Chapter 0009

•DARLA•

"You're leaving Atlanta? Are you serious?" Amelia gasped in shock and irritation. "You can't tell me that Elijah got under your skin, and now you're on the run!"

"I'm not running, Amee." I rolled my eyes.

"It seems so to me," she sighed. "If you leave town, he's going to know that you left because of your divorce. Besides that, Atlanta is all that you know, Dee."

"I know, but I have to go. I made this deal with Ethan, and my terms were that we leave town. Elijah doesn't know about the baby, and I want to keep it that way."

"You keep surprising me, honestly." She sipped her cocktail and groaned. "How does he not know about the pregnancy?"

"Because I don't want him to know. It's mine. He's going to have his own family with Abigail, and I don't want it any other way."

"So, you're leaving town and keeping his baby from him? Please tell me that this is not going to be the biggest mistake that you've ever made?"

"I know what I'm doing, Amee. I have to do what's best for me and this baby. Otherwise, no one is going to look out for us. We have no backup," my voice cracked.

Even though my fall out with my family was expected, it hurt knowing that they couldn't bother to make any effort to mend things with me without making me feel like I was worth something to them only when I was married to Elijah.

When Amelia saw the hurt behind my eyes, since she knew me so well that I couldn't put up a wall between us, she reached for my hand and squeezed it just enough for me to look at her and shed the tears that were creeping up at the corners of my eyes.

"You have me, Dee. We have each other," she cried with me.

"And this baby..." I cried. "This baby has me, Amee. I have to do this for her. I have to lay a strong foundation for her, and I can't do it here."

If I had any other choice, I would've chosen to stay and make my mark in Atlanta and prove to everyone who doubted me that I was capable of doing something with my life.

"Nothing can separate us, Amee. Not even distance. It will always be you and me, and nothing will ever change that." I smiled at her.

She smiled at me, took the handkerchief on the table contour, and wiped off the tears on my face and hers.

"I hate the Houstons. They've succeeded in driving my only friend away." She sipped the whole content of her cocktail.

"They've not succeeded in anything. I needed this for a long time, and now I am going to do everything that I want to do and get everything that I want."

Amelia sighed. "Fine. But, every holiday, I'll come and see you and my little nephew or niece. Every holiday."

"Yes, ma'am." I chuckled as I finally sipped my orange juice and took a bite of my bagel.

"I love you."

"I love you, Amee, and thank you for everything that you've ever done for me."

I spent that entire afternoon with her, catching up and reminiscing on our old days.

I was definitely going to miss my favorite girl.

***

When I got back to my hotel suite, I finished packing my bags and sat down to read the deal document that Ethan sent me.

I wanted to make sure that the deal was going to benefit both of us and that we wouldn't be limited to living our own lives before the deal was over.

I was doing all that while eating since I started feeling like I was starving and on the verge of fainting from hunger.

When I was done preparing for a shower, I sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed as I went through my phone.

I came across a picture of Abigail's post with Elijah on vacation.

Caption: “Out with the love of my life. Taking in every moment together and appreciating the universe for the little soul that she's about to bring into our lives.”

I felt my heart racing at her caption, and when I saw Elijah's comment on the post, I knew that it couldn't get any worse.

Comment: “Thank you for making me the happiest man on earth and giving me another chance to do something purposeful with my life. You have been such a blessing, and I hope that I will never jeopardize our love as I did. There's only one woman in my heart, Abi, and that's you.”

And so it was true. He never stopped loving her even though he constantly told me that he was over her.

It was also true that she was carrying his child.

While with me, he insisted on me being on birth control so that I wouldn't get pregnant for him, but he got her pregnant effortlessly.

He came with me to every family planning appointment to make sure that I wouldn't get off the injection without informing him because his mother kept convincing us to have a child.

Whenever I skipped my period because of the injection that I was getting, he didn't want us to have sex until scans were thoroughly done to confirm that I wasn't pregnant.

So, it made sense that I fell pregnant shortly after changing my birth control method, and he didn't know anything.

He didn't even suspect anything when I started feeling sick at night. After all, we both suspected that it was the side effects of the new birth control.

Angry and determined to leave Atlanta for good, I picked up my cell phone on the bed and called Ethan.

"Darla, are you okay?" He asked after answering the call.

"Please, get your assistant to book a flight for tomorrow morning. I'm ready to leave Atlanta."

"Are you sure that you don't need more days to put your things in order?"

"We leave tomorrow, or the deal is off."

"I'll book the flight myself."