Chapter 81: Chapter 81

" Ash! " Van yelled. Where had he come from? Was he following her?

Jake staggered, caught by surprise but when he finally regained his stance he brought a hand to his lip that was now split and bleeding he glared at Ash before he swung his fist and caught Ash by the side of his face. The two men traded blows, grappling each other while Van yelled for them to stop.

"Stop this for the love of God! are you two animals?"

They ignored her.

Ash fell backwards and Jake was onto him before he could breathe landing blows after blows.

A searing pain sliced through her mid section and she gasped out suddenly. Slamming her eyes shut, she took a calming breath breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth a few seconds later the pain ebbed.

"STOP." It must've been the conviction in her voice because Jake froze mid strike and looked over his shoulder at her. "Have you two no shame?" She glared at them both. Ash's nose was bleeding, she realised when he pulled himself up from the ground. They both looked rough and miserable but even their appearance couldn't distract her from the pain lancing through her lower back.

Jake must've seen her expression because he was in front of her before she could draw another breath, both of his hands on her shoulders as he inspected her face.

‘’What’s wrong?’’

‘’I-I just need some air, I'll be fine.’’ She choked out.

Van inhaled deeply and exhaled. She shivered slightly at the mild breeze.

‘’Tell me what’s wrong, is it the baby?’’ She muttered something between clenched teeth.

‘’Yes I think so Ah!’’ She clutched her mid section as she doubled over in pain Jake was there wrapping supportive arms around her.

‘’We’re going to the hospital.’’

‘’I don’t want to lose this baby Jake.’’

‘’You won’t.’’ he assured her.

She felt consciousness slowly slipping away from her and the last thing she heard before darkness completely engulfed her was Jake’s hysterical voice telling her not to give up on him.

Stefan could not shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Cocking his head to the side and twiddling with his pen he blocked out the meeting going on. He noticed his wife had become distant, always lost in thought but she won't tell him what's wrong.

All of that started after that blasted charity ball which ended up being a disaster because Lucille and Jenny had it in their heads that they could ruin his marriage.

had they succeeded?

He couldn't get the thought out of his head. Cindy had told him she believed him, she told him she trusted him but her actions after that night said otherwise. No. It might just be something else entirely but what was it?

Stefan could not bear the thought of her leaving him, it suffocated him to even think of losing her. Cindy was his life.

Stefan yanked at the tie around his neck which suddenly seemed too tight.

"Are you alright Mr Diamond?"

Stefan crashed back to earth to see ten pairs of eyes surveying him curiously. He cleared his throught and straightened. "I'm fine carry on." The man nodded.

But Stefan was still too distracted to care about the presentation. He could see her warm eyes now staring up at him with warmth like she always does, he could hear her soft sighs when he touch her and how she murmured his name as she came apart in his arms. Stefan squirmed in his chair, maybe it was a bad idea to come to this meeting.

He got on his feet so suddenly everyone looked surprised.

"Do you have anything to say Mr. Diamond?"

"I… no. Can we reschedule this meeting something important just came up? "

He didn't wait for their response, he didn't care what they thought of him, he just needed to get back home to his wife.

She was pregnant.

Rella stared at the piece of paper in her hand, the result of the further tests that was carried out after she fainted at the charity ball and elation mixed with fear, apprehension and uncertainty punched through her knocking out the breath out of her. Rella thought back to the events of the few weeks, she'd been too busy being a Diamond bride attending functions and various charities to notice the little changes in her body the most noticable being her fainting spell which she'd dismissed as stress.

A baby. She was going to have a baby Stefan's child. A little person that would take after her or Stefan or both of them. This changes everything.

Rella felt panic bubbling up until she was sick. She rinsed off the acidic taste in her mouth after she was done and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear as she caught her reflection in the mirror imagining how she would look a few months from now. Her fingers instinctively splayed over her lower abdomen and she smiled. What would Stefan's reaction be when she gets tells him?

Oh Stefan.

Her smile faltered and the light in her eyes deemed. She must tell him the truth about her first before anything else and let fate decide the rest, but she wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Rella called Maureen Banks to inform her she wouldn't be able to make it to the function tonight–it was a fundraiser for kids with leukemia.

"Oh don't worry about it dear you can still mail me your donation."

"Oh thank God."

"I hope you get better soon."

"Thank you."

As soon as she hung up she went out to the patio and asked Henry for a cup of ginger tea. She would wait for Stefan to come home in two days and then everything would be out she just prayed and hoped that Lucille doesn't do anything with whatever information she holds before then. Lucillewas unpredictable and Rella wouldn't put anything past that conniving weasel.

Rella sat on the chair recalling how cold and distant she'd been these past few days, even going as far as recoiling from Stefan's touch one time and her stomach turned sour. She hated doing that but the guilt was killing her.

Henry appeared with the ginger tea and crackers to accompany it, she had this feeling that the old man knew more than he was letting on.

He appeared again a moment later. "You have a visitor Madam." He informed her.

Who could it be she wasn't expecting anyone?

Rella got on her feet and turned just as Henry was leading the visitor to the patio. "This way please."

Rella's heart must've stuttered and died in that instance, her knees buckled and she held until the top of the chair as she beheld the familiar face. That face which had haunted her more times than she could count, that face that was the reason for her restlessness and all of her stress, that face…

Rella shook her head as if doing so would erase her presence, as if she was a mere figment of her imagination. More than the woman standing in front of her it was the crutches that made Rella's eyes go wide in horror as she breathed.

"Cindy?"