Chapter 104: Chapter 104

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Are you okay?" I ask Luke as he walks in.

"Of course. Lydia's in town?" He asks.

"Well, I thought I saw her— how do you know though? I never told you she left."

"I have my means." He responds, and I roll my eyes. Of course. He was still Lucas Carrington after all. The doctor comes in.

"How are you feeling now?" The woman asks.

"Better, but a bit famished still. My first pregnancy was almost the same. I was always hungry half the time."

"It's normal. You have another person in you. So, I've spoken to your husband, and I've prescribed all the necessary drugs and your antenatal care visits. You may leave now." She says. Luke holds my hand.

"Thank God, you're okay, my sweet girl. I'll wait in the car for you."

****

"So what next? What will you do about Rose? How aren't we even sure the entire London doesn't know the truth already?"

"I didn't expect her to know so soon. It's all Rocket's fault. I'd have to deal with it. I'll go back there and see what I can do."

"Well, you obviously can't stay with her anymore, right?" I ask him. He had a home with me, with our son. He fumbles his response. "Right?" I ask again.

"I may have to—

"No! Luke, she knows. There's no point staying with her!"

"I told you— I have to. I don't want anyone else finding out who I really am. If word gets out before I'm able to turn Caleb in and find out if he has a partner, everything I've done so far will be all in vain." He explains.

"Aren't you tired of this? Revenge? Being away from your family?"

"This isn't revenge, Natalie."

"Lucas, I know you." I whisper. I couldn't risk a third party hearing our conversation. "You don't forgive people, and I know having Caleb locked up as you claim isn't all you have in store for him." I state. He looks at me, an eyebrow scrunched. We continue to stare at one another.

"Go home, get some rest, and I'll call you once I patch things up with Rose." He says, and I look at him, somewhat scared. I knew he wasn't a murderer, but there were worse things than murder. He needed to learn from my mistakes and end the cycle of revenge.

"Luke, do you have your money back? I mean, since you're no longer a suspect, the government should unfreeze your accounts, right?"

"Yes. I have access to it."

"That's why you refused to take my help?"

"You can say that." He responds, and I hug him, as tightly as I can. "Don't do anything foolish. Don't do anything that will put you in trouble for real this time." I plead with him. Loosing my ability to walk for 4 years made me believe that it was my karma. As Confucius once said, when embarking on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. The paralysis was my grave, and I was lucky enough to crawl out of it and recover. Recovering from paralysis was unusual. I could only wonder how Luke would be punished.

********

Luke's POV

As I drive home, I begin to reminisce hearing Natalie and her aunt talk about Lydia. I take out my phone and dial her burner.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Hello? Why are you yelling?" She responds.

"You're in town! You're in town?" I ask. There's no response. "Come on! Natalie saw you. This wasn't what we agreed on, Lydia. What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry. I just had to— I needed to come back."

"For?!"

"The baby! For David." She sighs. I am silent, wondering what to say. "If Rose sees you," I state, piecing together the consequences of it happening. I continue, "She'll cause a scene, and my relationship with Natalie will be in danger, Lydia. You shouldn't be here."

"I don't want to hide! I'm tired of hiding!" She retorts. I park my car as fast as I can, agitated.

"You would be putting not only your life and your child's life at risk but my family's!"

"No. He wouldn't hurt your family, Luke. If he'd go after anyone, it'll be me, and he won't, once he knows the truth."

"I'm not taking that risk, Lydia. Besides, you're Natalie's friend. She's be upset with me if she finds out and thinks I didn't help you."

"I'm going to come clean. I'm going to tell Natalie everything. Haven't you learned anything from your separation?" She asks.

"No! You'll tell Natalie only when I tell you to. Besides, she's pregnant. I won't let her get stressed out or worry about anything. Stay out of sight." I tell her and end the call.

******

On getting home, the house is as silent as a graveyard, until I hear the piano. It's Rose, but how could she? I rush upstairs, looking for her.

"Rose." I state, watching her play. She ignores me, the sound of the piano intensifying. She stops abruptly.

"You played the piano." I say, surprised. From the little I knew, after Rose's accident, her amnesia had affected her piano playing skills.

"I did good, didn't I?." She asks. Not waiting for a reply, she gets up, and just as she walks past me, I grab her arm. We are staring at each other. She takes my hand off her, and walks off. I follow behind her.

"I'm going to bed early today. You should head to your bedroom too, or have dinner before." She says.

I sigh, irritated. "Are you pretending right now? Are you pretending?" I ask. She does not respond. "Rose!"

"What?!" She yells. "I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything, and I certainly can't talk about something I don't know of, can I?"

"You need to know the truth."

"Get out." She demands. "I said, get out!"

"When I first went to Quebec, I didn't know anyone. I had just a few hundreds on me— I say, when she begins to leave the room. I rush to the door and block it.

"You'll have to listen to me today." I tell her as she fumes, angry tears gathering in her eyes.

"I don't wanna hear it!"

"I met your father outside a restaurant I couldn't afford. He knew who I was. That's why he even stopped to talk to me. After hearing everything that had happened to me, he asked me to get in his car. I thought he was going to help me with a place to live and some work or something, but I was shocked when he took me to a hospital. We went to see you. You had been in a coma for 6 months—

"Don't." She begs, breaking down sobbing.

"Your father told me that you were engaged to be married. Shortly after that, the house you lived in with your fiancé caught fire. You survived, but he died in the fire. His name was Richard, Richard Burke. In exchange for help and clearing my name in my home country, your father had me become Richard on the condition that I married and stayed with you until you grew tired of me."

"W-what?"

"My name is Lucas Carrington or Jack, Jack Hugh-Gray is actually my real name. I'm not Richard, and Natalie's my wife, well, my ex-wife, whom I'm still very much in love with. Louis is my son, Rose." I watch her as she folds her arms around her legs, confused.

"I-it can't be. It's not true. No. No." She repeats, chanting it like a mantra, as I stand there watching her. I massage my temples, distraught. Rose was a victim. A victim of her father's love and her father's meddling. A victim of my greed and desperation.

"You used me. You all lied to me."

"Because of your amnesia, which I'm not justifying. Your father wanted to spare you the heart ache."

"Heart ache? Now, not only my heart is broken but my life is too as well!" She scoffs. "You've all but ruined my life in a bid to fix yours." She states. She was right, however, I never lied to her.

"I never led you to believe that I was in love with you nor did I ever touch you or try to take advantage of you, Rose."

"You bastard."

"I apologize for how things turned out, and believe me, I never intended for things to turn out this way, and I never intended to hurt you. Please, believe me."

"You know, I thought I was hurt when I found out you were cheating, but this is the worst thing you could've done."

"I never cheated on you, Rose." I tell her.

"Deceit, betrayal and lies. That's all I've ever gotten from you when all I've given you is constant love." She gets up and walks up to me. She continues, "You're stuck with me for life because I will never tire of you, Lucas." She states. How could I possibly tell her that I had no relationship with Lydia, but the one who did, was none other than her own father who had threatened to harm Lydia if she ever told the truth.

"I don't understand, aunt. If you're not pregnant, then who is?" I ask aunt Ruth, as we enter the house.

"Well— Ashley? Delores?"

"Ashley's pregnant?" I ask, surprised. How did I feel about it? I couldn't tell. The girl wasn't my child, however, she was under my care. "I don't believe it."

"Well, let's ask them. Delores! Ashley?!" Aunt Ruth calls for them. Delores comes out.

"Hello, Delores." I say, as she waves at me, presumably welcoming me back from the hospital.

I smile at her, as I watch Ashley come down the stairs.

"Hi," She says, coming to hug me. "How are you?" I ask.

"I should be asking you that seeing as you just came from the hospital." She says.

"No. I should be asking you that, Ashley. Delores? Is any one of you pregnant?" I ask. I watch them both, and Delores nods her head, with her hands up. It wasn't her. However, I can see Ashley become nervous. She smiles nervously, "Huh? No. Why would you think that?" She asks.

"There are four women in this house. I and Aunt, yourself and Delores. I'm pregnant, but I only found out today and I never thought I was. So, who ordered the pregnancy kit in my name? Delores wouldn't know anything about ordering online." I ask Ashley, hoping she came clean already. She bursts into sobs.

"I'm sorry." She sobs.

"Dear God. Ashley? You're pregnant?" Aunt Ruth asks, as I look on, shocked.

"It wasn't supposed to happen. . ." She sobs. "It wasn't supposed to be this way."

"Ashley, I'm not judging you. I was only concerned and wondering why you'd have to use my name. You could have been honest with me from the beginning. You didn't have to lie. I thought we had some trust between us? You've been with me since I had my son. Why would you keep this away from me?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you'd judge me." She says, her crying intensifying. At this point, I'm bothered because she had no reason to cry so much.

"Calm down, Ashley." Aunt Ruth pacifies her.

"Ashley, come on. It's okay, I'm not even mad at you. " I bend to hold her as she cries.

"I'm sorry, Natalie." She says.

"You don't have to be, my love." I hug her. "I had Louis when I was just twenty one. You're twenty three. You'll be fine."

"No," She whispers, looking at me. I can see sadness plastered all over her face.

"Did the father reject him? Have you even told him?" I ask. She nods. "He rejected the baby?" I ask, memories of Lucas rejecting Louis resurfacing.

"Who is he? I'll deal with him for you, okay? I'll make sure he takes responsibility of this baby. What's his name? Where can I find him?" I ask.

"It's Mr. Rocket. . ." She states, and my jaw drops. What? Did I hear correctly? It couldn't be.

"What did you just say?" I hear aunt Ruth ask. "Oh, my God. What? For Christ's sake, is this a joke, Ashley?!" I get up from beside her. She gets up too.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. . . It just happened and I wanted to tell you sooner but he wouldn't let me!"

I turn around and find my way out. I can hear aunt Ruth and Delores rush behind me.

"Natalie, my darling!" Aunt Ruth calls. I pause. She walks forward to me. We are facing one another.

"Did you hear that ungrateful wench? She's carrying your husband's child!"

"Rocket's not my husband, aunt."

"Regardless. How could he do this? He got the two of you pregnant! My God, this is a mess." Aunt Ruth says. I walk past her, and head to Louis room. I shut the door behind me. My son is fast asleep. I tiptoe to the bed and enter the bed. He turns, waking up. Bloody hell.

"My love," I say to him, as he sits up.

"Mommy!" We hug. It's a long one.

"Hi baby." I respond. "How are you? I missed you."

"That awful lady poured the juice on your body! Why did she do that to you? I was so sad."

I chuckle, "It was an adult game baby, when you grow up, you can play it too."

"Then why did Granny Ruth take me away?"

"Because, baby, mommy was sick. I had to go to the hospital." I say, kissing his forehead.

"Why? Are you sick?" He asks. I take his hands and kiss them. I place his hand on my stomach.

"Because, you have a new sibling. There's a baby brother or sister in my tummy, just for you, my love." I tell him, and I'm pleased, as I see his eyes light up.

"I'm going to have a brother and sister?" He asks. He gets up, and begins to jump on the bed. I laugh, watching him jump up.

"Louis, stop it!" I try to slow him down, but he pays me no attention. He gets down from the bed and rushes to his huge wardrobe. He opens a layer of the cupboard and brings out a shirt. He runs towards me and hands me the shirt.

"It's for my brother. I really don't have anything to give a girl, but I can ask nanny and Ashley to help me!"

"Oh, no my love. It's going to be just one. It's either a boy or a girl. I don't know yet, but I have feeling it will be a girl. Do you want a girl?"

"I don't know. I want to a brother to play with but I also want a sister to protect." He says, and my heart melts. I birthed this wonderful, amazing human.

"You can protect mommy, my love." I say, opening my arms for him to accept. He does. Now, I had to figure out what the hell Rocket had going on with Ashley.

****

Later that evening, 11:40 PM

"Rocket!" I yell, as I enter his living room. Thankfully, I spot him sitting in the kitchen.

"Natty," He says, getting up.

"You horrible man." I state, as I enter the kitchen.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did. You betrayed me."

"Betrayed you? Are you out of your mind? No, why am I even asking you that? You've lost your senses. You are crazy, do you know that?"

"Well, guess who made me so."

"I've been to lenient with you, Rocket. Trust me, you don't want me to come after you. How could you get Ashley pregnant? What are you, a horny teenager? You've ruined her life!" He laughs, leaving me irked.

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"No, I'm not. But you should be if you intend on bothering me again, after today."

"Ashley seduced me!" He yells, acting out like a mad man.

"I don't think so. I'll be filling a restraining order against you. You're sick in the head." I say, turning around to leave. He grabs me, spinning me round.

"What the hell?!" I yell, jerking my hand off. "Don't touch me with those filthy hands of yours. Those hands you almost assaulted me with!" I yell at him.

"I'll be damned if I let that idiot have you." He says through gritted teeth. "I'be called the lawyers already to put a stop to the divorce proceedings. You're stuck with me, Natalie!"

"You're threatening me. You should know I don't respond well to threats, Rocket." I snap my fingers in his face. "I know what you did to Alex, and I know many other things about you that I can use to my advantage, now, do not let me warn you again to back off." He goes quiet as I see the shock written all over his face. What a horrible man.