"You want me to disappear?" I asked, desperation creeping into my voice. "But what about Derrick? Don't you want to help me get back with him? I thought you were on my side."
Casper remained composed, his voice level and steady. "Trust me, Tina, I'm helping you by helping you disappear. If you really love yourself, you'll leave this city today without question. It's for your own good."
His words were like a bucket of ice water, chilling me to the bone. It became clear that no one would believe me, no one would help me.
This, however, angered Me.
"How can you do this to me?" I sobbed, my voice filled with raw emotion. "You all used me, and now you turn your backs on me. It's not fair! I don't deserve this!"
Alpha Casper remained unmoved, as if I were merely a problem to be solved. "I will wire you 5 million dollars. You will use it to leave the country tomorrow," he declared, ignoring my pleas.
"I don't want your money," I spat, my blood boiling. "Is this what Nana Elizabeth ordered you to do? To give me money so that you can have more evidence against me, so that you can show Derrick how greedy I am?"
Alpha Casper's expression didn't change, his eyes still emotionless and cold. "Do as you wish, Tina," he said. "But know that this is your last chance to escape."
My heart thundered in my chest as I stared at the man before me. I wanted to rage and fight, to scream until my lungs gave out.
Once again, the rich defeated the poor and defenseless.
"This is the best thing you can do for yourself. But if you refuse, then do whatever you please. Just know that I tried to help." Alpha Casper said and left the room as well. But as he got to the door, he turned back briefly and shook his head at me.
An act that loudly meant, "I pity you."
I was alone, the walls of the hospital room feeling like a prison cell. I let loose a flood of tears, unable to process the devastating events that had turned my perfect life upside down.
Just hours ago, I was celebrating the future with the family that had welcomed me with open arms. Now, I was cast aside like a worthless object, accused and abandoned.
My mind raced with confusion and pain, my heart shattering into a million pieces. I felt lost and powerless, like a lone wolf in a forest of uncertainty.
How did I not see the red flags? Was I that blinded by love to see what has really been going on around me? Was i that gullible to have been fooled and used?
"It makes no sense." I sobbed, feeling like the most stupid woman to exist.
"Was I that desperate for love that I couldn't see through their fake smiles and affections?" O mumbled through my tears, my heart was thrumming too fast like it could explode in any second.
"Did he ever love me?" I queried, but there was no one to give me an answer.
"I had the best news for you today. We were supposed to become three." i said, now rubbing my stomach in a circular motion.
"Baby, it's just us now. It's just us against the world." I wiped my cheeks, trying to stop crying like a fool. "Mummy has to be strong for you. I'm sorry for letting this happen to you. Every child deserves a good mother and a good father." I let out a loud exhale and got up to my feet.
Standing up straight, my legs trembled as dizziness flashed through my vision, causing me to lose balance, but I was able to quickly lean on the wall before I fell to the floor.
"Damn it!" I cussed out loud. It was at this moment that I realized I can't just give up because of my unborn child.
"I could just tell Derrick that I'm pregnant. Wouldn't that make him soften and give me a chance to explain myself?" I mumbled to myself, feeling slightly hopeful.
But that hope instantly died down when i realized that the entire family was against me. His mother specifically doesn't want me in her son's life. So wouldn't they just accuse me and say the child belongs to another man?
This realization made my heart crushed entirely as I sloppily dragged her feet until i got out of the hospital. People kept staring at me as I was sure I looked like someone whose world has burnt down. And they weren't wrong.Because once I got outside the hospital, I sat on the stairs and cried until my tears dried out.
Gazing at the sky and around me, I realized that it was already dark. That meant I had spent the whole day crying and moping. I felt weak to the bones as my stomach made a growling sound that signified that I was hungry.
"Baby, let's go home." Malisa mustered up her inner strength and began slowly walking away from the hospital to where she parked her car in the parking lot.
I forced myself to stand, summoning the last of my strength to leave the hospital and walk to my car in the parking lot.
As I reached the car, a strange man approached me. "Are you Tina Edward?" he asked, his voice heavy with uncertainty.
I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. What could this man possibly want from me? Was he another pawn in the game of lies that had been played against me?
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice trembling with fear.
"I was sent by Derrick Ortega to retrieve the company property you've been using," the man explained, his expression cold and professional. "Your apartment has been cleared, and I'm here to collect the car. If you would please give me the key."
His words were like a punch to the gut, taking away the last shred of dignity I had left. I was being erased from Derrick's life, as if I had never existed.
"This can't be happening," I whispered, my heart shattering as my world crumbled around me.
The man took the keys and drove off with the car, leaving me with nothing but my luggage and the shattered remnants of my life. I wanted to cry, but I had no tears left. I stood frozen in place, lost and confused, with nowhere to turn.
How had it come to this? How had everything changed so quickly?
With no close friends, I was left homeless. I checked my phone to see if my severance pay had been sent. But there was nothing like that.
"Just wow," I muttered, my mind reeling from the sheer absurdity of my situation.
Wasn't it enough that they destroyed my engagement? Wasn't it enough that they slandered and belittled me? Wasn't it enough that they used me for my kidney? Now they were taking away everything I had left.
My heart swelled with pain, aching with the unfairness of it all. Hadn't I endured enough in my life, running away from an abusive foster parent, struggling to make something of myself?
"Don't I deserve to be happy?" my heart swelled up with pain and frustration.
"Apparently, you don't," a voice said behind me, cold and fearful. Something hard pressed against my back, and my heart raced.
"If you make a sound, I won't hesitate to shoot you," the voice threatened.
My eyes widened in fear and my mind raced, but before I could react, everything went dark.
*
*
*
*
I opened my eyes, my surroundings disorienting and foreign. Two men sat in a boat, floating on a river, but I had no idea where I was.
In a burst of desperate courage, I cried out, "Help!" But my plea was met with the ominous click of a gun. The sound froze my blood, silencing my screams.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked around in the darkness. There was no one to hear me, no one to save me from this nightmare.
I trembled as the men stared at me, cold and ruthless. "W-who are you? Why am I here?" I stammered, my voice shaking with fear.
The man with the gun smiled, a twisted grin that sent chills down my spine. "Those are irrelevant questions, Miss Edward. You should be blaming yourself for getting pregnant by Derrick Ortega. If you hadn't, you wouldn't be in this situation."
He traced the gun along my face, the cold metal making my skin crawl.
His entire look with his accomplice that sat behind him looked dangerous.
But what shocked me was the fact that these strange men knew about my pregnancy that I was yet to tell anyone.
"How did you know I'm pregnant?" I managed to whisper, despite the panic that gripped my heart.
"Not all doctors can be trusted with secrets, can they?" The man chuckled darkly. "And I was sent to make sure you never surface again. This river will be your grave."
The gun pressed against my forehead, cold and ruthless, and my heart hammered in my chest.
"Please don't kill me," I begged, my voice trembling. "I'll leave the country. I'll disappear. I'll never come back, I promise." I clutched my stomach, tears streaming down my face as I pleaded for my life and the life of my unborn child.
"Too late, Miss Edward. We don't take chances with loose ends," the man sneered, his lips curling into a twisted smirk.
The silence that followed was deafening. Then, the man revealed one last, chilling piece of information.
"And one last thing you should know, According to the doctor, you're carrying triplets."
And the next sound that was heard across the open air of the river was a loud gunshot.