“I don’t care whether you were kicked out or not,” Leilani says with a shrug, “How you live is none of my business. I take it you’re the one who called the police?”
“You’re right.” Leonie says stalking toward her, “Not only will I sue the man for disturbing the peace, but I’ll also make sure everyone knows that Gabrielle is secretly keeping him here.”
“Do you have any proof of that?” Leilani asks cooly, “If not, you are slandering the reputation of others. You have to take responsibility in court for that kind of thing.”
“This man used her credit card to rent another apartment on this floor, and he combined the two apartments into one by breaking down the wall between them,” Leonie said triumphantly, “Here’s the bill. Do you want to see it?”
Leonie removes a stub of paper from her pocket and waves it under Leilani’s nose.
“What are you implying?” Leilani asks.
“It’s not about what I’m implying,” Leonie answers with a smirk, “It’s about how your father will react if he finds out about this. Gabrielle is only eighteen years old, and gossip is a fearful and damaging thing. Do you think she can handle this?”
Leilani frowns. There’s no denying that every word Leonie has said is true. Leilani knows that Gabrielle’s reputation is incredibly important to her. If rumors spread that she was keeping an older man, the damage to her reputation could follow her through the rest of her life. Leilani believes the situation is more complicated than it appears, but she knows there’s nothing she can do about it—the man refuses to answer the door to anyone but Gabrielle.
She walks past Leonie to the elevator and presses the button for the lobby. Before the elevator closes, she shoots a challenging look at Leonie.
“Do whatever you want to, Miss Summers,” she says, “We’ll see who comes out on top.”
Leonie balls her hands into fists and waves them angrily.
“You’re a bitch!” she screams, “Just wait and see!”
Leonie Summers goes downstairs and stomps angrily into the room. She slams the door behind her, and a woman with messy hair jolted awake and stares at her.
“What’s wrong?” Veronica Smith asks in a panic, “Why are you so angry?”
“Guess who I just saw upstairs,” Leonie hisses.
She tosses her keys onto the coffee table and throws herself onto the sofa. She grabs a pillow and holds it against her chest, glaring moodily at Veronica.
“Who?” Veronica asks, barely suppressing a yawn.
“The bitch was there,” Leonie answers, “Can you believe it?”
Veronica sighs. She’s pretty sure that Leonie is referring to Leilani—no one else can put her in such a bad mood. Over the past few days, Leonie has clashed with their upstairs neighbor multiple times. The noise from his renovations has been unbearable, but he’s ignored all of their complaints and threats. Though Veronica is annoyed by the noise, she thinks Leonie’s allegations have gone too far, and she’s worried the man might try to take revenge against them.
“I thought Gabrielle was renting the house,” Veronica muses, “So, when Gabrielle has a problem, the bitch comes and solves it for her?”
“It seems that way,” Leonie replies sadly.
Veronica stretches lazily and gets out of evil. She slides slippers onto her bare feet and walks into the room. Leonie can hear the buzz of the electric toothbrush, and when Veronica reappears at the door, the foamy white toothpaste speckles her lips.
“Is she really pregnant?” Veronica asks.
“Probably,” Leonie answers with a vicious glare.
Veronica knows she’s on thin ice—Leonie is very touchy about Leilani’s pregnancy. She disappears back into the bathroom and spits out the toothpaste.
“It’s a good chance for you, you know,” Veronica says, poking her head out of the bathroom door, “You already live in Mr. Bamford’s house, so you have an advantage there.”
As soon as Leonie glares at her, Veronica realizes her mistake.
“I’m so sorry, Leonie, I forgot,” Veronica murmurs.
“You should leave after you finish brushing your teeth,” Leonie snarls.
“Calm down and just listen to me,” Veronica says authoritatively, “So what if you’ve left the house, you’re still in an excellent position.”
Leonie shoots Veronica a skeptical look. Veronica sighs and perches casually on the arm of the sofa.
“Mr. Bamford is still young, and all young men have strong s.e.x drives,” Veronica explains patiently, “You know how everyone says that men are more likely to cheat when their wives are pregnant—well, there’s a reason for that. A pregnant woman can’t satisfy a man’s desire, and men like Waylen will look outside the marriage to get that satisfaction.”
“What exactly are you suggesting?” Leonie asks.
“If Leilani is pregnant, Mr. Bamford can’t satisfy his desires without potentially risking a miscarriage,” Veronica says, “It doesn’t matter that you’ve moved out of the house—you can still seduce him. It might be better if you have your own place; men like Waylen value discretion.”
Leonie bobs her head enthusiastically, and her eyes start to glint as she schemes.
“I don’t want to take any chances,” she says, “Now that I’m away from the house, I may not have many opportunities to seduce him. I want him to be ready when the chance comes if you know what I mean.”
Veronica nods with understanding.
“How will you get the drugs into his food, though?” Veronica asks, “I’ve heard that everything he eats is tested for contaminants first. If they found any sort of drug in his food, you could lose your life.”
“We can drugs that most tests can’t detect,” Leonie said with a smile, “Money can buy anything.”
Leilani stares at the plain hospital wall. An efficient nurse sanitizes her arm and pricks her with a needle; her blood seeps into a small test vial. Leilani closes her eyes and tries to take deep breaths.
“I have no reason to be nervous,” she thinks, “I’ve taken a pregnancy test, and it came back negative. I’m not pregnant—everything is fine.”
The nurse takes the sample and leaves Leilani top wait for the results. Though it only takes thirty minutes to test her blood, time seems to move more slowly than usual. Leilani checks the clock on the wall so frequently it almost looks as if the hands aren’t moving. Finally, the nurse returns, carrying a clipboard.
“I have exciting news for you,” the nurse says, “The test results show that you’re pregnant!”
The room seems to tilt sideways, and her head feels like it’s going to explode. Leilani closes her eyes and counts to ten. When she opens her eyes again, she sees the cheerful nurse.
“No-no,” she stammers, shaking her head, “I can’t be pregnant. It’s impossible. There must be some sort of mistake. I took a pregnancy test at home, and it said I wasn’t pregnant.”
“Those home tests are okay, but they’re not the most accurate. Sometimes you can get a false negative,” the nurse explains patiently, “The test we run in the hospital is much more accurate, and we ran it twice just to be sure.”
Leilani stumbles to her feet and begins to walk. She’s in such a daze; she doesn’t realize she’s leaving the hospital until she feels a cold breeze blow through her hair. She stares in confusion at her surroundings and walks to her car. Though she’s in no condition to drive, she sits in the driver’s seat and starts the engine.
“What’s happening to me?” she wonders, “I’m terrified of birthing this child, but I’m equally afraid of losing it. If I’m honest with myself, a part of me is even a little bit excited. But why? I can’t have a child with Waylen—we’re divorcing before it would even be born.”
Her phone’s ringtone pulls her from her reverie. She checks the caller ID and sees Waylen’s name. Immediately, she tries to reject the call, but her hands are shaking too bad, and she answers it instead.
“Where are you?” he demands.
Leilani looks around and realizes she has no idea where she is. She knows she must be near the hospital, but she doesn’t recognize the neighborhood. She quickly scans her surroundings, trying to find a landmark she acknowledges.
“Umm, I’m at the shopping mall,” she says.
“The driver says you insisted on driving yourself,” Waylen says with obvious suspicion, “Are you really shopping?”
“Of course,” Leilani lies quickly, “I wanted to buy some materials to make your gifts.”
“I’m coming to look for you,” Waylen says, “You better be where you say you are.”
“No! Don’t do that!” Leilani replies too quickly.
She doesn’t feel prepared to face Waylen. She needs time to process the news about the pregnancy and decide on a plan, and she’s worried Waylen will be able to tell that something was wrong with her. If he finds out that she’s pregnant, she’ll have to give birth to a child, but if she can keep it quiet, she can plan to have a secret abortion.
“Why not?” Waylen asks.
“Because the gifts are for you,” she says, “It’ll spoil the surprise if you see what I’m buying.”
She feels lightheaded and has trouble paying attention to the road—the cars seem to blur together. Suddenly, she realizes she’s about to rear-end a car waiting at a red light. She slams the brakes, and the car screeches to a sudden halt.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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