CHAPTER THREE: Love, Unrequited
1254 Words
Please Zaide, give our bond a second chance, for the sake of our child who deserves more than a fractured family. Please, don't let us begin as a story of what could have been. Please!
“First of all, why should I trust you?” Zaide asks, his voice devoid of any warmth.
Why should I trust you? - I echo inwardly. That’s not a nice way to word his doubt.
I reach into my pocket and produce the positive pregnancy test. I hand it to him, hoping for a sign that he still cares. But as he looks at the test, his expression remains unhappy, almost resentful.
The hurt is immediate and intense. This isn’t the reaction I’ve imagined. I’ve hoped for something, anything, that’ll show he’s thrilled that he’s gonna be a father.
It’s not just his reaction, his words are like a death sentence too.
“If you’re hoping that we’ll be together again because you’re carrying my child, you’re wrong. I’ve already made up my mind. I’ll marry Tara.”
My tears fall freely once again, the rejection even more painful than I’ve anticipated. Hearing it straight from Zaide's mouth makes it undeniably real.
“Why?” I breathe, my voice breaking. “Why did everything change so suddenly, so drastically?”
There’s a moment of brief silence, before Zaide finally answers, “I never truly loved you. At first, I approached you out of curiosity as to why everyone dislikes you, but as time went by, I started using you out of disobedience. That’s why.”
“What?!” Frustration and despair bubbles up inside me. “It took you four years to fake everything?!”
“I resented how my dad always tried to control me, so I used our relationship to get under his skin. But now that he's gone, there's no reason to keep up the act.”
“After loving you with all of me, I’m just a collateral in a battle that’s never mine to fight? Why me out of all the Omegas out there?”
“You’re an easy target coz you’re the weakest and the one most desperate for love. Face it, you're nothing but trash to me.”
Sobs break free from my lips. I can't believe I fell for his lies and manipulation! I feel utterly foolish!
“So what will I be now without you?”
“You’ll be the same as you were before me. Now, when it comes to my child, I’ll acknowledge him. He’ll be living with me, and Tara will be his adoptive mother,” he says.
There’s no way I’ll allow that!
Just like Pierce, Tara won’t be a good adoptive parent, she’ll never love my child! Zaide will also be like my mother, he’ll prioritize Tara and their eventual children over my own!
No! I won’t allow my child to endure the same loveless, a.busive environment I’ve suffered and still suffering through!
I wipe my tears as I stand up from the sofa, my legs shaky but determined.
“Thank you for your time,” I say.
I walk away, not sparing Zaide a backward glance. Zaide doesn’t make any attempt to follow me, but this time, I don’t care anymore. My priority is to protect my unborn child at all costs. No way I’ll let Zaide or Tara raise my baby!
I can’t stay here in this pack where I’m powerless. I’ll go somewhere safe, far away from this place that has brought me nothing but pain.
Back in my dimly lit basement bedroom, I throw my few belongings into a torn bag with urgency. As soon as I finish packing, an aggressive knock comes at the door, jolting me into action - quickly shoving the bag under my bed.
The door bursts open before I can even reach it, and the sound of shuffling feet descends the stairs. Tara’s and Pierce’s faces are twisted with anger and apprehension.
“Is it true that you’re pregnant with Zaide’s baby?!” Tara demands, her voice dripping with venom.
My eyes widen in fear. How did they know? Did Zaide tell them? Is that how much he trusts them?
As if able to read my thoughts, Pierce adds, “The entire pack already knows! How dare you announce it out loud?!”
Announced it? I’ve never announced it.
But then, I remember my desperate outburst in front of Zaide’s mansion.
No way, I did announce it!
Panic surges through me. Now that my pregnancy is already known to everyone, it’ll be hard for me to escape. Zaide will probably tell his high officials to keep an eye on me, to know my every move, to hear my every word!
Without a warning, Tara lunges at me, grabbing my hair and scratching my face and neck with her long, sharp fingernails.
“Stop, please!” I beg, thinking of my baby.
But Tara is relentless and heartless, provoking me to retaliate by pushing her away with all my strength. Tara tumbles to the floor, and Pierce’s face turns a dangerous shade of red. He yanks me by the hair, forcing me to look him in the eye.
“Don’t you dare hurt my daughter!” he hisses.
“But she’s hurting me!” I cry out.
“Because you’re a w.hore!” Pierce spits.
Something inside me snaps.
A w***e?! How dare he slander me; his ignorance and malice disgust me!
For the first time, I gain the nastiness to spit on Pierce’s face. He slaps me hard across the cheek, sending me sprawling to the floor. Before I can recover, he kicks me in the abdomen, and I wheeze for air, curling my body like a ball.
“M-My… ba-baby…”
Just as Pierce and Tara are about to close in on me again, mother appears at the top of the stairs. For a brief, hopeful moment, I thought she may finally come to my defense.
“Stop it!” mother commands with authority. “If you accidentally kill her baby, Alpha Zaide may not forgive you for it!”
My heart sinks. It isn’t concern for me or my baby’s safety that prompts mother’s intervention; it’s fear for their own well-being. My mother’s eyes hold no warmth, only a calculated pragmatism.
Pierce looms over me, his eyes still burning with fury. “If you ever disrespect me or my daughter again, there will be no stopping me!”
"I wish you'll have a miscarriage, b.itch!" Tara adds.
With one final sneer at me, they all turn and leave, their footsteps retreating up the stairs.
Still on the floor with my body wracking with pain, I let my tears fall for a hundredth time over the last half a day.
Why me, of all the billions on this earth, why does fate choose to burden me with such relentless misery? What cruel twist of destiny singles me out for this unending sorrow, as if my very existence is a punishment itself? I've tried to be good, to be kind, to live a life of meaning and yet, here I am, drowning in pain and despair with no lifeline in sight. What did I do to deserve this torment?
My hand instinctively hovers over to my still flat belly.
No, Stacey. You can't afford to crumble now, not when your baby needs you more than ever. I can't keep living like this. It's time to forge a new path where I control my own destiny.
- Writer
