Do You Really Love Me?

“Your pregnant Mrs Smith.” The doctor said to me, my mind went blank. How was this possible? We had always been careful. When Mr Smith had sex with me, I made sure to take the pill. There had to be a mistake.

“Mrs Smith, are you ok? You're pregnant.” The doctor repeated to me again.

“Are you going to tell Mr Smith?”

“Are you sure it’s right? I can’t be. We are always so careful. No, I can’t tell my husband he would not be happy.” I replied to him, unsure of what else to say. My mind was coming up blank. If Charles found out about this, he would punish me for sure. He only ever come home to vent his anger whenever he had a fight with his girlfriend. Leaving the doctor’s surgery, I needed to get my composure back to normal.

The driver pulled the car around. I hated being driven around in this car, but it was on the orders of my husband. This was one thing that I couldn’t break.

“How are you feeling now, Mrs Smith?” The driver asked me with concern written on his face.

“I am ok, it’s just a cold.” I replied to him.

“Shall I take you home?”

“Please.” I said, leaning my head against the seat. I closed my eyes, thinking about what I was going to do. Charles would try to kill me again if he found out I was pregnant. See, our marriage was fake. My Mom had arranged my marriage to Charles through his dad as a merger between the two families. Now we were the most powerful family this side of the US. Of course, I had grown to love him with all my heart, and that was where most of the troubles started. Charles wasn’t happy about the marriage because of his sweet little girlfriend, Zoe, who could do no wrong. They only had to wait one more year before the wedding contract would be void.

Yes, you heard me right. I was made to sign a contract saying that after five years of marriage, we would be divorced. I would get a nice settlement, but most of the shares of the company, the money and property, would go to him, even though I was the CEO of the smaller company we shared. Charles was in charge of the bigger company. My company was in real estate, whereas Charles was mixed in all sorts. I didn’t ask half of the time because he never told me, anyway. The car came to a stop. I hadn’t realised we had gotten home so quickly.

“Mrs Smith, please go and get some rest. You look very weak. Mr Smith will be worried about you.”

“Thank you for your concern, George. I promise I will go and rest now.” He looked at me with a smile on his face. I still couldn’t tell after five years of this man driving me around if he actually liked me or not.

As I opened the door, I could hear her laugh. They were in the kitchen. The sight in front of me made my heart sad. He had his hands around her waist, smiling at her with the most caring look on his. They hadn’t realised I was back yet. So I snuck past the door. I was about to make my way upstairs when I heard the words that changed my life forever.

“Baby, but all she does is cause me trouble. Every time I see her, she reminds me she is your wife and I’m not. Why can’t we just have her killed? No one would miss her. I can’t let our baby be born into a world where his Mom and dad are not married.” Her sweet, innocent voice said. I almost fall down listening to the words she had just said. She wants me dead, but she was pregnant. How dare she.

“Honey, listen, you know we can’t kill her. I told you that last time, I almost killed her myself. My Dad made sure there was a thing in the marriage contract. If anything happened to her, then we would get nothing. Now shh, we don’t want to stress you out for the baby's sake.” My heart broke into a million pieces. I found it hard to breathe. They had both thought about killing me. But I didn’t do anything. I stayed out of their way. I always did as I was told. Even when I didn’t want him, I would still let him have my body. Now she was about to have his baby. Trying to move, my body had shut down. I fall against the wall, making a loud thud as I went down to the ground. Zoe came racing out of the kitchen.

“What the hell. Have you been there the whole time?” She screamed in my face. Charles was behind her. The disdain on his face made me sink to the floor even more.

“Get out of here now, Harriet. Why are you even near Zoe?” He screamed at me, trying to pick myself up. I couldn’t move. After what I had just heard, my body just gave up. That was when Zoe’s foot connected with my stomach. The pain in my stomach was so intense, all I could do was scream. She kicked me again. The pain became too much. That was when I knew something was wrong with the baby. I passed out on the ground with my hands around my stomach, trying to protect the baby.

I wasn’t sure how long I had passed out for, but when I finally awoke; I was still on the floor in the house. I tried to move as I did. The pain in my stomach made me scream again.

“Hang on baby please, mommy loves you, you just need to hold on.” I said to the baby in my stomach, but I knew deep down it was too late. Looking down at myself, I could see that I was in a pool of blood. I still couldn’t move. That was when someone had walked through the front door. It was Nathan, Charles’ best friend. He rushed over to me when he saw on I was on the ground in my own blood.

“Harriet, what happened? I will take you to the hospital.” He said, reaching down picking me up in his arms. I winced at the pain, but I tried to stay quiet. I couldn’t tell Nathan what had happened because he would report it to Charles. He placed me in the back of his car, racing to the hospital. The doctor looked over me. Nathan never left my side.

“I am sorry, Mrs Smith, but it looks like you have lost the baby.” The doctor said to me. My entire body became numb. I was suddenly cold.

“I am sorry doctor, did you just say she had lost a baby?” Nathan looked at us, confused.

“Nathan, please don’t tell Charles.” I begged him.

“Mrs Smith, you will need to stay here for a few days while you recover.” The doctor ordered, then left the room. I hated the hospital, but anywhere was better than being at home with Charles and Zoe. He was never meant to bring her to our home, that was in the contract, but somehow about two years she showed up and hasn’t left since. I have been thinking for a while now that I would move into the Preston street house. I think this was a sign.

“Harriet, were you really pregnant? Was it Charles’s baby?” Nathan asked me.

“Nathan, please don’t tell him. I think he would really try to kill me this time. I didn’t mean it honestly. I never wanted to have sex with him in the first place, plus Zoe is pregnant now.” I begged him. The look of disdain on his face had me shrinking back into my bed.

“But Zoe told me she couldn’t get pregnant? Are you sure Harriet? How do you know she is pregnant?”

“I got home from the hospital, to them talking in the kitchen. Zoe said that she was pregnant. She wants to kill me, Nathan. They heard me fall against the wall after I heard them talking about killing me. Then I fall. Zoe kicked me more than once in the stomach and that was where you found me.” I explained to him. I wasn’t sure if he would believe but there was no reason for me lie.

“Harriet, I am afraid that I can’t hide something like this from Charles. If he found I knew, I would lose everything. You must tell him or I will.” He said, giving me a stern look, then he walked out of the room. Nathan never came back. So I was finally left in peace. How the hell could he stand there and just let her keep kicking me? Closing my eyes to rest, the room suddenly became cold, like someone had sucked the life out of it. Pretending I was still asleep, I lay there in silence. Someone else entered the room.

“Doctor, what is wrong with her?” He asked. His voice was flat and cold. He didn’t care about me at all, so why the hell was he asking?

“Mr Smith, your wife was eight weeks pregnant. Whatever trauma she suffered to her stomach made her miscarriage, I am afraid. She has significant swelling and bruising on her stomach. Do you know what caused it?”

“Are you sure she was pregnant, doctor?” He said again, but more forcefully this time.

“Yes, Mr Smith, I gave your wife the results myself this afternoon. Now, how did she get the bruising on her stomach? It fits with being repeatedly kicked to the stomach?” The doctor asked him again. Neither man was backing down. The air in the room was getting thicker.

“That is none of your business.” Charles said, making sure they were the final words that would be spoken about the situation. The doctor huffed, slamming the door behind him. I figured this was a suitable cover to wake up. Looking over at Charles, he was pissed. His eyes were black, and he looked like he was going to murder me. stalking towards me, he stopped. He scared the living hell out of me.

“What do you want, Charles?” I said coldly.

“Who did you have sex with, Harriet? They must have been desperate to sleep with you. You are unfit to be a mother, so I guess Zoe did you a favour killing your baby.” His voice was ice cold when he said this to me. My heart sunk. He had always favoured Zoe at whatever chance he got. How could I love this man? He was nothing but an asshole to me.

“IT WAS YOUR BABY CHARLES. NOW GET THE HELL OUT.” I screamed at him.

“Well, I am glad the baby is dead. I would never want to have a child with you. So now it is time for you to join your dead baby.” Before I had the chance to figure out what he meant, his hands were around my neck, strangling the life out of me. I couldn’t fight because I was so weak. There was no point in fighting it anymore. His eyes were black. This was going to be the last thing I saw.

“I am coming, baby. I will be with you soon.” I said in my head. That was when the door to room bust open. Nathan was standing there watching the life leave my eyes. He ran over, fighting off Charles. He smacked him in the back of the head, knocking Charles out cold.

“Harriet, you must come with me now. I am sorry that I didn’t believe you about Charles. I will keep you safe, I promise. I can get you out of the country now.” Nathan said to me, urging me to get out of the bed. Standing up, my legs collapsed under me. Nathan picked me up in his arms, carrying me out of the hospital. He placed me in the back seat of a black hummer. He sat in the back with me.

“Get us to the airstrip now. Don’t stop for any reason.” He ordered the driver.