Hiding With Her Twin Babies
Chapter 22

Loraine and Boris are still in Houston, knowing they can not stay there forever. They need to talk to Jennie. They need to make peace and tell her that they never stopped loving her. They were at Enzo’s party but did not get a chance to talk to Jennie as Dante was not letting her out of his sight. Loraine feels like she lost her only daughter, which is her fault. Boris does not like to see Loraine in so much pain, and he is furious with Jennie. She must know how much her mother loves her and calling Loraine aunt and him uncle was a slap in their faces. When she grew up, they were good enough to be mom and dad, but she ran away when they asked her to do one thing for them. They only wanted her to become a doctor like Loraine. Loraine had dreamed of the day she could work in a hospital with Jennie since Jennie was a little girl.

When Jennie did not want to be a doctor, Loraine saw her dream go out the window. It upset Boris, and he cut her off. They never thought Jennie would take on two jobs and work her way through university all by herself. It made Boris furious. Jennie was ungrateful. Over the years, someone deposited money into their account, and the only description of the deposits was debt payment. Boris knew it was Jennie, and that is why he always thought she was still alive. Even when Andrei and Loraine gave up hope and thought she was dead, Boris knew she was not. Boris always treated Jennie as his princess until she started showing interest in computer programming instead of becoming a doctor. He never thought Jennie could be so stubborn, and he thought she was like her father. She was good for nothing. She proved him wrong by becoming very successful in her field of work.

“Come on, today we are going to see Jennie,” Boris says, as he can not take seeing the sadness on Loraine’s face anymore.

“Promise me you will not be rude to her again,” Loraine says. She knows how sensitive Jennie is.

“I can not promise you that. Jennie is a stubborn child that never listened to us,” Boris says.

“Let me talk to her first then,” Loraine says.

“Fine, but if she disrespects you again, I will denounce her as a Petrov, and she and her children will not be allowed into the Petrov family again,” Boris says. His heart is hard. He saw Jennie as being like his brother. He and Jennie had not talked for a long time. Even before she left the house, they never spoke after that big fight they had. Jennie never even showed up for family dinners anymore and never ate at home. Boris ignored her until that night, when everyone realized she was gone. Boris was angry as hell when he saw Loraine break down in tears.

Lauraine and Boris drive to Jennie’s office to be alone with her. If Dante gets involved, Boris knows that it may mean the end of years of friendship between the Petrov family and the Casella family. He does not want that. Not for an ungrateful woman that reminds him of her father. As they get to Jennie’s office, they ask the receptionist if Miss Petrov is available, and she calls Jennie’s secretary to replace out if Jennie will see them. Jennie knows she will have to face Loraine and Boris some time or another and says she will see them. They take the elevator to Jennie’s office, and as soon as they walk in, Jennie’s secretary shows them to her office.

Boris looks around and can not help to be impressed.

“Hello, please have a seat,” Jennie says, and Boris can not help to notice she does not call them uncle and aunt or mom and dad. Instead, he looks at the young woman sitting behind her desk. She is not the same teenager he fought with all those years ago. Instead, she is a successful young woman, running a company she put on the map and raising two children all by herself. Suddenly, Boris can not help feeling proud of Jennie. It is opening his eyes to what Jennie has achieved over the years. She achieved it all by herself, without the help of anyone. She never asked them for a dime. Unlike her birth father, she did not depend on the Petrov family or their name.

“Hi, Jennie. Listen, we did not treat you right. I am so sorry for ever doubting you and what you can achieve in life. I said awful things to you, and if you hate me for the rest of my life, I will understand, but please give your mother a chance. She misses you. I also want you to know I am proud of you and who you are today. You did all of this on our own, with no help from the Petrov family or us,” Boris says, and Loraine and Jennie are surprised. Jennie does not know what to say. She never expected her father to admit being wrong or say he was proud of her. She thought he was here to fight with her.

“Please, Jennie, both of us were wrong to try and push you into a direction you did not want to go,” Loraine also says.

“We want our daughter back and be part of our grandchildren’s lives,” Boris adds. Jennie had not said a word yet. She is still in shock at what her father said.

“You are proud of me? I don’t understand what changed your mind, dad?” Jennie says, and Boris is relieved as she calls him dad.

“Seeing you here and what you have achieved all by yourself made me so proud to be your father,” Boris answers.

“Wow, then I am glad I went through all I had by myself for eight years. I always only wanted to make you proud, mom, dad,” Jennie says.

“Why did you run away? Why didn’t you come to us when you realized you were pregnant?” Loraine asks.

“It is not the only reason I ran away, mom. It bothered me that you didn’t show up at my graduation. You hardly talked to me, and I felt alone in this world. I did not even feel like eating at home anymore. I felt like you had forsaken me and thought I was like my birth father. I had no one to turn to, and I thought the best thing would be to get out of your lives. I felt lonely and humiliated as my parents were more worried about Alexa’s wedding than about me. You were all treating her more than family than me. I knew being pregnant without my baby’s father by my side would disappoint you even more. I had no choice to disappear as I was not going to tell anyone who the father of my baby was. So I ran to England. Aunt Jen and uncle Logan found me, and they put two and two together and realized it was their grandchildren when my children were born. They, like Jack and Cathy Connor, stood by me all these years until the Connors also betrayed me,” Jennie explains. Loraine starts crying, and Boris lowers his head. They feel guilty for forsaking their daughter.

“We are so sorry. We should have been there for you. Can you ever forgive us?” Boris asks. For the first time in her life, Jennie sees her father cry, and it breaks her heart.

“We all made mistakes, dad. I should have told you I could not be a doctor because my heart was too soft to handle death and tell families they have lost a loved one. I should not have gotten into a screaming match with you and tried to explain to you,” Jennie says.

“Well, I guess you are more like me than I realized. I should have given you a chance to explain why you did not want to become a doctor,” Boris says. Jennie and her parents talk all afternoon, and Jennie moves all her appointments to the next day.

“Why don’t you and Andrei come and eat with Dante, the children and me tonight?” Jennie asks.

“That will be great!” Loraine says. She is happy to have her daughter back.

“One more thing, princess. I heard you are trying to adopt Jack. Alexa’s son. I will help you get her to sign him over to your care. You will be much better to him than she ever was or will be,” Boris says.

“Thank you, dad. I will appreciate your help,” Jennie says. She knows Boris is trying to make up for the past, and she will let him help her, although she knows she can do it herself or with the help of Dante. But, she knows for her dad’s sake, she must let him do it.

“Oh, one last thing. The money you sent every month I invested in a trust fund for your children,” Boris says and winks to Jennie.

They all arranged to meet at Charlie’s place at seven after Jennie called and made a reservation for a private room. They hug as Loraine and Boris leave. Jennie calls Dante and tells him what happened. Dante is surprised that Jennie even allowed her parents into her office, but he is glad they made peace after all the years. One thing worried Dante, as he knew Jennie would never heal from her past if she did not patch things up with her family.

Andrei knew his parents were going to see Jennie. He is worried about Jennie as he knows how his father can be. So Andrei waits until his parents leave. He was waiting in the waiting room and hiding when his parents came out. He walks to Jennie’s office, and the secretary looks up as she sees the handsome young man walking in. Andrei had flirted with the receptionist, and she let him go upstairs. He asks Jennie’s secretary if he can ask her for a moment. She quickly calls Jennie, and Jennie tells her to let him in.

“Hi sis, how are you?” Andrei asks, not sure if Jennie is okay after seeing his parents.

“I am great. I had an excellent talk with mom and dad, and we are okay now. So how are you, bro?” Jennie asks.

“I am great. By the way, Jackson overdosed on drugs,” Andrei says.

“Good serves him right. Jack told me what his mother and father did to him, and I saw the bruises on his tiny body. We need to talk with Alexa. I am not happy that she is getting away with what she has done to her son. She is as guilty as Jackson. I feel like killing her. She messed up so many lives, but worst of all, that of her son,” Jennie says.

“I agree, but we need to be careful. Alexa is a Petrov, after all,” Andrei says.

“Yeah, she is moving to LA anyway, so maybe we should just keep an eye on her for now. But, I do not want her to come close to Jack,” Jennie says.

“I am glad you made peace with mom and dad. I also want to say I am sorry for the part I played in making your life miserable. I love you, Jennie. You are my little sister and will always be,” Andrei says. He realizes, like his mother and father, they did her wrong. So he plans to make it up to her by helping her keep little Jack safe from Alexa.

“I love you, big brother,” Jennie says with a smile. It feels like a rock has been lifted from her shoulders.

“I am proud of you, sis. You made a success out of your career choice,” Andrei says. Her office door burst open the next moment, and Carl storms in.

“You betrayed us! You never told us that you have signed with a big company, taking the new game worldwide! We want out of the deal,” Carl shouts at Jennie.

“You already signed the transfers, and I am sorry there is no turning back,” Jennie says.

“I will reverse the payment and say you never paid us,” Carl says as he walks slowly closer to Jennie. He did not see the big man standing in the room.

“You have a problem, sis?” Andrei asks. Carl spins around and looks at Andrei Petrov standing in Jennie’s office. He knows who Andrei Petrov is. Most of Europe does. He is a dangerous man, and although no one will accuse him of being Russian Mafia to his face, they all know he is the leader of the Russian Mafia. Carl feels like he is about to faint. He does not know what to do, and he turns to Jennie for help, but she smiles at him and looks at Andrei.

“Meet my brother, Carl. Andrei. I am sure you will go ahead with the deal now,” Jennie says. Carl can only nod and run as fast out of the office as he bursts into the office. Jennie smiles as she is sure she will never hear from the Connors again.