RECLAIMING EMMA

"Congratulations ma'am." I smiled forcefully as another camera flash went off in my face, my cheeks were starting to hurt but I just kept quiet.

"Happy one year anniversary again babe." My husband, Jeff, who was standing beside me with his arms wrapped around me greeted me as well.

"Thank you love." I smiled back at him and we shared a short kiss.

My life was perfect, right? I had everything since I was married to the most powerful man in all of New York, many people envied me, my life was a fairytale, if only they knew the truth about my situation.

"Let's go and sit down, I know your feet must be hurting from standing so long." Jeff said to me, I smiled as a response and we came down from the podium together.

He accompanied me back to our table with his arms possesively wrapped around my waist.

"Mr and Mrs Anderson, it's almost time for the congratulatory toast, your wine will be brought to the table shortly." Sam, who was a close friend of mine and also my husband's PA said to us once we were seated back at our table.

"Thank you Sam but I'll have to say no to the wine, water is fine for me." I said to him and he looked at me with worried eyes.

"Are you alright Mrs Anderson?" He asked me gently.

"And what gives you the audacity to be asking her that? In my presence too?" Jeff demanded loudly from beside me.

A few eyes turned to our table's direction and I knew things could escalate if I didn't intervene quickly.

"It's alright Jeff, and Sam, thank you, I'm alright." I thanked him, knowing Jeff would never do such, he was nothing but an arrogant man who always looked down on everyone, myself included.

The rest of the evening went by without any problem thankfully and I was more than happy for it to all come to an end.

It was the one year anniversary of our wedding and Jeff hadn't even told me about the party, he only barged into the house in the evening and demanded I got ready, there wasn't anything I could do really, I got dressed and I put on a very good performance.

"You couldn't find a better dress to wear? That was the same dress you wore to the company's business gala a few months ago." Jeff yelled when we were now back in the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have enough time to get ready, that's why I opted for the first dress I could find." I explained to Jeff while I stood quietly in the corner of the room.

"You're such an imbecile, now everyone is going to be talking about how my wife likes to repeat clothes, do you not understand that everything you do reflects on me? Including your poor choice of clothes?" He grunted out from the middle of the bed.

"All you do is embarrass me, you can't even dress properly for crying out loud, you're not my wife you hear me, you're just an embarrassment." He continued and I stood there frozen, unable to do anything.

I knew if I decided to do something or even stand up against him, I would not like the results of my actions, instead I kept quiet, only opening my mouth to apologise when he was done.

"I'm sorry, I..." I couldn't complete my sentence because I suddenly started to feel queasy and I dashed to the bathroom, barely making it in time before the contents of my empty stomach came rushing up.

I leaned over the porcelain bowl as my body convulsed with heaves. After several minutes of dry heaving and trembling, I sat back against the cool tile wall, sweating and exhausted.

I could hear Jeff still shouting from the bedroom but I paid him no attention.

As I stared blankly at the toilet, a strange thought crossed my mind, what if I was pregnant?

My period was late but I had been so stressed lately so I just assumed the stress had delayed it. Still, the nausea earlier this morning and now this vomiting seemed like it could be a sign.

I had been feeling off for the past few days but figured it was just a stomach bug. Unfortunately, the nausea hadn't subsided and seemed to be getting worse.

I pulled myself up using the sink as support and looked at my pale face in the mirror. Dark circles lined my tired eyes. Could it be possible? As the thought lingered, my anxiety grew, I needed to know for sure.

I rinsed my mouth and reached for the box from one of the cabinets, I hastily opened the box, aware that Jeff could barge in anytime and read the instructions.

I followed the steps carefully, my heart racing. After waiting the required few minutes, I braced myself and peeked at the small window. There, in the little viewing area, was a small pink plus sign.

Positive.

I was pregnant.

I felt my knees go weak and I slid down the wall to sit on the tile floor, tears filling my eyes, and a million thoughts raced through my head.

How could this be happening? We had been so careful, what were we going to do? How would we afford a baby in our current situation? My breath quickened as panic set in.

I was still a mess on the floor when Jeff started pounding loudly on the bathroom door, "Open up you imbecile, what are you doing in there?"

I quickly stood up and opened the door for him, "Did you hide another man in here? Or this is where you want to sleep?" He asked.

"No Jeff, I'm sorry I took so long, I was getting the makeup off my face." I apologized quickly and he brushed me off as usual.

"Whatever, just get out of my way." He said and pushed me away from the path leading to the bathroom.

I crawled into bed, not sure what I wanted to do but I took my phone and sent a text to the other person responsible for this.

I woke up as early as I could the next morning and I left the house, before Jeff could get up to, I needed to do something about my current predicament but I couldn't act alone, this baby was our responsibility, not mine alone.

My text last night hadn't gone unattended to, I got a message back as well, asking us to meet up at our safe place which was a little cabin on the outskirts of town.

I drove there and he must have heard the sound of the car because the door opened and Sam stepped outside.

Immediately I got out of the car too, I ran into his warm embrace.

"Are you okay? I was worried about you, your text last night seemed urgent, it killed me that I couldn't call or text you back." He expressed.

"Yes I'm fine, but Sam, something has happened."

"What's that?"

"I'm pregnant Sam," I told him and I watched as a look of disbelief took over his face.

"You're pregnant for me?" He asked in a very surprised manner.

"Yes, I am." I nodded my head and he engulfed me in a giant hug.

"I'm going to be a father," He exclaimed happily, "I love you, Emma, thank you for making my dreams come true." He thanked me profusely and it helped calm me down a bit.

"But I'm scared Sam."

"Scared of what?"

"Of Jeff, of course, I'm married to him, I can't tell him I'm pregnant, he'll know the baby isn't his, what do I do then?" I asked him and he seemed to be thinking and when he spoke, the words that came out of his mouth were the last thing I was expecting.

"We have to run away. "

"What? I can't do that Sam, I can't leave my whole family behind."

"We don't have any other choice here Emma, we have to run while we can, once Mr. Anderson gets a whiff of what's going on, that'll be the end for both of us and you know it," Sam added.

I knew what he was saying made absolute sense, I really didn't have any other choice and it wasn't like I was losing anything.

I was simply going to start a new life with Sam, the love of my life, the only people who would miss me were my family.

"Okay, let's do it. Let's run away." I told him, coming to a decision, "But I have to go back home and get some things first and I have to see my parents too." I explained and he nodded his head in understanding.

We parted ways shortly after with a promise to meet each other here again in the evening. I went to my parent's house first and thankfully they were both home.

"Oh Emma, what a lovely surprise. What are you doing here?" My mum asked.

"I just came to check in on you two." I lied to her, The truth is, I just wanted to see them one more time before Sam and I left.

"That's good, thank you for checking in on us but your father and I are doing good," Mum reassured me.

I spent a few hours with them before I decided to leave, I only hoped they would one day forgive me for what I was about to do.

When I got back to the house, I was surprised to find it empty, I guess Jeff had left for work, it was good anyway. I don't think I could start packing my things without giving him an explanation as to why I was doing so.

I got everything I needed and when I was done, my luggage consisted of just one medium-sized traveling bag. I drove back to the safe house but I found it empty.

"Sam!!" I called out once I was inside but I got no response, I checked everywhere, till I found him in the bedroom, looking out of the window.

I walked towards him and wrapped my hands around his torso, "I've been calling you," I started, rubbing my face all over his back, "Everything is ready, but I forgot to ask earlier, where will we go?"

"So this is where you guys come too and fuck each other's brains out."A voice which I knew didn't belong to Sam said to me. I took a step back from the figure and when he turned around, I felt the ground crumbling beneath my feet.

"Jeff.."

"You have some nerves, Emma, I'll give you that." He said, walking towards me very slowly.

"How? How?" I asked, fumbling over my words, not being able to get it out.

"How did I know? You're not as sneaky as you guys may think you are but I confirmed my suspicions last night with this." Jeff revealed and he showed me his phone screen, which was displaying the picture of the pregnancy test I did last night.

"So you're carrying his baby and planning to run away?" He asked and tears were already streaming down my face at this point, I was terrified and I didn't know what Jeff was going to do to me.

"You ungrateful bitch!" He yelled the same time I felt something hard land on my face.

He slapped me.

"You know what, I'll give you what you want, leave, and never come back here again." He said and threw some papers at me, when I looked up at the papers, I saw they were divorce papers.

I signed them and he looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes before turning around to leave me in the empty house.

I think I had just ruined my life.

Four Years Later

"I'm late."

I exclaimed loudly when I looked at the time. I hurriedly got up from bed, fumbling around the room, trying to wear my skirt and blouse simultaneously.

I knew what I was trying to do was impossible and the only way I could get something done was to wear each of them one at a time but because time wasn't on my side again, I had to hurry.

Contrary to what I thought, I successfully managed to wear both the skirt and the blouse and once that was done with, I was out the door almost immediately, making sure to lock the door before finally leaving.

I had decided to take a nap after taking Jason and Anna to preschool, it was their first day and they were very excited. I made sure I woke up as early as possible so I could get everything ready and thankfully, we were quite on time.

I decided to take a short nap after dropping them off as I still had some time to spare. My short nap turned into a full, deep sleep, which caused me to wake up twenty minutes later than I was supposed to.

I was rushing because it was my first day at work and I was returning to New York after four years, I didn't want to ruin it myself.

It took a lot of debate and mulling over on my part before I could find the courage to come back.

Immediately after the divorce, I changed my name back to my maiden name as I didn't want to carry any remnant of my past, I just wanted to put it all behind me and thankfully I was able to do just that.

I didn't see or hear from Sam again since that day, I wondered what had happened to him, I tried calling him, but his phone was turned off, I even went by his house but it was empty, it was like he disappeared.

I tried looking for him but I eventually gave up and moved on with my life.

I rushed out as quickly as my legs would carry me and ran straight for the bus stop. I knew the chances of me making it to work on time this morning were very slim but I still had to try.

By the time the bus was arriving at the office, I was just ten minutes late, I hoped the boss wouldn't be too angry. I practically jumped out of the bus when it was almost in front of the company building.

I didn't know where I was going or who I was supposed to talk to, I just followed my instincts and decided to go upstairs, all I knew was that I was going to be working directly with the CEO.

I stepped out of the elevator when it reached the topmost floor, I went to the receptionist area where I saw a middle-aged woman who looked as if she was busy.

"Who are you and how did you get here?" She snapped at me, not even allowing me to introduce myself.

"I'm here to see the CEO," I answered the best way I could.

"You think everyone that comes here just waltzes into the office, commands to see the CEO and we just open the door for them?"

"I wasn't commanding, you asked a question and I answered." I tried explaining myself, not sure where her hostility was coming from.

"Madam, what is it that you want? And you have ten seconds to answer me before I call security." She threatened me.

"I have a meeting with the CEO, I'm the new executive assistant," I told her.

She eyed me warily from head to toe, a look of disbelief in her eyes but I didn't say anything again. She then shifted her attention from me to the computer sitting in front of her, scrolling through it for something.

After keeping me waiting for five minutes, she pointed me in the direction of the CEO's office, I followed her direction and I found myself in front of a big door that had the words "CEO" written boldly on it.

I knocked on the door and I heard a faint come in on the other side before pushing it open.

"Who are you?" This was the first question that was thrown at me when I stepped in, by a guy who seemed to be in his early twenties.

"Um, I'm the new executive assistant sir."

"And you dare show up by this time? Don't you have any work ethic? Or you didn't deem it fit to come to work early?" He seethed.

"I'm sorry sir, but there were a few unexpected incidents...." I tried to explain but he wouldn't listen.

"Your personal life is none of my concerns, all that matters to me is that you're in this office, right on time, and since that will clearly be an issue for you, allow me to help you out, you're fired."

I stared at him in disbelief, my ears not hearing what he said, "What? I'm so sorry sir. Please if can give me one more chance, you won't be disappointed." I pleaded.

"Get out of my office right now miss, or do you want me to call security to drag you out?"

"I will do anything you want sir, anything, just name it." I offered, now very desperate.

I could see him perk up and his eyes glistened with mischief when those words left my mouth.

"Anything right?" He asked again, leaning back in his chair and stroking his jaw.

I was hesitant before I answered, but I gulped and opened my mouth to speak, "Yes sir, anything. Just don't fire me." I pleaded again.

"Tell me miss, are you married?"

I was shocked by his question but I answered him anyway, "No sir, I'm not married." I answered honestly.

"Good. If you want to keep this job, you have to show me a good time." He said, tapping his lap, his eyes raking my body hungrily.

My eyes widened in disbelief, I couldn't just believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you deaf or are you dumb? Or it's both?" He snapped at me.

"I understand what you're saying sir but I'm sorry, I can't do that," I told him.

"Then get out of my office right this instant." He instructed and I was back on my knees again, pleading with him to allow me to keep my job.

I was still on my knees when the doors to his office opened again. We both looked up in curiosity, I wanted to know who had the audacity to barge into his room like this and I could tell he wanted to know as well.

"What's going on here? Why are you in my office Sebastian?" A woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties came into the room. Although I could tell she was older, she was still looking gorgeous.

"Mum? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back yet." The man whom I discovered his name was Sebastian sat up straighter in the chair, a panicked look on his face.

"Why am I not supposed to be back? This is my company and I run it as I see fit." She told Sebastian before looking at the floor and that was when she noticed me.

"Who is this? And why is she kneeling on the floor?" Was her question.

"Don't worry about her mum, I will handle her." Sebastian interrupted me before I could get one word out, even making a move to stand up, round the desk, and throw me out of the room no doubt.

"I didn't ask you to answer me, did I?" His mother asked him and he halted in his actions.

"Hi ma'am, my name is Emma Jones," I answered her timidly after she gestured for me to stand up.

"Emma Jones?? You're the new executive assistant for the company. Welcome on board, it's a pleasure to have you join us." She gave me a warm welcome, even extending her hands out for me to shake.

"But why were you kneeling on the floor?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Mr. Sebastian fired me for showing up to work late on my first day, I was pleading with him for my job. I really need this job ma."

I noticed she sent a stern look in Sebastian's direction before turning her attention back to me, "Listen, Avery, I own this company and so you answer to me and alone, pay him no attention. I don't know what he has told you before but your job offer still stands."

"Thank you so much ma." I thanked her profusely.

"You're welcome and please call me Mrs Williams or Jessica." She told me and I nodded.

"I know it's your first day but the timing is just perfect, we have a conference to attend, you don't mind, do you?" She asked and I couldn't help but hesitate.

I had to go pick Jason and Anna up from school and there was no one else that could do it.

"Is there a problem miss Jones?" Mrs Williams asked me when she took notice of my hesitance.

"I have to pick my children up and there's no one else I can call," I explained to her.

"You can pick them up along the way, I just need you to familiarize yourself with your new job, you don't have to stay till the end of the conference." She told me and I nodded my head pleased with the option she had given me.

We left the office and I stopped at the twins' school to pick him up.

When we arrived at the venue, it was just like every other conference, "You can bring them inside or leave them in the car with Sebastian."

Mrs. Williams told me, and I decided they should stay in the car so I would be more focused on work, I told Mrs. Williams and we entered the venue with that.

Everything was going well until a distressed-looking Sebastian came to where we were, "What's going on?" Mrs. Williams asked him.

"They ran off,," was all he said.

I went into panic mode immediately and I made a move to turn around to start looking for him when I heard Jason's voice, "That's mommy." He said excitedly.

I turned around about to run to him when I noticed that he and Anna were pulling someone behind them.

"Emma?" He whispered in disbelief.

I could only look at him with wide eyes, I hadn't planned to reunite with my ex-husband on my first day of work.

"Emma?"

He called my name and although the way my name rolled off his tongue shouldn't affect me, I couldn't deny that it did, it affected me more than it should have.

I closed my eyes and composed myself before opening them again to look at my children, "Jason, Anna, come here my darlings. I told you wandering off is not good, you make mummy worry when you do that." I cautioned them.

They ran into my outstretched arms immediately, "We're sorry mummy, we didn't run away, we only missed you and that was why we came to look for you."

"I'm not mad. Let's go." I answered, tugging their hands and pulling them with me.

"Emma wait!" I heard his voice again and my heart clenched in my chest once more.

I never thought I'd be seeing him again so soon, it was all too much for me, all I just wanted was to crawl into a hole and disappear.

"Mummy, is this daddy?" Anna's little voice asked me and it took all of my willpower not to break down and cry but I stayed strong.

"No baby, this isn't daddy, let's go." I told her and took their hands, about to start pulling them away again.

"Stop right this instance, Emma." He suddenly yelled out and I remembered this was how he usually behaved, he always resorted to shouting and throwing tantrums when things didn't go his way.

"Mum, take me away from the scary man." Jason whimpered and hid himself behind my legs.

Jeff must have heard him because his face softened immediately and he took a step forward but I instinctively took one back, he had always scared me and that hadn't changed still.

"Emma, I'm sorry but we have to talk." He said again in a more softer voice.

"No Mr Anderson, I have nothing to say to you. If you'll excuse us now, we have to get going." I finally said, not looking him in the eye one time and I all but ran out of out of the lobby.

I saw Mrs. Williams looking at me from a distance and I knew she was my boss and I should have waited and said something to her but I couldn't, not at that moment.

I just ran out of the hotel, stopping the first cab I could find and jumping in, hoping Jeff didn't follow me and hoping I would still have a job by tomorrow.

The rest of the evening, while I was cooking dinner, helping the twins with their assignment, giving them a bath, I was in a daze. I couldn't believe I saw Jeff Anderson.

The twins were now ready for bed and they called me to come and read them a bedtime story. I cuddled in Anna's bed and got right to it, I was halfway into the story when I noticed their eyes were already closed.

I slowly and quietly as possible slid out of her bed and just as my feet touched the floor, I heard Jason's little voice, "That was Daddy today right?" I turned to him and I saw him looking at me with his big brown doe eyes.

"No baby, that's not daddy," I answered him.

"He's scary," Jason admitted.

I chuckled lightly and inched closer to Jason, "He's not scary baby, he was just surprised to see how big you've become, you were so little the last time he saw you." I explained to him the best possible way I could think of.

"He won't take us away from you, will he?"

"Of course not baby, no one is taking you or your sister away from me, I promise," I told him and got back into his bed, throwing the blanket over us, making sure he was deep asleep before I left again.

I got dressed and prepared for work the next day, since I hadn't gotten any message telling me not to come to work, I assumed my work was still intact so I got dressed.

I dropped the twins off at school and made my way to the office afterward. When I got there, I was the center of attention, I could hear people whispering and pointing at me, I guess the little incident of yesterday must have spread like wildfire.

I didn't pay them any mind though, I just went my own way.

When the elevator got to my floor, I all but dragged my feet out of the elevator and made my way to my office, I hadn't even gotten any work done and I was already exhausted.

As soon as my buttocks made contact with the chair, a knock sounded on my door, I took in a deep breath before telling whoever was on the other side to come in.

The door opened and Mrs William's secretary poked her head through my door, "Good morning Emma." She greeted me and I returned her greetings.

"Mrs Williams request that you see her in her office." She told and I knew what was coming already.

I didn't bother to unpack my things because I already knew what was coming, after the scene that happened yesterday because of me, I wouldn't want to work with myself either.

I stood up and made my way to her office immediately. On getting there, she was on a call but she offered me a seat, one that I gladly took, the fact that she offered me a seat was a good sign and I hope it meant that I wasn't going to lose my job.

"Good morning Emma." She greeted me as soon as she was done with her call, I on the other hand was so embarrassed that I couldn't look her in the face.

"Do you mind explaining to me what happened yesterday?" She asked politely.

I sighed before looking up at her, "I'm sorry Mrs William, I'm sorry I caused such a huge scene yesterday but what happened yesterday has a long story to it and I wouldn't like to revisit it." I explained to her as politely as possible.

She nodded her head, "You don't have to talk about things like that if you don't want to but I clearly saw yesterday that you both are not on good terms, I hope that won't cause any problem for you in the future?"

I mulled internally over her question and the truth was that even I couldn't guarantee that Jeff wouldn't cause any problems in the future.

"He won't cause any problems, ma'am," I assured her and myself too.

"Alright then, you can get back to work." She told me and I thanked her before jumping up and going back to my office.

It was around lunchtime when I received a mail in my office, on opening it and reading through the contents, all I began to see was just red. I couldn't believe what my eyes had just read.

So I stormed out of the office and took a cab to Jeff's company, I knew it was still in the same location. I barged in through the doors and I noticed that nobody even tried to stop me.

When I got to the topmost floor where his office was, I didn't bother to greet anyone, I just beelined straight for his office, "How dare you?!!" I yelled at him, reaching into my bag and pulling out the mail I had received.

"Explain this," I told him, dropping the mail in his lap.

"Can't you read?" Was his snarky response.

"How dare you buy my apartment building and force me to evict? Where am I going to go with my kids?" I yelled at him.

"You all will be living with me." That was the simple explanation he provided.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me Emma, you're moving in with me." He said again and by the tone of his voice, I knew it was not up for debate.