Chapter Three

Nessa Sims

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*Three years ago*

“You’re going to be my lookout.” Ben has always been a thug. He always resorted to stealing as his last option whenever things got hard. I knew he was that way but I still fell in love with him and had a baby with him.

“Why can’t you go with one of your boys? Why do you want me to be involved?”

“Compassion Nessa, Compassion.” He screamed at me. He always poured out his frustrations on me, and it made me feel bad, but even if everyone around me advised me to leave him, I just couldn’t do it.

“I’m not going with you.” He just wanted me there in case he got caught. Nobody would want to call the cops on a pregnant woman and the pregnancy would be some sort of excuse for our stealing.

He dragged me by my arms into the truck.

“Let go, you’re hurting me.” He refused and I had no option but to go with him.

We got to the house he planned on robbing. He parked out front and gave me instructions on what to do in case anything went wrong.

He gave me a knife for protection. I stood in front of the porch and he went into the house with his gun and his face all masked up. It didn’t take long before the cops pulled up. One of the neighbors had seen what was about to happen and informed the cops.

I immediately ran back to the truck. I watched them drag him out in handcuffs. A few seconds later, I saw the ambulance pulling up too. He had already shot someone in the leg before the cops came.

I didn’t want to get caught so I drove to Ellie’s and told her everything that happened.

He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment without parole.

*Present day*

“Who exactly are you? How do you even know about this?”

“I have the CCTV footage, so if you ever try to act funny you’re going down with him.”

He took me to the prison where my baby daddy was. He was arrested six months after I had gotten pregnant and I was an accomplice to the crime.

The thought of how much he knew about me irked my skin.

I didn’t know how to react to what he said. “Okay, can you drive me back to the hospital?” I hadn’t even done anything to get him mad so why was he acting this way out of a sudden? Did he just want me to be scared?

The ride back was quiet with different thoughts going on in my head. I wished I never participated in the hackathon, maybe all these things wouldn’t be happening and my secret wouldn’t be used as a leverage against me.

“You’ll hear from me very soon, Have a nice day.” One of his men opened the car door so I could come out and handed me my phone.

I walked into the hospital with my heart racing trying to maintain my composure. I wondered if Liam was okay. I saw Ellie at the reception when I got in.

“How’s he doing?” I was hoping for a positive answer.

“He’s good, responding to treatments.”

I was so relieved knowing Liam was okay or else I would have blamed myself for leaving him and even hated Vito for making me leave my sick son.

“You won’t believe what happened.” I began, my voice shaky. “Vito knows about Ben.” Tears welled up in my eyes, spilling down my cheek.

“Oh shit.” She cursed under her breath. “How did he find out?”

I wish I knew how he was getting all this information about me. But then again, he was powerful and rich. That combination was deadly because he’d have a lot of influence and connections.

“I don’t know, Ellie.”

“I hope he doesn’t do anything funny.” She replied with concern in her voice. Ellie was honestly the best. She never judged me for dating Ben neither did she judge me for being an accomplice. Instead, she hoped I could forget everything about the fucker who almost ruined my life along with his. “Hold tight. I’m going for a business meeting, I’ll meet you later at the house.” She kissed me goodbye and left.

I went to see Liam and the doctor said I could take him home but bring him for checkups on the days stated in the email he would send to me.

Ellie left her car with me. On our way home we stopped at McDonald’s to get some food because I didn’t have the energy to make anything later.

It didn’t take long before we were back at home and after making sure Liam had taken his medication, we settled on the couch and turned on the TV.

After a while, the sound of the doorbell interrupted the show I and Liam were watching.

I was wondering who it was because the only person I was expecting was Ellie and she never used the bell. I walked to the door but was hesitant to open it because what if it was Vito again?

“It’s me.” I heard my Mum’s voice from the other side of the door.

What did she want again? I thought she wasn’t speaking to me?

I opened the door and let her in. “What are you doing here?” I questioned, wondering why she was at my house by this time of the night.

“Why didn’t you tell me Liam was sick again? I had to find out from the hospital myself.” She brushed past me and went into the room where Liam sat watching the show.

It seemed as though my business was all up in the streets because everyone knew what was going on in my life recently.

“I didn’t want to bother you, you already take care of him enough.”

“That’s your excuse?” She sneered. “Like you have the money to take care of him when all you do is go out with thugs that can’t add any value to your life.”

Her words stung but I wasn’t surprised. She hated the fact that I let somebody like Ben get me pregnant but she never said it directly.

“Okay, if you want to come at me, come at me fully.” I spat with anger in my voice. “ Say everything that’s been on your mind for the past four years.” I was already angry because I’d been dealing with her attitude for a very long time and tolerating it. The deed had already been done and she was supposed to be over it by now.

“Your father and I tried our best to give you everything you wanted. We worked our asses off so you could attend one of the best schools.” She fired back with disappointment in her voice. “ But you threw everything away because of who? Where’s he now? In jail. Nessa, he's in jail.”

I asked for it but shit, she went full-blown on me. “Don’t bring Dad into this, I’ve been apologizing to you ever since but you always turn deaf ears.” I choked, my tears running down my cheeks. “When will you ever forgive me?” I said under my breath.

I walked out of the room. I didn’t want Liam to see us arguing. She walked behind me and closed the door.

“Until you get your life together.”

If only she knew my life had even gotten more complicated.

“That’s impossible right now because I’ve gotten myself into a big mess.” I didn’t know if I should continue talking or if it was safe for her to know.

“What big mess?”

“It’s nothing, never mind.” I didn’t want her to know about it because she would just make everything worse.

“That’s the problem with you.” She stamped her feet on the floor. “You know what? I don’t even care as long as it doesn’t involve Liam.” She went back into the room and told Liam to take off his nightwear and pack a bag for him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking my grandson so I can take care of him.”

Ever since my father died, my Mum had been lonely. I was their only child and I had disappointed them. That’s more reason why she even loved Liam and didn’t mind me dropping him at her house regularly. She wanted company.

“Okay then.”

On a normal day, I wouldn’t have agreed but it was the best decision at that moment since I was also involving myself with the mafia.

“Do you want to go with her?” I asked Liam.

“Yes.” He was very excited to leave with her because she always treated him like a prince and gave him whatever he wanted.

“I’ll come see you later.” I walked them to the door and waved him goodbye.

I sunk into the couch and dialed Ellie’s number to ask her where she was.

“Hey, what’s up?” Her voice echoed through the line.

“Let’s go out tonight. To the club or something, I need to clear my head and make out with someone I’ll never see again.”

“Dayummmm, that’s my girl. I’ll be back in like thirty minutes.”

I wasn’t surprised she was so excited, that was what she liked best and she loved supporting my wild side.

I got dressed in my sexy red dress and applied my makeup with care. I did my hair into a messy bun and put on one of my best perfumes. The scent alone would attract attention.

“The red killer dress, I see you, girl.” Ellie teased me.

She had arrived earlier than promised. She was always ready for fun. She would leave whatever she was doing to have a good time. I always wished I was as carefree as her.

“Have you called the Uber?” I asked Ellie, putting on my sleek black heels.

We didn’t drive whenever we were going clubbing because none of us would be sober enough to drive when coming back.

“Yeah, he’s already here.” She wore her matching set of earrings we had gotten when we last went shopping. “It even skipped my mind, where’s Liam?”

“My mum picked him up this evening.”

We went outside and we both sat at the back of the car.

“Infinity club right?” The Uber driver asked as he started the car.

“Yeah.” I responded.

The drive to the club was a blast filled with dance and laughter. The driver would have thrown us out of his car if he wasn’t a chill and cool person.

We got into the club. The lights were flashing and people were dancing. Some people were over at the bar taking shots. I looked around to check if I would see any familiar faces.

“Nessa.” I heard a voice call to me. “Come over here.” I looked to see it was one boy from my class back in college.

I turned around to tell Ellie I was going over there but she was already on the dance floor dancing with a stranger and showcasing her skills.

I walked over to where he was sitting and he pulled out a chair for me.

“Still beautiful as ever.” He complimented me. James had a huge crush on me ever since freshman year but we couldn’t have anything serious because I was already in a relationship.

“You don’t look bad yourself.” I returned the compliment.

“So what have you been up to?” He poured me a drink from his bottle of Hennessy.

“Nothing much, I’ve just been there.” I didn’t really want to be there talking to him, I wanted to go into the dance floor to find a stranger I could go wild with.

“I heard y’all won the hackathon competition.” He would say anything to keep the conversation going.

“Yeah, we did. And how’s work?” I asked, so I wouldn’t come off as uninterested.

He blabbed and blabbed about his job but I wasn’t listening.

“I’ll be with my friend on the other side.” I stood up and cut him abruptly.

“Yeah, Ellie.” He sighed. “See you later?”

“Sure.” I quickly fled into the dance floor.

I moved my waist in rhythm with the music, drinking and dancing away. I was hoping for one Prince Charming to come take my hands and give me a passionate kiss.

“Hey, stranger.” I tried flirting with a random guy on the dance floor. I didn’t even find him attractive but I just wanted to make out with somebody.

He took my hands and spun me around. “You’re beautiful.”

“I know.” I continued dancing and our bodies moved closer to each other. I moved my butt closer to his dick and danced harder on it.

He lifted me and pressed his lips against mine.

Before I knew it, he was on the floor knocked down. Someone pushed him down and I felt a strong grip on my arms.

It was Vito and his men. What were they doing here?

“Don’t go out with other men, you belong to me now!” He growled.