REVENGE OF THE HEIRESS

CHAPTER4

JULIAN

I was in my office, enduring an endless loop of thoughts. I sat there going over memories that refused to let me go.

Every one of them circled back to her. Anastasia.

It had been five years since I last saw her. Which was the day everything happened.

The years were supposed to take the edge off, but the fact that I had spent more than one or two nights imagining her and her whereabouts, what she was up to and lord helped me whether she had ever replayed that night as I did.

I was distracted by a ring on my phone. I looked at the screen of my phone, Jordan, my assistant, was on the line.

“Jordan,” I said, sinking deeper into my chair and looking out my office window.

“Sir,” he said. “W-we found her.”

For a second there, I didn’t even know how to react. We had been back and forth for months, chasing leads that went into a dead end but we were never able to find her.

“Y-you found her?” I finally blurted, trying to control my voice.

“Affirmative, sir,” he answered. “But there is. . . additional information.”

“Additional information?” I asked him.

“A girl was present with her, a small one. She… she referred to Anastasia as her mother.

I did not move, completely frozen. I had to repeat the word countless times over in my head. It felt as if I had just been shot in the heart.

Mummy. Anastasia had a child. She had given up everything we had that night and started another life.

"Is she married?" I couldn’t help but ask this question. It escaped my mouth before I could contain it. I was too curious to just let it slide.

Jordan was quiet for a beat. "No, Sir, there is no record of the presence of a husband or a partner."

“Where is she?”

He took time before he could respond. “I sent you where she has been located.”

I had been searching for her for five years. Well, this was about to change.

“Book me a flight,” I ordered, after taking a glimpse of where she was on my phone. “I want to be on the next one out.”

“Yes sir. I shall make all necessary arrangements.”

Jordan ended the call. The next moment I was getting myself ready for a flight I didn't plan for.

Fortunately, the flight didn't last long. According to Jordan, she was still there.

I stood outside her apartment, debating for the hundredth time if I should go in.

It was just one night, and she left afterwards, so all of these shouldn't be necessary.

But it was, it was for me. I had always had something for Anastasia from the very first day I saw her but as faith might have it, she was with my nephew.

So I thought I would get over her. Coming to me that night was probably the breaking point.

This was the plan but I was past the point of caring about plans. Every time I close my eyes, I see her.

Anytime I try to have a quiet moment, I still see her. She was constantly around me without even being there.

I couldn't just stand there and keep on thinking of the possible outcomes. It was hard to find her for five years, I couldn't miss this. I was there already.

I took the stairs two at a time. By the time I reached the door, I knew it was hers because of the number on it.

I held the doorknob just as she was opening it. Her eyes met mine and something in me snapped.

She stared at me, her lips parted in surprise. I felt something inside me c***k, the restraint I had on myself.

Before she had the time to speak, I leaned down and claimed her lips. The feeling of her lips was still the same. Soft, warm and everything I had wanted for five years.

I couldn't hold myself anymore. It was like my life depended on it.

However, a voice intruded causing me to lose focus of what was going on.

“Mommy? Is that daddy?”

I stopped the kiss but managed to look down only to find a small girl staring back at us, her eyes filled with wonder.

Disappointment replaced whatever I was feeling seconds ago.

Anastasia hastily detached herself from me and moved closer to the small creature that was standing and staring at me, puzzled.

“Why don’t you go to your room for a little bit? I’ll be there soon, okay?” she said in a whisper.

I love you, sweetheart,” she said, gesturing for her to leave.

The little girl walked out of the room. I grabbed her again without waiting to turn back around.

"Is she ... your daughter?" I asked her hoping to hear something different for an answer.

“Yes, Julian. She is my daughter.” She answered, avoiding my gaze.

“How dare you? How could you seduce me, convince me that there was something between, and then go ahead and get pregnant for another man?”

Anastasia seemed taken aback and for an instance, I thought I caught a glimpse of remorse on her face.

But then her face hardened, “Are you kidding me?” she said, her tone lowering dangerously. “Seducing you? Julian, is that what that was for you?”

“Then why did you come to me that night?” I demanded an answer.

She hesitated before answering. “I only used you to get over my ex-fiance who cheated on me,” she answered.

“I'm sorry, Julian but I think it's best to leave.”

She said,

The anger inside me was growing further as what she said continued to replay in his head.

She had not only used me. She used me to get revenge on my nephew. The one nephew with whom I was never on good terms and she knew that.

She was also telling me to leave her house. This was unbelievable.

I took a step forward without a second thought and reached for her. In an instant, I grabbed her waist and swung her over his shoulders before she could react.

“Julian ” Anastasia exclaimed. “Put me down! What the hell do you think you are doing?”

She bawled her hands into fists and pounded them against my back.

I ignored her and started to walk towards my vehicle with her slung over his shoulder.

Her fists were banging on me. "Stop! Put me down! You can't just… Julian! This is madness!"

Still, I did not answer. I walked to the car, my assistant waiting by the driver’s side.

“Drive,” I commanded, my eyes locking with his driver.

"Stop!" Anastasia's voice was even louder this time. "Stop, Julian! You can't just take me—what about my daughter?”

That was when I remembered her daughter was still there

Somewhere, I still resisted; I wanted to be the man who left the child out of this, who didn’t care.

But I realised that it was not true. If this child belonged to her, then she was in Anastasia’s world which I could not simply erase from existence.

I despised the idea of her being in bed with another man enough to bear his child.

Pushing the front door open and entering, I saw the little girl in a hallway with a teddy bear in her hand looking up at me.

The little girl studied me with big, curious, and a bit familiar eyes.

“Daddy?” she said in a quiet voice. I went towards her and knelt before her.

“Do you want to live with Daddy?”

The small child briefly looked at the teddy bear in her grasp, almost as if asking for its approval, before giving me a shy nod.

Without saying more, I led her out, taking her hand as we walked towards the car.