Chapter 4

Chapter 4

THREE MONTHS AGO

"You are getting married." 

Emma still remembered her grandfather's words to her. She hated the fact that he still had that much authority over her life and what annoyed her more was the fact that she could do absolutely nothing. She had to go with whatever her family said because of her mother. Her mother whose treatment relied on her grandfather. She hated it but she was also in a helpless situation. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

When she was told she was getting married, she had no idea it would be someone twenty years her senior. He may be referred to as a dilf by the public but to her, he was nothing but trash. Emma had always hated him and nothing could change the fact. She tried to get her family to reconsider but her grandfather along with her cousin were dead set on it. Her father was anything but helpful. Just the mere sight of him disgusted Emma. She had just gotten back home that morning after her night out with Brandon but then she found out her cousin had been up to no good. Her family happened to be rivals with Brandon's family but that did not mean that she would support dirty underhanded tricks. There was no reason for her cousin to expose whatever was going on in Brandon's company to the public. Brandon's family never did that. His family was honest and even if she knew they highly disliked her own family, they made sure the fight was legitimate. Battle with what you have. She admired Brandon's family for that.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emma asked her cousin, immediately she saw him but she regretted that. She should have known it wasn't a wise decision to just barge into his room without knocking. He was halfway into a female who looked as plastic as she seemed. 

"You may want to try knocking next time, cousin." Godson said to her with an irritated look.

Emma immediately turned to face the door. It was the least she could do to avoid the embarrassment.

"Get out." Godson said.

The plastic female smirked thinking he was talking to Emma who still stood rooted in her position.

"Get out." Godson said as he adjusted himself.

"Wh…what?" The female asked him with a frown.

"Don't make me repeat myself a third time." Godson growled at the female.

She gave him the stink eye but picked up her clothes from the floor. Emma didn't turn around until Godson told her to do so.

"You should really learn to knock, cousin." He told her as he settled on the couch.

"And you should learn to stop pokenosing in other's business." 

"I fail to see how that relates to the matter at hand but let's hear it. What do your righteous self think I've done wrong?" He asked her with his ever boring gaze.

"Silver enterprise never did anything to us. You don't need to sabotage them. Why is the news public? We can fight them using other means….."

"Who said I was behind whatever had been revealed to the public about the silver enterprise?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"You are not?" Emma asked him with a raised eyebrow also.

She was a hundred percent sure her cousin was behind this. There was no way news like that would be made known to the public without there being a source. And one of the dead giveaways that made her believe her cousin was behind it was the station that had first made it public. Godson had a very close relationship with the owner of the company.

"As always, cousin, I don't know if perception is one of your talents or maybe it's your hard head." He told her with a smile.

"My hard head maybe?" She asked him.

"Take the news down. This is not the honorable way to fight silver enterprise. We should be going about this some other way." She told him.

"Some other way?" Godson asked her with a mocking laugh.

"Tell me, dear cousin. What other way is there? To fight with what we have? The companies? There is no way we will win that. And besides that is just too lame. There are other ways to crush your enemies." He told her.

"Lame? There is nothing lame in fighting that way. And what makes you think we wouldn't win? There is a reason why I'm the CEO. I promised to improve this company and if you take a look at…."

Godson yawned.

"Is this all you wanted to talk about?" He asked her.

"Well..yes but I'm not…."

"You are as boring as ever, cousin. You should just focus on the task assigned to you. Be the face of the company and make it seem legitimate while we bring in the real money from behind. You knew all this before you decided to get involved. Oh, that wasn't really your decision was it? You had no choice in the matter. You had to do this if not, your mother would be long gone right? It's such a pity." Godson told her with a smile.

There was no ounce of pity in his gaze. Emma hated him. She hated how he used her like she was some toy. She was a puppet in their scheme and she had to play her role. If not, she would be tossed away, along with her mother. She could not afford that.

"Now, what you should be concentrating on is your marriage to Victor. The engagement party is in roughly three months." He told her.

Emma hated hearing the name. Hugo Victor was a man she disliked due to his wandering eyes and dishonest ways. He may be fit and look handsome but being handsome wasn't just about the body. At least it wasn't just about the body to Emma. Being handsome also takes Into account the person's way of thinking and everything in between. Hugo Victor was a scum among men. How the society still saw him as a dilf was surprising to her.

"You should really focus on yourself, Emma. Don't forget that it's because of grandfather, your mother is able to receive treatment at the hospital." Godson told her.

"I know that." She replied through gritted teeth as she tried desperately to hold back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Are you sure? I'm not sure you do. If you knew that, then there is no way you would be here, fighting for someone else and speaking about being honorable. You are fighting not only for your life but also your mothers'. Do not forget that the doctors said she would be out of the coma in a few months. Then you would be able to thank me and grandfather with your head against the floor." He told her with a chuckle.

Emma couldn't summon the will to be happy even when she heard her mother may be coming out of her coma in a few months. She tried to feel the slightest bit of happiness at the information but there was nothing. Nothing at all. It was like she was an empty shell. What kind of daughter wouldn't be happy for her mother? What kind of daughter wouldn't smile for her mother who was finally recovering?

"I'm sorry for coming here." She told him and without waiting for a reply, she left his room, making sure to bang the door. She was a prisoner in her own family. She was the scum of the family. The one who had no value and would be discarded at any chance her family got.

She had just gotten to her home when her phone rang and it was the person she was expecting although at this point, she was not so sure she was expecting anybody to call her. She was just so tired and needed to rest her head and eyes. She also has to prepare to visit her mother in three days. She was going to record everything she could. Okay, that was an over exaggeration. But she wanted to treasure the next days to the visit and try to remember as much as she could so she could tell her mother. With a long sigh, she threw her phone on the chair and moved to take a bath. There was nothing she could say to Brandon. She knew he was calling because of what was now trending regarding his company but she had no idea what to do. There was nothing to tell him and it's not like they were dating. They were just sleeping with each other. Brandon didn't even like her, neither did she though. She owed him no explanation but she still felt guilty that her family had caused his family this much pain. She had faith in him though, it was just a small matter. Brandon and his brother would scale through. She was sure of it. This was not the first time Godson had done something so obvious to his family.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lydia asked Emma with a frown.

"Yes, just a bit nauseous." Emma replied to her with a smile.

Lydia was the only friend Emma had and it was the only time they got to see each other because Lydia was so busy. Ever since she finished her residency and even before that, they hardly ever saw each other although they talked on the phone. But talking on the phone was different from meeting in person. Emma missed her greatly and even if he had been feeling a bit sick for the past few weeks, she did not want to pass this up. Lydia was the one joy she had.

"Are you sure? You look like you also have a fever." Lydia said worriedly.

"Believe me,it's nothing. I just feel nauseous. It's been going on for weeks now." Emma waved her concern off.

Lydia frowned. Weeks? Nausea? She did not want to think about it. There was no way something like that could happen. She was sure Emma was very careful but she could not shake the feeling.

"Perhaps, do you also feel weak?" Lydia asked her.

"Yes. Wow, I never even told you that and you figured it out." Emma said to her with a smile but Lydia never gave her one back.

"When did you say this started?" Lydia asked her.

"I noticed it when I came back from visiting my mother." Emma said to her with a frown.

"And when did you stop seeing your mystery man?" Lydia asked her.

Emma swallowed. Why was Lydia asking about Brandon? Although Emma never told her Brandon was the man she had been sleeping with. She refused to tell Lydia his name using the excuse that she wanted to be sure where their relationship was headed before she told her. who he was but she could not understand why Lydia was asking her this question and with such a face.

"Why are you asking me?" Emma asked her.

"Just tell me okay?" Lydia pleaded with her.

"This week will make it a month." Emma told her.

"When last did you see your period?" Lydia asked her.

Emma widened her eyes in shock. She now understood why her friend was asking her these questions but that was impossible. Whatever Lydia was thinking about wasn't happening. It couldn't even happen and she was sure of it.

"Come on Lydia, you don't really think that's possible right?" Emma asked her with a smile.

"I don't want to think so and it could be that I'm just being paranoid or something but…you know what? Let's go get you a test kit or let's go to the hospital preferably." Lydia said to her as she picked up her bag.

They were seated in Emma's living room with junk food scattered on the table as a movie played in the background. They were supposed to have gone out but because of how nauseous Emma felt, they decided to stay in.

"Lydia, sit down. It's been a few hours since you arrived and I can say firmly that you are being paranoid and worried about nothing. I know what protection is okay? And I made sure we used it whenever we had sex." Emma told her.

"I know you used protection. I trust you to use it but…it's not a hundred percent. And I'm not saying you are pregnant I just want us to be sure okay? I may just be paranoid, like you said but let's just clarify this okay?" Lydia asked her.

"It will be so shocking to you when you find out this is just a normal illness or maybe it's even something psychological." Emma told her as she stood up.

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked her with a frown.

"I found out my mother wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. They thought she was improving but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore." Emma replied to her with a shrug.

She was trying to make it look like she did not care. Like it was something inevitable but Lydia knew better. It hurt her friend. Frankly speaking, it would hurt Lydia also if she found out that her mother who had been improving in the hospital was no longer improving but instead, her health was deteriorating.

"I'm so sorry." Lydia said to her. She moved in to hug her friend but Emma avoided her.

Lydia knew Emma hated any form of physical contact when she was hurting. Or rather, any act of pity. Her friend wasn't even a fan of hugs. She knew that but it still hurt when Emma avoided her.

"I'm just going to change so we can go to the hospital together." Emma told her and without waiting for a reply, she moved upstairs to her bedroom.

Lydia gave her a smile and waited patiently for Emma to be done with dressing up. She hoped she was also wrong about Emma being pregnant. She really hoped so. And Emma was also adamant on the fact that she could not be pregnant but then, life had a way of playing games on you right?

Emma was still in disbelief and so was Lydia who stood shocked, rooted to the ground. Emma was pregnant and it was obvious to the doctor who performed the test that none of them had thought it would come out positive. But she was sure. Emma was a little over one month old. Just shy of a month and two weeks. While there was also the shock of her being pregnant, one thing rang through Emma's mind. She had been pregnant the last time Brandon had sex. She was already pregnant before then. And she had no idea. She was stuck between rejoicing at the fact that she was having her own child and screaming in horror at the fact that it was Brandon's child and there was no way her family would accept this if they knew.