It’s okay, everything is okay. I repeat to myself.
Wiping the tears from my face, I gather up the tests and put them in the plastic bag along with the other two tests that I’ll take late for Sebastian. Then I leave the store and head to the house. Walking down the sidewalk, I find myself smiling. I’m going to be a mommy; Sebastian is going to be a daddy. Jules will be an aunt, and Rem and Lex uncles.
With every step I take, I calm a little bit more. Nearing the house, I round the corner and crash into a woman who looks as if she’s in a hurry. Opening my mouth, I go to apologize, but the words never come out. Before I realize what is happening, she has moved around me and is covering my mouth and nose with a cloth and wrapping an arm around my middle, pulling me back against her chest.
Confusion and fear rush to the surface as I struggle against her hold. There’s no point in fighting though, the more I fight, the harder I breathe, and it only takes a few breathes for me to discover I’m fading, the darkness circling in around me with every inhale I take. My last thought before it all falls away is that Sebastian never got to find out about our baby. He never got to know he was going to be a father.
21
Sebastian
Like every day when I get home, I chuck my jacket and deposit all my shit on the table. Fuck, have I missed my woman today. Calling out into what appears to be an empty house, I say, “Baby, you better be naked and ready for me because my cock is hungry and he’s coming for your pussy.”
I expect to hear a giggle or a, seriously, but instead, I’m met with nothing more than silence. A second passes, and then another, and before I can think about it, I’m climbing the stairs up to Lily’s studio. Inky fear fills my veins when I find the studio empty, the entire room clean, every item in its place.
Where is she?
Would she leave again? I don’t even want to think about that. The idea of losing her makes me rabid, it makes me… I can’t even think about it, it hurts too much. Walking back down the stairs, I check the rest of the house just to be sure, then I pull out my phone and call her. My hands shake nervously as the phone rings, and rings, and rings, each ring pushing me closer and closer to the edge of insanity.
Something had to have happened, there is no way she would just leave, that she would just walk away without talking to me first. Panic doesn’t even begin to describe the level I’m at as I pace the floor, dialing her phone over and over again.
I leave a message, and then another, and another pleading with her to come home. My fear turns to anger, and the two mix together, my emotions becoming the catalyst to send me over the edge. What have I done? I thought everything was good. I thought she was happy. We bought a house together, and I was preparing to propose to her, wanting to make her forever mine and now this.
Slamming down onto the couch, I hold my head in my hands and tug on the longer strands of hair, willing an answer to appear in my mind. It’s then that my phone starts to ring, the sound piercing through the hazy fog surrounding my mind. Scrabbling, I grab the device, my eyes scan the name on the screen.
Lily. Sighing in relief, I press the green answer key.
“Baby, are you okay? What’s going on?” I expect to hear Lily’s sweet voice, but instead, I hear another, one that turns the blood in my veins to ice.
“Sebastian, I’m so glad I was able to reach you.”
Laura? Why does Laura have Lily’s phone?
“What’s going on? Why do you have Lily’s phone? Is everything all right?”
Laura chuckles, but it’s not the soft laugh I’m used to hearing from her, no this laugh is humorless, dark. “You haven’t figured it out yet? I thought the dean would be smarter than that?” What the hell is she…
Like a bucket of ice water raining down on me, I realize just what’s happening now. Laura is the blackmailer. Laura is the one who saw us together, the one who…
“Put Lily on the phone, right now. This isn’t a game, Laura.” I try and hide the fear from my voice. I don’t want this bitch knowing how scared of losing Lily I am.
“You’re right, it isn’t a game at all, and if you want to see your precious girlfriend alive, then you’ll do as I say. Otherwise, I won’t have a problem slitting her throat and watching her bleed out.”