My last apartment didn’t have a doorbell. It kept getting stolen off the wall and I grew tired of paying $30 every time to replace it. That’s why every time someone ran my doorbell in my new apartment I figured it must be on TV.
“Sorry,” I apologised to Kiara after she had to ring three times until I realised. “Come in.”
Kiara still smiled when she saw me, but it wasn’t her usual bright smile. She was unsure, because she had seen the tabloids with me and Robert in it. She didn’t know he was a billionaire, and the tabloids had certainly kept digging up things about my past.
Over the last two days, I had looked through some nearby thrift shops, another pro to living in an artsy neighbourhood, and found a wooden dining room table, a closet for in my bedroom and some new toys for Clara. This was the first time she had her own room in my house, and we were determined to make the most of it.
“Oh,
I massaged the side of my bump. The weird pains popped up every now and then, mainly when something stressful was happening. Today they almost didn’t stop.I could see Clara playing through the glass. She had a blonde barbie in her hand and pointed to it when she spoke to the woman. The entire room was decorated like a playroom, with colourful walls and a soft floor. The only thing that wasn’t decorated as though a rainbow threw up over it was the woman. She wore a black pants suit.She was from social services. I was told to bring Clara so they could talk to her on ‘neutral’ ground, rather than at her school or the new apartment. I watched as Clara handed the woman the barbie she had been talking about while she went to grab a new one herself.I smiled to myself. That was Clara. The woman was incredibly patient, but even I could see that Clara was way too easily distracted by all the shiny toys to answer any long questions. Clara w
The weather was slowly getting colder as fall was setting in. I was glad that the warm weeks of summer were finally over, it made wearing baggy clothes a lot easier.The driver had the airconditioning cranked up to freezer setting though. I knew that I should probably say something if it bothered me, but he had to spend all day in this car and I would only be here for fifteen minutes tops.
Kiara definitely helped with making my apartment look like it was straight out of a magazine. I texted her photos of newly arriving packages every day, and she told me where to put it and how to dress it up. Of course, anything made out of glass didn’t last longer than a day in a household with Clara, but the sentiment was nice.I stretched out my sore muscles. Clara needed some time to adjust to the new apartment, so getting her to sleep was a part time job at this point. I read her books and told her stories, I even dared to sing her a lullaby. Nothing I did helped with calming her down
I couldn’t go to the hospital to visit Kiara, it wasn’t my place. However the following day I received a text message from her boyfriend Elijah.Melody was born at 5:33 this morning, both she and her mother are happy and healthy.
Another twist in the story of Robert King’s love life. The famous CEO was recently reported to have gotten a mystery girl pregnant, and more information continues to leak out about her every day. She is by no means an angel, with a background of drugs, prostitution and a previous pregnancy by a mystery man. Today she was tagged in the picture of Instagram influencer Kiara Day, holding the young model’s newborn daughter. Is this a ploy by King to make his new girlfriend more likeable? Or does she have ulterior motives?
I stretched out my sore muscles. I wasn't on official bed rest, but Robert had made it clear to me that I wasn't allowed to do anything. I was beginning to wonder if I had seen every single show on Netflix already, and if I hadn't I would surely have seen them all before the end of this pregnancy.My hand was on my small bump more often than not now. My original plan had been to hide it as long as I could from Clara, so I wouldn't remind her of it and she'd forget all about the baby as soon as possible, but that was no longer in the cards for us. It seemed almost childish that I had thought it was really possible to do that.My phone screen turned on, and I saw I was receiving a call from Lewis. He had been acting kind of weird lately, only giving dry responses to my messages and completely dodging my questions about meeting up so he could show me where he goes to school. I didn't feel like I was in a position to ask anything of him, seeing as I was pregnant with
I knew that I shouldn't expect him to pick up the moment I called. I wasn't even sure if he was in jail or not, though I already knew he had a great team of lawyers so he wouldn't be in there for very long. Still, I had no idea of knowing what was going on.Lewis quickly drifted to the back of my mind. I still felt an overwhelming feeling of disappointment when something did remind me of him, but my main worries were my sister and Robert. If he goes to jail... What happens with us?It has been five days since the raid at the King building had happened, yet not a lot of new information had been leaking out. Robert released an official press statement, obviously claiming he was innocent of all charges and that he would be more than happy to show that in a court of law. Yet so far he was only suspected of the charges, the FBI hadn't pressed any charges."Thanks again." I said when Elijah opened the door. I waved at Kiara, who was sitting on the couch wi
He wasn't impressed by my great pitch, yet we hadn't seen each other in ages, and the baby had been growing a lot recently. At least I had made the right decision by wearing a top that is tight enough to show my bump.He stepped aside and walked me to the living room. If I hadn't lived here for a couple of days I wouldn't have noticed it, they had done an amazing job at cleaning it back up. The FBI clearly hadn't stopped at raiding his office. The, very few, decorative items Robert had were all positioned just a little bit off, not to mention the new order of books on the bookshelf."I don't know where we are at friendship wise, so I'll keep it to the business part." I said after he had put a glass of water on the coffee table in front of me. "If you go to jail, what happens with me and the baby?"Robert wasn't phased by my question, nothing could break through that emotionless mask of his. "The money is already in a separate account that isn't being inves
Clara had never been one for lullabies, she preferred bedtime stories even before she could understand what the stories were about. Flynn was the opposite in this. If you spoke to him, he cried, but if you sang to him he would fall asleep.I finished the third Disney song, all three coming straight out of Tangled because I lacked originality, and stayed for a few more moments to watch if he wasn’t actually faking me out and was still awake. Not that I minded whatsoever, I could look at him every minute for the rest of my life and never get bored.His chest rose and fell, his face all scrunched up to deal with whatever dreams he was having. He had taken to Robert’s old crib like it had been his own for years already. He was only a few weeks old and already smart enough to know that he should not fight his father on this. God, this baby is going
“Drive slowly.” Robert warned him. “Or face her wrath.” The driver smiled politely at the joke, probably not realizing how much truth there was in it and that it wasn’t a joke whatsoever. The baby and I were finally both cleared to go home, but that did not mean that I was feeling fine and dandy again. I had a big c-section scar on my lower stomach, one that would surely turn into an ugly scar later on. The doctors had encouraged walking and moving around far quicker than I really wanted to. I could walk out of the hospital myself, but at a slow pace. After placing the baby carrier in the car, Robert helped me sit down. I felt like I was eighty years old with how much help I needed with everything, but Robert never once complained about it. I must have really scared him with the whole ‘my heart stopped beating’ moment in the operation room. He was never
In books and movies, they always depicted unconsciousness as this great dark abyss. Like it was a black hole with me floating around in the middle. I thought it would be similar to being underwater, floating around like I was weightless and free. But as always, the books and movies were wrong. They gave me the false hope that I would receive some sort of tranquil experience in the middle of this chaos. In reality, it felt like I blinked. I remembered looking up at the bright white surgical lights with plenty of doctors by my side. I couldn’t feel anything, even if I did see the occasional blood soaked gauze come by. It didn’t register that that blood was mine. The room was spinning, until I finally heard my final call to let go. I heard the sharp cry of my baby, my first born. I allowed myself to close my eyes. I wasn’t allowed to rest for long. T
Robert POVThe night my child was born happened in heartbeats.The first beat, I was at home. Dalia and I had a fight, even though I knew we shouldn’t have. She was important to me, but my child’s safety was at stake. We both knew it was just weeks of frustration and worry building up and overflowing. Tomorrow I would go back and we would make up again, and I would sit through another day of complaints and silence.I was reading Clara a new book. Dalia had reread the same ones to her a million times, so in her absence I decided to outshine her and buy the young girl some new ones. Tonight she wanted to hear about farm animals going on an adventure, even though she had already heard it last night. I wasn’t in the mood for another argument, so we got to reading.
Sleeping was so difficult. My mind was in turmoil, my body was in constant pain. I could never get comfortable enough to fall asleep and even if I did, one kick from the baby caused sharp pains to wake me right back up again. I thought that was what had happened when I woke up again. I opened my eyes and tried to turn a bit to the right to get comfortable again. That was really all I did these days, slight adjustments in the hope that it would be enough to fall asleep again. I had been in quite a deep sleep for once and I wanted to return to it, but something else was bothering me this time. My mind was half asleep so it took me some time to figure out that I could hear some sort of obnoxious beeping, and then even more time to realize that the beeping wasn’t coming from any of the neighbouring rooms, it was coming from the machine next to me.&nbs
I stared up at the grey ceiling. And then I stared some more. The pain was pounding through my body and it felt like it had been months since I had last been able to rest comfortably. Any movement made it worse, laying still did nothing to fix it. I just wanted it all to be over already, nothing could cheer me up anymore. Robert placed a kiss on my lips, but I wanted to slap him. It was his fault I was in this position anyway. If he hadn’t wanted a baby, then I wouldn’t be pregnant, then I wouldn’t be in this much pain. It was all his fault, not mine. “Doctor Ward is coming this afternoon.” Robert said when I didn’t respond much to his kiss. It had been a few days since Mr Price’s visit and Mahlia had confirmed that the FBI case against Robert
The pain never really went away. Though the doctors reassured us, and with us I mean mostly Robert, that both the baby and I were safe, it still did not make for a very comfortable stay. I was either high as hell on pain meds, or cranky because of the pain. It was very much taking a toll on my psyche, and then being told that I would need to stay here until I gave birth only made everything seem worse. “There is no need really,” I said. “Nothing exciting is happening, and Robert is constantly watching me like a hawk. Honestly, I never even have a moment to myself anymore.” Robert smiled at me and flipped me off, while I heard my brother laugh. In the spirit of our renewed relationship, I figured that I should probably tell him I had been hospitalized. He was luckily not brave enough to ask if he should take care of Clara, because that was really not a decisio
Robert POVThe examination room was more spacious than I had expected it to be. It clearly was designed for a pregnant mother who needed to bring her child along, as it featured both a bed with stirrups and a small play area for the child. The doctor’s chair was now occupied by a woman with light blonde hair and a windbreaker jacket that read ‘Child Services’, while Clara was in the play area, but touching nothing. Her head snapped to the door when I walked in. Her big eyes welled up with tears and she got up from the floor. She didn’t dare run to me, as she would run to Dalia. Instead, she hesitated, waiting for me to make the first move. I got down on my knees and opened my arms for her. She realized it was okay and ran to me. She was clearly in hysterics, her eyes were red from crying and rubbing her eyes so often and her hair was half in a ponytail, half like she had been in a tropical hurricane. She only cried more when she hugged me. I
My mind was broken into a thousand pieces. I could usually be calm and collected in the face of stress but now I can barely will my legs to move. “The driver will be here in five minutes.” Steph said to me. “Too late,” I responded. “I will drive myself.” Steph nodded and turned back to her own desk to continue working from there. I was almost at the end of the hallway when I forced myself to stop and turn back.“Steph?” I said. She looked up from her desk, as calm and professional as ever. “I am leaving you in charge. Dalia is my priority right now.”“Yes sir.” She answered and went right to it while I headed for the elevator. The truth was that even in a building filled with Harvard educated lawyers and the best business people in the world, the only person I would entrust my life’s work to was Steph. She knew how I ran it, she knew my vision for it and most of all: She was fie