“Why are you determined to find the woman from that incident five years ago?” Anastasia’s eyes were filled with curiosity.
Elliot did not know how to explain it to her, but no matter what, he could not quell the urge to find her.
All of a sudden, Anastasia’s tears began to stream down her face. She covered her mouth as an overwhelming wave of emotions washed over her.
“Anastasia, what’s wrong? Did I do something? I’m sorry.” Elliot was frantic. Despite not knowing what he could have done, he was certain that he must have done something to make her cry.
However, Anastasia’s tears flowed even harder once she heard what he said. She cried so profusely that she began to hiccup.
No one would know what she was going through right now. She finally found relief from the thoughts that had chained her down for nearly six years. The vision
of that terrible beast of a man that she had concocted in her heart had changed to the man in front of her.
He was no beast!
Only the gods would know how incredibly freeing it felt to have the burden of these torturous thoughts and feelings lifted off her shoulders.
Elliot was beside himself with worry, but Anastasia threw herself into his arms and spoke with a teary voice, “Thank goodness it was you. I’m glad it was you.. As long as it’s you… it’s not that bad after all.”
He pulled her into an even tighter embrace. However, he had no idea what he could do to comfort her. Her sorrow seemed to stem from somewhere deep within her soul, and he hated that he did not know her enough to understand what was happening to her.
Even though he could not make out what her words meant, he felt she really needed him.
“Anastasia, could you tell me what’s happening?” he asked as he gently stroked the back of her head.
Finally, Anastasia pushed him back a little before explaining it all to him.
“Do you think Jared looks like you?” She looked up at Elliot and asked.
“Yes. Everyone who sees him says he looks like me.” This was something that he was incredibly happy about!
“Why do you think my son would look
like you?” she asked him a tricky question
on purpose.
True enough, her question had stumped Elliot. He stared at her in trepidation, afraid that she might start crying again if he said something he should not have. Anastasia decided to put him out of his misery. She raised her hand and lifted his watch. “I told you before that the man who hurt me that night five years ago left me a watch, but I didn’t take it and threw it away instead.”
Elliot did recall her saying that.
“The watch I threw away was retrieved by the staff at the club. They must’ve thought the watch was too expensive to just keep to themselves, so they contacted the person who booked the room. That person took the watch and kept it in her possession. Five years later, someone came to her and asked if she was the woman in the room back then. When she realized that the man was the wealthy and powerful president of Presgrave Group, she readily said she was,” Anastasia recounted as if she was telling a story.
Elliot’s eyes flickered back and forth as the revelation sent waves of shock through him, and his breathing grew heavier.
“It’s you. That woman from that night five years ago… It’s you, isn’t it? Anastasia? Hayley was the one who booked the room, so she had my watch and received the compensation that I owed to you instead.” Elliot was both shocked and furious, but at the same time, he was ecstatic.
“Jared’s my son. He’s my son… I’m his father!” He began to tear up as he was
overwhelmed and on the verge of exploding from all the emotions that welled up inside him..
Anastasia nodded. ‘Yes, Jared is your son. You’re the man that slept with me that night.”
His heart was filled with guilt and self blame. He hugged her tightly and kissed her hair as he blabbered on and on, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry… I’m sorry. I’m the worst. I’m the b*stard who deserves to rot in hell. I’m sorry…”
She looked up at him and refuted him. “Stop saying such nonsense.” All at once, Elliot lowered his head and began to kiss her fervently.
Anastasia nearly suffocated from the ferocity of his kiss. I thought he was in the middle of an apology, so why is he kissing me instead?
She had not forgotten about settling the score with him for what he did five years ago! Elliot was breathing a little heavily as he stared at her with loving eyes. “I’m sorry. I owe you too much, and I won’t be able to pay it all back even if I spent this lifetime, and the next, and every single one after that doing so.”
