Chapter 93 Chapter 93
Chapter Ninety-Three
Irina
I thought I didn't hear him correctly.
Dimitri said he was going to adopt my son. My baby. Our baby.
I stared at him in complete shock. My mouth opened but no words came out.
This wasn't something we had discussed. We had never talked about adoption or what would happen with the baby's legal status.
I wanted it. Of course I wanted it. I wanted my son to have Dimitri's name and protection.
But I was shocked. Completely blindsided.
Even Mikhail looked surprised. His eyes widened slightly and he turned to stare at Dimitri.
For a moment, the entire room was silent.
Then Alexei exploded.
"What?!" He screamed. His voice was so loud it made me flinch. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me," Dimitri said calmly. His voice was steady and cold. "I will adopt the child. He will be mine legally."
"No!" Alexei shouted. "No, no, no!"
He started pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "You cannot do that! That is my son! He is mine!"
"You have no rights," Dimitri said firmly.
"I am his biological father!" Alexei yelled back. "Nobody will allow you to adopt my son when the father is alive and does not consent!"
"The council will," Dimitri replied coldly. "When I tell them you are not in your right mind." He was looking directly at his brother. Calling his brother insane.
Alexei stopped pacing. The look on his face showed he was hurt. "What?"
"You are unstable," Dimitri continued. "We have videos of your tantrums at the estate. Throwing things. Threatening doctors. Screaming like a madman!"
"That is not fair!" Alexei protested. "I just woke up from a coma! Anyone would be confused and upset!"
"Exactly," Dimitri said. "That's what I was saying. You are not in your right mind. You are not fit to raise a child."
"That is a lie!" Alexei screamed. His face was red now and veins were bulging in his neck. "All I want is my son! Why won't anyone listen to me? Why won't anyone allow me see my son. My heir. My blood. He needs to see his father. I need to tell him am his father. He needs to see my face!" His voice broke.
And for a second, just a brief second, I felt pity for him.
He looked so skinny. So frail that his clothes hung off his body like he was a skeleton wearing someone else's clothes.
His eyes were wild with desperation and pain.
He didn't look like the domineering and authoritative Alexei Volkov. He looked like a madman who had just ran out of a psychiatric. And it served him right. This was what he deserved, but who am I to judge. He was the father of my son after all. Hos blood runs in that little creature’s veins.
This was the man who had kidnapped me. Who had terrorized me for months. Who had made my life a living hell.
But right now he just looked broken and lost.
"If you try to interfere in our lives again," Dimitri said, turning to Alexei who was trying to get up. His voice dropped to something dark and dangerous, "I will lock you up. You bring trouble everywhere you go. You are a danger to everyone around you."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. The air felt thick and suffocating.
Mikhail stood to the side saying nothing. But I could see the disappointment in his eyes. The regret.
He was blaming himself for all of this. For how his sons turned out.
"You cannot do this," Alexei said. His voice cracked. "Please. He is all I have."
"You should have thought about that before," Dimitri replied coldly.
I looked at both of them. Same face. Identical twins. But completely different personalities.
One was trying to build a life. The other had destroyed everything.
"Please," Alexei begged. Tears were forming in his eyes. "Please let me see him. Just once. Let me hold my son. Just once."
"No," Dimitri said firmly.
Alexei's face twisted with rage again. "You bastard!" He screamed, lunging forward at Dmitri, but Dmitri was quick the dodge.
What had Alexei turned into?
He wasn't this brute before his incident.
"You took everything from me! My woman! My child! Everything!" Alexei continued shouting.
I was starting to feel dizzy from the constant noise.
"I took nothing," Dimitri said, calmly. "You lost everything yourself."
"Liar!" Alexei lunged forward again, but Dimitri pushed him back easily.
Alexei started screaming incoherently. Cursing and calling Dimitri every name he could think of.
The sound was horrible.
Months of being unconscious must have tampered with his sense of reasoning. Because his behavior was like that of an animal in pain.
My heart started pounding. My hands started shaking so bad I couldn't control them.
I was panicking and I couldn't take it anymore.
"Fine!" I screamed from my throat.
Everyone stopped and looked at me.
"Fine," I repeated, breathing heavily. My voice was shaking. "You can see him, Alexei. You can see your son and even name him."
Dimitri's eyes widened in shock. "Irina, no."
"Let him see his son," I said quietly. Tears were streaming down my face already. "Just this once. Let him name the baby."
I regretted everything. Meeting Alexei. Having his child. Getting caught up in this nightmare.
But that baby was innocent. And maybe, just maybe, if Alexei saw his son once, he would find peace.
"You cannot be serious," Dimitri said.
"I am," I replied. "Just one visit. He can name the baby. Then it is over."
Alexei stopped screaming. He stared at me with wide eyes. "You mean it?"
"Yes," I said, stepping away from him. Though every part of me wanted to say no, I had no choice.
"Irina," Mikhail spoke for the first time. His voice was rough and cracked. "Think carefully about
this."
"I have," I said. "This is my decision."
Dimitri looked like he wanted to argue. His jaw was clenched and his hands were in fists.
But he said nothing.
"Thank you," Alexei whispered, rubbing his palms together. "Thank you."
I looked away. I couldn't bear to look at him anymore.