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After what seems like hours but is only minutes Aaliya and I release one another and make our way inside the family room, where Gabe is waiting for us with Rian and Meredith.
“Rian,” Aaliya hurries to our son.
She carries him in her arms, peppering his face with kisses, before I take him from her and hold him tight. I never ever want to feel the fear I felt when I had heard that Peter had a gun pointed at him. Thank God he is safe—we all are safe.
“Papa, love,” Rian mumbles, his eyes still moist. He yawns and drops his head on my shoulder.
“I love you too, mate,” I tell him, holding him close and breathing in his familiar baby scent.
Aaliya hugs us both and I put a hand on her belly. Our circle is now complete and I let go of all the fear and anxiety churning in my heart. My pulse finally settles, now that I can truly comprehend that we are safe now, all of us.
Meredith brings forth Rian’s milk sipper. Rian immediately takes it from her and slurps from it.
“I’ll take him now, Your Grace. The little master has had a long evening and is very tired.”
I reluctantly hand over my son to her who is now drinking his milk with his eyes shut. I’m pretty sure that he will fall asleep in minutes.
Once Rian leaves, we both turn to Gabe who has been watching us silently, allowing us our much-needed moment of privacy.
“Gabe,” Aaliya moves towards him. She takes both his hands in hers and squeezes his fingers.
“I can’t thank you enough for coming here and saving us, Gabe,” she conveys with an appreciative smile. “You’ve been such a good friend and I doubt we’ll ever be able to repay you for all your kindness.”
It’s true. I am so lucky to have Gabe as a friend. He has helped me throughout my journey in life. He’s been a solid rock for me to lean on. Even now, thanks to him, we all are safe and we have closure on the threat that had been hovering over our life.
Gabe lets Aaliya kiss his cheek and smiles at her before locking eyes with me. “We are brothers, you, Jonathan and I. I’d do anything for you.”
“And I’d do anything for you, Gabe,” I reaffirm, pulling him in a bear hug. “I’m so grateful to you for agreeing to do this, without a single hesitation. Thank you for being brave and following Mike’s instructions and saving my child.”
He grins.
While I was listening to Peter on the phone, Mike kept muting the line to give instructions to Gabe from his own phone and it is because of him that we are all secure now.
“So Peter, huh? It was him all along,” Gabe comments.
“Yes, it’s quite unbelievable actually,” I answer. “I still cannot come to terms with the fact that Peter was seeking retribution for his dead daughter. That he held me responsible too. All these days while I worked with him, he’d never given even a single hint in his interactions with me that he harbored so much hate and ill will, and that he was plotting to kill me.” I splay a tired hand out. “Yes, he was sullen many times, but I always linked that to the fact that I asked him to stop the illegal trade of diamonds. And after he was shot during that shooting incident outside Annette & Co, it never even crossed my mind to suspect him.”
“How did you remember?” Aaliya asks. She pours me a glass of water from the jug on the table and hands it to me before taking one herself.
I explain seeing the photos of the women from David’s sordid videos and how seeing Josephine’s picture clicked something in my head and all my memories came flooding back.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” Aaliya comments. “We are free Damien, finally free to just be and to live without fear.”
“Damien, Aaliya, are you guys okay?” Jasmine asks, dashing inside the room towards us, followed by Jonathan. “Is Rian safe?”
“Yes,” Aaliya acknowledges, “we are all fine. I’m just glad it’s over and we finally have closure to all the questions plaguing us.”
“I tried to return as soon as Gabriel called me,” Jonathan addresses me. “But unfortunately, it took us time to reach here. Tell us everything, mate.”
And so, I catch them up on the entire story, while Aaliya goes upstairs to check on Rian.
“Good heavens,” Jonathan remarks. “Peter Dighby! I can’t imagine it was him all along and we never suspected him.”
“Well, it’s all over now!” I shrug, secretly glad that he and Jasmine were away from all this mess. I guess I’ll never stop being protective of him. But I am definitely not telling him that. “I’m just glad I got my memory back in time.”
“Yeah, that is something,” Jonathan accepts.
Aaliya enters ten minutes later and I raise a brow at her.
“He’s fine, Damien,” she assures me. “He drank his milk and fell asleep immediately. I will check on him again.”
“I need a drink,” Gabe announces. “It’s going to be a long night.”
We all turn as Mike enters the room.
“Sir, the police will be here soon and all of us will need to answer many questions,” he informs us.
“Thank you, Mike, for everything,” I tell him, offering him my hand.
He accepts it with a smile.
Aaliya nears him and rises on her toes to kiss his cheek. “I am eternally grateful to you. I hope you will always be my friend.”
His smile widens. “It will be my honor, Aaliya.”
Once he leaves, I put my hand around Aaliya’s waist and feel the slight hardness in her belly where my baby grows inside her. I inhale and exhale. We can finally lay the past to rest and move forward in our lives.
The journey that had begun when I lost my memory has ended and now we can begin a new phase in our lives.
