Jesus. He was actually trying to claim that Marie was just crazy.
“As for the petition to divorce papers,” he continued. “Well, I’ve had them sitting there for a while on the off chance the marriage does disintegrate. It doesn’t mean I was planning on divorcing her.”
It was all bullshit with a capital B. He was trying to get me on his side, because he knew if his own son testified against him, he’d be sprung. I honestly couldn’t believe he thought I was that stupid that I’d believe any of his crap. It was just so fucking obvious that he was lying.
I hadn’t tried to contact Sophie since she left. I knew what she thought of me now, and I knew if I even tried, she’d probably murder me. I didn’t exactly have the best track record at keeping her trust. All I could do was wait until she and her Mom realized I was going to help them in their case against my Dad, and then she’d realize I‘d had absolutely no part in the deception. Then I’d finally have her back in my arms again…if she was willing to look past the fact that my father had royally screwed her mother.
Right now I was meeting with Kevin Beck, who was going to be representing Marie in the case she was bringing against my father.
His eyes narrowed at me behind his glasses. “So what are you doing here, Drew? Come to offer a deal from your father? Because I’ll tell you now, Marie will not be paid off to keep her mouth shut. She wants justice for what he did. She deserves justice.”
“I know. I’ve come to help.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You want to help Marie?”
“Yes. My Dad is full of shit. I know he’s lying, and if you guys are bringing a case against him, I want to testify against him.”
Kevin took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before looking back at me. “Son, if you actually want to do this, you know your father will be in a lot of trouble. He’ll face jail time.”
“Good.”
He stared at me for a long moment, clearly not believing that I was actually serious.
“This isn’t a trick,” I said. “I don’t care if he’s my father. He destroyed an innocent woman’s life, just so he could develop that land and make a huge amount of money off it. He’s a fucking shark.”
“That’s exactly what he is,” Kevin said. “And we intend to make him pay. Drew…if you really want to do this, then this is a major coup for us. Right now we barely have a case. It’s basically Marie’s word against your father’s. But with your testimony, we’ll actually have a very decent shot at beating your father. I assume he’s destroyed the evidence you found in his study?”
“Well, he tried to tell me that it wasn’t even evidence.”
I filled him in on the excuse Dad had given me, and Kevin guffawed. “Christ. He must think we’re all a bunch of idiots.”
“I think he’s panicking. He’s used to people saying yes to him and believing everything he says.”
“So has he destroyed it or not?”
“I don’t know. He says he hasn’t, but who knows with him? Either way, he doesn’t know that I managed to liberate this from his office before he tried to clean up.”
I pulled out a sheet of paper from my bag. It was the scrap paper he’d been using to try and emulate the handwriting of Sophie’s father.
“I found this in his office along with the other stuff. He has an excuse for it, but any court will think that excuse is bullshit. He says he just wanted to write one fake letter to Marie to give her peace of mind. No one will believe that for a second, right?”
Kevin nodded and then stood up before extending a hand. “You’re doing a good thing, young man. It can’t be easy for you to abandon your own father and testify against him.”
I nodded, unsure of how to respond. It actually wasn’t that hard. The minute I’d figured out what he was up to, I’d started to hate him. I didn’t care if he lost his whole fortune. I didn’t care if he went to prison. I didn’t even care about the inheritance money I’d lose if I went ahead with this; hell, I made an okay amount at my modeling jobs, and I still had my trust fund. That had become legally mine as soon as I turned eighteen, and my Dad couldn’t touch it.
He could shove the rest up his ass.
All that mattered to me was Sophie. My Sophie. And now that I was working with her mother’s lawyer, I was going to get her back.
Chapter 25
Sophie
“It’s going to be okay,” Cerie said, squeezing my hand.
Lana was sitting on the other side of me in the doctor’s office, and she rubbed my back. “Yeah, it will be fine. No matter what happens, we’re here for you.”
I stared anxiously at a poster on the medical center’s wall before gazing down at my feet. “I don’t even know if I actually am pregnant. The test was positive, but I was bleeding a little bit this morning. So maybe the test was wrong and my period was just late.”
“My Mom said that when she was pregnant with me and my brothers, she had a bit of spotting in the early stages,” Cerie said. “It really freaked her out, but apparently it’s normal. So you might still be pregnant.”
She saw my face and backtracked. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“I know. I just don’t understand how this could have happened. I’m on the pill!”
“That can happen,” Lana said. “But there’s no point over-stressing yourself about it until you’ve actually seen the doctor.”
She was right, but I couldn’t help but stress about it. What would I do if I was pregnant? Would I have to drop the idea of going to college altogether? Did I really want to be a single mom at eighteen? So many questions, and so little time for me to think of any real answers. Just a few weeks ago during Drew’s pregnancy scare with Vanessa, I’d been thinking of how I wasn’t ready to be a stepmom…and now I was having to worry about being an actual mom. Alone.
A short grey-haired doctor emerged from the hallway and called my name.
“Sophie Ramirez?”
I stood up and followed her into her office, and she gestured for me to sit.
“Hi, Sophie, I’m Dr. Lang. What can I do for you today?” she asked, pulling up my records on her computer screen.
I clasped my hands together in my lap and mumbled a response. “I think I might be pregnant. My period was late, and I took a test. It said it was positive, but I started bleeding a bit this morning, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
She nodded. “I see here that you were prescribed a contraceptive pill a while ago. Have you still been taking it?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m so confused.”
“Unfortunately, contraceptives aren’t one-hundred percent effective. There are a number of different things that can make them fail, but first things first. Let’s see if you’re actually pregnant before we worry about anything else.”
“Okay.”
“Now, the quickest and easiest way for me to test that right here is if you give me a urine sample. Would you be able to go in the bathroom and fill this jar for me?”
She handed me a plastic specimen container, and I headed into the bathroom. Luckily, I’d had three cups of tea this morning, and that always made me need to pee like crazy. When I’d filled the specimen jar, I took it back in and gave it to the doctor. She took it into another part of the room and dipped some sort of strip in it, and she returned a few minutes later.
“Okay, Sophie, the pregnancy strip is definitely testing positive for HCG. That means it’s most likely that you are pregnant. I’d like to confirm by running some blood tests and doing a physical examination. When was your last period?”
“Five weeks ago.”
“We date pregnancies according to the date of your last ovulation, which would usually be around two weeks before your period. So that would put the pregnancy at seven weeks. Now, would you mind getting up on the exam table? I’ll do a quick ultrasound, and then I’ll send you down the hall to get some blood taken.”
Holy crap. Seven weeks pregnant, and I’d had no idea. I had been experien
cing intermittent bouts of nausea over the last couple of weeks, but I’d assumed it was just stress or bad food.
I lay back on the exam table, and Dr. Lang lifted my shirt and rubbed a cool gel on my belly.
“Just relax,” she said. “At seven weeks, we can detect a tiny little heartbeat, so let’s have a look.”
She ran the ultrasound over my belly, keeping her eyes on the monitor.
“You said you’ve been experiencing some spotting?” she said, a concerned expression marring her otherwise friendly features.
“Yes.”
“Okay, Sophie, it looks like what has happened is that you were pregnant, but you’re experiencing an early miscarriage. That’s what’s causing the bleeding. There’s no heartbeat here.”
“So…so I was pregnant? But now I’m not?”
She nodded and wiped the gel off my stomach.
“This is actually very common,” she said in a soothing tone. “What a lot of people don’t know is that many pregnancies are lost in the very early stages. Some women don’t even notice, and they think it’s just their period when they bleed and cramp. You didn’t do anything to cause it, it’s just part of nature.”
She sat down and then began to type on her keyboard. “You’ll probably experience some more bleeding in the next few days, along with some cramping. You might also see some small clots. I’m going to prescribe you a mild sedative for the pain and also some antibiotics to stave off infection. I’ll also need you to come back in around a week and a half from now, just so we can confirm that all the tissue has expelled itself from your body.”
I nodded, unable to speak.
Only minutes ago, I’d been concerned about being pregnant to the Devil himself, aka Drew, but now…now all I felt was a crushing sense of loss at the discovery that I’d lost our baby before it was even a properly-formed fetus. That feeling led me to one indubitable conclusion. Despite everything, I still loved him.
Dr. Lang saw my eyes fill with tears, and she patted me on the shoulder.
“Just because this was an early miscarriage doesn’t mean it’s in any way less traumatic,” she said. “If you’d like, I can refer you to a counsellor. They’re very good at helping people cope with losses.”
I shook my head. This was my pain, and I didn’t want to share it with anyone. She stared at me for a moment before speaking again.
“This doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. The majority of women who experience miscarriages go on to experience healthy pregnancies.”
“Mm-hmm.”
I could still barely speak. My brain felt like it was about to explode. My only solace was the fact that at least I wouldn’t ever have to speak to Drew about it. If I was still pregnant, then I would have had to contact him to inform him. That would have been the right thing to do, even though he obviously didn’t care all that much about doing the right thing.
I left with Cerie and Lana a few minutes later, and I didn’t say a word until we reached the car.
“Oh god…I’m so sorry, Soph,” Lana said when I finally told them what the doctor had said. “I know this probably won’t make you feel any better, but at least you can still go to college now, I guess?”
She was right. It didn’t make me feel any better.
I stared out the window as Cerie drove us back to my house. Even though it was summer, the sky was still filled with grey clouds. Great, now even the weather was depressing. Screw this month. No, fuck this month. Way to kick a girl when she’s down, universe.
“Do you want us to come spend the rest of the day with you?” Cerie asked as her car lingered in the drive. She and Lana both had the same expression; a mixture of concern and apprehension. Neither of them knew how to help me, because none of us had ever gone through anything like this before.
“Thanks, but I think I just want to be alone for a while,” I replied.
“Call us if you need anything.”
When they left, I practically crawled upstairs, took some of the painkillers Dr. Lang had prescribed and then slid into bed. I was starting to get some cramps now, and I groaned as I tried to make myself comfortable.
Somehow I doubted I’d ever be comfortable again. It didn’t feel like I’d just lost a baby. It felt like I’d lost everything.
Chapter 26
Sophie
“Sophie! Are you awake?”
I called out towards the door, my mind still foggy from too much sleep. “I am now.”
I’d previously told my Mom that I’d come down with some sort of cold for the last forty-eight hours. I didn’t need to add to her misery by telling her what had happened to me with the pregnancy.
She pushed my door open and came in, looking surprisingly upbeat.
“Are you feeling any better? It’s almost two P.M. You’ve been in bed all day,” she said.
“I know. I’m better. I’m just tired,” I said.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. The cramping and bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped after two days, and now I just felt exhausted. Cerie and Lana had been in and out of the house, bringing me ice cream and chocolate and chicken soup, all to try and make me feel better, but right now I didn’t feel anything other than sadness. I thought it was strange how an early miscarriage could affect a person so much. I hadn’t been trying for a baby, and I hadn’t even known that I was pregnant before it happened, so why was I so damned miserable?
A wide grin spread across Mom’s face as she sat on the edge of my bed, and I frowned. “Why are you so happy?” I asked.
“Because,” she declared. “I have some news for you. We got him. We’re going to win.”
I sat bolt upright. “What?”
“I spoke to Kevin. He said Drew contacted him, and he’s willing to testify against his father. We were wrong, honey. Drew didn’t know. He found that stuff in the office when he was looking for something else, and we just happened to walk in at the same time.”
My stomach did nervous flip-flops. I didn’t know whether to be happy, sad or angry. I should have been happy to discover that Drew hadn’t done anything and that he was going to help us destroy Tony, but at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder – why hadn’t he come to me and told me he was innocent of all the wrongdoings I’d been mentally accusing him of? Why leave me hanging for nine days? On top of that, I felt a crushing sense of guilt. I’d automatically assumed he was helping his father, and I hadn’t even tried to contact him either to make sure I was right in assuming so. We were both at fault, in a way.
“So…that’s it. We won.”
“Well, not yet. But we will. Kevin said Tony’s lawyers are really worried, and they’re now pushing to make some sort of settlement so it doesn’t go to court. But I don’t want that. I don’t want his money. I just wanted my land back, and also for him to get a taste of some sweet justice,” Mom said. “And I got the land already! They’ve already conceded that much. It’s officially mine again. The sale to Haynes was voided.”
I pushed the blankets down and reached for my cell phone. “I need to call Drew.”
Mom grabbed my phone. “Not now. You can do that later. Cerie and Lana just pulled up in the drive.”
“Huh? I didn’t invite them over today.”
She smiled. “I know. I did. I thought a nice girly day would be good for you, and they’ve helped me arrange a little surprise for you.”
I almost had to laugh at her eagerness to make me feel better. She was the one whose last two husbands had turned out to be total psychopaths, and yet she seemed to be dealing with it really well now that all the tears were out of her system.
I quickly dressed and brushed my hair, and when I finally headed downstairs, Cerie and Lana were sitting in the lounge room with mischievous smiles lighting up their pretty faces.
“How are you feeling?” Cerie asked.
“Mostly just tired. So what’s this about a surprise?” I asked.
They giggled.
“You’ll see. But we have to blindfold
you.”
I glanced at my Mom, and she nodded. “Go ahead. Don’t worry, honey, we aren’t going to wrap you in plastic and throw you off a cliff.”
“That was so oddly specific that now I’m worried you’re all about to do exactly that,” I replied.
They all laughed at that, and my head spun with confusion as they wrapped a blindfold around my head and led me to the car. “Where are we going? And why is Mom coming?” I asked.
“I told you…you’ll see,” Cerie said.
We drove for what felt like an eternity, and I grumbled from the backseat. “Are we going all the way to New Zealand?”
“Not quite. Don’t worry, we’re almost there.”
A few minutes later, they helped me out of the car and then guided me a few feet away. I could hear birds chirping in the distance, and a cool breeze swished my hair around my shoulders. The air was fresh and clean, and I took a deep breath. Were we at a beach or something? No, I couldn’t hear any waves crashing…it must have been a park. But why would they bring me to a park?
“Are you ready?” Cerie asked.
I heard Lana whispering something to my Mom, and I strained to hear what they were saying. I could have sworn I heard her mention Drew, but I had no idea why. Cerie pulled the blindfold off a second later, and my eyes widened as I realized where we were standing. We were on Mom’s land, and there were several cars and trucks parked up along with a sign with the name of a construction company on it.
“Um…I don’t get it.”
A deep voice sounded behind me.
“You will in a minute.”
I spun around to see Drew standing there, a grin on his handsome face. Oh god. He was here. My heart fluttered at the sight of him, and he took a step towards me and motioned towards the construction company sign.
“See that?”
“Yes. What’s going on?” I replied, whirling around to face my Mom. “Please tell me you haven’t decided to sell the land after all.”
“Nope,” Drew replied. “It’s still hers. But she’s letting me do something with it, using my trust fund. We both agreed that it was a good idea.”
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