Chapter 38
I’m in Jullian’s office, pacing back and forth, trying to get my thoughts in order. “I must have seen wrong, that’s all,” I keep telling myself, trying to make sense of what just happened. Then the door opens, and my friend walks in.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, frowning.
“Why didn’t you tell me you know Chloe?!” I fire back, my voice coming out louder than I intended. My irritation boils over, as if he’s to blame for everything. But how could he know? I never mentioned her name to him.
Jullian looks surprised but doesn’t back down.
“And since when do you know her?” he counters, looking more confused by the second.
I take a deep breath, trying to control the rage and frustration churning inside me.
“She’s the girl I told you about… The one I was going to ask to be my girlfriend.”
His eyes widen, and he shakes his head, trying to take it all in.
“Wait… It can’t be. Chloe is the woman who was with you that night? The one who was going to…” He trails off, as if the pieces are finally falling into place. “That’s impossible… So you…”
He doesn’t finish, so I do:
“Yes,” I interrupt, a lump in my throat. “The girl who dances for money. And she never told me about this… ‘job.’” I make air quotes, indignation flooding through me.
Jullian sighs deeply, running a hand through his hair.
“Sit down, buddy. We have a lot to talk about. You’re going to understand why she… ‘danced.’”
We sat there for a long time while he told me everything about her. Things I didn’t know, things Chloe had never told me. That’s when I found out why she danced. I have to admit, in that moment, I called myself every name in the book for judging her so harshly.
That’s when Jullian snapped me out of my thoughts:
“Wait… wait… no, so it’s you… it’s you…” he repeats, pointing at me, a grin spreading across his face.
“I’m what, idiot? Spit it out.”
“You’re the father of her child. The idiot here isn’t me—it’s you!”
“The father of her child? How can I be the father if we’re not together? It must be someone else!”
“Alexander Petrov, I’ve never met a man as stupid and clueless as you. I can’t believe this!”
“But when I found out she was pregnant, we’d already been broken up for a few months.”
“And when exactly did you find out?”
“That day I came in for tests because of my migraines.”
“You overheard the conversation in Monica’s office and didn’t even bother to ask who the father was?
Honestly, man, you deserve to be cheated on, abandoned, and worse.
You have no idea what that girl went through.
Monica and I helped out on one end, Martha and Arthur Novaes on the other, plus the people from the club where she works as a cleaner.
Once I asked her why she didn’t tell the baby’s father about Alexei, and you know what she said?
That the ‘father’ abandoned her without even hearing her out. ”
“Damn it, I’m an idiot… a complete moron!
” I shout, punching the wall hard. Pain explodes in my hand, but I don’t care.
I deserve this. Maybe the physical pain can drown out what I feel inside, even for a second.
“How could I have been so cruel to her? I said horrible things that day… the day I went to see her dance.”
“Alex!” My friend’s firm voice snaps me back to reality. “You’d better shut up and take care of that hand, because every word out of your mouth makes things worse.”
I look at my hand and see it’s bleeding, already swelling—probably sprained. I take a deep breath and try to calm the storm in my head. He’s right. Blaming myself won’t change what happened between us. There’s only one thing to do: find her and beg for forgiveness. I’ll do it right now!
When I turn to leave, the door bursts open. Monica rushes in breathless, eyes wide, hair disheveled. She runs to Jullian, grabs his lab coat with both hands, takes a deep breath, and says:
“Who was the idiot who discharged Elena from the hospital?” Her voice is trembling, desperate.
“Calm down, Monica! What do you mean?” Jullian tries to stay composed, though the tension in the air is palpable. “Sit down, breathe slowly. I’ll get you some water.”
“No!” She lets go of the lab coat and steps back, breathing hard. “I don’t want water, Jullian! I don’t want to sit down! I just want to know who released Elena!”
Silence fills the room. Monica’s intense gaze seems to cut right through us, and fear settles in my chest.
“I spoke with her father this morning,” Jullian says, trying to stay calm. “But I told him I couldn’t release her, at least not yet.”
“Yes,” Monica responds, her voice trembling. “I was just informed that he took them both—Chloe and Elena. I went to the room to check and found only Chloe’s phone on the floor.”
“Damn it! What do you mean he took them?” My friend bolts down the corridor. We stop in front of the elevator, which seems to take forever. Without a second thought, we run for the stairs.
My heart clenched with a mix of anguish and fear at the thought that my little one could be in danger. Guilt consumed me for not being by her side to protect her.
Minutes later, we arrive at the room Elena, Chloe’s sister, had been staying in. It’s empty. He steps out and calls for a nearby nurse.
“Anália! Come here, please!”
The nurse approaches, looking worried.
“Yes, doctor?”
“Who discharged Elena?”
“I really don’t know. I stopped by earlier to give her medication—she was alone. A few minutes later, I saw Chloe go into the room. That’s when I went to check on the other patients.”
“Thank you, Anália. You can go back. Damn it! How does she just walk out of my hospital without anyone noticing?”
“Wait.” Monica goes to the phone and makes two calls, summoning the security guard from the front entrance. As soon as he walks in, Jullian asks:
“Did any patient leave? She’s ten years old and was with a pregnant young woman, eight months along.”
That caught me off guard. My son was about to be born. The day I saw her dancing, she must have already been four or five months pregnant, and I’d said so many things that day... Now I was filled with regret. I needed to find her and my son and beg for her forgiveness.
I would crawl if I had to, just to get my girl back and keep her safe.
“No patient left without a discharge letter, sir. But I know a doctor requested the landing strip earlier.”
“Thank you, you can get back to work. Let’s go to my office. I need to look into this further.”
We return to Jullian’s office. He immediately calls reception and, after a few moments, learns that a doctor from Royal Hospital did request to take a patient, claiming they’d be transferred and that he’d personally handle the transport.
I hear my friend ask for the doctor’s name, but the answer is surprising: they don’t know.
“What do you mean?” Jullian retorts, indignant. “A doctor from another hospital comes to pick up a patient and you don’t even ask for a name or some kind of ID?”
The argument with the receptionist continues, but I can’t stand still any longer. I grab my phone and make a call. If anyone can find Chloe, it’s my friend—if he can’t, no one will.
“To what do I owe the honor of Mr. Alexander calling me?” he answers with his usual sarcasm.
“I need your help, of course.”
“Who disappeared? Or what stupid thing did you do this time?”
“My girl,” I respond, my voice trembling. “And she’s pregnant—eight months. I need her here as fast as possible.”
“Okay, my friend. Send me everything I need—all the information—and I’ll track down your woman,” he says with his usual confidence.
I hang up and turn around to find myself face to face with Monica, who’s staring at me wide-eyed.
“No way!! You’re the idiot who abandoned Chloe while she was pregnant?!”
“I’ve heard enough lectures for today,” I respond, trying to stay calm. “Now we need to act and find her before she gives birth.”
“Good thing you’re aware of that,” Monica grumbles, crossing her arms.
I gather all the information we have and send it to Anthony, but it feels like there’s still a lot missing. Suddenly, I remember Chloe’s phone—the one Monica mentioned finding.
“Where’s her phone? It might have important information.”
As soon as the phone is in my hands, I recognize it as the gift I gave her. A small smile crosses my face when I realize she still uses it. I type in the password we set up together and, to my surprise, it’s still the same.
I grip the phone firmly, determined. “I’m going to find you, my little one,” I think as my heart races. “Even if I have to search the entire world, I’m going to bring you back.”