Secrets We Keep

1

"Tell me one reason I should hire you?" My potential boss asks. I stare at him, thinking of an answer. Why should he hire me... I'm not dedicated, loyal or smart.

"Because I'm very loyal... and dedicated to anything I put my hands to. And I need the money to take care of my baby." I say, the dramatic tears fall, as I fan my eyes to stop the fake tears. "She's my world, you know. She's all I have left..." Someone get me an Oscar for this performance. I think to myself as he sympathetically passes me a tissue.

"I see this means a lot to you. I can truly tell." He continues. "Okay, what I'll do is I'll put you on a one-week trial as secretary for one of the managers in a random department, and if you do well, and your manager also says you've done well, I'll give you the job, alright?"

I smile at him with gratitude. "Thank you so much, sir. I won't let this company down... when do I start?"

"Oh... you can start tomorrow." He says. "I'll see you then, have a good rest of your day." I nod and smile as he leaves the room. I pack my bag and leave the office. I take my phone out of my bag and call Malachi.

"Hey... I got the job!" I squeal through the phone.

"Oh hey, that's good news. We should celebrate when you get home." He replies.

I go into the elevator and I fill him in on the interview and how I'm on a trial. I get out of the elevator and through the window I see a line of suited men waiting outside a black limo. Weird. "Mal... I'll call you back when I'm on my way home, alright?" I tell Malachi before hanging up.

"Where is she?!" A familiar voice threatens the receptionist. "I know you know where she is."

"I-I can't disclose that information with you, sir... I'm sorry-"

A gun is fired. The receptionist slumps against the counter, filling the desk with blood. "Useless bitch."

I stare in horror at the scene. I look up at the man who fired the gun. With a smirk on his face, he mouths "Found You." then walks away into his limo, with all the suited men.

"No... no no no," I whisper to myself. I just got myself a decent job. Will cannot be threatening my life like this. "What about my baby..."

❀

I walk into my house, locking the door behind me.

"Mal...? Are you there?" I called out.

I drop my keys on the foyer ledge and take my shoes off. I put them in the closet and on the side of my eye I caught a flier– a letter, addressed to "Lorelei Montgomery" . I walked into the living room and placed the letter on the couch. "Mal?" I walk into the kitchen and dining room area, taking my coat off.

"Finally home...?" The same familiar voice from back in the office froze me. Will. I look up from the chair and I shriek in horror as I see Malachi tied to a chair, wrapped with a rope, and tape covering his mouth. I walk back slowly, trying to process what is happening.

"I... how did you find me...? AND W-WHERE IS MY BABY-"

"Calm down Lorrie... your baby didn't seem to like me so I put her back to sleep," Will said with a creepily calm voice as he walked towards me. "Though I stopped to see you, I couldn't help but find myself chatting with good ol' Malachi, huh?" He chuckles, but nobody laughs with him. Even his little entourage stood around Malachi with straight faces.

I stand there, paralyzed in fear. "You fired me... I-I don't have anything to do with you... why do you still want anything to do with me?" I say shakily, my voice becoming weak and quiet.

Will steps even closer to me, he smirks and snaps his fingers toward one of his entourages, who pulls out a gun. "Well Lorrie... I like you, I like you a lot. I didn't want to fire you but you left me no choice..." Will says, putting on a pathetic pout to match his whiney voice. "But you know what hurt me the most...? It was seeing you with somebody that wasn't me." Will snaps his fingers again, this time the entourage member with the gun shoots Malachi straight in the head.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I scream, running towards his slumped body, the blood falls onto my shoulders. I cry as I feel Malachi's lifeless head loll on top of my head. "WHY?! WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU?!"

Will walks towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "My love, he took you away from me... he had to go." He says with fake sympathy. "Aw... I almost miss him."

I look at him with a burning anger that I didn't know I had. This is my fault. I should've stayed cold to him, not let Malachi live with me... MY BABY!

I dash upstairs, Malachi's blood now covering my entire face. I open my baby's nursery door and turn the light on. The white noise machine plays as I walk up to her cot. "She's asleep..." I whisper to myself as I stroke her cheek. I pick her up from her cot, trying my best to wake her, but as I hold her, her head falls back, making a disturbing snapping sound. "NO... NO NO NO!" I hold her in a different position trying to wake her up, but she doesn't. "Baby...? Maeve?! MAEVE?!" I drop to my knees, crying. First Malachi, now my baby... all because that sick bastard wanted me all to himself?!

My tears stop momentarily as I hear slow footsteps coming towards the nursery. "Oh love... you know she had to go... how can you love only me if you had a baby... let alone one that's not even mine?" Will says, rolling his eyes. "Don't worry about love, we'll make more..."

I hold Maeve in my arms, dead or alive, she's still my baby. I rock her loveless body in my hands, closing my eyes shut, trying to imagine her safe with me. Just one more time.

"Why... e-even if you killed anybody... if you truly loved me why did you kill my baby...?" I ask, tears threatening to fall again.

"Baby..." Will says sitting on the nursery floor beside me, caressing my cheek. "I'm a greedy man, and you're a beautiful woman. I need you all to myself, you understand? I can't let any man be with you, that's not me or my entourage, okay? I'll protect you... I just need Malachi and Malachi's baby gone."

"My baby. Maeve is as much Malachi's baby as mine." I reply, not looking him in the eye. I wipe the rest of the tears off my face, I can't let anyone see me like this. That's just not hope I work, I'm not vulnerable. I always stay cold, and distant. Even with the man who was the father of my baby, and even after he left. I was cold. Even after he died... I cried. But now that I know that my baby is with him– safe, I think I can live with that.

"And love, I hope you realize that as I tell you that you're mine, you WILL be mine, or else..." Will snaps his fingers again, and his entourage appears with the same gun that killed Malachi, that most likely killed Maeve. "You WILL die."