In Love With Mr. Billionaire - Chapter 43: Chapter 43

"Ba bye!" I waved at Nadia as I ducked inside the limousine waiting for me. She waved back from her apartment's window, leaning into the darkness of the night, away from the light of her apartment. I tilted my head to look at her through the car's window. She continued to wave until the chauffeur drove away.
Only when she was out of sight, I closed the window and leaned back in my seat, next to Aaron.
Our flight landed in California only hours ago. Dylan was throwing a party at his parents' residence and that was our destination. Though it would be a sin if I landed in California and not made a stop at Nadia's place.
I wanted my first visit to her apartment to be a surprise for her. As expected, she was delighted to see us there. Although our stay at her apartment was a short one, I was incredibly happy to meet her again. The best part of it all was when Aaron had started narrating the downfall of the Marshall family, Nadia had listened intently with starry eyes and a face that looked as if all her dreams had come true.
She had wanted to join us at the party and requested me to tag her along. But that request had become void the moment she got to know Dylan was the host.
"You shouldn't have told her VanAssche was going to be there. It would have been fun to have her there," Aaron commented.
"It's all fun for you, isn't it Mr Woodwords?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "They both individually will kill me the moment I start playing cupid with them."
"It's not about playing cupid. It's just—"
"You just wanted to annoy Dylan," I completed it for him.
"In a way," he grinned sheepishly. It made me smile as well.
Though Aaron and Dylan may still not be that fond of each other, they have bonded nicely over getting James behind the bars and searching for my mother.
Melissa, Aaron's PI, is working with Dylan's team in California searching for clues that would lead to mom. The address James gave me had not directly led us to her, but it had given us a start. That was the first place she had gone to after that night. Though she had not lived there for long. It was a small, lively town where everyone knew everyone. But she had lived in isolation. Or that was what the residents there said about her. She never talked to anyone much and spent most of her days locked inside her little cottage. One day, some two to three years ago, she moved out of the town. The people claim they hardly knew her while she lived there so it was impossible for them to know where she had gone after that. Though the detectives and the intelligence team were doing their best to find her, I tried not to lose myself in fallacious hope.
The car stopped outside Uncle William's mansion. I clutched Aaron's hand as the chauffeur came around to get the door for us. Reporters and paparazzi were crowding around the place, and even after all this while, even after trying to get into that life with Aaron, I was still not used to people shoving cameras on my face. At least now I had someone to lean onto.
"I got you," he said as the doors opened and we stepped outside.
I kept my eyes ahead and my focus on Aaron. Sensing my distress—like he always did—he squeezed my hand as we walked in. The voices of the cameramen screaming for pictures were replaced by soft melodious music as soon as the doors to the mansion closed behind us.
Dylan spotted us instantly and excused himself to come and pull me in a hug. He shook hands with Aaron—a normal handshake unlike the last time—before taking us to meet Uncle William and Aunt Jenna.
"Caro, my little girl!" Uncle William exclaimed as soon as he noticed us.
I promptly scurried to hug both of them. It was more than a decade since I last saw them. Being forced to lose contact with them was hard initially, but then I had gotten used to it a little. It was at my wedding that I had felt their absence, craved for their presence, but Uncle William's health had prohibited him to travel by air. Now meeting them both I realized that I had missed them a lot more. Even when I didn't know that I was missing them, a part of me still had.
"It's so good to see you again," I said, breaking the hug.
"We missed you," Aunt Jenna gave me a motherly smile.
"Me too," I replied.
Dylan excused himself to attend to the other guests while I introduced Aaron to my aunt and uncle. Of course, they had already heard of him, though their knowledge of him was strictly restricted to his business endeavors.
"I've heard a lot of things about you, both good and bad. But now I'm meeting you as my little girl's husband. I hope you take good care of her," Uncle William forwarded his hands to shake with Aaron. The underlying threat in his voice was loud and clear.
They loved me just as much as they loved Dylan. There were times when they favored me more than him during our childhood. They had made constant attempts to get back in touch with mom and me for several months, after we had stopped all contact with them, afraid of James' threats. They had tried to contact me after mom was gone. None of it had made a difference because James had weaved the lies too deep. Their efforts hadn't reached me and it wouldn't have made a difference because I was too scared of him to go against him.
"You don't have to worry about her, sir. I will," Aaron stated confidently.
Uncle William smiled at the response. After everything that had happened with my mom, he needed that reassurance.
After a brief chat with them, Aaron took my hand to guide me to the dance floor. We had barely moved out of my aunt and uncle's company when someone called for Aaron.
"Mr Woodwords!" Said the man making his way towards us through the swarm of people.
He shook hands with Aaron and then turned to greet me with a polite smile.
"Good evening, Mrs Woodwords."
"Good evening," I replied with a smile, waiting for the introductions that were due.
"Caroline, this is Mr Drake Martin. He owns some of the most famous art galleries in New York," Aaron said.
"That's wonderful. I'd love to visit them someday," I said and shook hands with Mr Martin.
"Any time you want, Mrs Woodwords. It'll be an amazing experience to work with you."
Work? With me?
Not knowing how to react to that, I kept my mouth shut and simply smiled back at him. When I looked at Aaron, he didn't seem confused or surprised about it.
"We'll contact you with the details soon," he said to Mr Martin. "Please excuse us for now." With that, he took my hands in his again and pulled me along for a dance.
I wrapped my arms around his neck while his hands automatically went around my waist, pulling me closer, more than what was required for a dance. "What was that?" I raised my brows in question, still confused about Mr Martin's 'work with you' part.
Aaron smiled at me. A mischievous smile that made me frown. "Let the world welcome a new artist," he said.
"What? Me? I'm not good."
"You are, Caroline."
"I'm not. And I'm not ready," I asserted.
Every artist dreamed of a day like this. To be given a chance for their creations to be put out in the world, to be admired by people, to be praised. But it's been only months since I got back to painting again, and I didn't think I was ready yet. There was still so much to learn, so much to practice, so much to discover, and only experience could give that to me. It will need time and patience. Painting something and showing it to Aaron was a different thing, but painting something with the purpose of giving it away to the world to watch, analyze and criticize, was a totally another thing. It was terrifying.
"You are ready, Caroline. I believe in you," Aaron said. "I'm not saying this just because I love you and I want to see you succeed in life. I've seen the passion in your eyes when you're working on a piece of art. I know there is a part of you that believes that you're living your mother's dream every time you paint. Why not give that passion a medium to become something more? Let the world decide if you're good enough or not."
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped when Aaron continued. "It's not just me who thinks that Caroline. I am not making that decision for you. Drake is an old acquaintance of mine and when I showed him some of your art pieces, it was him who wanted to work with you. He sees the potential in you to be the next big thing."
That was a lot to process. Aaron was the only one I voluntarily showed my painting to, fearing no one else was going to care about it. I hadn't planned out a future or career for myself when I started painting again. But now that I was getting a chance to have it all, why was I holding myself back?
"I'm scared." My voice was barely above a whisper.
"You won't be alone. I'm going to be there," Aaron promised.
I smiled at him, knowing well he would be. "Okay."
"Okay? We're doing it then?" he asked, his eyes lit up.
I chuckled as I nodded my head. "We are."
His phone vibrated inside his coat pockets and Aaron pulled back to take it out to answer it. He looked irritated at the interruption caused by the call.
"It better be important or you're fired," he said to whoever was on the other end.
Aaron listened intently for a moment. "Are you sure?" he asked, but he was looking into my eyes. Still listening to the caller, he took my hand to move us away from the dancing couples. He stopped when Uncle William and Aunt Jenna were close.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." He ended the call with that.
"Caroline, I need to go. It's urgent. Nothing to worry about, but I'll explain it all later. Stay with them till I get back. Okay?" Aaron kissed me on the cheek. Before I could inquire him about where he was headed with such urgency, he was out of earshot.
I watched him as he paused on his way out to speak to Dylan. Dylan said something to the group of people he was talking to, and then accompanied Aaron out of the mansion. What the hell was going on?
"Where are they going?" Aunt Jenna asked. All three of us were staring at the entrance with visible confusion.
"Not somewhere trouble, I hope," I sighed.
4 hours! It's been 4 hours since Aaron and Dylan walked out of the party without giving any hint of where they were headed to. I looked out of the window at the entrance gate. The guests were leaving. Aunt Jenna and Uncle William were attending the few that were still left.
Cars after cars were going out through the door, but there was no hint of any coming inside. I looked down at my phone and sighed. None of them were answering my calls.
"Any calls from them?" Uncle William asked as the last of the guest walked out of the mansion, towards their waiting car.
"No. They're not even answering my calls. I'm so worried. Why did they have to go so dramatically? Idiots!" I huffed. The last car of the night drove out of the gates.
"Idiots indeed," Uncle William agreed.
"Calm down, Caro," Aunt Jenna said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Then I saw it. The first hint of yellow light cut through the dark of the night. As soon as the headlights of the car came into view, I rushed towards the entrance. Dylan was the first one to walk inside.
"Where were you?" Aunt Jenna asked. I was going to ask the same thing, adding a little—or maybe a lot of—frustration-turned-anger in my tone.
"Police station," he answered simply. My eyes went wide. Why?
"Where is Aaron?" I asked, looking behind him. That was a more important question.
"His car was just behind ours and met with an accident. Fortunately, he died," Dylan sighed. But the next moment I saw Aaron walk through the door, with a group of men and women following him.
"Unfortunately, VanAssche. It's unfortunately," Aaron corrected.
"Why don't you disown him already, aunt Jenna?" I said, glaring at Dylan.
My attention was soon snatched away by the group that had followed Aaron inside. Melissa was there. A lot of other familiar faces from Aaron's office were there as well. But none of them had grabbed my attention. It was the old woman, with dusty blonde hair and eyes as brown as mine, that had.
"It is her. Go ahead," Dylan encouraged.
My eyes were fixed on her, even as they started to water. My breathing became heavy to the point that it was suffocating me. She smiled at me. It was a sad smile. She stayed at her place. She didn't move closer. Was she worried I would not like it if she did?
"Mom," I whispered. It was overwhelming, that word. How many times in the past years have I sat inside my room, on my bed, staring at a wall, thinking about her well-being? How many times have I imagined having a reunion with her, even though I believed it was never going to happen in reality? How many times have I whispered the word to an empty room wishfully thinking it was going to be heard?
It didn't matter now.
None of it.
She was here.
And she heard me.
I ran to her and engulfed her in a tight hug. She hesitated for a moment before hugging me back. We both cried our hearts out.
"I'm so sorry, Caro," she said.
I tightened my hold around her, afraid that pulling back would once again steal her away from me. "You don't need to be."
"I left you. I left you with him," she cried.
"You did all you could do. It wasn't your fault." I patted her back. My hands were shivering, my voice was breaking as I spoke, and my whole body was trembling. It felt like a dream.
"Look how beautifully you've grown." Mom broke the hug and stepped back to look at me.
I couldn't take my eyes away from her face. She looked so different from the last time I saw her. She had lost weight, dyed her hair dusty blonde, and age had come for her, staying on her face as wrinkles, but failed to take away her beauty. She was still the most beautiful woman to me.
"How have you been?" I asked, wiping my tears. I stepped back when I noticed Uncle William walking toward us.
He hugged mom. Aunt Jenna did the same. They all had tears in their eyes.
"Where have you been all this while, Isa?" She asked my mother.
I took my mother's hand as she narrated everything that had happened to her after that night at James' house. "He threatened me not to go to you for help," she looked over at Uncle William. "I couldn't go to the cops. James had warned me not to. I was scared. I had nowhere to go. I stayed around the house, waiting that maybe he would change his mind, maybe he was going to let me take Caro with me, but an hour later when he did come out of the house, he threatened to kill me and her if I didn't leave immediately. So, that's what I did. I left. It took me some time to find a job in a nearby town. I rented a little cottage, but that wasn't enough for him.
"He would send some of his men to patrol around the cottage some days. They would inquire about me. They didn't want me to speak to anyone. They'd threaten me if I did. He was keeping an eye on me.
"That was when I decided to leave that place. I painted sometimes in that cottage, it was my only solace and I found a dealer online who was offering a decent price for my painting. When I had the means, I left that place. I changed my appearance and I ran away, somewhere where he would never find me.
"I tried to go to the cops after that. They were willing to help me, but they warned me of the repercussions of my actions. James had become a big businessman by then, he even got married for the second time. I had to back away.
"I'm so sorry, Caroline. I left you alone. I tried to come back for you. He wouldn't let me."
I wrapped my arms around my mom. "It's all okay now, mom. He's in jail now."
"How did you find her?" Uncle William looked over at Dylan.
"We didn't. She contacted the cops after seeing a magazine with a headline about James behind the bars."
"It's all okay now, Isa. We're here for you," Uncle William said.
Mom was still holding my hand as she turned to Aaron. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter. Thank you for everything you've done for her."
"No need to thank me, ma'am. She is my wife and an incredibly wonderful person who deserves nothing but the best. I did nothing more than what was required of me," said Aaron, making us both smile.
Aunt Jenna took mom away to show her her room to rest. She looked tired after being flown from a chopper to California. She needed to change and rest.
Uncle William and Dylan walked out of the room with Melissa and her team, talking about some technical stuff that I didn't bother much about. I was looking at Aaron with blurry vision. He had a smile plastered on his face.
"I'm tired of thanking you for all the things you do for me." I smiled to my fullest.
"I didn't do anything, Caroline. Your mom went to the cops," he said, as he walked towards me, closing the vast distance between us with slow steps.
"She went to the cops because you made it possible for her to go. She read about James. You changed my life, Aaron. You make it better," I confessed.
"If that's the case, you shouldn't thank me at all." Aaron stopped when there was barely any distance between us.
"Why?"
"Because this is just the beginning," he declared. I laughed with overflowing happiness as I jumped into his arms to hug him.
He was right, it was only the beginning. And the start of a beautiful dream my life was about to become.