Six: To Carry His Child.

Her soft tender lips grazed the side of his cheeks as she let her hands fall between his thick thighs. He had a laptop across his legs but she somehow managed to wriggle her way through his underpants to wrap her fingers around his cock.

“When are you going to get off work?” She whispered into his ears and it was Damien that pulled away from Emma. She fell to the bed with a sigh, wrapping her black lingerie over her exposed shoulders. She lifted her gaze to Damien who backed her. Placing his device to the table, he heaved a deep breath.

“What is wrong with you?” Frustratedly, his mistress raised her voice. “What is wrong with us—are you mad at me?” She asked, folding her hands and she sat at the edge of the bed.

“No, Emma i’m not mad at you” He gritted through his teeth.

“So why haven’t you said a word since yesterday, you’ve barely even looked at me. I was hoping things would be better now that Sofia is out of our lives but somehow it’s gotten worse. Somehow you resent me as if you weren’t the one that made a decision that day not to go with her?” She humphed and he turned back at her with furrowed brows.

“You couldn’t possibly run away to marry her, could you?” Emma asked him and he bit across his lower lip. “It’s not my fault” He could say that a million times when in reality, it was. And it was then she got up hastily, grabbing her things.

“Well it’s not mine either. There’s no point in this” His arms stopped her by groping her waist and Damien pressed his head into the side of Emma’s flustered neck. “I’m sorry” He whispered and she filled her lungs with air before pushing him away in his stomach.

He rested against his desk, watching her walk away. “I’m not in the mood anymore” She scoffed, closing the door to his face and Damien cupped his chin in what seemed to be regret and undemanded closure. He picked up his phone to dial Sofia again but she didn’t pick—her phone wasn’t even with her. She’d left everything by the towers and it was all because of him.

Now, he was faced with as much truth as the guilt that weighed his heart because everything around him down to this very apartment was given to him by Sofia herself. She’d tried her best to give him all that he ever wanted and how did he repay her—

—screwing her best friend and leaving her with abandon.

He clenched his fist and shoved the phone against the wall before Damien ran his hands into his greasy hair. Emma leaned behind the door, clutching her stomach in her hands and she heaved one final breath before pulling away.

-

“Mrs Baron” Sofia had a crack in he voice as she called unto her husband’s mother. Her hands tied into each other behind her back and Cynthia threw her a narrow look after the awkward invitation earlier. “You could call me by my name” Surprisingly, she corrected with the cup of coffee in her slender hands.

She was extremely radiant with skin as flawless as snow and it was without a doubt that one could tell she was of wealth. She reeked of a certain standard of elegance with an exquisite reputation across the world. Ronald had a name for himself through his empire and she as well had one through her wineries.

A chain of luxurious beverages delivered across the world.

Several of the Barons lived beneath this roof even though Sofia had just met a few. She pushed a hard lump down her throat, having no idea what to say. Her family was rich—no, comfortable was a better word because this was way richer than she was used to.

Especially now that she had fallen from grace to grass with less than a cent to her name, things like the italian paintings and the serene ceramics seemed lascivious now. She saw them through different eyes, through poor eyes and her shoulders flattened.

"You were saying something." Cynthia’s lacy voice captured her attention again as she threw her hands over her shoulders. “It’s—it’s just that the maid said she had to run out, something about her father being sick and i could tend to your dinner. I’d like to know what you would want” Sofia heaved, relief washing over her face that she got through the sentence with as many stutters.

Cynthia matched her gaze before shoving the cup of coffee into her hands. “Honey i don’t let complete strangers cook my food” She snarled and Sof shut her eyes in embarrassment. However when she reached a certain distance, his mother threw her a gaze.

“Aren’t you coming?”

At her question, Sofia scrambled right behind her as they made their way into the kitchen. “You can assist” Cynthia said as she grabbed an apron to tie around her waist. She tossed Sofia a tray of vegetables to grate and her eyes went down her hands.

“Cut this” She rested her hands on her waist and Sofia looked back and forth, not an idea what she could do. “I—i don’t cook.” As embarrassing as it was, her voice was in the back of her throat.

“What?” Cynthia snatched the tray from her hands and she took a step backwards. Her eyes fell to the hands that now held around a knife and she cut into the onions and then the carrots, dicing it into the cooking pot, all whilst she couldn’t hide the heavy disappointment in her eyes.

“What kind of woman has no idea how to cook?” She eyed Sofia who ruffled her sweaty palms against her dress—the kind who was once pampered by her father and had everyone doing things for her. It was why it was especially hard now that she was alone.

Now that she entirely had to fend for herself.

Sofia cupped her chin in disgrace whilst her cheeks flustered and she wondered where he was—where her husband was and why he had disappeared on her since they’d gotten here.

“All the women my son brings back, they all know how to cook even if it’s to impress me, i guess you’re different—“ Her voice went down in the last part and she arched her brows as if trying to remember her name.

“Sofia” She blurted out.

“That could either be a good thing or a terrible thing, Sofia” Cynthia turned down the gas and Sofia, whilst pretending she was not bothered by the fact that she wasn’t the first woman Oscar had brought to his home, made her way towards the sink.

“We just had a maid” She said and was met with a gnarly glare.

“So you’re spoiled?”

Pressing her lips together, she decided not to say another word because she seemed to get it worse with each sentence. “Here” With an glint in Cynthia’s eyes, she enjoyed giving her new daughter-in-law a tough time and she passed across a filled tray.

“You hold the knife’s handle this way and then you slice across before turning it and doing the same here, okay?” She demonstrated because quite frankly she couldn’t cut all of these. Sofia relentlessly agreed to help and was as careful as she could with the food. An impressive smile lit her lips as she did the first round and Cynthia looked back at her.

Maybe her mother-in-law wasn’t so bad after all.

She had watched enough shows and read about how distasteful people of her status usually were, especially to new wives. But somehow, Cynthia Baron seemed just the right amount of tolerable.

“There” Her eyes fell to the tray.

“You’re learning this, not just for me but for the kids you’d tender to“ Cynthia continued and an arch carved between Sof’s brows. “Kids?” She echoed, only because Oscar never made mention of them and it wasn’t even in their contract.

Cynthia brushed past her shoulders. “Of course. The kids you shall bear for my son.” At those words, Sofia was caught so off guard that the knife went through her thumb instead of the vegetable. “Ouch” She exclaimed, taking a step back as her hands dripped with blood.

“What’s going on in here?” A sharp voice immediately pierced her ears as she struggled to control the blood. Her eyes lifted to a man that sauntered through the doors. Really tall with a dark brown fluffy hair that fell across his face. He was in a turquoise tank-top, half of which was drenched in sweat and he had a bag over his shoulders like he was coming from the gym or something.

This was however, the first time Sofia had seen him around.

“Theodore, shut the doors” Cynthia threw her head over her shoulders and was immediately drawn to Sofia’s injured fingers. “Oh dear what happened?”

“Brother is coming right behind with Francesca” The man who she assumed was Theo made his way closer to the counter and just then said brother walked in alongside with his wife—the woman who she immediately recognized as Francesca. And that meant the man next to her was Oscar’s elder brother, Aaron as was Theo.

It was a family reunion but without—

“Oscar!” Cynthia called his attention and Sofia looked back to her husband who had finally made it out of his study room. “Look your wife is injured” She added.

“Wife?” Theo echoed surprisingly as he took a bite of his apple. Oscar looked around the room and Sofia could feel her heart throb in her chest. Cynthia was able to wrap the bleeding thumb in a napkin as silence fell beneath the roof that housed six people.

“Anyway, we came from the doctor” Aaron broke it however whilst taking off his coat. He spread it across the hanger as Fran made her way inside the house. “Any news?” There was an element of surprise in Cynthia’s voice but disappointment in Aaron’s.

“No” He scoffed.

“She’s not pregnant, although we are still trying—“ At his words, Oscar brushed past his shoulders and a few glares were exchanged. He made his way out of the house in a rage but that was when Theo gently reached across to Sofia’s hands.

“Please take care of it” Cynthia urged her youngest son whilst the rest of the two were in some feud over the woman that sat into the couch—over Francesca. Not knowing how to feel, Sofia pushed a hard lump down her throat as Theodore helped her up the stairs.

He gently clasped around her hands and his eyes caught her fallen countenance. She was right, he was coming from the gym and he smelled a lot like perspiration but not in an entirely terrible way. The moment their eyes met however, he nodded.

“You’d get to used to it.” Theodore whispered.

Oscar was a lot harder at home than he was trying to convince her to get married and he’d barely even stared at her as well. Even though she was merely his contract wife, an acknowledgment of her existence would be the bare minimum but seeing him walk out those doors in anger, one thing was obvious—

—that Oscar was very much still in love with Francesca, almost as much as she was with Damien unfortunately. But now if they both still liked their exes, how on earth were they supposed to make this work?

Especially now being faced with the choice to carry Oscar’s child.