Vengeful Matrimony | ✔️

Chapter 77

GISELLE

One month had passed since the Gianna debacle, and I hadn't set eyes on her since then. It was probably Niko's doing, but what irked me was that she didn't even try to reach out for her son. It was as though she'd forgotten she had one.

Orion, on the other hand, wasn't affected by her disappearance in the slightest. When I asked him why he called her by her name, he told me that was what she asked him to call her whenever the "bad men" were around. He didn't elaborate further when I asked him who the bad men were, but given that he was just three years old, there were chances he'd forgotten about the details. Gladly so. He didn't need to remember the trauma he went through at the hands of his mother and the company she kept. She was probably not a good mother to him if he was afraid of her.

One day, he'd asked me if Gianna was ever coming back, and when I told him that was a possibility, he'd been sad for hours until I asked him to accompany me to the studio Nicholas was putting together for me.

Everything was going fine. We had breakfast together every morning, and Nicholas returned home in time for dinner. Most times, he put Orion to bed. That was the latter's favorite part of the day. He'd bonded quickly with Nicholas, and he wouldn't stop talking about the day Nicholas and Evander took him to get toys and clothes for the nursery we designed for him.

In hindsight, I should be happy. Everything was perfect. There was no news of my parents and Gianna, but I had a niggling feeling that they hadn't just given up and gone like that.

It was like the calm before the storm, and every day that passed, I waited for the storm to come. I hadn't told anyone about my worries yet, not even Aunt Adrienne that returned last week and spent an entire day catching up with me.

"What do you think of this swatch?" Gemma asked, pointing at a shade of blue on the magazine she'd grabbed on her way here.

"I was thinking maybe a lighter shade of blue, so the place looks—"

"Mama!" Orion's shrill scream came from somewhere in the house.

That was another new—and shocking—development. Him calling me his mama. He'd been watching one of his many cartoon shows, and he'd cut his gaze away from the screen briefly to tell me one of the cartoon characters had a "mama" and "papa".

"Oh, that's great," I told him with a smile.

"I don't have a mama and papa," he said with a pout.

"Oh-kay?"

"I want a mama and papa."

I sat there with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look in my eyes, unsure how to reply to a three-year-old's voiced thought.

"You'll be my mama," he'd abruptly declared with a huge smile. "And Niko will be my papa. We'll be a big family." He held his hands far apart to show me just how big, and I just couldn't contain myself. I burst into laughter.

I ruffled his hair. "Of course, O. We'll be one big, happy family."

"Mama!" He shouted again, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Living room!" I called out to him.

Soon after, I heard little footsteps running in the living room's direction. He burst into the room, a familiar excited look in his eyes. He got excited over the littlest things. Watching me paint, taking his bath, and eating cookies. Anything.

Right now, he had a slice of cake Sara had baked for him this morning because every day was his birthday. His words, not mine.

"Eat!" He shoved the plate into my face. "Sara said it's good for the baby."

Gemma's eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly recovered when Orion turned to her.

"The baby has to eat, right?" He asked, his "r" sounding like a "w".

"Right," Gemma agreed. "If mama is fed, the baby will not be hungry."

"I'll ask Sara for another cake for the baby!" He said before running out of the living room.

I shook my head at his retreating form. He had too much energy in that tiny body of his for his own good. Sometimes, he gave me whiplash from how fast he was.

"I can't believe he's just three," Gemma said after he'd left. "He must have grown up around many people, so he picked up talking quickly."

I nodded in agreement. I thought the same.

"Also, what the fuck? You didn't tell me about a baby!"

I rolled my eyes at her, cutting into the moist cake with the fork. "It's just speculations. Nothing is confirmed. I haven't taken a pregnancy test yet, but Sara saw me puking out my lunch yesterday, and she ran with it."

I left out the part where I also threw up my breakfast this morning and could barely hold down last night's dinner. I didn't want to raise anyone's hopes just in case it was just a stomach bug.

I brought the piece of cake up to my mouth, but just as I was about to bite into the cake, a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I slapped a hand over my mouth until the wave of sickness subsided.

"I think it's more than just speculations, babe," a wide-eyed Gemma said.

"I need to take a pregnancy test."

***

"I will distract the guard while you finish up here," Gemma said with a supportive smile.

"Thank you."

I stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me with an exhale.

I had the four different pregnancy tests in my hand, but my anxiety and curiosity wouldn't let me wait until we got home, which was a two-hour drive. I wanted to know now. Hence, our stop at an empty gas station to get gas and use the bathroom.

I quickly took all four tests and washed my hands. I couldn't stop pacing around as I waited for the results like I was supposed to. How long was this supposed to take, anyway?

After an agonizing six-minute wait for all the tests, I finally peeked at the results.

A sharp knock on the door reminded me I had Gemma and the driver waiting for me. I bounded to the door with barely contained excitement. I threw the door open.

"It's—"

I trailed off when I was met with another person instead of Gemma.

I took a step back, composing myself. "H-hi. What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, taking a step forward. "Just going around."

Warning bells went off in my head. Why was he walking toward me?

"Care to share the good news with me?" He asked, a horrid smile straight out of a horror mirror taking over his lips.

Was that animosity I sensed? I shook my head. Maybe I was just being paranoid, I told myself, even as my guts told me to escape this situation.

"It's nothing. Nicholas will be expecting me soon. I have to go." I tried to sidestep him, but he only blocked my path with his big, muscular body.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He took one last menacing step toward me, backing me up against the sink. "See, my patience has grown thing, Elle."

He looked down at my pregnancy tests, another ugly smile pulling at his lips. By now, my heart was slamming against my ribcage at an alarming rate. It felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest and fall at my feet.

"Congratulations. If only Nicholas would have known."

That was the last thing I heard before he cocked his arm back and slammed his fist down on my jaw.

I was right.

The calm was just preparing us for the storm.