Chapter XV
Heathrow International Airport, London, England
Justin Black frantically looked everywhere inside Alex's car and saw no trace of Max.
"Get out of the car, now!" he motioned to Alex, waving his gun at her.
"Where is he?" demanded, once he had her pinned next to the car outside.
"Who are you talking about?" she asked, feigning a puzzled look.
Alex's answer filled him with a frustrated rage, amplifying his hatred for her. He rammed his gun into her back; making her sink to the floor in pain, "Don't you play your damn games with me! Where the hell is Max?"
One of the other agents held back Justin, just as he was about to hit her again. "Hey…this is not what Charlotte told us to do. She said she wanted Alexandra and the boy back at Brynn Wydd unharmed. I think you ought to contact Charlotte and let her know you lost the boy."
Justin glared at him, "Don't tell me what to do." Even so, Justin knew he was right; he had to call Charlotte immediately so she could take action from her end, in the event that the boy was still in the country.
Justin dreaded her reaction when he started to dial the number on his cell.
Knowing it was his line, Charlotte answered after one ring. Although he couldn't see her expression, Justin could imagine it with striking clarity. "You lost the boy along the way? What did she do, eject him through the roof of the car?"
"I don't know how it could have happened, I had the car in my view the entire time," he lied. Now it was too late to tell her he'd lost sight of the vehicle for several precious minutes.
"I don't want to hear excuses," she snapped. "Bring her back here to me." Justin offered something along the lines of a profound apology, but he needn't have bothered, Charlotte hung up the phone while he was barely in mid-sentence.
Back in Wales, Charlotte Devane she picked up her phone again as soon as she ended her disastrous conversation with Justin, and she called another one of her agents. "I want you to pick up someone from the village. Her name is Heidi and she lives on top of the local butcher shop with her husband, Philip."
Wildwind, Pine Valley, PA
Dimitri put down the article and stood up, next to Erica, "You said there's a little boy and a limousine driver at the gates who want to see me? Well, have them come to the doors."
Erica looked worried, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe it's some protest group trying to pull a prank."
Dimitri grinned at her, "I thought you said it's a little boy. Besides, my operations adhere to the strictest environmental guidelines. And I've started giving women equal pay last month…"
Erica raised her eyebrows.
"Kidding."
Stella led Max and the driver into the living room at Wildwind, just as Dimitri and Erica walked out, so the five of them met halfway in the hallway.
The driver was an oriental man, wearing an immaculately pressed blue uniform, with the logo of a limousine company on his hat. "Are you Mr.Marick?" the driver asked Dimitri.
"Yes, I am."
"Thank you," was all he said as he turned around and walked back out the door.
"Hey you! …You can't just leave this boy here," Erica called after him, but he was already getting back into the car.
While Erica followed the driver outside, Dimitri examined the boy that stood in front of him.
Dimitri guessed he was around six years old. He wore a pair of brown slacks and a white shirt and he carried a knapsack that seemed too big and heavy for him. He sported a head of thick black hair and wore a serious expression on his face.
Dimitri knelt down next to him. "So your name is Max, is that right?"
Dimitri looked into the boy's big, brown eyes. They were red and tired and looked as though they'd cried for some time before coming here. But as he gazed into them, Dimitri suddenly drew back in shock.
He recognized the boy's eyes.
"Yes, my name is Max," the boy answered, observing him just as closely as Dimitri had done. He spoke with an English accent. "I have something my Mum asked me to give to you."
He took a letter and a watchcase out of his knapsack and handed them both to Dimitri.
Dimitri's jaw dropped when he opened the watchcase.
Inside it was an Omega men's watch. It was the same model he had given Alex years ago, except in its blue watch face there was a single Marick diamond. Dimitri turned it around with trembling hands and read the inscription on its back, 'A love for all time. A.'
As he read it, Dimitri's knees went weak and suddenly he felt like he couldn't get any air into his lungs.
He had to sit down.
Once seated, his hands still shaking, he opened the letter only to notice Alex's messy, hurried handwriting.
The sight of it suddenly made him remember an argument they had, the last time she had left him a note and he had barely been able to read half of it.
"Maybe if you dotted some of your 'i's and crossed a couple of 't's here and there, I could decipher it,' he had scolded her.
"It's something I picked up in med school…you have to learn how to write like a doctor before they let you graduate," she had teased him.
Now as he saw her handwriting in front of him, he focused to make out every word. It was barely a page long.
My darling Dimitri,
I know reading this letter will be a shock to you and I wish there could have been some way for me to tell you all of this in person. Unlike you've been led to believe, I didn't drown the night of Ryan Lavery's party. Charlotte kidnapped me because she needed someone with my research background to work for her organization. She threatened to kill you if I tried to flee or contact you. I know you would never have agreed with my decision to work for her, but at the time it was the only choice that my love for you allowed me to make. It was the only decision that allowed me to protect our unborn child.
By now you'll have met your son, Max. He's amazing, Dimitri. He's funny, and smart and he has your gentle heart. Sometimes I watch him when he sleeps at night and I still can't believe that I could have been blessed with such an incredible little person. My greatest regret is that I couldn't tell you about him sooner, so that he could have known the strength of your love growing up. Please protect him and tell him, every single day, how very much I love him and miss him.
Knowing now what you do, you must NOT consider going to the police or any federal agency, and above all, for Max's safety, please don't try to find me. If I've learned anything over these last seven years, it's that Charlotte is above the law, and that in order to defeat her, I have to resort to her own methods.
I have so little time to say the many things I want to say to you. Please forgive me for the pain I've caused you, for having you think I was dead and for keeping your son from you. Please know that if I had any other choice, I would never have done what I did.
I've wanted so desperately to tell you one more time how very much I love you, and, now, as I hold this pen in my hand, I wish a had a writer's gift of words to put on paper all the things I feel in my heart. I miss you my darling, so much still, that it hurts. I'm going to do everything in my power to make my way back to you and our son.
Always yours, Alexandra
Dimitri's hands shook so hard, he could barely hold on to the paper. "Oh God…this is not possible. It's not…"
He noticed that the envelope the letter was in contained a photograph too and Dimitri hastily pulled it out. It was a photo of Alex and Max, with snow-capped mountains in the background. Max must have been about two years old in the picture.
Meanwhile, Erica had stormed back into the living room. "I can't believe it, he's just going to leave him here! This is ludicrous! I'm going to…!" Erica stopped herself in mid-sentence, her anger changing to concern when she saw Dimitri. "Dimitri, what's wrong? You're so pale!"
Dimitri handed her the letter and the photograph. "It's Alex…she…she didn't die."
She looked at him as though he was crazy, "What are you talking about?"
Dimitri watched her expression change as she read the letter. "This is unbelievable, Dimitri! Can this really be true?"
Dimitri looked at her, then at Max, standing there with his knapsack, observing them both.
Alex's words echoed in his mind and for the first time in years, he could hear her voice again.
Our son, Max. He's funny and smart and he has your gentle heart.'
'Our son'. My son. Dimitri forced himself to stand up and he moved towards Max. "You…you, uh, must be very tired from your trip," he told the boy, his voice sounding far away to his ears. "Let me take your knapsack for you."
He removed his knapsack and, just then, Dimitri wanted nothing more than to take the boy into his arms. But he knew it was too soon for that. Max probably had no idea he was his father. "Can I get one of my housekeepers to make a bed ready for you, so you can get some sleep?" he asked his son.
Max shrugged his shoulders, trying to seem indifferent. But his eyes betrayed him, they were so sleepy Dimitri thought he saw his eyelids close more than once, even while he was still standing.
"I think sleep is probably the best idea," Dimitri concluded. He couldn't stop from staring at his son. His son. "Max tell me…did your mom tell you anything about me?"
Max nodded sleepily, "She said you're my dad, and that you have a stable with horses and that you can ride them really well."
Dimitri smiled and he wondered what else Alex had told him. "She's right, I do have a stable with many horses. Tomorrow, I'll take you to see them and I'll show you which one was your Mom's favourite. Would you like that?"
Max nodded reluctantly, "Okay."
Dimitri took his hand, "Come. Let's go upstairs. You can sleep in my bed tonight until we have Stella make you up your own tomorrow."
He took Max to his bedroom and gave him one of Sam's old t-shirts to sleep in. He was asleep in less than a minute. Dimitri watched him sleep for the longest time, until he heard Erica entering the room.
He felt her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. "My love, come downstairs with me. We need to talk about…" She stared at Max, sleeping on their bed. "Everything."
Dimitri bent down to give Max a kiss on his forehead and followed Erica downstairs.
Erica poured him a brandy, "Here. You look like you could use this."
Dimitri sat down, still shaken. "I feel like this is all a dream. A dream that this can't possibly be real."
Erica put her arms around him; "You have to take this slowly Dimitri. The first thing we have to do is arrange for a DNA test…"
Dimitri looked at her, puzzled, "DNA test? Erica, have you looked at him? He's a mirror image of Alex. His face, his eyes…oh god, especially his eyes."
Erica gave him a concerned look, "He's a beautiful child Dimitri. I know you want to believe he's your son, but, really, he could be anyone's…"
" 'Anyone's'?" Dimitri cut her off, "What about the letter? You can't argue that was Alex's handwriting. Plus, there's the photograph and the watch!" He couldn't believe that she would doubt the miracle he'd been given this afternoon.
Erica's voice was still gentle. "Darling, handwriting can be forged, and pictures can be doctored. I don't want to see you get hurt all over again. You cannot just accept this child as your son without some sort of concrete proof! We don't even know if Alex is really alive. If she did indeed write that letter she could have written it a long time ago."
Dimitri understood her need to protect him from the shock he felt and he didn't blame her for it. He pulled her towards him. "DNA tests take time, and I don't have time to waste anymore. All these years, I've had these feelings that Alex was still out there, alive somewhere. I should have trusted these feelings, Erica. When Lieutenant Frye told me, I couldn't see Charlotte in prison, I should have insisted and I would have found out that that she was never there to begin with. Three years ago, I got a phone call and I knew then that it was from Alex, but I dismissed it as my crazy imagination." How could he explain to her what he had known all along? "I had so many signs, Erica. So many. There were countless signs telling me that she wasn't dead, and I ignored them all. I should have listened to my gut instincts, but I didn't. I'm not going to let that happen anymore. I know that Max is my son and that's going to be good enough for now. Until I find Alex."
"We should go to the police," Erica tried to reason with him, "Whatever Alex is involved in is obviously dangerous."
"No. No police. It's what Alex said in the letter." Dimitri said firmly. A sudden determination filled him.
"She also said in the letter not to go looking for her," Erica argued. "If you're going to listen to one of her warnings, you better listen to all of them."
"She said that in order to protect me!" Dimitri countered.
"Maybe there's a reason for that," Erica told him, frustrated now. "Maybe she realizes that going after her could get you killed. If this child really is your son that's all the more reason to not do something so reckless."
Dimitri looked at the letter again, "If she sent him to me after all this time, it means something's gone very wrong. She's in trouble." Dimitri met Erica's eyes, and this time he was almost apologetic. Regretful. "I know you don't understand…and I'm sorry. But I have to find her. I can't give up on her this time."
"You don't even know where to begin looking for her, never mind that this could get you killed! She could be anywhere in the UK, or anywhere in Europe for that matter."
"I'm sorry this is upsetting you," he said softly. "I don't mean to hurt you or to get hurt myself, but I have to find her, and tomorrow Max is going to help me do it."
He kissed her on the cheek, and went back upstairs, and for the very first time he spent a night watching his son sleep.