Chapter Four

   Emily stared at the unknown number, wondering who the caller was.

  After a few minutes of hesitation, she picked up the call.

  “Hello,” a female voice came from the other end.

  Emily thought it sounded familiar as she said back an “Hello”

  “Is this Emily?”  the voice asked.

  “Yes,” She answered, still wondering who her mysterious caller was.

  At once,the female voice that was filled with hesitation turned into a loud excited voice.

  “Oh my God!! Emily,it's me, Ava.” 

   Recognition hit her at once. It really was Ava, her good friend from college who had traveled outside the country.

  “Ava” she whispered back in surprise.

     

  “Yes, it's me. I just flew back in yesterday. I've missed you so much. Where are you? How have you been? We have a lot of catching up to do.” 

    Emily didn't know what to reply to the barrage of questions.

  How was she?

   With everything that had happened to her over the past few days,she didn't know how to respond to that.

  “I'm…Errm….I think I'm fine.” she replied.

  Ava could sense something was amiss.

  “Emily,is everything okay?”

  In the face of that question,she found herself bursting into a round of tears.

   “Emily, are you crying? Why? What's going on?”

  “I don't know Ava, I don't know anymore. I don't know what to do.” Emily blurted out in tears.

  “Where are you,Emily? Tell me where you are. I'm coming right now.” Ava spoke with a sense of urgency.

  Emily looked around her environment.

She was on the side of the road like an aimless beggar who was now lost.

  Somehow ,she managed to rattle out her location to Ava.

  True to her words, Ava drove at once to find Emily.

  The sight of her old friend looking disheveled, broke her heart.

Ava had a million questions but she managed to keep it together till they got back to her place.

  By the time Emily was done narrating her ordeal, Ava was fuming.

  “Disgusting!!Absolutely disgusting. How could they do that to you? Your sister and husband. Disgusting!!”

  Emily only sighed.

  “And your parents supported them. What sort of messed up folks are that? I'm sorry to say this but everyone in your family are pieces of shit.” 

   “They're not my family anymore. They are dead to me. All of them.” Emily answered honestly.

  Ava rushed to her side again.

  “I'm so sorry you had to go through all this, Emily. It's going to be fine. You're going to be alright.” 

   “I gave up everything for him. My dreams,all of it to build a family with him and this is what I get in return.” Emily said bitterly.

  “It's not your fault , Emily. Wesley is nothing but a cruel human being. I always knew there was something off about him. You gave him a career and this is how he chooses to pay your back. He's not worth your tears babe.” 

  Her last words made Emily give her a look.

   “How did you know?” 

  

  “Ava, I know your style of writing. Besides, I saw you write that manuscript. You were going to submit it. Imagine my surprise when I read Wesley's first book and it was exactly what was in your manuscript.” 

  

      All the memories came back to Emily. Ava was the only other person who knew about her manuscript

  She sighed. “ I guess I was dumb.”

  Ava consoled her friend.

  “You were in love. We do stupid things when we're in love.” 

    “What do I do now?  I have no job,no house,no money, nothing.” Emily lamented in a bitter tone.

  “Girl,what are you talking about? You have me and you can stay here forever.”   

  Emily blinked at her friend in surprise.

  “Really?”

  Ava meant it.

  “Of course, I'm your friend. Besides , this house is way too big for me alone. Everything is going to be  fine. You just need to give yourself time.” 

  Emily felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

  She engulfed her friend in a hug, grateful for the offer.

  “Thank you so much ,Ava.” 

  Ava was about to respond when Emily's phone began ringing.

  It was Wesley.  They gave each other a look before Ava urged her to pick up.

  As soon  she picked up, Wesley quickly asked her,

  “Emily, are you pregnant?”  

  Emily guessed he must have finally found out from the family doctor.

    

   “I'm not pregnant.”  

  “Don't lie to me , Emily. The doctor said you are pregnant.”  Wesley yelled in rage.

  “Why do you care? It's none of your business.” 

  “It's my business because it's my child. Come back this instant.” 

    Sophie's voice suddenly came through the phone.

  “Emily,please think of the baby and what's best for it. We can raise our babies like the siblings they are.”

  Emily couldn't believe the audacity.

  

  “I am not pregnant anymore.”  she  answered casually, ignoring the hurt the memory caused her.

  “You vile woman. That's why you disappeared for days. You killed my baby because of bitterness. How could you?” 

  Ava snatched the phone from Emily's hand.

  “Fuck off Wesley.” She yelled before hanging up and blocking his line.

  Emily took a deep breath and sighed.

  “I'll have to change my line.” 

    Ava agreed. “Yes. Are you really pregnant?”  

“I lost the baby.”

  She narrated about her accident and how she had spent days in the hospital.

  Ava felt nothing but pity for what her friend had gone through.

  She gave her a tight hug, reassuring her that everything would be fine.

    When Emily was finally calm enough, she broke the news she had been itching to say.

  “Emily,  I'm going to start working at my brother's company and I'm going to need my own team. It was the main reason I called you in the first place and thank God I did. I want you to come work for me as an editor.” 

Emily couldn't believe her ears. In a span of minutes, Ava had offered her a home and Job.

  No words could justify how grateful she was.

   She hugged her friend. “Thank you Ava, I promise I will not let you down.” 

  Ava gave her a smile. “I know you won't.”  

  When her euphoria had calmed down, Emily realized she didn't know who Ava's brother was because she never spoke about her family.

    “Ava,who's your brother? You never talked about him.”

  “Yeah, because he's pretty popular. My brother is Alex Hasting.”

  Emily felt her mouth drop.

  It couldn't be the Alex Hasting she knew. Could it?

  Ava's look told her it was exactly who she thought it was.

Alex Hasting,the billionaire bachelor who owned the biggest publishing house in the country.