Chapter Thirty Six| Ava
A/N- isn't she so cute 🥺
*sensitive content*
Kaden and I are sat on either side of Lily, as she opens up to the woman she has become quite fond of. Her therapist, Jane, who is scribbling down notes on her notepad, nods every now and then as Lily talks about her traumatic memories, then goes off topic and starts talking about Aleksio.
This is her sixth session and I'm so glad that Lily has opened up and is getting back to her old self. The first therapy session was rather difficult. Lily would not stop crying and was screaming to go home, Kaden was really struggling to keep his emotions at bay, as he watched our little girl cry her eyes out. I was worried she was going to cry herself into a panic attack.
I remember Kaden getting quite emotional that night, I had to be the strong one and comfort him as he cried for our daughter. He then went to go and get her from her bedroom and brought her into bed with us, so he could keep an eye on her.
Lily explained how Raymond said horrible stuff to her about not having a mother because her's was dead. At the time, she was fully convinced I was dead and did not think once about Beth. The marks on her neck was from when he forced her to sit in the chair that we saw her tied on to when we found her.
Although things are getting better, today's topic is not going well. I can feel how tense Kaden is.
The man at the restaurant.
The one Lily sees in her nightmares.
Jamie, who has taken the fall for Beth's death and is now rotting in prison, told Kaden who the guy was. His name is Ross and although he looks like a grown man, he's only sixteen. That's all Jamie could tell us, no one knew his surname or where he came from.
He's always off the radar. Hard to find. That really made Kaden angry.
"Lily. Can you explain how this man made you feel?" Jane questions her, placing her glasses on top of her head.
"S-Sad." Lily mumbles, whilst holding my index finger with her small hand. She seems to find comfort in doing this lately.
"Why sad?"
"Because he is lonely." I furrow my eyebrows and look at Kaden, who is doing the same thing.
"Did the man you saw at the restaurant ever hurt you?" Lily shakes her head.
This is the first time we are hearing Lily talk about Ross and to be honest I'm quite confused. I was convinced this man had hurt Lily, hence the nightmares she has about him.
"Lily, you told me he hurt you." I interrupt and look down at her in worry. "You say he's a bad man."
"Uncle Raymond made him hurt me, he hurt him with scary things, so Bad Man would scare me." She whispers, her eyes getting watery. "B-Bad Man would cry."
To say I'm shocked would be an understatement.
"Why do you call him Bad Man, if he didn't mean to hurt you, sweetheart?" Jane questions, looking at her in sympathy.
"H-He said that was his name and that he didn't deserve a n-normal name." Lily tightens her hold on my finger.
"You said you had nightmares. Was he in them?" Lily looks up at me with wide brown eyes and I smile.
"It's okay, baby, you can tell her." She gives a small smile and then faces Jane.
"I have b-bad dreams about him taking me away from mummy and daddy because he's lonely." Kaden releases a long breath and closes his eyes. "B-But even though he's scary, I think he can be nice, he gave me a sweetie." She continues and I'm starting to get worried about Kaden's silence.
"I understand this is overwhelming for you Lily, you are doing so well." Jane smiles.
"He would be nice when it was just me and him and he said sorry a lot. He told me I'm the only real family he has."
"Family?" Jane shuffles forward on her seat and gives Kaden and I a wary look before putting her attention back onto Lily.
"He said he's my brother."
I can't help but gasp and look at Kaden, his frown has multiplied and he is shaking his head in disbelief.
"Princess, you don't have a brother!" Kaden growls out, scaring her.
"I-I don't want t-to talk anymore." She whimpers and crawls onto my lap, burying her face in my chest.
Jane gives a tight lipped smile and nods her head. "Next week. Don't worry, things like this takes time, it might feel like we've gone one step forward and then two steps back but this behaviour is completely normal." I nod and thank her for her time and lead us out of the room.
Kaden has become silent.
As soon as we get home, I leave Lily with Luciano, who also looks to be in deep thought for whatever reason and then lead Kaden to his office.
"Do you think Ross is Lily's brother?" I break the silence.
"I hate to say it but possibly. Beth was thirty two, so she would have had him at sixteen. I met her when I was twenty three and she was twenty five, so he definitely ain't mine." He rolls his eyes. "Ava, this is some fucked up shit." He leans on his desk and rubs his hands over his face.
"I know but you need to apologise to Lily. She's only telling us what happened, you can't lash out like that." I lightly scold him and he sighs, nodding his head.
"I'd love to resurrect Raymond and murder him myself." He chuckles, looking around the room. "As for Ross, he's going nowhere near our daughter, brother or not."
I sigh and rub my belly, which is getting slightly bigger. I look up at Kaden and watch him smile.
"You okay? The baby okay?" He lifts himself up from his leaning position and walks over to me. He brushes his hands down my arms and kisses my forehead.
"We're fine." I grab his hand and place it on my stomach. "We're going to be fine."
***
"Elena?" I question and furrow my eyebrows as I watch her walk down the stairs with a Louis Vuitton duffel bag. "You going on a mission or something?" I laugh but that comes to a stop when she doesn't join in.
"I'm leaving." My heart drops to my stomach at her words.
"What?"
"I really don't know when I'm coming back, I just need to sort some things out." She gives a tight lipped smile and places the bag on the floor. "Come here." She opens her arms up and I walk over and hug her.
"I'm going to miss you."
"Trust me Ava, I'll miss you the most." She pulls away and smirks down at me.
"Have you told the others?" She nods her head at my question. "Are you going to be okay?" She nods her head again and then picks up her bag.
"Look after my little nephew-" she points at my belly "-and my sassy niece." She laughs.
"How do you know it's a boy?" I raise my eyebrow.
"Just do." She shrugs and kisses my forehead.
Then she's gone.
Just like that.
I stand in the empty hall way and look around. My heart sinks even further when I spot Luciano walking through, he's clearly been crying.
"Luciano?" He jumps a little and gives me a small smile. "Are you okay?" He pauses and then shakes his head. I open my arms up, offering him a hug, which he quickly accepts.
"My husband." He whispers. "Had an argument and said some shit things to one another." I rub his back.
"I'm sure you'll make up soon." I try to reassure him but I feel him shake his head.
"I said some shit, I don't think I can go back on." He takes a deep breath and then continues. "Before I met him, he was suicidal, I helped him through all of that, fell so in love with him I couldn't imagine loving anyone else like I do him."
"And he loves you." I pull away and smile up at him.
"We were arguing about my job, he hates how he never gets to see me and then he said he may as well be dead." My smile drops because I already know what Luciano's about to say. "I was angry, Ava, I try so hard to see him and balance this life, I try so hard to keep him safe and love him." He clenches his eyes shut.
"Luciano?"
"I told him maybe he should be." He starts to sob. "He hung up and n-now he won't answer his p-phone and he's all the way in Manchester." He clutches his hair tightly, his face turning bright red.
"I'm sure he's fine Luciano, he probably just needs some time to blow off some steam." Luciano rapidly shakes his head.
"I can't lose him, Ava." He cries out and throws his arms around me again.
It takes me a while to calm him down and an hour later he gets a message from his husband Paul, telling him he'll call him later. The massive sigh of relief that escaped his lips made me feel at ease that they were both going to be okay.
Too much has happened today and I feel myself starting to become extremely tired. I've been running around looking after everyone else, I forgot to look after myself. I start to feel fatigue and my ears start to ring.
I furrow my eyebrows and take deep breaths. "Ava, you okay?" Luciano asks, sounding concerned. I feel my knees buckle and luckily Luciano is there to catch me. "Kaden!" I hear him yell, as he lowers us down gently to the floor. My head resting in his lap.
I hear Kaden barrel through the room and he is by my side in seconds.
"Baby?!" He gently taps my cheeks as I feel my eyelids become heavy. "Call the doctor!"
***
I slowly open up my eyes and realise I'm not in a hospital but in our bed. I slowly get up and jump a little when I see Kaden slumped in the chair in the corner, the dim lamp creating a large shadow.
"You had me scared shitless, baby." He looks at me in worry. "The doctor said you're dehydrated and you've barely eaten. You're pregnant Ava, how many times have I got to tell you this?!" He scolds, standing up and then sitting down next to me.
"It's just everything that's been going on today, I forgot, I'm sorry." I look down at my lap and play with my hands.
"I'm sorry for shouting at you, just please eat and drink and stop scaring the shit out of me." He lightly chuckles and then kisses the side of my head.
A light tap on our bedroom door grabs our attention. Kaden gets up to open it and I laugh when Lily casually waddles in, eating some grapes. Kaden looks down at her with wide eyes.
"Handles too high." She speaks and places the pack on the bed before climbing up. "Are you okay mummy? Do you want a grape?" I politely take the grape that she hands out to me and eat it with a smile.
"Baby girl, what's that on your wrist?" Kaden gently grabs hold of her wrist and looks down at the diamond bracelet. She looks away and I furrow my eyebrows at her behaviour. "Lily?" Kaden says more sternly but she continues to avoid his stare.
"Baby." I rub her back, encouraging her to tell us.
She decides to stay silent.
"Lily!" Kaden shouts and she squeals and looks at him with wide eyes. "You tell me right now young lady! Where. Did. You. Get. This?!"
"Kaden." I raise my eyebrows at him. He takes a deep breath and looks back at her.
"You'll be angry, daddy." She whispers.
"It's okay sweetie." I smile, trying to make her feel more at ease.
"My brother gave it to me yesterday."
Oh shit.
Kaden loses it.
💛