The Eye of the Storm - Sequel to The Oncoming Storm

Chapter 17

Prince's heart stopped as those words resounded in his ear. Apollonia is dead. The phone slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor beside him.

Jess heard the phone crash to the floor, and she gritted her teeth as she slowly opened the office door and cautiously took a few steps towards Prince. He stood frozen where he was, his hand remained at his ear like he was still holding the phone against his head. On his face was a completely blank and unreadable expression.

"Prince... are you okay?" Jess asked barely above a whisper.

Prince remained frozen in his trans for a few more long minutes before his gaze finally shifted to Jess and he lowered his hand away from his ear. He parted his lips as if to speak, but it was like all the breath had been drained from his lungs, and he couldn't get a sound out.

"Prince..." Jess began again, "I know it's awful news... the bodyguard told me everything before I gave the phone to you. He said... he said they found her in her room... she had overdosed on cocaine and... she was already long gone by they time they had found her. I'm so sorry, Prince, I really am... I know you really loved her."

Jess tried hard to keep her composure and fight back her tears. But Prince still stood with a dumbfounded look plastered on his face. The shock began to sink in and his eyes widened, then grew sad. "...The baby..." was all Prince managed to breathe out.

Jess looked down at the floor and shook her head as hot tears began to roll down her cheeks. Prince suddenly felt the blood draining from his cheeks and he became very lightheaded. He stumbled back a few steps before he landed in his office chair, his listless eyes now cast down at the floorboards. Jess wiped the tears from her eyes and crawled onto Prince's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly as she tried to suppress her crying. Silent tears trickled down Prince's cheeks as he closed his eyes tightly and prayed that this was all just a horrible nightmare he'd wake up from soon. But it wasn't. It was all too real.

Jess finally sucked in a shaky breath and composed herself the best she could. She was deeply saddened by this... she truly was. Saddened that Apollonia, a beautiful young woman with a bright future, who meant so much to Prince, had to meet such an untimely end. Saddened that Prince's unborn child is gone, taken from him before he ever had the chance to be a father... before he even got to see an image on his unborn baby... before he even got to find out if his baby was a boy or a girl.

Jess gently cupped Prince's face in her hands and turned his head so he was looking into her eyes. "Prince, say something," she commanded, greatly concerned by his persistent silence.

"It's my fault," he whimpered, as Jess wiped away his tears with her thumb.

"No, Prince. No, this is not your fault! This is a terrible, awful tragedy that happened, but it is in no way your fault." Jess's voice was stern.

"It is my fault," he said through tears. "I should've been there for her. I should've never left her. I should've never fought with her before I left... I should've never stormed out on her... I regret it so much... I regret how I ended things with her... I regret that the last words I spoke to her were out of anger..."

His voice broke off and he buried his tear-stricken face in Jess's shoulder. She soothingly rubbed his back and said, "I know things between you two didn't end on the best of terms... but she still loved you and you still loved her, deep down. You have absolutely no reason to blame yourself for her death, Prince. It's sad but it's true, she was the one who made the decision to use drugs. You had no influence on that. She made the gamble, and it ended up costing her her life."

Prince shook his head and cried, "No, it's my fault she's dead! She overdosed on cocaine because she was upset that I left her and she felt like I hated her. I yelled at her and said some awful things to her and left her all alone when she was going through a difficult time! I left her all alone, feeling like she was unloved by the person she loved most... she took that fucking drug to compensate for me not being there for her during her time of need, and she overdosed because I stormed out on her in an angry fit! I should've never left her... I should've stayed and helped her... I should've showed her I still cared... Because of me Apollonia and our unborn baby are dead!"

"It's not your fucking fault!" Jess shook Prince by the shoulders, trying to shake him from his fit of denial and self-blame. "Prince, she left you! That was a decision she made on her own, and doing cocaine was a decision she made too! How can you blame yourself!? She realized she made a wrong decision by leaving you, and she only made things worse by not being smart and doing drugs. You cannot blame yourself for that and you can't blame yourself for being mad at her and storming out on her while she was getting high on coke right in front of you! She was killing your baby with her habit, and she ultimately killed both herself and the baby in the end because she was too selfish to go get help. She knew she needed help, she wasn't stupid. But she chose the destructive path. There was nothing you could do, Prince. This one's on her."

"How can you sit here and blame her when she's dead!?" shot Prince, shoving Jess off of his lap. "So what she left me!? I left her all alone with our baby and those drugs when I knew I should've stayed with her! I'm the stupid one here! I should've been the one to step up and do something for her! She loved me and she was hurting and depressed and pregnant and alone... can you really blame her for resorting to drugs to cope? She spilled her feelings to me, and I stormed out on her and closed the elevator door behind me without even bothering to look back. If I would've stayed, I could've taken her to go get treatment and taken her to all her doctors appointments... I could've saved her and the baby. But I killed them both instead with my negligence. I left her alone to die in that penthouse because I was angry. You think that's proper justification? I'm as good as a double-murderer."

"She was fucking self destructive!" yelled Jess. "She didn't care about you or that baby! If she really cared, she wouldn't have been getting high as fuck! She screwed her own fucking life up! She had it good and then she left you cold and lost it. That's on her. I can't forgive her for knowingly doing coke and hurting that baby! How could you believe the sincerity of her 'feelings' she spilled to you!? She was high as fuck! She was only out to hurt you, Prince! She probably killed herself and the baby as one last final way of taking a stab at you and hurting you! Because she knew by taking away your baby, she could hurt you the most!"

Prince was livid now. He jumped off the chair and roared, "Fuck you, Jessica! Fuck you for saying that shit about a woman who's dead! She's dead because of me! I left her and she was so depressed she killed herself! I am the sole reason why my baby will never get to see the light of day! All I'm fucking good for is hurting people! Fucking worthless! I'm so fucking done! Why the fuck was I put on this planet!?"

He stormed passed Jess, shoving her out of his way with his shoulder, and disappeared through the trapdoor to his room, slamming it shut above him and locking it tight. He collapsed onto the floor and sobbed. Jess stood in the doorway of the office in a loss for words. Prince's words scared her... Did he really feel that way? Jess ran to the hatch door and tried as hard as she could to yank it open. "Prince, please open the door!" she pleaded in desperation. But the response she got was nothing but silence. "Prince! Open!" she cried as she desperately tugged at the door again, tears streaming down her face and dripping off her chin. But again, there was nothing but silence. "Don't you dare do anything stupid, Prince! This is not your fault and you are not worthless! Just... please open the goddamn door!"

But the door remained locked tight and not a sound came from Prince. Jess hopelessly sat on the floor and dried her tears, knowing this time, there was no way she was getting him to come out of his room or open up to her.