CHAPTER 3

GAIA

As soon as the car pulled into the house, I felt my hands and my feet grow cold and they shook as I stormed into his office. 

He was bent over some papers, his glasses resting lightly on his nose and he looked up at me with a frown on his face when I entered. 

“What madness is this?” Was the first thing he asked. 

Without answering, I flung the envelope on the table. 

“There. Sign those. If you hate me so much, just sign them and let me freaking go! Let me go!" 

He looked away from me and opened the envelope, bringing out the papers and looking at them. 

He laughed, pushing them to the side and taking off his glasses. 

“What is this supposed to be? You want to divorce me?”

“Are you blind? Aren't they divorce papers? Sign them and let me go! You didn't have to go so far, Javon. You didn't have to kill my baby!”

“What in the world are you talking about?"

Now, he was acting like he didn't know what I was talking about. 

“I heard her on the phone. The person you paid to drug me so I'll lose the baby.” The tears were coming again “I heard everything, Javon. Don't even bother to lie."

“I’ve been out of the country since the beginning of the year. What baby are you talking about? Were you pregnant?” 

I wanted to slap him but I couldn't. All I could do was boil. 

“I'm not doing this with you. I've already signed them so it's left for you. I don't even care if you don't sign them but I'm done with you. All you've done since you married me is make my life hell. But you forget I didn't want this marriage either! I was forced into it too!”

I quickly cleaned my face and took a deep breath. 

“That is your ticket out of this marriage. I'm done with you, Javon. You're a disgusting bastard and I wish I had slit my wrists the day I'd been told to marry you. At least, I would have had more peace than this. You will pay for what you've done, I swear. You won't get away with it. Even if it's with the last drop of my blood, you will pay for killing my child.”

I walked away from him and slammed the door shut, running upstairs to my room to pack my things. I was going to leave as quickly as possible and never come back here. 

My phone rang as I tried to get my things together.

It was Bella and she had called me to let me know that she was outside waiting for me. I didn't have any money of my own so I had to stay with her for a while. Javon didn't let me work and he didn't give me any money. 

This was all I could take from that man. Public embarrassment, starvation, anger, abuse, I could take all that.. but going as far as killing my baby just because she was a girl was what I wouldn't take. 

No, screw this marriage. I swear, Javon will regret doing this to me. How dare he act like he didn't know about the baby? 

I set my suitcase on the ground and wheeled it outside, not looking back for once as I put it in the truck and got in the car. 

No one said anything throughout the rice. I just cried my eyes out because I couldn't believe I finally did that. I had been expecting him to stop me but he didn't. 

When we finally got home, she helped me carry my things into the house. 

“It’s going to be okay, G. I promise, you'll get through this.”

I knew that. 

“What about my baby? My baby is gone for good, Bella."

I felt like I had failed her. Even though I'd been particular about what I ate, I'd still been fooled. I should have known that something was wrong when I passed out whenever I drank that tea. 

“Can I tell you a secret?” 

She handed me a box of tissues. 

“What is it?”

She looked nervous and I was expecting bad news. That's all I heard these days. 

“Well, what if I told you only one of your babies died?” 

I stopped blowing my nose halfway. 

“What are you talking about, Bella? Don't make jokes like that. Not now.”

She swallowed and nodded her head.

“Okay, how do I say this? I saw the doctor on your way out of surgery and I asked about your health and he was the one who told me. You were carrying twins, G. The second twin was hidden in your fallopian tube because he's smaller so it's easy to miss."

I laughed. That was the only thing I could do because I'd cried too much and I didn't want to cry again so I laughed. 

“So what, I'm still pregnant?” 

She slowly nodded and looked at me for my reaction. 

“I had to beg the doctor not to say anything to anyone about it because your life was at risk. That whole thing about the police was just to make it look more real.”

I couldn't say anything again. I pulled her in and hugged her tightly. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Bella. Thank you." 

The tears I didn't want to cry pushed past and I cried as I hugged her. 

“You still have your baby, Gaia. And it's a boy so it's Javon’s loss.” 

My mood dampened at the mention of his name. It's a good thing he didn't know I had been carrying twins.

“So why didn't the second baby die? The doctor said that Ayrah couldn't handle it.”

She shrugged and passed me another tissue. 

“It's a miracle, G. God wants you to be happy.”

Yes, I was happy. My life still has a meaning. My phone rang and it was my father. I see Javon had called them to inform them about recent events. 

But I didn't lock up. All of them were the same. He had been the one to sell me to him that night when they couldn't find my sister. 

He didn't listen to my protests or to anything that I'd said so why should I bother listening to anything I had to say? Even when I complained to him about the way I'd been treated in that house, he didn't do anything. 

He said that was how all marriages were. And my mother, well, she was his biggest supporter so I was a one-man team. 

I turned off my phone. 

“Javon won't get away with this, Bella. I want him to be on his knees when I'm done with him, begging for my mercy. By the time I'm done with him, he won't have the strength to raise his voice at me. He will beg me for forgiveness and I won't give it to him.” 

I'll take my life back and make a name for myself. He will come looking for me and he won't be able to see me because I won't be on the same level anymore. 

I'll raise my son alone and make sure that he's not a man like his father. No, Javon wasn't his father and he will never be