Chapter 3 Stolen Truths

Grace collapsed on her couch immediately after she got home.

Lucy rushed to her. "Hey, where have you been?"

"I need to leave, Lucy, I need to leave", Grace whispered.

"What do you mean? What happened? Oh my God, Did Derek hurt you?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"No, he didn't hurt me but he slept with me, and Christina... She knows." Grace ruffled through her hair.

Lucy stood still for a while, mouth opened in surprise. "You slept with Mr. Knight? What?"

Grace rushed into their bedroom with Lucy trailing behind her. "I need to leave".

"You know what that woman can do? You know she's a snake, and you slept with her fiancé? What were you thinking?" Lucy asked halting her.

"It was a mistake. I think he has feelings for me, but we didn't plan for it to happen; Derek was drunk." Grace defended.

"Okay, so what do you want to do now?" Lucy let out a sigh still trying to comprehend what she heard. "You can't just leave your job, wait are you leaving your job? You just got here two months ago."

"I don't have any choice, have you forgotten who Christina is? She can kill me and no one will know anything about it. I'm just stupid." Grace said almost ready to break down in tears again.

"That's true, she's capable, but I advise you to stay for a while till we figure out something, so we don't make a rash decision. Lucy explained.

Grace sighed and stared up at the ceiling; she slumped into the bed, thinking. "Maybe, I'll just stay a while and see what happens."

Meanwhile, Derek was in the shower in his private villa. He allowed the cold water to run down his body while he stared blankly into space.

He keeps trying to recall what happened last night, but all he can remember is having drinks with Grace. Maybe that's when Christina took him to the room.

He sighed out loud. He turned off the shower, grabbed his towel and stepped out of the exquisite bathroom.

He went to his wardrobe and pulled out a black suit. He had a few meetings to attend.

He took up his phone and dialled Grace's number.

He needed to be sure.

"Beep beep! Beep beep! His phone rang, but she wasn't picking up. He dialled her number again but she didn't pick either.

The almighty Derek Knight slumped onto his bed looking frustrated.

"Well, it's fine. This doesn't change anything, I'll get back to work." He grabbed his keys and left the room.

--

Grace stared at her phone while it rang; she didn't know what to say to Derek, so she just stared at the phone as it rang.

"Did he remember?"

Grace felt nauseous, she abruptly rushed into the toilet to vomit. She was confused.

She hardly fell sick, so she couldn't comprehend why she was feeling nauseous.

"Was it because of last night?" She asked herself as she wiped her face.

"Wait what? Last night? Oh my God," Her face twitched as a thought crossed her mind.

She ran downstairs and into the street, bought a pregnancy test kit and went back inside to confirm her suspicion.

Unknowingly to her, a black SUV was parked outside her apartment. Immediately she went back in, the man in the car stepped down and went into the store to ask what she purchased.

When he got his answers, he went back into his car and dialled a number. Christina.

"Lee, what do you have for me?" Christina's voice sounded from the other end of the phone.

"She just bought a pregnancy test kit." He replied

"A pregnancy what? Text me her address immediately " Christina thundered.

"Yes ma'am."

--

The poor Grace sat on the bathroom floor. Tears streamed down her fair face, her eyes red, indicating she had been crying for a long.

The pregnancy test kit was showing positive. She had peed on the stick.

"What do I do? Do I call Derek?" she pondered.

"Knock knock!" A hard band was heard at the door.

Grace rushed t and stared at the clock hanging on the wall. "Who could that be?" She quickly wiped her face with the hem of her shirt but it was still obvious she had been crying.

Grace opened the door, and a slap from nowhere landed on her cheeks, almost blinding her.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed out in pain while holding her reddened cheek with one hand and the pregnancy test kit with the other.

"I'll kill you if you ever mention to Derek that you're carrying his child! Take this money and abort that thing in your womb, you whore!" Christina yelled at her with anger written all over her face after giving her a stinging slap, she looked like she could erupt any moment from now.

She threw a bunch of dollar notes at her which scattered on the floor.

Grace stood still, moping at Christina.

"Take this money, abort that thing in your stomach and pretend this never happened. One word from you, I'll kill you. Whore!" Christina said with a look of disgust on her face and left, banging the door behind her.

"How did she know? How is she the first person to know about my pregnancy when I just found out."

Grace gently slid down the wall to the floor in tears, her eyes fixed on the door which Christina just left through.

--

At the Office,

The elevator opened and Derek walked in. He looked at Grace's desk, to find her absent.

He turned to Lucy and asked, "Why is Grace not at her desk today?"

"She... I.... she's sick, she couldn't come in because she's sick." Lucy stuttered. Derek's aura was too intimidating and she could count the number of times he had spoken to her.

"Oh." He sighed.

Just as he was about to open the door to his exquisite office, he heard Christina's voice. " Hey, sweetheart, I have good news for you."

Christina rushed in, her hands clutching her exquisite green dress.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked his left hand on the doorknob. He stared coldly at the woman who was smiling sheepishly.

"Let's go inside your office first," Christina replied.

"Whatever you have to say, say it and let's pretend like nothing happened last night." He said bluntly.

Christina pushed the door open herself, she sat on the soft couch positioned at the left end of the office and crossed her legs graciously.

"I'm Pregnant," She said. With a smirk on her face, she turned to look at the bewildered CEO. "And you're responsible."