My baby! My child was gone!
The annoying sound of beeps accelerated, and my breathing hardened. I wanted to get away from wherever I was, but my legs felt so numb that I could do nothing. I cursed. Where was I? Where were the others? What happened with my baby?
I wanted for someone to come to me. Anyone.
“So…me…ne…” I tried to choke it out, but then the tears came to my left eye even more from the pain in my throat. It was so fucking dry. “He…p…”
My whispers were those of a wounded animal, harsh and ravaged, but I needed to know that my baby was alright, just to know that it was safe.
“Kaley Evansville, the woman that destroyed my plans,” I heard a voice speak, and I tensed. I knew that voice, but I never heard him speak with so much malevolence and hatred before. Though, I could guess that it was capable of it long before this moment.
“It has been a real pain in the ass to make the plan of removing you out from the picture work, but it was all worth it.” He sighed, anger lacing his words before he suddenly started to laugh. Not a pure laugh like Blake had, but more sinister, pure madness in every sound.
I shivered.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you…if you cooperate, that is. But for now, I’m sure you noticed that the baby’s out of your body, no?” He chuckled. My eye closed because I didn’t want to face him, nor answer that bastard. Why? Why did I fall for lies so easily?
“He’s dead,” he said, and that’s when I broke. No, no, no! It was not real; it was not possible. I couldn’t have lost my child; he’s lying; he was fucking lying! I shook my head. The beeping sound intensified as I rejected the words he said to me. I wanted my son. I wanted our future. I wanted to spend time by his side. I couldn’t accept them. I just couldn’t.
It was when he spoke again when my breath stopped.
“Just kidding, he’s not…yet.” For the second time in less than five minutes, my eye widened in shock. I was sure it was bleeding by now. My son was alive. He was safe; he really was safe. He was okay, alive. Then I slowly looked around before finding him sitting in the corner of the room. I was in a hospital, I could guess. He said “yet;” he would harm my baby. I couldn’t let him harm my child.
“Can’t talk, huh? It’s fine with me. Just nod or shake your head.” I heard his voice again. “Thanks to Regina successfully drugging Blake after she made that show when you ran out of the house, he won’t be bothering us anytime soon. The plan was to kidnap you and finish you later or just kill you, but you helped us a lot by allowing Ethan to hit you with the car. He acted on his own will, but this would be the best way to fake your death. Hit by a car, died, and lost the baby. Great, I know,” he said, and my breathing stopped. He wanted to kill me? And my son? How the fuck would he…Fake? He couldn’t fake this if he let me live. He’d have to kill someone else for that! But would he?
Did that mean that Blake was inno—
“Now, here’s the deal. If you want your fucking bastard to live, you’ll get the fuck out of our lives. We’ll move you to Paris, England, anywhere just stay out of our lives…Or would you like for little Ayden to be next?” I believe that my face paled after hearing that.
What the hell was wrong with him? What the fucking hell was wrong with this man? How could he do this? How could he act like he had no connections with the people he planned to harm? Dream. Yes, it was all just a dream I would be waking up from.
As if I had that luck.
“Do we have a deal or not?” he asked, and without realizing what had I done, I weakly nodded my head. I could do nothing. The more I thought, the more I came to realize my current state. My legs were so numb that I felt I lost them. One of my arms was in a cast while I couldn’t speak nor see. My body felt weak, and even if I tried to do something against him, it was impossible. He was, after all, a professional at hurting others.
“From now on, you’re no longer Kaley Blackburn. Your name is Ava Niall. The documents were prepared long ago, and this is the last time we’ll see each other. If you come near Blake or any member of my family again, I’ll kill your brother, and then I’ll kill you. Today is your funeral, by the way. It’s on the news, so.” I looked at him moving around before he got the remote and turned on the TV. “Be happy that you’re not in her place.”
With that, he was outside. I took a deep breath, trying to analyze what the fuck happened in those few minutes. Was I hallucinating? I surely must have had been because there’s no way in fucking hell that Lucas just came and that he threatened to kill my brother and son and…
Who was I lying to? I knew all too well what that man did and what he was capable of. He probably killed his own daughter while he sent the other one to an abusive husband. He also ruined Blake’s mother and drove her to madness while almost marrying Blake against his own will. Blake. Just the thought of Blake made me reject those events.
They couldn’t be happening; it was all just a part of some nightmare I would be waking up from soon and be in Blake’s embrace. He’s going to swing me around; let me rest my head on his lap and whisper sweet things in my ear to make me forget about all of this…
He’s certainly…
“This is probably the hardest news from us concerning a certain person. The famous multi-billionaire we were all so excited to see getting married had lost his wife and a son in a car accident.” I heard a voice from the TV. Was that— “Today, as everybody knows, is their funeral. Kaley and Christian Max Blackburn, may the two of you rest in peace.” I didn’t hear anything after that. Blake never told me how he would name our son. He said that he would tell me when he got to hold him in his arms. The name he chose; it was my father’s name.
Oh, Blake. I wanted to shout out to him and tell him that we were here in some hospital, to ask him to save us. To save us from his own father and bring us back home.
“The car accident ended with an explosion, and both drivers were burnt down completely. However, the eight-month-pregnant body with a ring that served as proof that it was his wife…” My eye widened, and I shook my head. Moving my fingers to my right hand, I noticed that my wedding and engagement rings weren’t there. My memories came back to me as I remembered that I left them at home. How did they get them? Was it thanks to Regina being in the house?
And then it hit me again, I replayed his words once more before I was truly able to comprehend what were the consequences of Lucas’s actions.
Be happy that you’re not in her place.
He had killed someone. He killed someone in my stead. Oh my God, oh my God! No, just no! No!
“We can only hope that Blake Blackburn is going to be alright after this and somehow recover because just by looking at him now, we can see the pain and grievance he’s feeling at the moment.”
I couldn’t listen to this anymore. I just couldn’t.
“Oh my God. Ms. Niall, are you alright?” I heard a feminine voice ask before it went away. She loudly announced outside that I woke up and then came to check on me. “Oh my God, who put this on TV?” She found the remote control before shutting it down, which I was grateful for. I couldn’t listen to it anymore.
“It’s really sad what had happened. You had luck, dear,” a voice spoke, and I saw that it belonged to an elder woman. She was probably the doctor that came after that nurse. “You could have died just like that poor innocent girl, but both of you and your son are alright,” she said with a kind voice. I almost burst out crying. If only she knew, if only she knew.
“Ms. Niall, I’m going to be your doctor in the nearby future. My name is Natasha, and I’ll be working together with two more doctors on your current state, one for your eyes and one for legs. There is hope for both, so don’t give up yet. I will also be in charge of your baby as well,” I heard her say, but I just couldn’t speak, all of this…It just wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
My baby. My love. My brother. My friends. Everyone I ever knew thought that I was dead. I just didn’t know how to face my life at the mo
ment.
“Your baby started breathing on his own around two and a half hours ago. We had to put him in an incubator and follow the entire process in case of damage being passed to him, but I’m more than glad to say that he’s perfectly fine. He’s smaller than normal size, which is perfectly alright considering that he was born prematurely. Now, after I’m done with checks, I’ll tell them to bring him here, if you’d love to see him?” I nodded my head, and she continued to speak, but I could no longer hear her. Soon enough, I was taken into the world of slumber once again.
None of this hell could’ve possibly been real.
I was ignorant, too young. I believed that I was strong enough to face everything on my own, that I had become enough to remain by Blake’s side. I had strayed too much; we all stray too much.
But we all have a path behind our steps to lead us back home when it happens. Yet no matter how much I prayed, I just could no longer see it.
Epilogue
Sometimes we’d do anything to make people we love happy, even if that means that we won’t be part of their happiness.
The only thing I could think of while staring at the white ceiling was that it had it better than me. Why did I even compare myself to the ceiling? I’ll never know. It looked so hollow, so empty, but I was worse.
Numb, hollow, and broken.
Although I was finally able to open my eye, I didn’t think that I’ll be able to use it for a long time. The hell with it. I didn’t even think that I’ll ever be able to see with it again. The doctor said that I had some hope, but even I could read in between lines; no matter how hard he tried not to show it, he knew I was just another helpless case.
My legs were broken. But then I remembered that I had it better than one person, regardless of whether or not I stayed paralyzed for the rest of my life.
I had it much better than Blake.
The man I loved thought that I was dead. Many believe that it’s painful when someone dies. I believed the same. But with Blake it was different; he had it worse.
Blake thought that my so-called death was his fault. I did storm out of his house after witnessing that scene, that scene so sour I never wanted to remember again, but knew that I couldn’t. What a fool I was to so easily doubt him, the one whom I cherished the most.
If I hadn’t doubted him, then I wouldn’t have been hit by the car, the one driven by Ethan, the man that scarred my friend for eternity. Melissa and Max were never going to have their happiness because she was never going to be able to overcome her fear of love.
Why was Lucas so fucked-up? Couldn’t he have just left us alone to spend the rest of our lives in happiness? What was I saying? He willingly gave his daughter to the man that abused her, so why would he care about his son’s happiness? As long as his business was alright, no one’s happiness mattered; that’s what was clear with him.
Of course, Lucas would have thought like that; he didn’t even hesitate to hit his unborn grandchild with a car for fuck’s sake.
They say that love is a sacrifice. When you love the person, you’re ready to suffer and die in an instant so that they can smile and be happy. For the sake of that person, you’d do anything, and the person doesn’t even need to know that you are protecting them. It doesn’t matter to you that they find out. As long as you know that the very same person you love will live his or her happily ever after, you’re more than fine.
That’s why I was so sad. That’s why I so wanted to say sorry to Blake.
No matter how much I loved him, how much it killed me that he was blaming himself for my “death,” how much I longed to be by his side, this was the right thing to do. I clung to the belief that he would be able to overcome my death one day and live in the blissful ignorance, maybe even marry off again.
For as long as I was by his side, Lucas wouldn’t be able to stay calm.
If I returned, Ayden would’ve been killed. Our son, Christian, would’ve been killed. And then, for all I knew, even Blake could’ve ended the same way trying to protect me. Lucas was a monster; he had probably killed Blake’s sister; he almost killed Melissa as well. He arranged all of this so that both my son and I would die, so why wouldn’t he try to kill him as well?
I was truly sorry, but even though I knew that I wouldn’t be able to be a part of Blake’s life anymore, I knew that I was at least going to be the reason of the happiness he would feel one day.
Slowly moving my head aside—I had a hard time getting used to me having only one functional eye—I saw the doors to my room open, and a nurse entered. I think that her name was Mary; I wasn’t sure. I no longer wanted to think at that moment; I just wanted to die.
Selfish? Yeah, I knew that it was selfish. My way of protecting Blake was so, so wrong, yet I knew of no better way to deal with it.
“You’re awake, miss? Someone was eager to see you.” She chuckled, and that’s when I saw him. Nestled in her arms, a little creature that was the reason I forgot about wanting to die laughed at me. The same little creature that brought me to Blake, that bonded us, that made me laugh so many times and meet playful Blake’s side, that gave me the will to live. I didn’t even need to hear what she wanted to tell me to know who that was: my son. It was our little Christian, Blake’s and mine.
I don’t know how I did it, but I raised my arm toward him before the nurse gently placed him next to me on the bed. I wrapped my functional arm around him. I took that chance to study him; he was so little, which I knew was because he was born earlier than supposed, as the doctor explained to me before. However, he had survived a miscarriage, and that was a miracle by itself.
He is our little miracle indeed.
He had my hair, blond. Blake had raven black, and I was a little glad that it wasn’t his hair he inherited because it would’ve been so hard for me to look at him. It would always remind me of his father.
I brought my other hand in cast to his hair and gently touched his head. I was right; not only did it look soft, but it also felt like that.
I chuckled, and he opened his eyes, making me gasp. Who’d have thought he would inherit his father’s eyes, that gentle blue color that made him look like a little angel. Knowing the crazy genes that ran through Blake’s family, I had already guessed that they were going to be blue, but it still surprised me how much they were like Blake’s.
The sad reality hit me again. Our child was never going to meet his father, his father who believed that his son was dead.
“I’m sorry.” I hiccupped, hugging him tighter. “I’m so sorry…That you had to be born in this family. I’m sorry, Christian.” I cried for his fate. I could already see him, grown up and playing with other children when one of them would ask that horrible question: Where’s your dad?
Just what would he feel then? What would he reply to something like that?
“I’m sorry.”
By then, my sobbing had already turned to crying, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything else. I hoped that, at any second, Blake would burst through that hospital door and hug me, kiss me, and tell me that everything was going be alright…But I knew it’s impossible.
He thought that I was dead after all.
It was then that I felt something touch my nose, and I opened my eye to see that it was Chris’s tiny hand. He was staring at me quietly as if he knew what I was going through, as if he understood it. I had held him for less than five minutes, and I already knew that I’d die without a second thought for him if necessary.
I decided right then and there that I was going to protect him with my own life, silently waiting for my chance and somehow, somewhere…
I was going to make everyone who hurt us pay.
And that was a promise!
The End
Can’t get enough of Kaley and Blake? Make sure you sign up for the author’s blog to find out more about them!
Get these two bonus chapters and more freebies when you sign up at
aylad-viktoreva.awesomeauthors.org!
Here i
s a sample from another story you may enjoy:
One
“Good evening, sir. Are you ready to order?” I asked with a forced smile on my face while pulling out the white pad paper. I was poised and ready to take his order. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for the customer. He browsed through the menu once, twice, thrice, and so on, clearly taking his sweet time. Around the fourth time he re-checked the menu, he was starting to get on my nerves. I mean, come on! It’s not like the words would become different every time he flipped a page. I just didn’t understand what was taking him so long to decide. He finally made his choice almost four minutes since he arrived, which was time I could have used more productively.
“I would like your filet mignon with lemon sauce and some white wine to go along with it. That would be all,” the man in a gray suit briefly stated as he closed the menu he held. He then looked away after he pulled out his phone, which vibrated his inside blazer pocket.
“It will be served in ten to fifteen minutes, sir,” I replied with a smile after jotting down his order.
“Oh, hello! I thought you were in Paris,” the man said as he waved me off to answer his phone.
I excused myself with a slight bow before I walked towards the computer on the far right side of the room to punch in his order. I scowled in annoyance at the man’s rudeness, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. Since I worked as a waitress for a three-star restaurant, this kind of treatment was typical. Whenever someone started to shout and scream, my night would go downhill from there.
“Why are you so serious?” Terry asked as I reached the small stall, where a touchscreen computer was set up for us to place the order, which is synced to an identical computer in the kitchen.
“First douchebag of the night,” I stated, sighing in defeat.
“Ah… so the contest for the number one douchebag is on,” Terry stated with a smirk while his fingers continued to tap on the computer screen.
One Night Stand with a Billionaire Page 31