Chapter 41

Jack stared at the woman sitting across from him. Dorothy Knight. His mother. She didn't know why he had asked her out for dinner.

It wasn't like he had completely turned his back on her. No. He just wanted to understand why exactly she had felt the need to threaten Ana. And how she had found out she was pregnant.

"It's been so long since we've done something like this. You're neglecting me now," Dorothy said. There was a smile on her face when she spoke, but it was obvious it was fake. It made Jack feel really bad. He really had been neglecting his mother

"I'm sorry mother. I just.. have a lot of things on my mind right now," Jack confessed. With Ana, he spoke about his problems. But he didn't want her to think he was weak so he didn't go into them that much. But with his mother, he could be free to say what he wanted. He knew she would never judge him or think he was weak.

"Yeah. With that new girl you've been seeing right?" Dorothy asked. To an innocent and oblivious bystander, it would seem like an innocent question. Buy Jack had known his mother for his whole life. And he knew that question was anything but innocent.

"Speaking of Ana, why did you go over there Mom? Why did you threaten her?" Jack knew from experience that dropping hints was never going to work with his mother. It was either you were straightforward or you were not.

Dorothy looked visibly shocked. She dropped the spoon she had been eating dessert with, wiped her mouth with a napkin and stared at her son like she hadn't heard the words that had come out from his mouth.

Then she twisted her lips sardonically. Apparently she had underestimated that little girl. She would go through lengths to salvage her relationship with Jack, even as far as putting the life of her mother in jeopardy.

"So she told you huh?" was all Dorothy asked. She wasn't going to try to refute the fact that she had gone to see that lying pregnant girl.

"And you don't even try to deny it," Jack said, shaking his head, extremely disappointed with his mother.

"I don't deny it cause it's true. I was trying to protect you Jack. This is the second person who has popped up saying how they are pregnant with your baby. Isn't this suspicious to you," Dorothy asked, a bit outraged. She didn't raise her voice in case one of the other patrons was listening to them. It had happened more than once. The eavesdropping.

"Mother I am 28. I am a grown man. I know you love me. But sometimes you go overboard. This is getting out of hand." Jack's tone was harsh. Then he saw the look on his mother's face and sighed in remorse. "Mother, I trust Ana okay? I know it's my baby she's carrying and I need you to trust me as well."

Dorothy stared at him silently for a while then she nodded. Jack was a bit surprised. Usually it took more to get his mother to see reason. He was kind of suspicious but she had taken his olive branch. He didn't want to spoil the apparent peace now.

"Should I drop you or you'll call Simon?" Jack asked, looking at his mother. Simon was her driver

She had a determined look on her face and it actually kind of scared Jack. But he didn't say anything. Again, he didn't want to disrupt the atmosphere they had created.

"Simon is waiting for me outside," was all she said and Jack knew from her tone that she didn't want to talk anymore. So he accompanied her calmly to her car.

"I love you Mother," he said, placed a kiss on his mother's cheek then walked to his own car.

I love you too Jack, and that's why I won't sit back and watch you get your life destroyed by some pregnancy that is probably not even yours, she thought, looking at her son walk to his car.

He didn't know it, but she was going to save him. It was her job as his mother anyways. And she would happily do it.

***

"So you told her?" Ana asked. She was currently in the office talking to Jack about the issue of his mother. She knew personal calls weren't allowed at work. But she was in her office. There was no Tasha to snitch on her.

"Yeah and she said she'd back off," Jack replied. It sounded like he was doing something like packing or looking for a file and Ana was worried she was bothering him

"Your mother doesn't sound like someone to give up so easily," she commented because it was true. The woman had been so determined to prove Ana was a fake and she didn't look like the type to just abandon because of a few words exchanged.

"She isn't. But she doesn't lie either. I don't think she'll come to you again. And hopefully, both the women in my life are going to get along," Jack said and Ana smiled. He had called her the woman in his life. That was the best thing she had heard all day.

"I hope so too," Ana responded then quickly told Jack bye as she heard a knock on the door of her office.

It was Tasha. There was a sour look on her face. She got in, dropped documents very harshly on Ana's desk then walked out. But not without giving Ana a cold glance. It was not one of her mean looks. This one actually chilled Ana. It was like a promise that she was going to hurt her.

Ana shivered then shook her head to remove the image from her head. It didn't matter how Tasha looked at her. She wasn't going to hurt her. Tasha was many things but she definitely was not smart enough to do something like that and get away with it.

***

Ana got into her apartment with a sigh. The day had been tiring and not even a call from Jack had been able to make things better.

As soon as she got in though she turned and looked at the door. It was not locked. Someone had been in her apartment.

She looked to the floor and saw footprints of what we're most likely men's boots on the carpet. Landon had lost the spare key he had so it couldn't be him.

Ana's heart started pounding. She felt like at any moment, someone was going to jump out from some corner and kill her.

She stood for a while on one spot then advanced slowly towards the dining table. There was a slip of paper that hadn't been there when she left for work in the morning.

She wiped the beads of sweat that had started forming above her upper lip and placed her hand on her beating pulse point. It was almost like the beat of some African drum.

She stood next to the table and looked at the paper. It was carefully folded. With a pen sitting next to it.

Who could have come to into her apartment and kept this here? She gasped and touched her beating pulse point again. Then she took a deep breath and picked up the slip of paper.

Snitches get stitches. Didn't you know that?

The note wasn't signed. There was no indication of identity. But Ana knew exactly who had done this. It was Dorothy Knight, Jack's mother. But was she really capable of something like this? Ana had no idea.

She swallowed and looked at the note again. What did it mean? Was whoever had dropped this here going to hurt her?

She placed a protective hand on her tummy and whispered, "Lord protect me and my baby."