Chapter 24 Chapter 24
Lucien.
My fingers tightened around the door the moment I saw him standing there.
For a split second, my heart betrayed me.
The sight of him standing under the dim porch light, dressed in casuals like before with messy hair and calm eyes… it almost felt like the past knocking again.
His lips curved into a charming smile. “Surprise, surprise.”
That smile.
The same smile that once made my knees weak.
The same smile I had fallen for like a fool.
But now, everything about it repelled me.
My smile vanished instantly, and it was replaced by anger. I felt my chest burning.
Without saying anything to him, I just tried to close the door right in his face.
But it didn’t move.
My forehead creased as I applied more pressure, only to realize he had placed his foot between the gap.
I pushed harder with all my strength but his one foot was enough to render all my efforts in vain.
He didn’t even budge.
“Get out,” I hissed. “You’re not welcome here.”
He didn’t even flinch, my words had no effect on him.
With one firm kick, he pushed the door open. I stumbled back from the force. For a moment I thought he broke the door.
“I don’t care whether you want me inside or not,” he said calmly, stepping in as if he belonged here.
My heart started pounding in my chest as he walked past me as if I didn't exist.
“I am not here for you.”
He looked around as if searching for something.
“Lucien!” I rushed after him. “Get out of my house!”
But instead, he sat down on the sofa.
Comfortably.
Like he owned it.
He placed the bouquet and the basket of strawberries on the table, carefully.
His eyebrow lifted when his eyes landed on the glass jar near the corner.
The jar of cookies was made by me.
He reached for it without asking, twisted the lid open, and picked one up.
“Umm,” he hummed after taking a bite. “Still tastes the same.”
I swallowed hard.
"So you still bake them?" He chuckled
He used to love cookies a lot. For him, I started baking healthy cookies with less sugar and more oats. I tried them once for Aurora and she loved them too. Since then it has become my habit.
He was about to take another when I picked up the jar and placed it aside, out of his reach.
“Not fair,” he said with a mock pout. “You are being rude to your guest.”
“You are no one to me!” I shouted. “Pick up your things and get out before I call the police.”
A sinister smile spread across his lips at the mention of the police.
“Go ahead,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Call them.”
The confidence with which he asked me to call the police froze me in my place. With a smirk plastered on his face, he waited for me to move.
But I couldn't.
"Call them" he prodded me once again.
I inhaled a shaky breath and picked up my phone. My fingers trembled I unlocked it.
From the peripheral view, I could see him folding his arms behind his head and resting against the headrest of the sofa.
"Call them here so I can tell them how you robbed me of my most precious thing"
My fingers froze and my eyes snapped up at him.
"I haven't stolen anything from you!" I stated firmly.
"Oh, you have stolen two things from me," he chuckled, "my heart and..."
His gaze softened as they flicked to Aurora's photograph on the wall
"My daughter"
Chills ran down my spine, and my whole body turned ice when he referred to Aurora as his daughter.
"Where is she?" His eyes snapped at me "I want to meet her"
In the split second, his expressions changed, from amusing to dark.
"Meet?" I asked in surprise, "I will not let you even see her," my palms fisted on my sides, "and come out of your dreamland. I have already told you she is not your daughter. She is Ad..."
“DON’T!”
His voice thundered through the room, causing me to flinch slightly. I was glad the room was soundproof, or Aurora would have woken up by now.
“Don’t you dare take his name in front of me.”
His jaw tightened violently.
“That bastard snatched everything from me,” he growled. “He played house with you while I died every single day.” His voice dropped slightly “Alone.”
"Keep your voice low, Lucien" I crossed my arms to my chest. "I also know how to shout. Raising voice doesn't prove anything"
He cocked his head.
"I knew you wouldn’t accept it so easily,” he continued coldly. “That’s why I came prepared.”
My forehead furrowed.
“Prepared for what?”
“For your lies.”
He reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a folded paper before tossing it onto the table.
The paper landed with a soft sound that felt louder than thunder.
"I smelled your lie and her blood the first time I held her but I had to do this to show you how low you can fall.”
My throat went dry.
"Go ahead" He gestured with his eyes towards those papers "You are literate enough to read the truth on your own"
I didn't want to but still I leaned forward and picked up the paper. My fingers trembled when I slowly unfolded it.
My vision blurred when I read the heading.
DNA REPORT.
My eyes widened, and my breath hitched in my throat as I read the reports again and again.
Rage surged through my veins, and I crushed the paper in my fist so tightly that it tore.
“I don’t believe this,” I snapped, throwing the paper into the dustbin. “You are the biggest manipulator I have ever met. Faking reports is nothing for you!”
And a DNA test can never happen without a part of Aurora. He never had it.
He is lying!
All this is just a part of his dirty game!
A dark and humourous chuckle passed his lips. He cocked his head and slowly he stood up.
"Okay, fine," he said, walking to me. "Let's go to the laboratory of your choice. Doctor of your choice. And we will get the test done in front of your eyes."
I swallowed the lump choking my throat.
“You can’t escape the truth forever, Cynthia.”
My body trembled, but I forced myself not to show it.
I lifted my chin.
“Aurora is my daughter,” I said firmly and slammed my hand on the table “I carried her for nine months. I gave birth to her. I know about her better than anyone.”
My voice shook but I didn’t stop.
“I don’t need science to tell me who she belongs to.”
My eyes burned as I breathed heavily.
“I don’t want to make a spectacle of my daughter. Did you get it? Now leave.”
I breathed heavily.
"I will," he stated, stopping at a hand distance from me, "I have no interest in this wreck you call a home, nor am I here for you. “I just want to—”
“Mumma…”
The small voice froze the air and my heart dropped.
A sinister smile broke on his lips when the door to my room opened, and Aurora came out while holding her little penguin stuffed toy in one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other.
"Mumma..."
Wrong timing, baby!