The formidable Aiden Romanov

Chapter ten

The detective would cough blood in anger if he heard how the old man referred to him. “Aiden Romanov. That’s my name” Aiden smiled, for years he had been searching for his true identity, even though he had limited means. 

“I’m Lorenzo Romanov, the CEO and chairman of Romanov conglomerate.” Aiden was stunned, he blinked his eyes a few times. Even though he didn’t watch the news, Aiden had heard a few things about the prestigious families in New York, with Romanov as the number one.

“Cool right?” The old man laughed in happiness, seeing the stunned expression on his grandson’s face. 

“I guess that’s why he needs a lot of bodyguards.” Aiden thought out loud, seeing the darkened expression on Lorenzo’s face, he gasped. “Oops. I didn’t  mean-”

“You brat!” Lorenzo was fuming as he got to his feet. “Since I’ve found you, I can now retire to my private island and leave all the responsibilities to you.” The way Lorenzo’s expression could change in seconds amused Aiden.

One minute he could be burning in rage, the next, he’s grinning like a fool. Just like that moment. “All I have to do is eat and sleep, I don’t have to worry about the company since this brat is here to take care of it.”

Aiden was well aware that the Romanov conglomerate is made up of a chain of different businesses and companies. “You are not thinking of leaving all that work to me, right?”

“What do you think? Wait till I inform the board of directors tomorrow. Those old fools would mourn, that that crazy old friend of mine, what’s his name, yeah! Kohler. Adam Kohler, I can’t wait to inform him that I’ve found the perfect heir. He would turn red in anger.” The old man kept talking to no one in particular, grinning at his inward thoughts. 

“Listen old man, I know nothing about running a business and you sure are not going to dump all your responsibilities on me.” Aiden commented exasperatedly.

“Says who? It’s goodbye to my responsibility and hello retirement. I need to create a bucket list.”

“You need a bucket list?” Aiden resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Of course. Everyone has one, don’t you?”

Aiden shook his head. “I never had a need for it.”

“Ha! You snooze you lose.”

“Old man is there anything else I need to be aware of?”

“You have a brother.”

“I have a brother?”

“No need to worry about that brat, he’s adopted. The conglomerate still goes to you since you are my grandson.”

Aiden shook his head, he was about to respond when a soft voice reached his hearing. “Daddy?” In the middle of the conversation, Zia was woken up by Lorenzo’s loud voice, she approached the living room but was too scared to go any further because of the bodyguards.

“Sweetie, come here,” Aiden stood up and gestured to her with open arms. Zia ran to him as fast as she could and Aiden carried her before giving her a proper hug. 

“Eh, who did you steal this cute child from?”  Lorenzo circled around the father and daughter pair, Zia shrunk into her father’s arms, hiding her face shyly. 

“Old man, this is my daughter. I didn’t steal her from anyone.”

“I have another descendant!” The man burst into boisterous laughter. “Come here, let this old man give you a kiss.” He stretched out his arms in a bid to carry Zia.

“Old man, don’t even think about it.” Aiden warned him, he held onto Zia tightly and stepped out of the man’s grasp.

“What? I haven’t even punished you for making this old bones get tired from looking for and now you don’t  want me to acknowledge my great grandchild?” He sniffed, before wiping tears from his eyes. “How can you be so mean to this old man?” Lorenzo returned to his seat. 

If business associate related to Lorenzo were to be present, they would be stunned silly by his act. His presence alone could cause employees to quake in their boots but here he was, acting like an aggrieved child. Aiden had no choice but to give in, he whispered into Zia’s ear before carefully dropping her, worried that she might break if he used too much strength.

Zia looked at the old man with curiosity before approaching him, “Grandpa, do not cry.” She gently tilted her head to the side, one of her index fingers in her mouth as she smiled. Her expression was so cute. Even the bodyguards who were looking away indifferently, ignoring their master’s tantrums were moved by Zia’s childish appearance.

“Grandpa won’t cry.” Lorenzo hurriedly wiped his face tears, he was ever excited but tried to restrain himself from grinning too much. “What is your name?” Lorenzo leaned to the young girl’s height, patting her head gently.

“My name is Zia, I am five.” Zia made a display of counting her fingers to prove her words.

Lorenzo started laughing again, he brought out a few items from his pocket. “You are so cute, let grandpa give you a gift. Pick your choice.” Of course he didn’t have chocolates in his pocket, but credit cards.

Aiden’s eyes widened in surprise, Lorenzo had brought out seven cards with three different colors. Black, purple and platinum gold. The three card colors had different cash limit, with Platinum gold being the highest. Zia was attracted to one of the purple cards and immediately picked it. “Pretty!”

“That’s my great grandchild. This color suits you perfectly.”

“Old man, how come I don’t get to have a pick?” Aiden inquired.

“You unfilial brat! You still address me as old man, what do you expect!” Lorenzo completely ignored Aiden and focused on Zia who was more interested in the card. “Finally, my family has a princess, a really cute one. I would see how that old man Adam would brag about his granddaughters. I would make sure he forks out a lot of presents for my family’s princess.”

“ Since when did Zia become your family’s Princess?, she is still my daughter.” Aiden couldn’t help but tease the old man.

“You! You- Do you want to anger me to death?”