18 Chapter 17

"It was a one time thing." She looked away from me.

Yep, Tory for sure. No commitments.

"We were working together on a dress, he was an embroiderer, a very good one I'm telling you. He was hot and had a wonderful smile. While we were patterning the dress with embroidery stitches I couldn't keep my hands to myself, one thing led to another and before we knew it, things had become hot and heavy in my workshop. I was off my pills and we didn't use any form of...you know."

Victoria. I shook my head.

"Does he know?"

She shook her head.

"Victoria! You're almost due and the father of the child doesn't know you're pregnant?!"

"Keep your voice down, Luke...." She looked around. "...I found out I was pregnant two weeks after he left for Asia to work for a client. His contract ends January next year."

Six months from now. I'm wondering his reaction when she hands him his two month old baby.

Thank God for DNA tests. "If he tries anything funny, call me okay. I'll beat some sense into him."

She gave me a shy smile.

Minutes past and we just sat in an awkward silence. It was dark now, the only thing keeping the place bright were the floodlights.

"I think I should go inside.

She stood up from the bench. After taking a few steps, she fell.

My quick reflexes saved her and her unborn child. I caught her and pulled her against my body before she could hit the ground.

"Victoria? Are you okay?"

She held her head. "I feel a little bit dizzy, everything's spinning."

Oh my God. I picked her up and carried her, bridal style into the house. Boy was she heavy, she weighed twice her original body mass.

She gripped my shirt tightly to keep herself from falling, even though it was very unlikely I would drop her, I held her firmly. A little rest would do her good.

I took her to the general living quarters, contemplating on which room to put her in.

When I looked down at her I felt pity, I couldn't keep her on the same floor with the unruly men that occupied it. I took her to my living quarters, into my room.

I placed her gently on the bed. She rolled to her side and curled into a fetal position, putting her hand protectively over the stomach. Within a few minutes she was asleep.

I showered, ate dinner and then climbed into bed.

I couldn't sleep throughout the night mainly because I had to keep Tory comfortable.

She always had to pee. Its like she had to use the bathroom every five minutes. I had to help her because she couldn't get up from the bed easily so I carried her to the bathroom and back.

She made me get her food by 12:45 am when she felt hungry. Out of everything I brought she was able to ingest only a bag of potato chips.

And even though I let her have the whole duvet, she couldn't get warm enough. So she snuggled closer to me, laid her head on my chest and wrapped her hands around me. I became her human thermo generator and only then was she able to sleep.

The baby on the other hand wasn't sleeping, he kept kicking my side and I tried explaining to the little fella that he wasn't the only one uncomfortable, his mum was also causing me some discomfort as well. He stopped kicking.

I wondered how Tory survived 6 months of her pregnancy without having a partner to support her. She was an independent young woman who liked to work on her own, how did she manage to combine household chores and work together?

I brushed her hair out of her face. I was going to let her enjoy this little luxury, even though it wasn't much, at least she would know how it felt to be pampered by a man at this stage of her life.

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February 5th, 2016.

My phone was ringing. I used my free hand to get it from the bedside table. I picked without I identifying the caller.

"Hello?" I spoke with a sleep filled voice.

"Hey sleepy head, aren't you supposed to be up looking for me?"

I smiled. "Good morning, princess."

"Morning, Luke. You haven't called me for days, I got worried. What's wrong?"

"Believe it or not, looking for you is hard work." I disentangled myself from Victoria and walked to the balcony.

"You're doing great, Luke. Just a couple of days and I'll surface."

I hope so. I couldn't keep this pretend game up any longer.

"Any plans for today?" She asked.

"Not really. It has been a horrible week, no tangible results. I think I deserve a day off, besides Victoria dropped by yesterday." I looked over my shoulder to see her sleeping form.

"Tory?" She asked very surprised. "What is she doing there?"

"Apparently your father thought it was a good idea to ask her about your whereabouts. He gave her a call and she flew over."

"I..."

She was about to say something else when Tory's sharp cry cut her off.

I turned around to see her on the bed, hand over her stomach. She was having difficulty breathing.

"I've got to go, princess, I've got a situation."

I disconnected the call and rushed over to Tory's side. Her face was red, like she wasn't getting enough air.

"Tory, what's wrong?"

"I-It's c-c-coming!"

Was she going into labour?

"What's coming?" I started panicking.

"V- v- vomit!" Then she heaved.

Within a nanosecond, I calculated the distance from the bed to the bathroom, then I calculated the time it would take me to get her off the bed and into the bathroom before she threw up. After my calculation, I came to the conclusion that either my expensive bed or my expensive floor would be covered in stomach juice and I wouldn't be left out either because if I carried her she would definitely throw up on me.

Think Luke! Think!

I looked around my room and spotted my wastebasket in the corner, close to the bed. I picked it up and quickly shoved it in her face just in time.

She threw up in the waste basket, occasionally dry heaving and coughing uncontrollably.

I held her hair out of her face and rubbed her back gently.

When she finished her business, I went into the bathroom, soaked a towel in warm water and got back to the room. I wiped her face, cleaning every reside of vomit off her lips. The warm water helped, bringing back the colour to her face.

I looked at her soiled shirt and quirked an eyebrow, silently asking if I could take it off.

She nodded.

I took of the soiled shirt and wiped off the places on her skin where she had soiled herself. I took the wastebasket from her and dropped it in the corner, making a mental note to have somebody take care of it.

I pulled her onto my lap and rubbed her back soothingly. Finally her ragged breathing went back to normal and she stopped whimpering.

"You need to have a bath Tory and I'm not sure Ophelia has clothes that would be able to fit you." What do we do now?

"I have a night case in my rental car. I have a few clothes inside, with my toiletries."

Thank God, because I couldn't imagine her wearing only my T-shirt.

"I'll get someone to help you freshen up."

I sent a text to Nicholas. After a few minutes someone knocked on my door, a young maid walked in after I told her to come in.

"Get her things from her car, help her wash up and get breakfast that's acceptable for her condition."

Tory huffed at the word 'condition'. I put her down and got up to leave the room.

She held my hand. "Where are you going to?"

"Out. I'm sure you won't be comfortable having me around, so I'm leaving. I also need a shower."

She let go of my hand when she understood what I meant. I picked a few things from my closet and left the room.

30 minutes later.

I walked in to see Tory sitting on the bed wearing a blue maxi dress, hair in a tight bun, staring at the photographs on my bedside table, the wastebasket full of vomit gone, thankfully. I joined her on the bed to see which picture she was looking at.

It was the picture of me giving Ophelia a piggy back around the beach. We took that picture four years ago, when we were on holiday in Miami.

"You guys look so adorable."

We looked like a young couple, unfortunately we weren't.

The young maid walked in with a breakfast table and set it on the bed.

"Oh my God! Take it away! Take it away!" Victoria waved her hand around, covering her nose before the tray got to her.

"Tory, what's wrong?"

She looked at me. "I'm sorry Luke, I don't mean to be picky or anything but I can't stand the smell of milk, cheese or eggs, they make me sick."

I looked at the breakfast tray. It contained bread, poached eggs, cheese and a tall glass of milk.

It seemed the longer the food stayed, the more irritated she became. She whimpered, looked at the food one more time and heaved.

I quickly moved out of the way, so she could throw up on the bed. Thankfully, there was nothing in her stomach so she only dry heaved.

"Don't just stand there, take it away!"

The maid hurriedly picked the tray and rushed to the door.

"Wait!" I called before she could leave the room.

I couldn't leave Tory hungry. "Well Tory, is there something you'd like to eat, something you can actually tolerate?"

"Well toast, very dry toast with margarine. You can add any salty crackers, a pot of tea or hot chocolate, if you have any, with lots of sugar. Little milk in the tea though, the baby needs the milk. Finally, a big bowl of fruits." She rubbed her tummy.

I gave the girl a look that sent her scampering off.

She walked back in, shortly with everything Tory had asked for.

I watched Tory as she picked a slice of toast, smeared an unhealthy amount of margarine on it and stuffed it her mouth. She did that with more slices. It was like she had been starved for days. She looked up and caught me staring.

"Want some?" She waved a half eaten slice in front of me.

I shook my head politely, picked up a napkin and wiped the sides of her mouth were she smeared margarine. Besides, she looked like she could squeeze my throat if I took a bite out of her food.

When she was done with the toast, she attacked the crackers and hot chocolate next. After that she moved to the large fruit bowl. She finished everything on the tray. The only things left were the crumbs that fell off the bread and crackers. From the way she was looking at the tray, she would have eaten them too.

She burped loudly and smiled at me, her cheeks rudy and full of colour. "I'm full." She rubbed her tummy.

I can tell Tory.

Her smile faded, she frowned and looked at me then she started whimpering.

What now?

"Tory?"

Her breathing was coming in short pants. "I-think-the-amount-of-food-I-ate-just-made-the-baby-uncomfortable."

Oh no.

"Are you going to throw up again?" I needed to know, so I could get out of the way.

She shook her head from side to side but squeezed her face so that she looked like someone in so much pain.

"Is there something I can do to help?"

She nodded. "Just rub, it relieves the pain." She pointed to the small of her back.

I let her sit on my lap, then I rubbed her back gently. She snuggled closer and placed her head on my chest. After a while she mumbled something like. "I could get used to this."

I felt her run her hands over my shirt, my muscles. Was she feeling me?

"Tory?"

"Sorry, I got curious...I couldn't help it...Blame it on these stupid hormones!"

I chuckled. Victoria would always remain Victoria.

She closed her eyes, after a while her breathing evened out.

"Luke?"

I thought she was already asleep.

"Yes, Tory."

"If its not too much, I'd love to take a walk in the garden, just to exercise a little bit, I feel heavy."

I helped her off the bed. I volunteered to carry her out but she insisted on walking on her own. As we walked down the hallway men stopped to stare. When you worked with men on a daily basis a heavily pregnant woman was a rare sight. Tory didn't mind the stares, she actually enjoyed the attention, she winked and waved at them.

When we got down to the garden she was like a free bird. She went about sniffing flowers and talking to birds. She smiled and waved at somebody, when I looked up I saw Antonio watching her from his balcony. He smiled and waved back, that was the only genuine smile Antonio had given anyone since Ophelia went AWOL.

I got a call.

My PA called to inform me that I had to attend and emergency board meeting ASAP. I tried to stall the meeting, to make them reschedule but she told me it was one week due already. I disconnected the call.

This was not how I intended to spend my day off I sighed and looked down at my casual wear: a long sleeved Henley shirt, jeans and my Nike sneakers. It would have to do because I didn't have any time to change.

"Tory, I've got to go to the office for while. Can you manage on your own?"

She nodded.

"I won't be long, take care of yourself." I brought her hands to my lips and she blushed bright red.

I jogged over to the parking lot and left with one of the sports cars.

____________________

I maneuvered the car into the driveway. Four hours talking about statistics, things I couldn't remember. Grown men trying to burden me with their problems forgetting I had problems of my own.

These board meetings were Ophelia's area of specialization as president of the company. Right now, all I needed was a couple of aspirin pills and a warm bed.

I got out of the car, narrowly missed a vase that flew out the window and crashed in front of me.

What the hell?

I walked inside the house and the general lounge was empty.

Strange.

I followed the voices I heard, I went up the stairs to see half of the men in the hallway. When I looked closely some of them were covered in blood, others had their shirts torn and a few cuts.

I jumped into defensive mode and whipped out my semi-automatic from my house jeans.

"What's wrong? Are we under attack?" I asked no one in particular.

Alex walked up to me. He had a few cuts on his face like someone had sprayed glass on him. "You know that pregnant lady that came over yesterday?"

Tory?

"Yes, is something wrong?" I immediately imagined the worst.

He shook his head and walked forward. I followed him. We stopped in front of a door where I could here the sound of breaking glass.

"What happened to Tory?" I asked again.

"She went all hulk on us and attacked us. She's crazy, a monster." Mallory spoke up.

Something didn't sound right, Tory wasn't a violent person. Even though she had anger issues, she never resorted to violence.

"She just attacked you?" I asked in disbelief.

He scratched his head and averted his eyes. "Well...I... She walks funny and..."

"He made fun of her size and stomach, we laughed and she lost it." Alex went straight to the point. "We tried to calm her down but she picked up things and aimed them at us."

What kind of idiots did I live with? I buried my face in my palms, my headache had intensified by tenfold. I didn't know much about pregnancy but mother taught me a lot on how women felt insecure about their weight and their size. Tory was pregnant with an unexpected child, I didn't want to call him a mistake but if she had a way, she wouldn't be pregnant, now these idiots had made fun of her because of the baby. Dear God, I hope she doesn't harm herself or her child.

What to do? I closed my eyes to think but Tory's crying, the sound of glass breaking and the people murmuring in the hallway made it hard to do so.

"Alright! Everybody out! Leave, go back to what you were doing."

Mallory tried to sneak away but I gripped his shirt. "Not you, you're going to look for a way to calm her down and apologize." Alex and a few others stayed back to see the end of the matter.

I turned the door knob but it didn't budge, it was locked.

I knocked. "Tory?"

"Go away!" She screamed amidst her sobbing.

"Come on, Tory open up, its me."

A few minutes went by and I was sure she wasn't going to open the door when I heard a soft click. She opened the door and pulled me into a suffocating hug, crying on my shirt.

I looked her over. Her hands had a lot of cuts, her feet were bleeding from stepping on broken glass. Thankfully she didn't attempt to hurt the unborn child.

"They were mean to me!" She cried louder.

I shot Mallory a death glare and pulled her close. I looked over her shoulder and surveyed the room she barricaded herself. I did a double take.

Fuck no. She had thrashed Antonio's glass house. He called the room his glass house because he stored all his glass antiques in this room. She had destroyed two full shelves of glass items, luckily they weren't antique and could be replaced. She didn't touch the important ones though she would have, if I didn't come in time.

" ...he called me a heifer." She was saying something but I only caught the end part of it.

"I didn't c-" Mallory tried to defend himself.

"Shut up!" I barked.

But Tory had other plans for him, she disentangled herself from me and threw a crystal swan she had been holding in her arm at him. He ducked and it hit the wall. It seemed as though she missed but when Mallory straighted up glass rained over him, his hair, his face, this opened a lot of cuts and caused blood to seep out of his hairline and skin. It was worse than letting the glass swan hit him.

Seeing this, the other mob members who stayed behind scampered off for safety before Tory used them as target practice.

"Clean this place up, take an inventory of every broken thing and replace it before Antonio notices." I snapped at him.

I carried Tory away to my room. I got the girl who helped her wash up in the morning to clean her up, get her dinner and put her to sleep.

I went back to supervise Mallory and eat dinner.

When I got back to the room, Tory was sound asleep, her arms and legs were covered in bandages, she had a few band aids on her neck and face. I showered and climbed into bed.

Tory didn't make too much movement. It got me worried, I checked on her every ten minutes to feel her pulse and observe her breathing.

____________

February 6th, 2016.

I watched her until morning. When she stirred, I pretended I was asleep.

I knew when she left the bed to use the bathroom. Surprisingly, she didn't wake me up to help her, she came back to pick some things from her suitcase, went back into the bathroom to shower. When she came back to the room, she tore a piece of paper, scribbled something on it and hurriedly left the room.

Was she leaving?

As soon as she closed the door, I turned and picked up the note she left on the bed.

'You should get some rest, you deserve it. I don't want to burden, I'm going downstairs to have breakfast and take a walk in the garden.'

I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to, there's absolutely no need staying in bed. I jumped off the bed and walked into the bathroom.

____________

I walked into the private dining room close to the general kitchen wearing formal wear. Since Ophelia went AWOL Antonio and I ate with the other mob members or we ate in our private dining room but the food was always prepared from the general kitchen. Antonio wouldn't allow anyone use the kitchen in our living quarters, reasons best known to him.

I placed my order and walked into the dining room to see Tory pushing vegetables around her plate. I sat close to her. She was having vegetable salad, yesterday's event was still on her mind. Vegetable salad meant she was going on a diet.

A maid placed a steaming plate of mouth watering pancakes with syrup and a cup of coffee in front of me. I speared the food and took the first bite. As I chewed, I noticed Tory looking wistfully at my plate of food. She had hardly taken a bite out of hers.

I sighed deeply, then I took her plate of vegetable salad and gave her my pancakes.

The bright smile she gave me was more than a 'thank you.' I was never a fan of vegetables but watching Tory wolf down the entire plate of pancakes worked up my appetite.

After breakfast, I observed her to see if she would have any baby problems, she didn't.

She caught me staring. "What?"

"Doesn't it scare you?" I was referring to her pregnancy.

She laughed. "No it doesn't, I can't wait to hold my baby in my arms." She rubbed her tummy. "Time to take that walk in the garden. Want to join me?"

I shook my head. I had tons of Mafia related work to do today, and I'd be working in Antonio's office.

"Have fun." I told her and left the table.

I went upstairs, straight to Antonio's office. After all the necessary formalities I sat down facing Antonio and started work.

We worked for hours in silence, not a single word was said. Its not like we had anything to talk about.

Somebody pushed the door open and rushed in. I turned around to see Raymond breathing hard and sweating like he had just run a marathon.

"Boss, we have a situation!"

"What is the matter?"

"Baddo-and-his-men-are-here!" He doubled over trying to catch his breath.