by Zavi James
Leaving work, I took the route to Hector's house and parked before knocking on the door. Hector answered looking less than impressed that I was standing on his doorstep. After losing my Dad suddenly and seeing what happened with Mom's condition, I was determined to see Hector and Mia back on talking terms. I might have thought he was a waste of space, but Mia adored him.
"What do you want, Foster?" Hector asked. "Payment isn't until the end of the week."
Hector walked back into the house and I stepped inside. Mia hadn't spoken to Hector and I knew it was eating away at her. Especially with the amount of time that she'd been spending with Mom at the hospital and home.
"Hector, I wanted to discuss something with you," I said to the older man.
"Is it to do with Mia?"
"Yes, actually."
Taking a seat, he gestured to the chair opposite him. At least he hadn’t attempted to throw me out of the house. Sobriety had obviously allowed him to engage what was left of his brain.
"Is she okay?" Hector asked me, the worry etched lines into his face.
"She's hurting, Hector."
He made a disgruntled sound and I hadn't realised just how stubborn both of them were.
"She wants to come and talk to you," I told him.
"Then why isn't she here?" Hector asked. "Because you won't let her?"
I let the comment slide. Over the past few weeks with Mia, I had done a lot of thinking that had led me to this moment. "That's my first reason for being here."
"What?"
"I'm wiping your debt clean."
"I'm sorry, what?" Hector asked in disbelief.
"You don't need to pay me back," I clarified. "That should prove to you that I'm not keeping her against her will. I have no reason to keep her with me or for her to want to stay, right?"
Hector narrowed his eyes at me and I leaned forward willing to take on any challenge he had.
"You've warped her mind," he said.
"She fell in love with me," I argued.
"She was stabbed because of you!"
I dropped my head for a second and then looked up at Hector again. "It was a lapse in judgement on my part and I'll never forgive myself, but I also won't let it happen again."
Hector scoffed. Whether he believed it or not, I wouldn't let any more harm come to Mia as long as I was alive.
"Hector, she chose to be with me. Trust me, she had plenty of opportunities to walk away from me."
Much of the time I believed she would, but Mia had continued to be there, calm and understanding. She took little interest in the money, had no idea what importance my name held. No, Mia had stayed because she loved me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to go through the rest of my life without her. We would forge an empire together.
"I don't believe that."
"I'm going to ask her to marry me," I blurted out.
Hector went red in the face before he stood up. "And you want my blessing?"
I stood up and drew himself to full height. "Not particularly. I couldn't give a damn what you think because I'll ask her regardless."
"You took her from me," Hector told me, his voice wobbling. "She was all I had, and you took her from me."
"I'm not keeping her from you, Hector. She's free to leave if she wants."
A silence fell between us.
"When?" he asked, almost defeated. "When do you plan to ask her?"
I had mulled it over, but nothing was set in stone yet. I’d known I would ask Mia to marry me when Dante had mentioned it in Brazil. She would want marriage and commitment and I had been serious when I said I could give it to her. Not because she would want it but because it was what I wanted. A ring on her finger and my name, to make it clear to the world that she was mine. Mia was the brightest jewel in my crown.
"Soon," I told Hector simply.
Surprisingly, he was the first person I had voiced these plans to and unsurprisingly he didn't seem pleased.
"Get out," he said to me.
I left without another word, not trusting myself not to make the situation worse if I took on the argument. I didn’t require his permission, but as with everything in my life now, I put Mia first. It was a shame her father couldn’t do the same.
When I got home, the door was unlocked, and I was greeted by the sight of Stefan coming down the stairs with a bag in hand. My body tensed seeing him for the first time since the hospital visit.
"I'm just grabbing my stuff," Stefan told me. His speech was still slow and unclear due to the wiring of his jaw and I had immense pleasure knowing that it was thanks to me.
"Don't let me stop you."
"I wanted to apologize to Mia. Is she here?" Stefan asked.
"No," I said sharply. "And even if she were, you're not going anywhere near her."
Stefan shrugged and looked resigned. "Fine. She's made a decision and I'm obviously not going to change her mind."
Behind me, the front door opened, and Mia walked into the house, surveying the scene. I held a hand out to her and Mia joined my side without a word, eyeing Stefan warily.
"I hope you're both happy," Stefan said, looking at us. "You deserve each other." There wasn't a drop of warmth as he spat out the words before he left the house, slamming the door as he went.
"He's picked up all his stuff?" Mia asked after a few moments when the silence had settled again.
"Looks like it."
She nodded. "I think it's for the best."
I was grateful that Mia finally saw my point. She shrugged off her jacket and hung it up.
"I went to go and see your Dad," I told her. It was like ripping off a band aid. There was no point in waiting.
"What?" Mia spun around to face me, looking horrified. "What did you say? What did he say?"
"I'm not having him pay me back anymore."
Mia didn't say anything. In the silence, I wasn’t sure if I was in trouble with her for taking the matter into my own hands.
"Why?" Mia asked, confusion clear in her voice.
"You said to me once that I don't need his money. That's true," I told her. "I don't want it anymore, either."
"But that means I don't need to..."
She was no longer required to stay here with me. Mia was not bound to me by her father’s mistake, but I hope that she was bound to me by more. The plan had been she would leave as soon as Hector’s debt was cleared. When she had first arrived, we both counted down the days until our lives would no longer run in parallel, but now I couldn’t imagine a day without her. I had never imagined being able to love someone as deeply as I did Mia, with her smart mouth and kind heart. Without the safety net of Hector’s debt, I hoped that her love would be enough to ensure she stayed.
Mia glanced at the bracelet that hung on her wrist. Slowly, she had been placing cautious steps into my world. I had truly underestimated her when the feelings had first surfaced. I had been worried that she would be scared and put her foot in it but Mia had been nothing but diplomatic and that pull she possessed had worked on more than just my household.
"Do you want me to stay?"
I closed the gap between us so quickly that she swayed. My kiss was forceful and full of want. It was as if I wanted to communicate everything to her through this simple action.
"Do you want to stay?" I asked. My forehead rested against Mia's and we both breathed heavily. This wasn’t my decision but hers. I needed to know I was a choice she had made when nothing forced her hand.
Mia didn't hesitate before she responded, "Always."
Chapter Fifty One
Mia
I raised my hand and balled it into a fist but was momentarily paralyzed with fear. The last time we spoke it had spiraled into an argument, but things had changed since then. I thought the moment Dad’s debts were wiped clean that I would feel a sense of relief and be ready to return home, but when Luc told me about his decision, I panicked thinking I would lose the best thing that had ever happened to me.
That wasn’t the case. Lu
c just wanted me to make a decision about him without any pressure. I didn’t need to think about it. I knew that my heart belonged to him and going back to life before him was an impossibility.
Building up the courage, I knocked on the door and Dad opened it without a word. He looked better every time I saw him. He didn’t smell of alcohol and had some weight around his middle. All that was missing was his smile.
"Can I come in?" I asked.
"It's your home, Mia."
Dad looked around outside, I assumed to see if Luc was with me. I had asked him to stay at home and give me time alone with my Dad. As usual, he wasn’t happy with my request, but he gave in, allowing me to take one of his cars as long as I promised to call if there was a problem.
"He's not here, Dad," I said.
We both walked into the house and he looked over his shoulder. "You left him?"
The amount of hope in his voice made my heart hurt. "No."
We stood in the living room, suffocated by the awkward silence.
"Why did you choose him, Mia?"
"I don't know."
Stefan had asked me a similar question about what I saw in Luc. How was I meant to explain to them that it was an indescribable pull? I loved him despite everything I knew about him.
"I thought I hated him. I thought he was arrogant and prideful," I said, thinking back to when we met. "Somewhere over the past 8 months, that's changed. I fell in love with him." My eyes welled with tears as Dad watched me. "He's a good man, Dad."
Dad looked at me incredulously. "You can't honestly mean that."
Good might not have been the right term to use in front of Dad but Luc was good to me. I had learned he didn't do things without reason. He did right by those he cared about. He worked hard but he was loving and playful.
"What good man behaves as he does?"
I didn't say anything to that. There was no excuse for the things he did, and maybe I was equally as terrible for being able to love him when I knew about how dirty his hands were.
"I thought you had morals, Mia. You're a good girl. You never got into trouble. Why on earth would you want this? Why would you want him? I can't understand it, Mia."
Everything he said hurt. I’d never seen Dad upset or disappointed in me and I started to feel anxious as I stood there. I didn't feel like a 20 year old woman but more like a teenager.
"Mia, will it even matter what I say?"
I looked at my father who had raised me on his own since I was five years old. Dad was my entire world for so long I had never thought to make time or space for anyone else. I’d had boyfriends but the most I felt for them was fondness. It was nothing like the desire I felt for Luc.
"It matters to me," I told him.
"But you won't leave him." Dad sighed heavily and rubbed his hands over his face.
"I don't want to leave him, Dad."
By the look on my Dad’s face, I could tell that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. It felt like we were on sheets of ice that were drifting further apart. How could a few months change us like this?
"Mia, I'll never be able to support this. I'll always want better for you," Dad told me.
The knot twisted uncomfortably in my stomach and I could sense what was coming before he even spoke.
"You need to make a choice, Mia," Dad said. "I know I can't stand to watch you throw your life away for him."
A lump formed in my throat. How was I meant to choose between Dad and Luc? I loved them both and they both played a significant role in my life. My limbs felt numb from anxiousness as my brain pondered over everything about the two men and it stopped on one small fact—Luc had never asked me to choose. His relationship with my Dad was strained, but even before we were together, he allowed me to spend time with Dad. Luc wanted to see me happy. Right now, my happiness didn't outweigh my Dad's hatred towards Luc.
"I love you, Dad."
"I'm so glad, Mia..."
"But I also love Luc and I can't stop that." My voice was a whisper and it hurt to swallow. I felt the tears burn my eyes at what I was about to do.
"You're choosing him?" Dad asked. "After everything I've done for you."
"I'm sorry, Dad."
Dad’s expression turned blank and I bit my lip, willing the tears not to fall.
"Don't expect me to pick up the pieces when this falls apart," he spat at me. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I think I'd like you to leave now."
Numbly, I did as Dad asked. This was not what I had expected to happen. I thought he would listen to me and eventually accept my decision. His duty as a father was to want what was best for me, I couldn’t deny that, but it didn’t give him a right to try and dictate how I lived my life.
I slid into the car and shut the door before letting the tears fall. Screaming out my frustration, I banged my fists against the steering wheel. I had put my trust in Luc, and I hoped and prayed that I wouldn't regret the decision I had made.
When I returned home from Dad’s, because that's what Luc’s place was to me now, my home, I barely said a word. It took Luc some pressing before I admitted what happened. Although I could see the relief in his eyes that I loved him enough to stay, it was overtaken by the fury he felt at Dad for putting me in that position.
That night, I laid my head on Luc’s chest muttering quietly through my tears about how I no longer had any family. I had left my Dad, severed a bond I never imagined would break, and my heart ached with every beat. The exhaustion from the day started to set in and my eyelids felt heavy with fatigue. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was Luc’s voice as he kissed the top of my head.
“You have all the family you need here, Mia. You’re my family.”
Chapter Fifty Two
Lucas
"I don't know why you thought I'd be any help with this," Dante said.
"I'm asking myself the same thing," I muttered.
The entire day had been spent in Dante’s company, but where that wasn’t usually an issue because it involved work or a drink, this had been a painful trip that we had both suffered through and we weren’t done.
"I should have brought Lydia or Dom," I continued.
Dante looked offended. "Oi! It's not my fault you're being so picky."
“It needs to be perfect,” I told him seriously and he held his hands up in defense.
We walked into the store and took the elevator up to the designated floor. It had been like this all day, either men on their own or couples. Dante and I stuck out like sore thumbs and an incorrect assumption about our relationship status had been made on more than one occasion today.
A sales assistant came up to us and asked if we needed help. I took in a deep breath and said, "I'm looking for an engagement ring."
A little while later, the pair of us emerged back onto the street, having made the desired purchase, and meandered towards a bar.
"We spent the whole day and then two hours deciding between three rings. Never get engaged again, because I'm not doing this with you again. I should have just picked one out so that I can store it away when I'm ready to lose my mind," Dante complained.
I punched his arm. "I haven't lost my mind."
"I never thought I'd see it happen," Dante admitted to me.
Shrugging, I rubbed the back of my neck. "Is it really that surprising?"
Dante looked at me for a moment and shook his head. "Not with her. I think we all knew Mia was it for you. When are you planning to ask her?"
"Not sure," I said. "I don't have a plan. I just know I need to ask her."
"You think she's going to say yes?"
"You don't?" I asked, panic filling me inside. I knew there was the distinct possibility that Mia could decline the proposal. We had known each other for less than a year, dated for even less. Our history was not smooth and settled and was marred and mottled with arguments and misunderstandings, but this was all I could think of. Especially after she came home from seeing Hector.
That pathetic excuse for a life had g
iven her an ultimatum, and regardless of the fact that I was ecstatic that she had chosen me, I couldn’t understand how he thought it was okay to do that to her. My heart had broken when my soft hearted princess was inconsolable at the fact she had no family left. That was what had strengthened my resolve. Mia felt she had no family, and I would prove to her that she could have one with me. All she had to do was accept.
Dante smirked. "You're a lot to handle."
"I swear to God if you weren't my brother..."
"I'm just saying, do you think she'll want this without Hector?"
I bristled at the name. If I had it my way, I would have visited Hector just to knock some sense into him, but I knew Mia would never forgive me for that.
"If she agrees, she'll still have time to patch things up with him," I told Dante. My preference would be to keep him as far away from Mia as possible so he didn’t do any more damage but that wasn’t my decision to make.
"If she agrees then she's as certifiable as you are," Dante said, shooting me a grin before he dove into the bar.
Chapter Fifty Three
Stefan
I had dragged myself out to a coffee shop to do some studying. The tiny apartment that I had moved into was damp, with the worst lighting, and made it difficult to do anything. Everything had been more difficult since Luc had broken my wrist and my jaw had been wired shut. Winter break hadn't exactly gone how I would have liked.
"Jesus, doll." A high-pitched voice made me look up. "What happened to your face?"
Amber stood by my table holding a takeout coffee cup. She was the type of woman I was used to seeing my brother with. For the past two years, Amber had been at Luc's beck and call. A much more obvious beauty than Mia, and Amber was fully aware of her appeal. It came across in the way she spoke and moved. She was the perfect match for Luc. Obnoxiously full of themselves with so much ego that no one else could fit into their world. That’s how it should have stayed.
"Ask your ex," I told her bitterly.
She narrowed her eyes and then, without an invite, sat down at the table, sweeping her blonde hair over her shoulder. I had been around Amber before, but she had always paid me little attention. We were in different leagues that weren’t even remotely close to each other. Our only interactions had been when necessary.
