Chapter 4 LATIFA

Joyce's POV

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I lie motionless in the cold sterile bed, my body a prisoner to the last injection. Every word and sound is clear. My heart, the distant voices and footsteps of patients along the corridor, the hum of the ceiling light, but I couldn't resist sitting up. I couldn't move; not my finger, not my lips.

The door creaks open, my heart thudding in my chest painfully.

Every day has been worse than the one before. A step towards my bed. Obviously Lady Joan's. Her stiletto heels have never failed to announce her arrival.

"You look dreadful Joyce", her voice cut out dripping in sarcasm. "Worse than the last time"

My heart hardened. My nerves stood firm. I longed to scream, scratch at her face that was beginning to show signs of age, but my body refused to cooperate.

I know you can hear me loud and clear Joyce. The injection this time was to paralyze you, since your mental state is taking too long", she mocked. Her voice was on fire with triumph. "I never knew it would be that effective".

She sat beside me. She pulled out a set of photographs and fling them on my face. My eyes landed on the glinting pictures before me. Each one of them a knife through my heart.

My husband

In another woman's arm. Both naked, in our wedding bedroom.

His arms so long, around her waist. The way he hugged me. His face so calm, like I was with him; his rightful wife

My breath froze.

He cheated

Lady Joan leaned forward, her whisper harsh and taunting. "That's the Ministers grand-daughter. A real woman. Worthy of this role as the Dutchman's daughter in-law. Someone deserving of my son"

My heart thudded, pounding harder.

My vision blur

This can't be happening.

"And guess what", her voice came in clear. My nerves stand out, anticipating her next word. "She's two months pregnant!"

My breath caught, and then hazel. The words tugged at my throat.

Pregnant!

Never Zack will not......

Pain flowed through my veins leaving me helpless. I don't want to believe it, but the pictures were obviously not fabricated. It's real

"what you could not do in two years Joyce.... " Her taunting words cut. The antiseptic walls of the hospital run through my heart. The whirring sound of light hit my heavy brain.

"Ooh... I almost forgot ", her voice raised. "I was behind it. Behind the two years of torture" she sneered tauntingly.

I froze.

My brain processing every single word. She was behind what?.

I gasp. The tears streamed more than ever before. The pain was worse than it should have been.

I wanted to scream, struggle with her, strangle her. But she held me captive. She always did.

All along I tried to become pregnant but failed, was it because of her?

"You have to be shocked, Joyce," she teased. She snorted with laughter. "The Italian tea you had morning and night, do you think I favored you enough to give them to you every month?" she jeered.

My whole body hurts. Anger and rage fills me. My heart is pierced, piece by piece. Pain overwhelmed me. I wanted to burn her to a crisp. To drink her evil blood dry, draining her veins of their vitality. To inform her of what I am capable of, but my body. My body won't listen to me.

My tears ran unabated, the only way I can convey my anger and pain.

What have I ever done to her?

She leaned towards me, "I warned you when you married my son. I warned you to stay away", she spat. Her voice steady, with rage. "But you didn't listen... I can not sit and let you pilfer my husband's toil, you foul wretch".

Her voice rasped, charging the dimmed room. She paced through the room. Her heels tapped and clipclapped on the ground. "Do you see your signature on these divorce documents. I can do anything that I want, which includes your existence" she flashed a mocking grin, brandishing the divorce papers. My signature lay gorgeously signed.

She faked signing my signature? How did she obtain my signature?

Stuffing the documents in her bag, her voice now in a spine-chilling whisper, "Have a good night dear daughter-in-law. I mean my ex-daughter -in-law. We will meet in hell".

She turned and headed towards the door. "I'll get you to die peacefully. You don't have to worry about anything; fire will do its work; your agonies and of course your body "

My stomach was in knots

Lady Joan is going to kill me by fire?

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Stranded on the cold bed, tears wetting the pillow over my head. Lady Joan's words consumed my mind

*I'll see that you go peacefully. The fire will take care of everything*

Will this truly be my death?. End of life, of happiness?

My husband's scene in the woman's arms flash before me. Maybe death is the best for us all, for him. A Little sacrifice for his happiness.

Alittle? My life?

But then the door jerked open. My heart flipped over. Is it already time? My time to leave?

Footstep approaches. Not Lady Joan's but a soft one. My heart was racing, breathing shallow as fear crept away from me.

Who's there?, I wanted to say, but my lips are stuck.

I wished I could move

But a person knelt next to me, "I know you can hear me", the voice whispered. "I'm rescuing you from here".

That voice. I knew it. The woman from the last time at the playground. I blinked, one tear fell down my cheek. She saved me. She remembered me.

She put a finger to my lips. "Quiet." I nodded in myself. My feelings were raised. Feelings of hope.

But the door was burst open. We've been caught.

It is the nurse. The one lady Joan hired to keep me till I die from burns.

"Remember, quiet," she told me, softly. My heart leaped. Someone aside, my husband has a care for me. Even if I dnot escape today, I shall die satisfied.

The nurse hit, syringe held in her fist. But the woman dodged, catching her by the collar and then by the wrist as she yanked it free. The syringe falls from the nurse's grib, ringing on the floor.

She pushes the nurse back against the wall. Her face clearly shows the years of anger in her.

I layed on the bed. The scene unfolding. My body yawns to fight for myself. Fight for my freedom. For the first time, I hated myself, my loyalty to my husband; to the Dutchmans.

I should have fought for myself before now. I should have fought for my home, for my unborn children.

I will wait no more. If I escape today, I will come back. And I will attack ruthlessly. I'll revenge my unborn ones.

I will acquire everything which is precious to the Dutchman's. Right from the Dutchman's Factory, their Stocks, the ancient pictures of their forefathers, all and I will take Lady Joan's life.

I vow...

The nurse slammed her up against the wall, across a tray of machinery. The nurse ripped at the woman but she discovered something; a scalpel

The nurse sprinted but the woman sprang first. At the nurse's arm. Which made her fall back shouting "You'll never leave this place".

"We'll see about that", snapped the woman, kicking her which causes her to crash onto the dusty floor.

Then the woman turned to face me, removing my ring and necklace. She put them on the nurse. "We have to make them believe that you are dead. If not, she will search for you everywhere. So from today, Joyce is dead."

There was a fire alarm.

Smoke filled under the door and screams echoed through the corridors. The fire quickly spread.

The woman put me on her back. She pushed through the chaos. Dragging me down the flooded hospital hallway. Fire sliced at the walls, burning everything in its path.

And then

Air.

We were outside

But she didn't let up, until we were past the building. A black SUV pulled over. A hard arm pulled me from her. Carefully putting me into the car as it takes off

"You're safe now Joyce", she whispered, running her fingers through my hair. Tears flowed heavily down my face. Our eyes locked

I am saved. Saved from Lady Joan's chains. Saved by a stranger.

I breathed deeply. The air of freedom, the air of peace. The air that I've been denied for so long.

"You will be fine, my dear LATIFA" she whispered softly. Her smile was unbroken.

Latifa!