Rejected: A love story

Chapter 178: Proof

Nathan reached out and pulled the flask closer. He took hold of a fork, his actions deliberate as if he feared that the food might disappear before he could touch it. It was chicken curry pasta with a rich golden sauce, the way he loved it. Next to it lay a small silicone muffin liner that separated it from the gingerbread on top. It’s smelled fresh and aromatic, like it was just out of the oven.

He put a piece of pasta into his mouth. His mouth was overwhelmed with flavor; it was spicy first then the savoury creaminess hit his taste bud, which should not have been there because it wasn’t creamy. The food tasted just like what Alex told him it would. It was all there but no milk at all. Finally, he tasted the gingerbread next. It was sharp and sweet, the perfect balance he used to rave about years ago.

"How’s this possible?" He asked himself.

He rose from his chair and went to stand by the large window. His gaze fell on the busy cars, moving along the road below like little ants. It was all a confusion in his head, each time he tried to persuade himself that she was an impostor, an event occurred to disprove his thoughts. The jewelry, the name, the sign on the boy, and finally the preparation of his favorite food without the one thing that could kill him.

"Alex," he said without turning his head. "It’s one thing if Nikolai Volkov found someone who resembles Fiona. But how did she get to know what is my favorite food? How does she prepare it for someone she supposedly just met?"

"I don’t think she knows she knows it, sir," Alex replied. "She looked just as confused as we are when I told her about the milk. It was like she didn’t even think about it. She just knew it."

Nathan grabbed hold of the desk’s edge. "If she is truly Fiona, if she has been alive all this time and he has been hiding her from me... I am going to kill him, Alex. I will bring his world crashing down."

"We need to prove it, Nathan," Alex said, addressing him by name rather than ’sir’ for the first time. "We need solid proof, not anything less. We risk losing her and the child if we attack Nikolai without proof of their existence. We will lose everything."

Nathan turned around again. The cold expression had returned to his face, but his eyes shone with an intense heat behind the Ice King’s glare. "Find it then. I want to know what happened at the hospital. I want to know about the car crash, not what the police told us; I was stupid to believe them. I want to know all that Nikolai did three years ago."

"I’ll get it," Alex promised. "But you need to be careful. If he knows we’re looking, he might move her."

"He won’t get the chance," Nathan said, looking at the food one last time before sitting back down. "Eat your breakfast, Alex. We have a lot of work to do."

Just then the landline on Nathan’s desk rang. He stared at it for a second because almost nobody had this number. He picked it up slowly.

"Nathan Keith," he said.

"I’ve been waiting to talk to you for a long time," a man’s voice said. It sounded rough and low.

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "Who is this?"

"I’m the guy you’ve been looking for. The one who was driving the car the day of the accident."

Nathan stood up so fast his chair almost fell over. For over two years, everyone thought this man had vanished. The police said he ran away, but here he was on the phone.

"Where are you?" Nathan asked, his voice shaking with anger.

"I’m in a place where I can’t leave," the man said. "I’m in prison. But not for what happened to your wife. I’m under a different name. The people I worked for put me here to keep me quiet."

Nathan gripped the phone tight. "If you’re the driver, then you know what happened to her. You abandoned her."

"I did," the man admitted. "I didn’t leave her on the road. I took her to the hospital and left her there with someone who was waiting. But I’m not telling you anything else for free. I need money. My family is struggling because the payments stopped coming."

"You think I’m just going to send you money?" Nathan snapped. "I don’t even know if you’re telling the truth. You could be anyone."

"Then come see me," the driver said. "Come to the state prison. Ask for a man named John Doe in block C. If you want to know who took her from that hospital bed, you’ll come alone and you’ll bring a way for me to get fifty thousand dollars."

"I’m not paying for lies," Nathan said.

"It’s not a lie. I saw the man who took her. I saw his face. You come see me, and we can talk. But if you don’t show up by tomorrow, I’m closing my mouth for good." He said and the line went dead.

Nathan stood there, breathing hard. He looked at Alex, who had stopped working to listen.

"He’s in prison," Nathan whispered. "He’s been right there this whole time under a fake name."

"Are you going to go?" Alex asked.

Nathan looked at the silver flask on his desk. He thought about the birthmark, the jewelry, and the taste of the food Viktoria made. Everything was pointing to a massive discovery.

"Get the car," Nathan ordered. "We’re going to that prison. I want to look that man in the eye."

"Sir, it could be a trap," Alex warned.

"I don’t care," Nathan said, grabbing his jacket. "He knows what happened at the hospital. He’s the only one who can tell me how she ended up as Viktoria Volkova."

Nathan walked out of the office with Alex right behind him. He didn’t care about work or meetings anymore. He only cared about the truth.