Surrogate Mother (Completed)

Chapter 23: Do Something or Shut Up

After getting the dispatch from the precinct, Don had arrived as fast he could to the east side of Cloverdale. When he pulled up to Susan's house, there were already three other cop cars with six officers waiting to stand their post. There were also EMT trucks, the fire department, and the coroner outside waiting. When the officers saw that Don had arrived, they all ran up to him, waiting for his command.

"What's going here?" Don asked in a serious manner.

"Sir, there's a woman dead in the living room with a slash to her throat. No suspects, no murder weapon, no forced entry. Shall we go inside?" One of the officers asked.

"No, stay right here...all of you! I'll go inside myself."

Don proceeded to Susan's blue house where the door was left open. When he walked in, he heard the television playing loudly. He didn't bother to stand his post with his gun because the victim was already dead and there were no suspects. Knowing his way through the home, he went straight to the living room where Susan laid in a pool of blood.

Don observed the scene very closely to see if Lauren had left any clues behind. He knew Lauren had something to do with Susan's murder. Who else would want to do this her?

Trying not to touch her, he glanced closer at the two-foot long slash across her throat. The sight of seeing the white meat of Susan's esophagus disgusted Don a little, but he had seen worse.

"If only you had listened," Don spoke to the dead corpse.

Don stood on his two feet to turn off the television that was placed on a tv mantle a few feet away. When he turned it off, he was distracted by a small red light that was flashing on and off in his face. Don searched around the mantle to find out where the source of light came from, for it wasn't usual for a light like that to be inside a tv. He felt around the perimeter of the tv to see if there was a secret compartment. When the palm of Don's hand landed at the top of the 40-inch screen, it popped open, showing a small camera that faced toward him.

Don carefully disconnected the camera from the tv and observed it in his hand, "Why would she keep a hidden cam recorder in a television?"

It didn't make sense to Don. He thought that the only reason why someone could keep a hidden camera was to capture something for someone else to see. It could of been something bad or good on the camera, either way, Don was going to find out.

********

The sun was peaking over the horizon as it crept into the kitchen window. Afra had been gazing into space all night in the living room since she had woken up. She was confused, hurt, frustrated, but calm. When things had occurred like this, she could be so angry that she was calm. That's all she could be right now.

Everything seemed as if they were falling apart. First, she found out her husband was cheating on her then Lauren is pregnant with their child. Then she began to think, "What if the procedure never worked? What if Jaeson impregnated Lauren on his own?"

Either way, she still didn't want her carrying their child anymore. Lauren was a crazy sick psycho and that type of woman to carry her child was never her intention.

Then Afra started to blame herself, "I had seen the signs. Why didn't I do something sooner? What did Jaeson see in Rochelle that he didn't see in me? Am I no longer attractive?"

Whenever she could, she would run three miles a day to keep her body up. She wanted to keep the same body that Jaeson had fell in love with. Afra always kept herself up as well; nails, hair, makeup was always on point. But then she still got cheated on.

"Why? Just why?" she thought.

A tear began to fall down her cheek. Her heart had felt so broken and she felt there was nothing to bring the pieces back together. She remembered her mom telling her the day before her wedding night to never confront a man about cheating unless you were willing to do something about it. If you were not going to  do anything about it, you were just handing your man the baton to cheat some more then he won't respect you and just see you as a woman with a ring laying in the bed that you both shared.

After the thought of Rochelle replacing her, her faced fumed in rage. If this was her way of doing something about Jaeson's infidelity, it surely sucked. Afra knew she wasn't raised this way to sit and cry. She was stronger than that and tears wouldn't solve anything.

Getting off of the sofa, Afra marched her way into the master bedroom with her iPhone still in hand, displaying the message along with the picture that Lauren sent her.

The bedroom door was slightly shut and she didn't plan on entering politely. For all Afra knew, this was still her house and she was still Jaeson's woman, so she could leave and enter as she please.

When she get closer to the door, she could hear voices, a voice of a Jaeson and woman. Afra tipped toed closer to the door to see what the two was conversing about and who could be in their home at this time of the day while she was downstairs.

Afra peeked her head through the crack of the door to see who Jaeson was talking to. She could see Jaeson standing by the window, but due to the angle of him standing, she couldn't see the woman. Instead, she listed to their conversation.

"Be quiet, Ro. My wife is still downstairs," Jaeson whispered.

"I don't care. Once we get out of here, I'm going to be your wife. I got the money. It's enough to get us out of here and start our own life," the woman whispered back.

"I can't leave with you. Are you crazy? Yeah we did some stupid stuff, but I still want to work it out with my wife."

"Work it out with your wife? But I'm carrying your baby Jaeson. Your child is in my womb and you still want to be with her?"

Jaeson paused with no words to say.

"Answer me!" the woman yelled.

Jaeson covered her mouth, trying to prevent her voice from echoing through the house.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to shut up?" Jaeson said through clenched teeth, "Now listen to me. I can't leave with you. I want to be with my wife. Understand?"

Jaeson released his hand from the woman's mouth, leaving her in shock.

"This is how you treat me, Jae? I give you what you've always wanted and you still run back to her!"

Afra was still peeking her head through the bedroom  door. From the conversation she heard, she realized that Rochelle was there, "How can she show up here after that big stunt she pulled?"

Afra was even more angry. Right now it was her choice to do something. If she didn't, Rochelle would end up with everything she worked for.