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Chapter 67
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2024-10-29 19:42:56I was already regretting my decision to walk today. It seemed like nice weather and I finally had some energy again, but I forgot what it was like to walk with Clara.
She was squatting over a snail on the sidewalk, looking at it with big eyes. She never really wanted to touch them, though that wasn’t because she was scared. She knew that the snail should be left alone, she just hadn’t figured out that a giant human watching it didn’t really match up with that definition.
When she was content with the snail, she grabbed my hand again and pulled me further. That was until we saw a small line of ants and had to stop again.
I didn’t argue with Kiara when she had made that comment, because it was true to some degree. I knew the stress of waiting for money to come in, but my situation was different from the
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Million Dollar Baby Chapter 68
Mr Price could be a really hot guy, if he wasn’t such a dick.Luckily for me, dicks generally weren’t that smart. Under the cover of turning my phone on silent, I had pressed record on a voice memo. One that would be sent directly to Robert, even if he suddenly turned my phone off. I placed it screen down on the table and leaned back in the chair.“As you are probably aware, your boyfriend Robert King is under suspicion of engaging in numerous criminal acts.” Mr Price started. “We have sources indicating that you may be involved in these acts.”“Those were a lot of very vague words.” I countered. “Sources could mean you spoke to his mother, his best friend or just read it on Wikipedia. Acts can range from drinking a glass of water to committing murder
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 69
I always knew Robert was paying his lawyers a whole lot of money, and they certainly made up for that. Within fifteen minutes of my phone call to Robert, three lawyers showed up at my door, putting a stop to the FBI’s plan. Mr Price was smart. He knew that anything I told him in those fifteen minutes couldn’t be used in a court of law, so he happily kept his mouth shut. We held a silent staring contest, during which I could tell that he was rethinking his entire strategy and approach to me. He assumed that I was a dumb girl who got herself knocked up by the first rich guy she could find. He didn’t take me to be like this, to be capable of having thoughts of my own. The three lawyers were all in their mid-thirties. The one who took the lead was a woman, no older than thirty with beautiful black hair and dark brown skin. She wore a black pencil skirt with
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 70
We arrived at Robert’s office not much later. I had kind of assumed we would be going to meet him, and as it was in the middle of a weekday, there was really only one place he could be. The man was a workaholic after all.I spent the entire time chatting with Mahlia, who was much friendlier than I had ever thought a lawyer could be. She told me about the dorky guy she had been seeing, and we had a good laugh about men always thinking heart necklaces are cute.“Ms Teagan.” We were greeted by Robert’s assistant, though not the one I had been able to bond with yet. This was the scary blonde, the one who had been there for the interviews. She smiled at me for sure, a supermodel smile even, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Mr King wants to speak to you. Ms Adler, if you and your sister could wait here for a moment, we wi
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The car took us straight to Robert’s house, which luckily was no longer occupied by a horde of reporters. We could go straight in through the front gate, but with Robert and his assistant being at the office, there was no one to greet us there besides the security guard to open the front door. He left immediately after, and though I kind of knew the layout of the house, I still felt like we were intruding.“Wanna go take a nap?” I asked Clara, praying that she would say yes. Clara still held onto my hand and luckily nodded her head, so I went straight for the stairs. If anything, I definitely knew where to find the bedrooms in this place.I brought her to what had been her bedroom when we had stayed here before. With her favourite stuffed animal by her side, which was a pink unicorn named Bob, Clara was asleep in no time. But much
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Robert’s words stayed with me throughout dinner. It was a risk to have Clara in my full custody, was it just my own desire to have her listed as my child? I know what had crossed Robert’s mind, he was wondering if I wanted this simply to replace the loss of the baby that would never be mine.A good distraction was the food, which was heavenly once again. He made a separate kids meal for Clara, who at least really tried to eat cleanly today. She wasn’t that good at it, as near the end of dinner half her shirt was covered in sauce, but she did try.I happily listened along to Clara and Robert’s conversation. She told him about what had happened in nearly the full season of Totally Spies she saw today, and how the laser lipstick was her favourite gadget. I noticed how every few minutes Robert would look at me, but I was more tha
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 73
I was once again woken up by Robert, though now it wasn’t after a short nap but instead after a deep sleep that seemingly had lasted for days. I was refreshed, I was charged up, I was… Incredibly late to drop Clara off for school.“You sure can sleep,” Robert commented, sitting on the side of the bed. My eyes had wandered over to the alarm clock, it was 12:02 and I was officially the worst guardian she could have. I shot up in bed, but Robert blocked my way out.“Clara?” My sleepy brain managed to ask. Robert smiled.“Was taken to school by my assistant.” He answered. “We agreed that you should get some extra sleep, though I didn’t expect you to have the sleeping schedule of a teenager.”I
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 74
I found my apartment cleaner than it had been since the day I moved in here. Much like Robert’s house, not a thing was out of place nor did it look like a rampant child and a pregnant young adult lived here. The cleaners had taken care of messes that the FBI hadn’t even made, and I was more and more interested in how Robert had made his fortune, so that this ‘no cleaning’ lifestyle could become mine too.I had exchanged some vague messages with Max about possibly meeting up to talk, but really everything was just a big build up to the doctor's appointment on Friday. Every time I caught myself being nervous it was due to that appointment, and every time I reminded myself that it was probably nothing. Robert didn’t make this any easier, as he had his assistants check in via text almost hourly to see if I was resting or not.
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Rest.It was all that we were given in the end. I had to rest and avoid stress at all costs. Even when Robert started to lose his temper when he threatened lawsuits and taking away doctor Ward’s medical license. All we were told was that I needed to keep my rest.It was a good argument to hold over Robert’s head. Doctor Ward had kindly reminded Robert that him screaming lawsuits would only increase my stress. Even Robert didn’t know what to say to that. We left the office quietly.“I’ll have someone pick up Clara.” He said when we were outside again.“Why?” I asked. I was struggling to zip up my jacket, my hands were shaking so badly. The street itself was rather quiet, but the main road a little away from us
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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
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 103
“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
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 102
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
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 101
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.
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 100
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
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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
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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
Million Dollar Baby Chapter 97
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
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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
