by Brandy Blake
She heard another loud thud and Darius scream. “Get back here!” She heard the man yell, realizing that Darius had managed to escape. Even though Imani was in the middle of an attack, a smile spread across her face realizing that Darius was smart enough to take care of himself. Imani had left her phone in her room and knew that she had to go back to get it, so she could call for help. She was still sitting on the ground, butt sore wondering if she’d even be able to get up.
She tried to get up, her stomach sending shooting pains throughout her side. She let out a scream, the pain in her body just not feeling right. She was putting her body through a lot of stress, but she couldn’t stop. She had to get her phone, get a weapon, and get her step-son back. She wasn’t going to let anyone break up the family that she had been fighting to grow for months.
She was concerned about the baby, but she didn’t know what this unstable and intoxicated man might do to Darius. He was clearly very angry and very crazy, not the type of person that Imani wanted around Darius. She did her best to stand to her feet, breathing deeply and slowly to help her not focus on the pain. It came in rushes, not a constant soreness. Imani managed to make it back to the hallway and looked around. She didn’t see anyone, the house just as quiet as it was before she had made her way into the crime scene. She wasn’t wearing any shoes, so it was easy for her to stay sneaky as she walked through the mansion. On her way to Darius’s room, her feet were ice cold as they walked across the clay tile. Now, she could feel the clamminess of her feet as they suctioned themselves to the tile. Her entire body was covered in a layer of moisture, her eyes wet with tears as well. she looked around and didn’t see either of the boys around, wondering where Darius had run and hid. She figured after she grabbed her phone and called for help, she’d be able to go to the playroom and hopefully see him hiding under the table, where he usually went when he was feeling scared or wanted to be alone.
Imani made it safely into her room and grabbed her phone. She wasn’t sure if she should dial 911, as she had no idea what the emergency line was in her phone. She remembered there was also a security pad down front that she could use to summon the police, but calling was her best option in case she didn’t make it that far. She dialed 911, 123, and 111 not getting anything. Imani was panicking, having no idea what to do. She called Stavros and Petra, but neither of them answered, likely just landing at the airport. Imani knew that getting back downstairs to the front keypad would be her best option.
She slowly opened the door and peeked around for a moment. It was still quiet, but she hoped that Darius was still in the mansion hiding somewhere. She could see the front door from where she was standing at the top of her stairs. She texted SOS to both Stavros and Petra, hoping that even though they missed her phone calls, they might actually be able to answer at least one of her texts. Imani felt her stomach jumping, and luckily, the baby was kicking again, this time harder than ever. Imani knew her little girl or little boy was as stressed as she was though they were deep inside her body. She tried to keep her cool, but right now, the most important thing to Imani was making sure that Darius was safe. She looked at one of the tables sitting in the hallway and saw that there was a candle stick. She picked it up, feeling the heavy iron in her hands and knowing it would be suitable for a weapon should she need that. Imani knew that she was physically strong enough to attack if she needed to, but she also feared that she didn’t have the strength to be that violent towards another person. They already put both of her children in harm’s way, but she just didn’t know if she could hit Stavros’s father-in-law over the head if he tried to attack again. Imani would only know if she was presented with the opportunity.
Imani saw the keypad right by the door, running down the stairs as fast as she could even though she was carrying the weight of a bowling ball in her stomach. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the man come from around the corner. Imani froze, but a hard kick in her stomach brought her back into the present and Imani knew what she was supposed to do. Her and her baby were working as a team now, and Imani was not about to let her other teammate down.
The man turned towards Imani, pulling a knife out of his back pocket. “Don’t move,” he told her. Imani didn’t know what came over her, but she pulled her arm back and swung as hard as she could, sending him to the ground. He screamed out in pain, dropping the knife on the floor. Imani ran to pick it up, but she was within reach of the man, so he grabbed her ankle. He was luckily too weak to pull it too hard, so Imani didn’t fall and managed to keep her balance. She grabbed the knife, seeing that it was one he got from the kitchen in that very mansion. Imani was utterly offended by this and was surprised at herself for even having that thought pop into her mind in the middle of the attack. She didn’t like the idea of being stabbed or cut, but she especially didn’t like that idea if it meant it was being done with a knife from her own kitchen!
Imani managed to run towards the keypad, holding the knife in one hand and the candle stick under her arm. She looked back to where the man was and saw that he had crawled away. He likely couldn’t go far, and Imani managed to slam the iron bar into his head pretty hard; she had seen blood pouring from a wound on his head right away. She called for security on the pad and though she didn’t know exactly how to work the security system, she was confident that she at least managed to successfully call for help. She could have run out the door right there, probably getting away safe. She wasn’t the only one she had to look out for, however. Though Imani was afraid of walking back into the house with the chance of seeing Darius’s grandfather again, she still needed to make her way to the playroom, wondering if Darius was hiding in there.
Imani managed to make her way to the playroom decently quick, feet still sweating and house still quiet. There wasn’t any sign of Darius in the room right away, but Imani looked under the table that he had hid beneath so many different times for Imani.
“Darius, baby is you OK?” Imani asked Darius as he crawled from the table into her arms.
“Who is that? I’m scared Imani,” Darius told her with eyes filled with tears.
“I know baby, but I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise,” Imani told him, looking straight into his eyes. “We have to run for it. I’m going to give you the keys to the car, OK? No matter what, run to the car and don’t stop. Lock yourself in and don’t let anyone in but me, got it?”
Darius shook his head and Imani grabbed his hand. They slowly walked from the playroom into the kitchen, and Imani saw that the kitchen keys were hanging on their usual spot on the kitchen wall, relieved that she’d be able to grab them. They just needed to make it to the car and they’d be fine. Imani squeezed Darius’s hand tight, never wanting to let go of that little boy’s clammy palm. He was shaking, and Imani thinking about how scared he was breaking her heart.
“OK, I know you’re scared, but we have to be really quiet, OK?” Imani asked. Darius did his best to muffle his cries, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. Imani grabbed the car keys and felt relieved. There was only one more step they had to take to get back to freedom and safety. They sprinted towards the door, and when they were just five feet away from the front door, Darius’s grandfather stepped in front of them, pointing a gun right at Imani.
“Now, let’s just get a few things straight,” the terrifying man started to say from his thin and inverted lips. His face was wrinkled and hung droopy around his eyes, making him look all the scarier. “If you move again, I’ll shoot you right in the stomach.”
Imani didn’t know how to react. No one had ever threatened her that badly before. She started crying a little, knowing that letting him take Darius was not an option. Imani couldn’t let herself get shot either, so she had no idea what to do.
“Darius, just come with me and everything will be OK!” His grandfather told him. Darius hid behind Imani, squeezing her hand back tighter than she had squeezed his. “Don’t be scared! It’s me, grandpa! Don’t you remember you
r grandpa?”
Imani could see that he was getting upset, his insane plan starting to crumble in front of his eyes. “Darius, honey, you have to come with me or else I’ll hurt this lady,” his grandfather explained. Darius looked up at Imani, right in her eyes to let her know that he didn’t want either option to happen either.
“This is kidnap. There are other ways. We can work something out!” Imani said crying. Iliana’s parents had endless amounts of money and could get or go anywhere they wanted on the planet. Imani feared that if they took Darius, they’d flee somewhere they could change their identities and Stavros and Imani would never see that little boy’s face again.
“This is the only way,” his grandfather said, slowly raising the gun at Imani.
“I’m not letting you take him,” Imani said strongly. “I’ll die first.” She said, pushing Darius behind her back. She thought he was bluffing, but as the seconds slowly dragged on, she wondered if this was actually going to be it for her, her final moments just a week or so before she was supposed give birth.
Just as he finished pulling his gun up, so it was level with Imani’s stomach, she saw the front door open. Stavros and Petra walked in. Darius’s grandfather turned his attention towards the people that just got home, aiming his gun at them now as well. Imani wasn’t sure if it was his own gun or if it was one that he found in the home, but either way, it was going to have the same result if he got the chance to pull the trigger. Imani gripped the car keys in her hand, realizing she had kept the knife and candlestick in the playroom. She held the key hard in her hand, pointing the key part through her fingers. She let go of Darius’s hand and lunged at the man, stabbing the side of his neck as hard as possible with her car key. It didn’t go in too deep and instead stood out, but it was enough to make him drop his arm, Stavros running over and sending him a real punch that knocked him to the ground. The gun dropped to the floor, setting it off. The bullet luckily went straight through Imani and Darius back into the kitchen, no one seemingly harmed by the flying bullet. Imani reached down and picked up the gun as the man laid on the floor, gripping his head and moaning in pain. Imani handed the gun over to him, and Petra ran towards Darius. Imani could hear ambulance and police sirens outside, relieved that everyone was going to be making it out seemingly on time.
“I knew I was supposed to come back tonight,” Stavros said, putting the gun in his back pocket. The way he was handling the weapon made Imani realize that it was likely his own. Petra held Darius as he cried, and Stavros leaned in to give Imani a hug. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine,” Imani told him, hugging him back. She realized she was incredibly sweaty, her legs completely soaked. “I’m so hot, I need a minute.”
“What happened?” Petra said, pointing to a pool of water on the ground in the middle of the hallway. Imani started feeling sharp pains shoot up through her stomach and back down to her knees. Imani looked at the puddle, realizing that her water had broken in the ordeal, this monumental moment going unnoticed by Imani.
“Ahh, it’s happening,” Imani screamed as she grabbed her stomach. Her knees were shaking, and she had fallen to the ground.
*
After Darius’s grandfather’s attack, the custody case was dropped, Stavros retaining full custody. It was obvious that Darius would not have been better off with his grandparents, and they knew they didn’t stand a chance at winning. They dropped the case, defeated, knowing there was no way they were going to get granted custody. They were relieved that the case was dropped, but not what they had to go through for it to get to that point. Looking back, however, Imani wouldn’t have changed a thing. It might have been traumatic for everyone, but how might things have turned out if they didn’t go through the life-changing experience together as a family? Though his grandparents were so crazy through it all, it was hard for Imani to still hold hate towards the man that attacked them on that lonely night.
Imani couldn’t fault him, his name now known to her as Greg, as she would have acted just as crazy if someone told her they were going to be taking her child. She was willing to risk everything to make sure that Darius didn’t get taken by anyone, so she understood what it meant to fight for someone you loved unconditionally. What Imani did fault him for, however, was the fact that he threatened her unborn baby’s life. He held a gun on Imani, making her question if she’d ever get to see the face of the little one she had spent months growing in her stomach. She didn’t know if she was going to make it out of that situation, and no one, at least a person like Imani, deserves to have to feel that kind of fear in their life. She resented Greg for almost taking her baby away from her, but he was doing his time behind bars to pay for the break-in and threats.
Apparently, they were staying on the island to at least feel closer to Darius for the duration of time before the court case. The island was small, and Imani knew most people that lived around, so she wondered how she went so long without seeing the couple on the island. It made her a little scary to think that there was a chance they could have been watching the family. Greg had been at least that night, waiting until Imani and Darius were in bed to sneak in. Had he not knocked over a sculpture when sneaking into Darius’s room, Imani might have slept through everything, not knowing that Darius was whisked away from his bed in the middle of the night. That thought terrified her. Would Stavros ever find it in himself to forgive Imani for allowing his son to get kidnapped? Luckily it never got to that point. Greg had gotten a little too drunk at one of the bars that night and walked all the way to Stavros’s mansion, wanting to get his grandson out of there once and for all.
Ursa had nothing to do with the kidnapping plan, absolutely horrified at how her husband acted. He ruined her chances for the custody battle, and she might not ever forgive him. Imani really realized that horrible feeling of having a child taken away, so she helped convince Stavros to find it in his heart to forgive Ursa. Not only had she lost her daughter in death, but now her grandson was being kept from seeing her. With her husband in prison, Ursa didn’t have any family left, no one to keep her company or remind her that she was loved.
Stavros realized in all that his ex-mother in law just wants to have a relationship with her little baby grandson. He agreed that he’d allow her to see Darius whenever she wanted as long as they didn’t already have a father-son day planned. He also was willing to work out a schedule so that he could spend time with her alone, though they didn’t want Greg and Darius in a room alone together just in case a wild idea got put in his head again. It was scary to think about what could have happened that night, but Imani and Stavros were doing their best to not let those fears keep them from living a happy and healthy life now.
The house that Stavros was going to use for Imani had been turned into a guest house, now able to be used by either Ursa or Imani’s father, who had been visiting often since Imani gave birth. They had plenty of room for people to stay in the mansion, but the extra house was a way for the parents to feel private if they needed their own space to get away. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, Imani also knew that Stavros wasn’t fully able to trust Ursa just yet, not wanting her in the house in case she got an idea like her husband did. Stavros often told Imani how thankful he was he came back early, something in the back of his head telling him that he needed to go home right away while he sat on the plane. It was Stavros’s gun that was taken in for evidence, and they found out that it didn’t even have any bullets. Still, Imani wouldn’t have been able to completely fight him off, especially since she had gone into labor during the attack. What could have happened that night could have been so much worse, and though she thought about it often, Imani did her best to try to get that image out of her head. Instead, she wanted to focus on her new baby girl.
Imani yawned as she looked down at her baby girl sleeping peacefully in front of her. Theodosia was born a week and a half before her due date, but she was still eight pounds and full of life. She had everything a new born baby could have, and Imani
couldn’t have been more in love. It all happened so fast that Imani barely felt any pain, having a quick birth that certainly hurt to recover from, but at the time, Imani was too filled with love to really understand what was going on. Petra, Darius, and Stavros were all in the room when she gave birth, everyone in tears from the emotional night as well as the beautiful sight of Theo. She was such a happy baby already, and Imani couldn’t wait until she was old enough to start walking and talking.
“How are my girls?” Stavros said as he walked into the living room where Imani was sitting with her baby girl. Though Imani certainly still had a fear of someone breaking into the house again, she kept the windows open, loving the fresh Greek air that poured through the windows. She could also feel the hot sun warming her skin, Stavros looking sun-kissed as well. His hair was a little wet and he wasn’t wearing a shirt, Imani seeing his rippled chest and abs dotted with water.
“Better now,” Imani said as she smiled at Stavros. He leaned down and kissed her, long and hard, before sitting next to his little girl. Theodosia was his grandmother’s name on his father’s side, the only motherly figure he knew as a child as his mom didn’t do the best to stick around. She died when Stavros was young, but he still wanted to honor her with the name. Imani was skeptical at first, but she loved calling her little baby Theo, and the sentimental name was exactly what the bundle of love needed.
Theo had Imani’s massive eyes and Stavros’s straight thick mouth. Her skin was like thick caramel, and her hair was a light brown and curly, baby hairs stuck to her face. She smiled every time she woke up, and she only cried when her diaper was dirty, or she needed fed. She was a pretty easy baby, and Imani couldn’t have been happier. All Imani wanted to do all day was hold her little girl, kiss and cuddle her, but she didn’t want her to turn out too spoiled or needy. It was hard with such a cute little bundle on the couch next to her, but Imani was doing her best to be the greatest mother possible.