Love and Debt

"Mommy!"

A voice of a young girl was heard inside the restaurant. Nina was surprised to see her daughter running towards her.

"Brie! What are you doing here?" Nina asked while glancing at James.

"I want to surprise you." The little girl answered.

Nina's heart was pounding. She glanced at Andrew then at her friends. She took a deep breath before introducing the girl to them.

"This is Brie. My daughter." She said.

Andrew gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe that Nina would have a kid from her betrayal. His heart was being torn into pieces as he stared at the girl who looked exactly like her mother.

He remembered the time when Nina was pregnant with their child. He was so happy. But the baby died as soon as it was born. He was devastated.

Thinking about what had happened, Andrew was thinking that Nina didn't take care of herself when she was pregnant with their child since she was already working with Paolo Santelmo back then.

"Say hi to them, Brie." Nina said.

The girl shyly turned to them and smiled.

"M-My name is Brie. Nice to meet you." The little girl greeted them.

Andrew couldn't say a word anymore. His heart was being crushed by Nina over and over again. He already had enough. She looked happy and content with her life now so he should also start forgetting about her.

Dinner ended, and Andrew didn't even understand what they had discussed. He would just nod every time Luke would ask him something. He would sometimes glance at Nina, who was busy giving food to her daughter.

He stood up and went to the restroom to calm himself. When he got out, he bumped into someone and saw Nina.

Her eyes widened. She thought Andrew already left the restaurant. She didn't expect that he was still here.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything from you! You disgust me!" He yelled.

"A-Andrew, l-let me explain." She stammered.

Andrew smirked then grabbed her shoulder, pushing her against the wall.

"Explain? Do you really think I need your explanation? You're four years too late! So did you use your body to get that guy like you? I can see that you are happy with him." He said with gritted teeth.

"Andrew, it's not what you think. Please listen." She begged.

"Stop. Please stop, Nina. You can't just leave like that then come back like nothing happened. You hurt me and our friends. I am honestly thankful that my mom was alive because of you, but you can't change the fact that you betrayed all of us."

Then Andrew turned around and left.

After dinner, they said goodbye to her friends and went home. Luke said that they will contact them once they talk to the others.

On the way home, James looked at her and sighed. Brie fell asleep on Nina's lap while Nina was just staring outside.

"So? What did he tell you?" He asked.

Nina turned her gaze to James and smiled.

"Nothing. He's mad at me of course." She simply answered, but then she remembered what James told her friends.

"James, why did you tell them that you will return me to them? You know it's not that easy." She asked.

James took a deep breath then held her hands.

"Nina, I want to live a peaceful life away from everyone. The reason I agreed to your request on meeting with Luke Wilson was that I wanted to end the feud with him and to return you to where your heart belongs." James answered.

Nina bit her lips. For the past four years, she had never loved James. He knew that and was thankful for what he did for her. She stayed married to him because he never even once showed anything bad towards her. He never hurt her.

Her life with the Santelmo's was scary and dangerous. She had tried a lot of times to escape from Paolo Santelmo, but he would always catch her. She was beaten and tortured by Paolo himself in her first two years with the mafia clan. It stopped when James begged his father and told him to hurt him instead.

James became her savior. Whenever Paolo would get mad at her, James would be the one to get her punishment. She couldn't understand why James would do that for her. 

But then he suddenly confessed, telling Nina he was in love with her from the first time they met in Flousia. She sincerely answered James and he understood.

Andrew was the only man in her heart. Even though James was a nice guy, she couldn't force herself to love him. James was a husband material type of guy, loving and caring, but her heart already belonged to someone else.

"But James, you know it's impossible. I betrayed my friends. I betrayed Andrew. He would never forgive me." She said.

"Maybe you did betray them, but you only did that for Andrew and your family. Dad threatened you. You have to tell him everything." James responded.

Nina frowned. She couldn't understand the real reason why he wanted her to tell the truth to Andrew. 

"Explain to me why you are acting like that? Are you really going to leave me and return me to Andrew?" She asked.

James nodded then sighed again.

"Nina, I want to go far away from here. I talked to everyone from the clan, and they agreed. They also wanted peace so we were planning to move to another country and start new." James answered.

Nina couldn't believe what she heard. If he planned on moving to another country, will he divorce her? She thought to herself.

"Yes. I will give your freedom back. Nina, I need to let you go. I don't want to tie you with me any longer. I wanted to apologize to you for what my father did, and I'm sorry it took me four years to finally free you from the clan." James continued when he saw her face had a lot of questions.

Nina felt the tears flowing in her eyes. She waited for four years to hear those words. She was thankful for everything James did for her, but she knew they could never be together if only one of them was in love.

"How about Brie?" She asked.

James glanced at the little girl sleeping quietly in Nina's lap.

"She would understand. Brie is a smart girl. You know this is the best thing we have to do. I love you, Nina. But I don't want to stay in a marriage without your love anymore. I was happy just to be with you. I'm thankful for giving me a chance to be a father. But I don't want to fool myself anymore. I want you to be happy, and I know you will truly be happy with Andrew." 

Nina cried. She was happy that James would finally let her go, but she was afraid that Andrew would never accept her again. Her heart felt like it was being pierced because James wasn't a bad guy. He was everything that a woman could ask for. She knew she was also hurting him. And it breaks her heart to not return his love for her.

"Hey, don't cry. I already know that I have to let you go one day. I had accepted it a long time ago. Believe me, you made those four years less boring." James said.

From the moment he was born, he never felt someone had truly cared for him. The world he lived and grew up in was a lot different from the others. His life was dark and lonely but it changed when he got married to Nina.

He began to appreciate the lives of others, and that family was more important than anyone. He finally learned to love and know the true meaning of it.

"James, I'm sorry. Believe me, I tried to love you, but he was the only one who owns my heart. Even though he hated me so much, I love him and I don't think I would love any other man beside him." She cried.

James pulled her in his arms, caressing her back to comfort her. He knew Nina's sacrifices for Andrew, but he couldn't blame the man for getting mad at her. Her decision was really stupid back then. Andrew and the Wilson's were more powerful than the Santelmo's. She would definitely get protected if she just thought of her decision carefully.

"Hey, everything would be okay. He will eventually understand it. And besides, you have a little girl here. He would be happy to know that Brie is his daughter. You have to tell him, Nina. You have to tell him that we never slept with each other. Tell him that all of you still belong to him."

Nina bit her lips. She felt guilty for James.

She looked at her daughter and remembered the day she found out she was pregnant with her.