Chapter Ten
Dominic
"Aiden Romanov." I smile and put out my hand to shake his tattooed one.
Aiden dips his blond head and his ice-blue eyes crinkle as he smiles.
"Hello, old friend," he replies with a hint of a Russian accent.His brother Viktor had a stronger accent because he spent more time in Russia.Aiden always bounced around the world.
We lower to sit opposite each other at a bench in the park across from the D’Agostino building with our cups of cappuccino.
“So, how are you?” he asks
“I’m home,” I answer with a nod.
“And are you ready to be home?It sounds like duty called you back.” He gives me a knowing look and rests his elbows on the wooden table between us.
I smirk. This might be the one person I can talk to around here who may truly understand me.He messaged first thing this morning wanting to meetup.After looking over the information we sent the other day he wants to help a little more.
“Duty did call me home." I decide to be honest."As for being ready to be back, I'm not sure."
"It's like that at first," he states and my interest piques.“If it helps, the fact you found the strength to come back because you knew you'd be needed is a sign your stronger.But being home will feel weird for some time to come.”
"Will it now?"
He sounds like he has experience.It crossed my mind before that he might, but I wasn't sure.
"Yeah."
“Thanks for your recommendation.”
“Yeah? The Healer helped you?”
“She did.”
Aiden gave me a business card for someone called the Healer.That's what took me to Tibet.I had to climb a mountain where I found the woman in a village set up with huts.First of all, I thought I was looking for a man of Asian descent.When I happened upon an elderly woman who looked to be in her fifties but was actually ninety with cotton white hair, I couldn’t have been more shocked.She always wore robes like a monk and only spoke when she thought you were ready to hear what she had to say.I was a stubborn one.
“When did you go to her? First or last?”
“Last,” I reply, and he chuckles.
“I figured. I was last too," he says, confirming my suspicions.
"Were you?"
"Yeah, but I think I was a tougher case than you so do not feel bad.I think maybe you have to go through the shit first then when you're ready you jump over that last hurdle.”
It’s the first time he’s spoken to me like this, and I wonder what his story is.
“How did you know I was on drugs?That first time there were no clues.” It’s baffled me for a long time.I thought I hid it well, and I hadn’t even taken anything that day.
“Let’s just say it takes one to know one.”
I straighten up and rivet my gaze to his.“You used to be?”
“I used to be. I think I could tell that day because of the way you were acting.You didn’t do anything specific.It was just something I picked up.”
That was when Viktor was still alive, and not long after we got the anonymous letter.They’d both joined us in the quest for finding out who was responsible for our fathers' deaths in the Syndicate bombing.They’d suspected foul play and came to us.It was then Massimo ended up showing them the letter.The day Aiden’s talking about was a hard day for me.The next time he saw me was with a dealer in a bar.I was high then. So high I didn’t even fucking recognize him.