Chapter 67: Chapter 67

"You know you could have run a long time ago, you do know that right?" Xavier's fists were clenched, his eyes stormy, his words iced as he took in the condition his mother was in.

"Xavier, please no. At least not here."

"Where else Melissa? When she is back to that scum of a husband."

"He is still your father." Mrs. Salvador struggled to stand up, her face getting even more pale as she coughed.

Maya rushed to her side, making her lie back down. "Please Ma, Don't stress yourself."

"Oh my darling, you didn't need to stress yourself for me." Mrs. Salvador mumbled noting that Maya was in her pajamas.

"Well she won't be if you don't have a fucking stab wound on your lower abdomen and the other injuries in your body, Darling Mr. Dominic dealt on you."

"Oh dear, I feel so ashamed." Maya sat down next to her glaring at Xavier and hoping that was enough cue to make him stop.

The woman, his mother had just escaped the clutches of death. She might have made a few wrong decisions, well stupid in fact but regardless you don't rush into a ward to tell someone you care about they are to blame for what they had undergone even though it is the truth.

"You should." Xavier deadpanned.

Melissa cursed under her breath, Brian held on to her. Maya muttered his name warningly.

"You should let him. I think I deserve it all."

"No, you don't." Melissa reinforced.

"I can see it in your eyes. You too think I'm a tad stupid for putting up with your father for so long."

Melissa looked away. Maya had her hands clasped around Mrs. Salvador figuring she just might need all the support in the world especially as one of her children was an insensitive bastard who just well couldn't tell a lie. A white lie and will make her swallow the grimy bitter pill just after threading the path through life and death.

Mrs. Salvador managed a sad smile, "I bet I'll ask myself that question too. If eighteen years old Sophia have met stupid dutiful Mrs. Salvador she would have scoffed and called her names too." She looked away facing the white pale wall of the hospital.

"I'd a dream too. Lofty stupid aspirations but they were something right?" She shot Xavier an accusing glare, "I didn't take a loan. I wasn't even at the scene. But somehow I was embroiled in this mess of a marriage. Like a joke, I kissed the man I love goodbye promised him I'll be back after a year or two."

A sob racked from her throat, Maya made to hold her but dropped her hands on second thoughts not knowing how that might be of help at the moment.

"I was supposed to Poison Dominic once I gain his trust, I followed all his rules, took all his taunts." She hugged her self, "I slaved for him. Giving him my body first and then my devotion."

"I was resilient. The kind of mother you would have been proud of, Xavier." Melissa sobbed while Brian held onto her more tightly.

Xavier remained stoic and unmoving at the side of the room, some feet away from his mother while Maya had her head down on her knees.

"Then we had gotten into an argument, the night he had wanted to rape me. It wasn't the first time he had hit me. But I've taken the others as corrections. A stinging sharp slap on the cheeks, belt strikes could be reprimands right?" Her voice shook even as Melissa begged her to stop. "But there was something more fearful about that particular night. That was also the first day he had beaten a child out of me. I remained in that spot after he had his way with me, bruised, violated, unable to move and in the pool of my own blood but what had worried me most when was he had promised to break my spirit." She smacked her lips, a cackle escaping them.

"The next day Edward, my high school sweetheart had died in a hit and run." Maya heard her throaty sob, as she could tell the pain was raw like it had happened the night before.

"He won me. He trampled over me. Life became meaningless. I did all his biddings without batting an eyebrow and a year after living like a fanciful portrait who beautifies a pale-colored room when needed and afterward left outside for kids to play with using crayons, sharpies too, leaving scars when the owner is done with it."

She paused.

"I was going to commit suicide. Had dropped at the hospital to request a sleeping pill. The plan was to take an overdose and never wake up again. Maryann was our family doctor, she insisted I looked pale and despite my insistence that I was fine ran tests on me. I'd left the hospital in anger forgetting why I was there. The results came back with Dominic a few days later. I was pregnant." She shook her head, smiling.

"God knew I had hated you so much. The thought that I was carrying the spawn of a man that was so cruel and devil incarnate didn't appeal to me one bit."

Maya stared at Xavier's face worried. If the thought that his mother had hated him bothered him he didn't show. He stared into space, his eyes cold. His expression was way too neutral revealing nothing. Just like the first time she had met him.

"But the first day you kicked__" she shook her head, "The first day I came to terms with the fact that something living is inside of me, somebody I'll be responsible for, protect. A part of me. Being a Salvador didn't stop me from giving you my heart, Xavier. Leaving the house for years didn't quite do the trick too. Because that day you kicked you awoke something in me, maybe it was the zeal in me to live that I have lost or the fairytale endless possibilities that were preached."

"So why didn't you leave after Xavier?" Melissa's voice was small and understanding. Remorseful even as her mom gave out a little sigh.

"I did file for a divorce but the prenuptial Clause." She turned to meet Xavier, "In exchange for my freedom I had to give you up. I had not seen that clause in the contract, I was a naive angry bride that just wanted my nightmare to be over!"

A tear slides down her cheeks, "He was the Chief manipulator, still the king. He had used my love for my child against me and because I was stupid, dumb Sophia. I stayed behind, I was raped, beaten, disgraced... yet I chose my children again and again."

Xavier sharply inhales but that was all.

There was total silence in the room for more than 10 minutes.

"And when we became legal? Old enough?"

Mrs. Salvador scoffed, "It was too easy being his property than facing society."

Xavier nodded thoughtfully and then was leaving the door.

Maya stood up wide-eyed even as Mrs. Salvador screamed his name, "I need to go get him."

Mrs. Salvador held her hand, "Can you make sure he doesn't commit murder. He'll be heading to the mansion. That ole piece of shit ain't worth him going to jail."

"I'll try ma'am." Then she was pecking her on her cheeks, handed her the bouquet of roses she had bought next to the hospital with a get well soon card in it.

She hugged Melissa, smiled at Brian, and then grabbing her bag made her way to go get her Man.