although it was first a surrogate only, later Lorenzo and I went into a relationship. Then, we never talked about surrogacy. We wanted to raise our son as our own loved child.
During the fight, Elijah let out a painful cry that made me lose my temper. Pushing her back, I slapped her hard across the cheeks in front of everyone.
Kylie was stunned for a few seconds. When she raised her head up, rage flared in her eyes. She shouted back at me hysterically,
" You.. Stripper...How dare you slap me??"
At that moment, my guards rushed into the ward. Maybe someone informed them about Kylie who was acting violently with me. The chief in guard asked bowing his head at me,
" Princess, what's going on here? Do you need any help?"
Kylie's eyes flew wide in shock when she heard them calling me 'princess'. Before she could utter anything, I ordered them coldly, patting on Elijah's back,
" Throw this woman out of the hospital and make sure that the authorities don't let her in ever."
My guards quickly held her up and led her out of the hospital. She kept crying and begging to Lorenzo to stop them. However, Lorenzo did nothing to stop them. All the time, he was watching us closely while I put Elijah back in bed. After I made sure that he wasn't hurt, I turned around to leave the ward. But Lorenzo blocked my way suddenly, his voice carrying emotions,
" So.. you are finally admitting that you are Valentina Avery?"
I said nothing to him in response. I knew that I couldn't hide it any longer. Letting out a heavy sigh, I admitted without showing any emotions,
" I was but now, I am Valentina Underwood, the only princess of this country. I hope that Mr.King will let me see my son whenever I want."
I tried to walk past him again but he blocked me again, tears brimming from the corner of his eyes. He blurted in a painful tone, looking down at me while I did my best to not look into his eyes,
" What about me? What about me, Princess Valentina? You don't want to see me right? You only care about your son, isn't it? Tell me..Why are you silent.."