Chapter 64: Chapter 64

CHAPTER 21

We begin dancing, my left hand around his neck and my right, intertwined with his left hand. His left hand is wrapped around my waist.  We're moving slowly. Luke finally sees me, and soon after, Laurel follows suit. She gives me a dirty look and gladly, I return it to her. She drags Luke to a few feet from where Alex and I are and they both begin to dance.

Luke and I continue to stare at each other, and I can see he's trying to figure out who I was dancing with, but he can't, because Alex is facing my direction. I smirk, and make Alex turn around so that he's facing Luke. I was dying to see the shock on Luke's face when he saw Alex.

The dancing intensifies, and somehow, I find myself in Luke's arms during the mixer. I gasp, shocked. I look in Alex's direction, and I see that he's paired with Laurel, a smile on his face and a frown on Laurel's. Luke tightens his grip on my waist, grabbing my attention.

"You've no respect for me, no respect for your partner and definitely, no respect for the law. The restraining order's still active." I say, looking at him.

"It's a mixer, blame your partner for sending you here. By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Possibly the same thing as you. What are you doing here?" I ask.

He turns me around, my back resting on his body. He moves my hair. He whispers, "Do you remember when I used to take you from behind?"

I shiver as I close my eyes, balling my hands into fists. This man still did things to me even though I had a burning fire of hatred in my heart towards him. "I asked you a question."

"If you knew what I was doing here, you wouldn't have such a wicked tongue."

"So you admit you're plotting against me?" I ask.

"I admit." He says, and I fling his hands off my body. I turn to look at him.

"Go to hell." I tell him.

Thirty minutes later, I find myself in the powder room of Alex's home. The anger I was feeling would be enough to boil a kettle of water. I look into the mirror, trying to get Luke's words off my mind.

"How pathetic." I hear. I turn. It's Laurel.

"Isn't that ironic? Given how you don't pass up any opportunity to follow me around like a lost puppy. I'm beginning to think you and Luke have a thing for following me around."

She chuckles, "Don't get it twisted, Natalie. I'm only here to warn you to keep your hands off my man. Stay far away from Luke or we're gonna have a problem." She says, coming closer to me.

"I love seeing you like this. I love that I make you insecure. I love that your heart beats fast, boom, boom, boom, whenever I'm around him. I love how uneasy it makes you feel."

"You know what I love? I love how he makes love to me, morning, afternoon and night. I love how you're nothing but a distant memory and I love the fact that  every passing day, I'm able to ensure his hatred for you grows stronger." She says, smiling at me. No! I was the only allowed to be mean and ruthless to people while smiling. It was my thing!

I chuckle. "If you're so sure I'm nothing but a distant memory, why are you so bothered whenever he comes around me? Do you doubt your capabilities?" I chuckle softly again, as I notice her touch her hair in attempt to show her finger. She was wearing my ring.

"You know, growing up, I learned that one must always give and help the less privileged. Same way you're wearing my ring, you can have Luke too, after all, I've used them before. You can enjoy only the hand-me downs I give you. That's your only identity."

She looks stunned and in a split second, she's raising her to hit me. "Natalie!" She yells, as I hold her hand midway.

"Don't you dare call my name." I say as I fling her hand. I give her a tight slap. She falls, gasping, her hair already scattered. I drag her up. I don't know what comes over me, but I push her to the wall and my hand is wrapped around her throat.

"I've always let you go scot-free every time you did something to me. I thought it was beneath me to stoop to your level, but now I will fight dirty and by all means, I will go as low as you go just to show you that I'm not to be messed with."

She's gasping for air, her hands trying to jerk my hand off. "I- ca-I ca- bre. . .”

"I'm warning you, stay far away from me or else, you will regret what I send your way."

"Please. . .” She whimpers. Her next words shake me to my core. "I'm pregnant." I let go of her neck immediately. I freeze. I watch her as she rubs her neck and coughs. She looks at me, annoyed.

"Luke will accept my child unlike yours. My child will get his name, unlike yours. My child will get to inherit all of Luke's properties, unlike yours. Think about that." She says as she leaves.

**

Laurel's words keep replaying in my head, over and over again. I spot a waiter. "Hold on." I say as I gulp down a glass of champagne. I take another glass. I drop the empty glass on his tray. "Can I have shots? Please. I'll be right here." I say.

Luke was having another child, with Laurel. As long as he didn't recognize my son, Louis would be called a bastard. My son would be called a bastard. There would always be speculation about who his true father was as long as Luke didn't accept him. I see another waiter pass by. "Wait!" I yell. I take a glass of whiskey from him and gulp it down. Why did Laurel have to tell me such horrific news? I should never have come to this party. For Luke and Laurel, the news would've been amazing, but for me and my son, it was nothing but a nightmare.

"Ma'am?" The waiter arrives with three shots. I take them without pausing. I caress my head. I am having a migraine.

**

A few minutes later, I'm standing somewhere close to Luke. Laurel isn't there.

"Hey." I hear someone creep up from behind me. I ignore. It's Alex. The alcohol was already taking its effect. "Are you okay? You seem troubled." He says. I wasn't okay and indeed, I was troubled. Somehow, I felt calm with Alex around. Tears begin to fall down my eyes. I don't make a sound, I just let the tears drop.

"Oh, shit. Did I say something, Natalie? I'm so sorry."

"It's not you." I reassure him.

"Then what is it? Who do I have to kill?" He says, and as much as I want to laugh, I can't. The sadness in my heart was too heavy.

I get up from my chair, completely ignoring Alex, and I head over to Luke.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." He says. I grab his collars.

"What the hell is this? What are you doing now?" He asks in a low tone.

I begin to sob, "What did I ever do to you? How can you be so cruel? Why punish me by punishing your son too? Our son."

"Our?" He asks. "I told you never to say that again. He's not mine."

"Of course, he is! I never, ever was intimate with any other except you. You got me pregnant, Louis is yours!" I sob, dragging his collar even tighter.

"Don't call that bastard my son!" He yells and I let go immediately. He called Louis a bastard. I slap him. "That boy looks exactly like you. How can you call your flesh and blood such? How dare you call my son by that?!" I yell.

"Get a DNA test done. Prove it."

"What's happening here, Luke?" Laurel says as she arrives. "What does she want?"

"Mark my words, one day, when you realize how right I am, you will beg for forgiveness. You will beg to be his father and you will beg to see him. You will beg for his love and for all the time you've missed in his life, but you won't get it, because I won't let you. The same way you've stripped my son of his father, will be the same way I'll strip you of him when you crave for him the most. Don't forget today." I say as I take my leave. Louis certainly did not need a wicked and evil man like Luke in his life. My son was better off without a father.