Chapter 004

Chapter 004

“Gabriella, wait—I can explain.” I finally found my voice. 

When I was younger, I used to call Gabriella Blonde haired Satan. Once, I called her that to her face. She cried and told our mother. She slapped me so hard that it left an angry mark on my cheek. She hasn’t hit me since then but that day, Gabriella realized that she could get away with anything. 

She smirks at me now. “You’re such a slut. I mean, I knew before but I didn’t think you would be stupid to fall pregnant.”

“It’s not mine.” I lie, a desperate attempt to cover myself but my shaky voice betrays me.

This isn’t working so I switch to a different tactic. “Don’t tell mum and dad, I’ll do whatever you want.”

My sister throws her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t want anything from you.” She sneers. 

I catch her wrist in my hand when Gabriella tries to walk past me but she pushes me away. I stumble backwards and she takes the chance to get away. I hear her voice coming from the living room, high with false outrage. 

My father shouts my name, there’s a rage in his voice that I’ve never heard before. I stand up with some effort. 

In the living room, my mother is staring down at one of the test, disbelief written over her face. My father is pacing, he stops to shoot me a venomous glare. 

“I had no idea I was raising a whore under my roof.” He says coldly.

His words are an arrow through my heart. It hurt to hear them from Gabriella but it’s worse coming from him. 

Even as a child, I’d done all I could to ensure that my adopted parents would never regret choosing me. I always got the best grades. And after Gabriella was born, I tried twice as harder but my efforts were in vain. My parents were bowled over if she did so much as sneeze.

They hadn’t been impressed when I got into the best university to study. All my good work never got anywhere far with them but one bad deed sends my earned goodwill crashing to the ground. 

“After all we did for you. This is how you repay us, by bringing shame to this family.” My mother finally speaks, she shakes her head sadly. Beside her, Gabriella rubs her shoulders in a farce show of concern. 

I bow my head. “I didn’t mean to—it was a mistake.”

Gabriella scoffs. “She wasn’t even a virgin. I found condoms in her closet last year.” 

A flush creeps up my cheeks at her insinuation. She’s right but she’s lying about the condoms.

My mother’s hand flies to cover her mouth in outrage. “Who’s the father?”

Diego Santoro. But I don’t think they would be pleased to hear it. The Santoros are one of the most opulent families in Malta, it’s an open secret that their wealth comes from illegal dealings. I did some more research about that family and I’m horrified that I had sex with someone like that. 

“I don’t know,” I say. 

“I won’t let you raise a bastard underneath my roof. Pack your bags and leave.” Father commands. 

I fall to my knees, the tears coming like waterworks. “Please, don’t do this.”

But there’s not an iota of mercy in his eyes. “Get out before I call the police.”

I turn to my mother. “I’m sorry.”

She looks away. “It would be best if you leave. What would our friends say if they knew about this? We won’t let you ruin our name. You have one hour.”

And that’s it. Gabriella shoots me a smirk when no one is looking. She wins. I lose.

——

The next three weeks are the worst of my life. I barely scrap by. I find a waitressing job at a fastfood franchise that barely pays enough to cover feeding. I can’t afford a place to sleep so when the restaurant closes for the day, I sneak into the kitchen through the back door and sleep in the store.

I don’t hear from any of my friends. Camilla and Freida have always been Rosalia’s friends more than mine. Their loyalty lies with her. Most nights, I lie awake and think of what life would be like if I never went clubbing that night. I’d still have my old life. It’s what I think about the most.

I have no idea what to do with my life now, my dreams of being an engineer are just that now, dreams. Sometimes, I imagine reaching out to Diego somehow but I don’t want my baby anywhere near that kind of life. I’m only about eight weeks along but I already feel a fierce love for my unborn baby. 

Exactly one month after I got kicked out, I see Diego on the news again, this time on the red carpet of a charity event. There’s a leggy blonde by his side, the news crawl refers to her as his wife. They look good together, even though he seems to be ignoring her. 

The tray of food slips from my grasp and falls to the floor and all eyes in the restaurant turns to me. I get a stern berating from my manager. 

That night, I gather the scraps of my paycheck. The next morning, I buy a bus ticket to Gozo, it’s a smaller island north of Malta. I heard that it’s peaceful there, it’ll be a good place to raise a child.

By noon, I’m gazing outside the bus windows, watching the city fade in the distance. In Gozo, I’ll find a new job, I’ll give my child a good life. I ball my shaking hands into fists. I’m scared as hell. 

It’s nightfall when I arrive in Gozo, there’s barely any cars around and the air feels cleaner here, the buildings quaint. I walk down the street, dragging my bag with me. First things first, I need a place to sleep for night. Tomorrow’s another day, I can start over again.