Chapter 27

“What did that woman mean when she said that we are cursed?” Tyson asked, looking at me suspiciously. I angrily glared at him, annoyed but also nervous because I couldn’t tell him the truth. I don’t even know half the truth about myself. What if this is just a tactic from Dan’s mother, taunting me? “Why the hell are you asking for?”

“Why are you angry? I was asking, besides you, who grew a baby bump overnight? I think you're the cursed one.” I groaned as I threw myself on the couch in annoyance. “I should’ve just left with Dan,” I murmured to myself. After we got back, it was already late, so Dan had to go to the office and take care of some stuff since he had been here with me the whole time, and he hadn’t been checking in at work. And now I’m stuck with Tyson because I need to be with someone in case his crazy mother decides to come here.

“So what name are you going to give the baby?” I immediately looked at him and realised something, he has no idea that he might be the potential father of this baby. “I don’t know yet, I will have to find out the gender of the baby first.” He nodded and we stayed in silence, until someone barged on the door.

“I’m home, did you guys miss me? What the fuck?” Stephany emerged from the doorway of the living room, mouth agape as she stared at my baby bump. I quickly sat up and hid it with my arms. I had taken off the sweater that hid my bump earlier because I got warm, and now I regret it. She took long strides towards me, and Tyson quickly came to my defence and stood in front of her, stopping her from taking any further steps. “I leave for a few days, and you are already showing? And who made you her bodyguard?”

“Can you just leave? Your presence is not required here.” Tyson said, beckoning her away, she stared at me for a few seconds and walked away quietly. “I'm sorry about that,” I said, looking at him confused. “Why are you apologizing? Your brother is the one who should be sorry,” I said, brushing my bump as I felt sorry for myself. I had forgotten that another pregnant woman is living with me in my house.

“Hey, I’m back.” I heard Dan’s voice from the front door, “We’re in here.” I had his loud footsteps making their way over to us, and we both smiled at each other as he walked in. “Didn’t you kick Stephany out?” Tyson blurted to Dan, causing him to halt and look at him, probably annoyed that he was talking about her while I'm here.

“She just walked in and wanted to touch her baby bump, that’s some nerve.” I rolled my eyes, feeling irritated that he was talking about her in my presence. “I don’t appreciate when someone talks about me in my absence, Tyson.” I sighed immediately as Stephany emerged from the doorway, feeling like things couldn’t get worse than this. Weirdly, she still had her eyes on me.

I was about to ask what she was staring at when she suddenly screamed and charged towards me. My heart dropped when I realised what she had in her hand: a big kitchen knife. Without a warning, she stabbed my stomach. I screamed in pain, and she turned and bolted to the door. “Fuck…”The wound was big and gushing blood, and I cried thinking of my baby. She intended to hurt me and my baby. What if she has successfully done that? The warmth spread too fast, too hot, pouring through my fingers as I pressed them against my stomach. My knees buckled, the world tilting sideways, but my mind refused to accept it.

“No…” My voice cracked, nothing but a rasp. “No, no, no.”

The air smelled of iron, sharp and sickening, and my hands were slick, slipping when I tried to hold the wound closed. The pressure in my abdomen throbbed with each frantic heartbeat, and beneath the pain, I felt a tiny flutter, weak, fading.

Dan and Tyson ran up and down looking for the first aid kit. I grabbed my sweater from the couch and tried to stop the gushing blood. “I need to get to the hospital,” I whispered as I felt myself running out of energy. “Okay, I will drive. Tyson, come help get Emerald to the car.” I looked at Dan, annoyed and hurt. “This is all your fault.” I seethed, he looked quite taken aback, but said nothing. "I know this is my fault, and I'm sorry." I whimpered in pain as they attempted to pick me up, but failed because the pain was unbearable. A sudden thought came to mind. I placed my hand on the wound and closed my eyes, attempting to heal my wound as I once did, but when I still felt the sharp pain, I knew it didn't work.

The doorbell rang, and we all ignored it as they both tried to come down and come up with a plan to get me to the car without causing more damage. The door opened, and from the dining room, I could see the person walking inside. Dan's mother stood at the door looking around. I immediately sobbed, feeling like somehow my life just went from bad to worse to another level. "I'm going to die," I said, mumbling in pain. Dan turned and saw his mother. He got up from his knees, angrily walked towards her. "This is not a good time." After he said that, her eyes looked over his shoulder, and she saw me struggling to breathe with the open, I think I saw a slight smirk there. "I'm not here to fight, I'm just here to see you."

"You never wanted to see me all these years, why now? You know what I don't even want to know, please leave." Tyson took his phone from his pocket as I prayed to God to save me and my baby's life. "We have an emergency at the mansion, please hurry here as fast as you can. It's between life and death." I dug my nails into his arms, feeling the pain getting worse. "Fine, I will leave, but I have a message for her." I groaned, annoyed. It's typical for an enemy to have a message for their dying enemy.

"I don't want to hear it." It barely left my lips, a pathetic whisper; my head grew heavier, my eyelids leaden. I could feel my pulse slowing, blood soaking through my clothes, through my fingers. The floor seemed to rise toward me, my body too weak to resist gravity’s pull. The baby… please, not the baby. Something inside me screamed to fight, to call on the fire I carried in my veins, but it flickered uselessly, like a match in the wind. The darkness pressed in, cool and inviting.

The last thing I saw was a smear of red on the tiles, and the last thing I felt was the life inside me give one more fragile kick; then everything went black. "Tell them the truth, whose baby are you carrying?"