Facing Their Parents

Upon arriving in New York, Dimitri decided not to take Laura to his father's house; they would return to the mansion Luke had built for her. He knew his father would be angry, but he couldn't command them.

"Your father will be upset about this," Laura had thought about accepting Boris's proposal to escape, and not being in the Petrov mansion ruined all her plans.

"That doesn't matter, you will stay here and that's final. I've decided. Later, I'll arrange for your grandmother and your son to be brought here."

"Alright," she replied resignedly, escaping from that man would be harder than she had anticipated.

"Now I have to go to Lombardo Corporate, something has come up."

"Do you know anything about Lucas?" Dimitri's face became even more serious. Was she really asking him about Lucas when she was already his wife?

"No, I have no reason to know about him, our deal ended when I bought the company."

"You didn't take into account Luke's parents, I don't know what their situation might be, maybe they are in ruins," she said bitterly, despite how badly they had treated her, she worried about them, they were Lucas's parents.

Dimitri remembered his parents at that moment, dying to see them, but he couldn't just show up before them saying he was Luke, clearly it was a madness they wouldn't believe.

"That's not something I should care about," he lied.

"As you said you were a good friend of Luke, I thought maybe you could see how his parents are doing."

"I'll think about it, now I must go, and don't try to escape, I warn you, the mansion is heavily guarded, the housekeeper will arrive later."

Laura didn't answer, she just watched as his figure disappeared behind the door...

Dimitri was euphorically received by Sarah, who had returned to her job as the secretary to the president. "What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised.

"Working, you didn't say I couldn't do it, so I assumed I could."

"Sarah, go home, get to studying, occupy your time with something."

"I do, I was getting bored at home," she said, pouting.

He didn't want to argue anymore, shook his head in disapproval, and entered his office, immediately calling his assistant to explain the reason for the disturbance.

"What's so important that has happened?" he said in an annoyed tone as soon as the assistant entered the office.

"You need to see this," the assistant replied, throwing a folder on the desk.

Dimitri fixed his gaze on the folder, then picked it up. At that moment, Ares entered the office, Dimitri's face changed upon seeing him, he stood up and approached the bird.

"My great and loyal friend, you've come to greet me," he placed his hand on the bird's head, then went to the desk to get a snack for him.

He remembered his former assistant at that moment, and the great fear he had of the bird, he had no idea where he was, he needed to locate him, he was Luke's trusted man for many years.

After spending a few minutes with Ares, Dimitri returned to his desk, picked up the folder again to open it,

Seeing its contents, his face changed, his expression hardened, at that moment memories flooded his mind, Lucas and Luke were arguing heatedly.

"Damn it! How could you do this?" Luke felt betrayed.

"You thought I was going to live my whole life on the misery you pay me as a salary."

"Damn! I've treated you like a brother, we grew up together, you know what you've done puts the company at risk, and my life with it."

"Don't be so dramatic, dear cousin."

Lucas's cynicism was more than he could bear, he approached to grab him by the neck.

"Damn fool! If something happens to Laura or my parents because of your stupidity, I swear I'll kill you with my own hands, I'm a fool for not realizing sooner what you were doing."

"That's why it's not good to fully trust people," Lucas laughed sarcastically.

That caused Luke to hit Lucas hard in the face; Lucas got furious, tried to return the punch, but an even stronger blow from his cousin sent him sprawling to the ground.

"Get out of here immediately, from today you are forbidden to enter this company, I will order an investigation today to find out how much you have compromised the company."

"You're in deep water, dear cousin, it's a pity you only realize it now, your company has served as a front for criminal organizations, my name is clean, you signed the transport orders, so if you don't want to end up in jail, you'd better keep quiet."

"Get out!"

Dimitri felt his body trembling as he remembered it; he had Lucas in front of him and hadn't remembered everything he had done in the past.

"Are you okay?" the assistant offered him a glass of water "these documents were practically hidden in the most hidden recesses of the archive, I searched to see if I could find anything else, but it's obvious that someone took care of destroying evidence, it was a miracle that these were overlooked."

Dimitri knew perfectly well who that someone was, he would not rest until he put him in jail, but he had to be careful, he didn't want Luke's name to end up stained, especially because of his parents, they would be pointed out.

Sarah entered at that moment, Dimitri cursed under his breath, didn't that girl know how to knock? It was basic education.

"Sarah, when will you learn to knock on the door?"

"I'm sorry, but Luke Lombardo's parents are outside, they want to talk to you, shall I let them in?"

Dimitri felt his heart start to beat fast, of course, he wanted to see his parents, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep from hugging them, or perhaps, even though he was a tough man, tears would betray him.

"Let them in," he said, trying to contain the emotion he was feeling, the assistant left behind Sarah.

James and Emma entered the office as soon as Sarah allowed them, Dimitri clenched his fists tightly, his parents seemed to have aged too much since his death.

"Good day, Mr. Petrov, I am James Lombardo, this is my wife Emma," James extended his hand to greet him in his eyes, Dimitri could see infinite sadness.

"A pleasure, Mr. Lombardo, Mrs.," he greeted politely, at the contact with his parents' hands, Dimitri wished he could have hugged them, "please, take a seat, tell me, what can I do for you?"

"We want to know if you would know where my nephew, Lucas, is. The last time he called us, he told us he had to leave the country for business matters, and that you would be in charge."

"Is that all he informed you?"

"Yes, my son, Luke, may he rest in peace," James's eyes became glassy, after taking a deep sigh, he continued speaking, "he left my nephew in charge, he was supposed to give us a monthly allowance, but he has not done so, and as the other assets of my son are seized until the investigation of his murder is resolved."

"Have they not left you anything?" he asked, surprised, unaware of the situation.

"No, the company was released by the judge so as not to leave us on the street, and because it is the livelihood of many families due to the people who work here, they had left us the family mansion, but I don't know what has happened, they have kicked us out, we have rented a small room, but without Lucas giving us that monthly allowance, they are about to kick us out."

Dimitri stood up furiously, but above all with himself, how in the world had he forgotten to investigate his parents' situation? He had focused on making Laura suffer.

"I am very sorry if I have bothered you, Mr. Petrov, but it is urgent for me to locate my nephew, and as you are his boss, I thought you might have contact with him."

Dimitri continued with his back to his father, facing the large office window, he was not willing to lie to him, he didn't deserve it.

"I am very sorry for what I am about to tell you, Mr. Lucas has sold me the company, I can prove it."

James placed a hand on his chest, he couldn't believe it, his nephew had scammed them, he shouldn't have signed that power of attorney, but it was too late for regrets.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, don't worry," James replied, trying to be strong, by his side Emma was a sea of tears, Dimitri offered her a handkerchief to dry them.

"What are we going to do? Lucas has left us on the street," Emma couldn't stop crying.

"Mrs., you must calm down, I knew Luke, he was a great friend of mine, I owed him a lot of money and some favors," he lied to reassure them.

"Is that true what you say?"

"Of course, I will pay that money to you, and I will also allocate a monthly allowance so that you can be at ease. In fact, right now we will go look for a house, without Luke I wouldn’t be alive, or I’d be ruined."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Petrov, only because you say you owed my son a large sum will we accept what you offer," Dimitri felt warmth in his heart seeing his parents smile.

Luke immediately called a real estate agent to show them some houses, then they left the office to go see them, Sarah watched curiously as they left.

For hours they searched for the house, Dimitri chose to look at some houses in places close to his home, so he could take care of his parents.

"This house is perfect," Emma exclaimed seeing the beautiful garden full of roses of different colors, Dimitri smiled seeing her excited.

"Woman, this house is too expensive, let’s not abuse Mr. Petrov’s kindness," James said embarrassed.

"Don’t worry, if Mrs. Emma likes this house, I’ll buy it right now, remember I owe it to your son."

The transaction was made quickly, fortunately, it was sold furnished, the couple could move in immediately.

"I’ll accompany you for your belongings, and then I'll bring you back."

Emma and James couldn't believe their good luck, they had heard rumors that Dimitri Petrov was a man of tough character, but he was the opposite, they thought he was a good young man, apparently, his parents had educated him well.

Arriving at the place where they were living, Dimitri couldn’t believe it, a shack at the city limits, where they rented a small and dirty room.

"Sorry for the place, but it’s what we could afford," James apologized, Dimitri felt even worse than before.

The couple took their luggage, it was the only thing they had with them.

"Yes, this is all they allowed us to bring with us," Emma answered with deep sorrow, all their memories had been left in their home.

Dimitri clenched his fists again, this time stronger than before, he dug his nails in so intensely that he almost drew blood.

The only one to blame for everything that had happened to him and his parents was Laura; he wished at that moment he had never met her, she was a monster with an innocent face.