Chapter 8.

Night slowly descended over New York. After making sure Darren was sleeping soundly in the room next door, a warm blanket wrapped snugly around his little body, I stepped out into the hotel’s living room. My footsteps were slow and careful, unwilling to disturb the sweet dreams of my son, who was the only reason I had to keep living.

I turned off most of the lights in the room, leaving only the dim glow of a corner lamp that cast peaceful shadows across the space. My body felt exhausted after an entire day of facing camera flashes, exhausting business meetings, and the emotional pressure caused by Kael’s sudden reappearance. I lowered myself onto the plush velvet sofa, closing my eyes for a moment as I savored the rare silence of the night.

However, that tranquility was suddenly disturbed when my private phone on the table vibrated violently. The repeated buzzing against the glass surface shattered the silence of the room.

I opened my eyes, reached for the rectangular device, and stared at the screen. A string of unknown numbers was flashing there.

A faint crease formed between my brows. This private number was highly confidential. No one had access to it except Lidya, a few of my closest relatives in France, and senior business associates who had maintained partnerships with Alder Corp. for years. Ordinary investors and outsiders had no way of gaining direct access to my private contact information.

Without hesitation, I swiped the red icon across the screen with a single flick of my finger, rejecting the call outright. I had no energy to deal with a wrong number or business disturbance during my rest hours.

I placed the phone back on the table and leaned against the sofa. However, before I could even exhale, the phone screen lit up again. It vibrated noisily for the second time, displaying the same unknown number.

Cold curiosity mixed with suspicion began creeping into my mind. Slowly, I reached for the phone again, swiped the green button, and pressed it against my ear without saying a word. I waited for the person on the other end to speak first.

Silence lingered for a moment. The only sound was the heavy, uneven breathing coming from the other end of the line.

“Aluna… it’s me, Kael.”

That hoarse voice I knew far too well flowed into my ear in a low tone. At that very moment, my heart seemed to tremble violently. A sharp, suffocating sensation that felt painfully familiar struck my chest—a traumatic memory of discovering his betrayal five years ago. The pain tried to crawl back up, threatening the emotional defenses I had painstakingly built over the years.

I gripped the edge of the sofa tightly, curling my fingers into fists. I forced my breathing to remain steady, refusing to show even the slightest weakness in front of this man.

“Mr. Gostav,” I addressed him in a voice I deliberately made as cold as ice, without the slightest ripple of emotion. “You know it is already late at night, and this is the time for me to rest.”

“Aluna… please, don’t hang up,” a deep note of desperation trembled through his voice. Kael sounded as though he were holding his breath, afraid that the connection would be severed at any moment. “Give me a moment. Just a few minutes, Aluna.”

“Speak quickly!” I snapped, my voice brief and firm. Every second of listening to his voice felt like inhaling deadly poison.

“Aluna… forgive me. Forgive me for all the mistakes I made five years ago.” Kael drew a deep breath, his voice trembling as he struggled to contain the storm of emotions within him. “I know I hurt you deeply. I know what a bastard I was back then. But… you have to hear my explanation first before you decide to completely disappear from my life. There are so many things you don’t know, Aluna.”

An explanation?

The corner of my lips lifted, forming a bitter, mocking smile laden with the suffering of the past. Once, I might have cried and mourned over whatever excuse he gave me. But now, the word “explanation” coming from him was nothing more than a cheap joke that had arrived five years too late.

“Kael, I don’t need your explanation anymore!” I cut him off coldly and sharply, slicing through every sentence he was trying to form. “Whatever reason you have, it will never change the fact of what you did.”

“Aluna, please…” Kael interrupted, his voice now filled with frustration and helplessness. “Why did you hide your pregnancy back then? Why did you keep it from me?”

That question made my body stiffen for a moment. My eyes slowly widened in the darkness of the room.

“I’ve seen him, Aluna,” Kael continued, his voice catching in his throat. “I saw the child. The timing… the shape of his face… I know Darren is my son. He is my flesh and blood, Aluna!”

The anger I had kept locked deep within my heart suddenly boiled over. The possessiveness in his voice when he spoke my son’s name ignited an unbearable wave of fury.

The man who had once deceived me with a fake marriage certificate, the man who had allowed me to suffer from heart disease alone, now dared to claim rights over the child I had risked my life to bring into this world?

“Don’t you dare say my son’s name!” I hissed in a low voice filled with hatred. Every word came out like a dagger I was driving straight into him. “Darren has nothing to do with you, Kael! He doesn’t have a father! His father died five years ago!”

“Aluna, he’s my son! You can’t erase that fact!” Kael half-shouted, his voice sounding broken on the other end of the phone. “I know I’m guilty. I know I’m a bastard of a man! But give me one more chance… Please, give me a chance to be his father, to make amends for all the sins I committed against you…”

“A chance?” I whispered softly, cutting through his desperate pleas. “You have no right to anything in our lives anymore, Kael.”

Without giving him even a moment to respond, I pulled the phone away from my ear. My fingers tapped the screen firmly, ending the call unilaterally. But I didn’t stop there. With a swift and unwavering motion, I opened the settings menu and permanently blocked the number.

I tossed the phone onto the sofa table as though the device had just been contaminated with deadly poison.

My chest rose and fell as I struggled to contain the violent tremors of emotion. I squeezed my eyes shut, rested my head against the back of the sofa, and slowly allowed my breathing to return to normal. The silence of the hotel room once again enveloped me, wrapping around the old wounds that had just been prodded by the voice of the man from my past.

Let that man beg, cry, or tear New York apart trying to get close to us. But there was one thing he had to understand: I would never give him even the slightest opening to touch Darren’s life. Not even in the shadows, Kael would ever have a place in the world I had built. And I would make sure that regret was the only thing that accompanied him until the very end.