Chapter 320: Dreams and Desires

"I see. Is that what you wanted to talk about?" Harvey asked as if he had expected this all along.

"Hayden told me that time is running out. In less than a month, if she doesn’t wake up…" I said before my words trailed off as my eyes travelled to the figure sleeping peacefully on her bed.

"I’ll let her go. Her body probably won’t last much longer either…" Harvey said passively.

He’ll let her go as in. He’ll pull the plug and let her…

"It’s ok, Malissa…" Harvey said before he smiled a soft and gentle smile at me.

In that moment, I had no idea why I was the one being comforted when it was Harvey who was about to lose his fiancée…forever.

"If only she would wake up…" I mumbled very softly to myself.

I quickly noticed that that doesn’t solve our immediate problem. The timeline doesn’t line up. The deal expires in around a month while I had to give the boss my answer in 6 days. What should I do? Suddenly it seemed like everyone was just figuring out a way to buy more time.

"What are you so worried about, Malissa?" Harvey asked and I could feel his concerned eyes on me.

I was worried about so many things that I didn’t even know where to start.

"Did you and Amelia ever talk about having kids?" I asked as I looked straight at Harvey.

"Kids? Of course. Amelia wanted kids while I was sort of neutral about it. I knew that sooner or later we would end up having children," Harvey replied casually.

"Did it ever bother Amelia that, you know, her children will have to join the gang?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind.

Harvey did not seem surprised by my questions or what I was suggesting at all. He just smiled at me and I felt that he understood me or at least he was trying to.

"Well, Amelia wasn’t from a normal standard family either. They are a shady and grey lot too although not really characterized as the mafia. She also grew up knowing that she was going to end up marrying a gangster boss, so I guess she got used to it…" Harvey replied.

"Still, I bet she was worried about the future of her children…" I pressed even further.

"She was and that was why she kept on lecturing me about peace and forming peaceful partnerships with the other gangs. Things seemed to be going well at first, but I could see things that she couldn’t see. Amelia was too trusting, and she paid dearly for that. It was partly my fault for giving her too much freedom," Harvey said regretfully.

"She was betrayed?" I asked, to make sure that I understood correctly.

"Of course, she was. That’s what low lives gangsters always do. Fooling an inexperience woman was probably one of the easiest things for them. It was my fault; I should have paid more attention to her and what she was desperately fighting for instead of merely laughing it off as a dream. In the end, I never believed in the concept of peace. I still don’t," Harvey said dryly.

"That’s just…" I mumbled but I couldn’t bring myself to finish my sentence. That’s just sad. It’s just too sad.

"Amelia ended up like that because she got too involved. The other gangs saw her as a good target. Hurting her would mean that they could hurt me too. Hayden learnt a hard lesson from that too, which is why his weakness isn’t out there walking around in the open," Harvey said as he pointed a finger directly at me.

"Amelia probably just wanted a peaceful life with you and the children…" I said as I realized what Amelia truly wanted.

"Is it that bad being born in a gangster family, I wonder?" Harvey said before he looked up at the ceiling in wonder.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you like that…" I quickly apologized before he would take me the wrong way.

"Not at all. I love my family and everyone in the gang. They are all like family to me. Hayden may think differently, but I’m glad that I was born into this family. It’s not like all your children have to go through what I went through. They can live a normal life like Hayden did before he had to come back to help me and with a lot of financial backing at that.

We’re fucking loaded after all…" Harvey said before ending with a loud laugh.

Well, there’s no risk of waking up Amelia even with a loud laugh like that. If she did wake up, perhaps all of our troubles would be solved.

"What do you think Hayden is thinking?" Harvey asked after he stopped laughing.

"I’m not sure to be honest…" I replied defeatedly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I think I know that he’s thinking," Harvey said confidently.

"Really? Can you tell me? What is he thinking?" I asked as his words caught my full attention.

"Of course…not…" Harvey replied before he continued laughing at me.

I had a feeling that he was just teasing me. Even if he really knew what Hayden was thinking, he wouldn’t tell me that easily. It didn’t disappoint me at all. One of the lessons that I’ve learnt from dealing with Hayden is that there are no short cuts. If I wanted to know more about him or understand him more, I had to put in the hard work.

"What about you, Harvey? What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Sadly, I’m not so sure. It’s like we’re all just waiting for the other person to decide so that we can make our decision. Hayden, you, and me, we’re all just waiting for the other person to decide," Harvey pointed out and I had to admit that he was quite correct.

"Then, who do you think should decide first?" I asked him the question that I also asked myself.

"You…" he replied without a second thought.

"Me?" I asked in disbelief as I pointed a finger at my own face.

"Yes, you. Malissa, you should decide first," Harvey stated resolutely.

"Why?" I asked, more in shock than in curiosity.

"Don’t they always say ladies first?" Harvey replied teasingly.

--To be continued…