Chapter 34 A LIVING PROWN(Demilia’s POV)
“I feel like everything about me is fake, starting from the day I was born till this moment,” I whispered. “My past is a disgrace. My marriage a sham, even my body. Like I was built for other people’s plans, to never make my own choices, but to fit into theirs.”
Lena cupped my face gently, trying to calm me down, but I had passed that. I was shattered.
“You are not a pawn for games.”
“But I am on every sense,” I replied bitterly. “My brother sold me out, and Ethan wasted no time in claiming me as if I am a property. His father documented everything about me. And as for Vanessa...” My voice started shaking again. “Vanessa wants to break me until I miscarry this beautiful soul growing inside of me.”
Lena went still, not knowing where to start from.
“She said that to you, or you are assuming it?”
“She didn’t need to as her actions lately speaks volumes,” I whispered. “She implied it without saying a word. She planted the idea and watched it grow, with continuous watering.”
I pressed a shaking hand to my stomach, at least grateful that my baby was stable at the moment, and growing healthily, despite the complications.
“And what if she succeeds in getting what she planned?” I asked, terrified. “What if the stress… as she has always wanted, what if my body fails again, and my baby...?”
Lena knelt in front of me immediately, holding me together from losing it.
“Look at me,” she said firmly, forcing me to face him. “You are not alone in this fight. You hear me?” I nodded weakly, not knowing how else to respond.
“We will ensure to protect you,” she continued. “And the baby will not be harmed. No matter what faces us.”
Tears streamed down my face again, as my mind raced back to how Lena has been there for me through thick and thin. Tbd only brother that became my sister.
“I don’t know who to trust anymore in this situation.” Lena hesitated for some seconds. “Then trust yourself, at least, start from there.”
“I don’t even recognize myself, how will that even work?” I whispered. Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door, like it was coming to our direction. Both of us froze in anticipation.
My heart slammed violently against my ribs, waiting to know if the person would at least open the door.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered. Lena nodded, instantly alert. “Stay here.”
She moved toward the door cautiously, opening it with just a crack. I held my breath so tightly that I feared my baby could suffocate.
A shadow passed swiftly. Then...the next thing, we heard Ethan’s voice. It was unexpectedly low, controlled and dangerous.“Is she alright?”
My stomach dropped the moment he showed up at the door. Lena turned back toward me, her expression unreadable. “He’s here,” she whispered.
Fear gripped me. “Don’t tell him anything about this,” I pleaded. “Please.”
She hesitated, then nodded. I didn't know how to start the conversation with him, if it would break me down the more, dragging me back to a new rollcoaster of emotions that I had left behind.
“I won’t.” she finally replied after hesitating. But even as she stepped out to block him, I knew something terrible. Ethan was already too close from being blocked away from my room.
Too watchful, and too calm for his kind of person. And somewhere deep in my bones, a sickening thought took root all of a sudden...
What if he wasn’t hiding the truth from me anymore?
What if he was waiting for me to break first before he would let me know?
Ethan’s POV
“Are you feeling any better today?”
I asked it the same way I always did, making sure it was controlled, careful, and if course, under measure. As if the right tone could keep everything from collapsing, from shattering as I was beginning to suspect.
Demilia didn’t answer, neither did she make any effort toward that. She stood by the window, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She was fragile and distant, like she was already somewhere I couldn’t reach. I closed the door behind me.
“Demilia,” I said again, softer this time. “I came to check on you.” She turned slowly.
Her eyes met mine...and I knew immediately this wasn’t another quiet morning. There was something sharpened in her gaze. Something resolved, and I'm yet to find out.
“Why did you marry me, Ethan?” The question landed without warning. I stiffened in shock, wondering where the question was coming from.
“Now isn’t the time...”
“Yes, it is,” she cut in, her voice steady despite the anger I could feel beneath it. “Why did you marry me when you already knew I was pregnant?”
The room went silent, or rather, everyone stayed silent.
Every instinct in me screamed to deny, deflect, dominate the conversation...but none of it came. Because she wasn’t asking for lies. She was asking for truth.
And that was the one thing I couldn’t give her. I said nothing, as I already made up my mind not to. Her lips pressed together, a painful understanding settling over her face. “You can’t answer me.”
“I won’t,” I corrected. She laughed...a very soft, and broken type. “So it’s true.”
I took a step toward her. “You don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell me,” she demanded. “Tell me why you watched me suffer, panic, get sick...why you let me believe I was hiding something from you when you already knew.”
My jaw tightened, not knowing how to pacify her without having to tell her anything; because the truth wasn’t simple. The truth would end up striping me bare. Because the truth would hand her power I had never intended to give.
“I did what I had to do,” I said coldly. She raised an eyebrow. “For who?”
“Yes, for us.” She shook her head. “No. For you alone.” That accusation broke something inside me. I felt it then...that dangerous pull. The urge to stop her words the only way I knew how when things spun out of control.To touch and control her. The heat was much. Then...