My Soldier. My Hero. (Completed)

Chapter 24

We walk out of the airport and get into a taxi to head to the Gregory estate.

We make our way to a huge red brick house that is surrounded by a black metal gate. We pull up and Aiden's eyes widen. I know he's stunned with how massive the house and grounds are.

Sophia gasps, "holy crap Mia, this is where you lived?"

I nod, "yes, and it was hell on earth."

We make our way into the house. The lawyer is standing in the kitchen, at the marble counter. "Hello, Ms. Vinatieri. I have the paperwork for you to sign. If you would like, you can collect any personal or sentimental items to take with you."

I walk towards him and sign the papers, handing over everything to the charity of my choice. I nod to him and start walking through the rooms. I can hear footsteps behind me.

I feel like a glaze has washed over my mind. There are so many terrible memories in this house. I stop by the bathroom. I stare at the bathroom window, remembering the night I ran away. I start crying and two arms wrap around me, spinning me into his chest. I can smell Aiden...he smells amazing.

I sob into his chest, gripping tight on his shirt. He rubs my back and kisses the top of my head. I hear other footsteps walk away from us.

Aiden clears his throat, "talk to me."

I lay my head on his chest, with tears streaming down my face. "This is where he beat really bad, after I miscarried. I tried to run into the bathroom to get away from him. He pushed the door open and beat me until I couldn't move. He blamed me for it. Sometimes I blame myself....I laid there for awhile, until I heard him fucking a woman upstairs. I took my chance and slipped out of that bathroom window and ran." I sob more.

Aiden's hands tighten around my waist, pulling me more into him. I take a deep breath. When he holds me, it relaxes and makes me feel safe.

I hear a throat clear and I peer around Aiden and see the lawyer. "Ms. I'm sorry, but we should move this along. We have quite a bit of ground to cover. We still have your father's estate. Would you like to keep anything from the Gregory estate?"

I push off of Aiden and wipe my eyes, "no, get rid of all of it. I don't want anything from that man."

I walk outside and look out at the grounds of the estate. It really is beautiful, it's just plaque with terrible memories.

I feel hard body behind mine. "Thank you." I say.

Aiden kisses the back of my head, "Mia, I would do anything for you."

I turn to face him. I can see his eyes searching my face. He goes to lean down, our lips close, almost connecting. We hear footsteps and Aiden leans back up. Caleb and Sophia walkout in the front porch. Sophia grabs my hand, "Are you okay?"

I nod. "I am." I kiss her on the cheek and we head to my father's estate.

We pull up to a beautiful two story brick home. It's not near as big at Nick's estate, but the house I grew up in was massive.

We get out of the car and I stare at the tree in the front yard. I remember when I was younger, I helped my mother plant that tree. She was so beautiful, so angelic.

I walk into the house and start roaming around. The thing about this house is, I do have some good memories with my mother. A part of me hates to see the house go because of her, but this house has more bad memories than good ones.

I walk into my fathers study, looking at all of the books and photographs. The picture frames that cover the office and desk are of him and famous business partners - none were of his family. Fucking prick. I pull a drawer open and see a picture of me and my mom when I was born. Why did he have this?

I look over at the chair, remembering the day he gave me to the devil.

My father calls me to his study.

"Sit, Mia. We have things to discuss."

I sit in the chair, across from my father. At first, I thought he was going to ask me about where I wanted to go to college.

"You will be marrying Nick Gregory. He is a good man and will take care if you."

I sat there in shock. "What?"

"Mia, you are an intelligent young woman. I know you understood what I just said."

I shake my head, "no."

His face turns cold. He gets up and walks towards me and sits on the edge of the desk in front of me. He leans over. "You will marry him. He is a big investor. He asked for your hand in marriage and I agreed."

I shake my head more aggressively, "no. I won't marry a man I do not know."

My fathers hand swipes across my face. He just smacked me.

He grits his teeth, "you will marry him. It's already decided. Don't cross me, you will regret it."

I'm jolted out of my memory, Aiden is standing behind the chair that I've been staring at. "You okay, Mia?" I nod my head and stick the photo in my purse. I wipe away the tear streaming down my face.

I walk out of the room and Aiden follows behind me. As I enter my parents bedroom, I see my mother's vanity.

I sit down at it, studying it. I run my hand along the wood, trying to remember my mother. I can see movement and look in the mirror - Aiden is leaning against the doorway, watching me. I look down and pull the drawer open, in front of me. I find a small diamond necklace. It's very delicate and pretty. The necklace lays over a photo of me and my mom. In the photo she has the necklace on and is kissing me on the cheek, as I'm laughing. It makes my heart smile to see this. I don't remember this moment, but I love that it was captured.

Aiden's deep voice surprises me by how close he is, "she's very beautiful. You look just like her."

I look up in the mirror and I can see him intensely gazing at me. He takes the necklace out of my hand and undoes the clasps. He puts it around my neck and stares into my eyes the entire time.

In this moment, I realize that I've never hated Aiden. I love him so much. I'm just scared to let him in.

"It's beauty suits you." He says.

I smile and I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. "Hey Mia, are you ready to check into the hotel?" I hear Sophia ask.

"Yeah, I'm ready." I stand up and brush past Aiden with blush spread across my face.

I walk down towards the kitchen and I sign everything over to the charity and we all head to the hotel.

I stand in the lobby with Sophia and Aiden, as Caleb checks us in. I massage my temple, I can feel a stress headache coming on from the high of all of my emotions.

Caleb walks up to me and hands me a key, "okay cockblocker, here's your key."

I was taken back at first. He starts laughing, "you're rooming with the lovely and curvaceous Sophia, while my blue balls are stuck with Mr. Joy over here."

I shake my head laughing and as soon as we start walking towards the elevator, Aiden smirks and shoves Caleb into a wall.