Chapter 12: Options

Chapter 12: Options

"I wasn't so lucky, Jason. A week later, I found out I was carrying his child and there was no way Kane was letting me go. He told me we were going to stay together and be a family. Families weren't supposed to break apart not with a child in the oven. I played along and smiled. I told him he was right that I wanted to make it work too and strangely he believed me. But I already lived in fear and I didn't want my child to live in constant fear too. few days later, I turned twenty-one and I made my lawyer put the whole money in my best friend's account"

"What did you do next, Naya?" Jason asked almost on his toes.

"I left a note telling Kane that I got rid of the pregnancy and he should not bother looking for me. I took the fake ID I paid a reasonable amount for and I fled to a remote location. I still didn't feel safe and one day, I was coming back from the local market I got things from and saw Kane standing on my front pouch. Good thing, he had his back to me, I left the place with only the cloth on my back and I never made the mistake of staying in a place for more than six months. Well, that was until I found myself in Africa in an orphanage and I fell in love with the children. That was three years ago."

"What really happened to your pregnancy?" Jason asked with trepidation.

Naya wiped her tears and exhaled. She calmed herself and spoke with a firm voice.

"What do you think? I had to make sure that if Kane ever found me, he couldn't hurt my child too and so, I did the hardest thing I would ever do in my life and I got rid of the baby. It was the only way"

Jason looked away but not before Naya saw the horror on his face.

Jason sat on the table quietly as Naya walked out of the library. He didn't try to stop her from leaving. He was trying to digest the new information he had just be given and he needed to think. What did Naya mean by she got rid of her baby?

His first thought had been how horrible it was to lose a child as the only means of protecting them. It must have been horrible for her on the run with no friend to turn to. His steel heart almost broke on her behalf.

Jason understood now why Naya was so overprotective of the children. She lost a child and they lost their parents and they were what each other needed. Jason stood up from the table and left the library.

Chike saw Jason walk out of the library and he followed him closely behind. He had been looking for him to confess his aggression with Naya. Chike was willing to take the blame for everything. Naya was in enough trouble as it stands.

Jason headed for his room but half way there he changed his mind. He needed space to think and the small room he shared with his best friend was not going to work for him. He followed the trail down to the play ground instead. It was the perfect location since it was too dark for the children to be there anyway.

The playground looked deserted as expected. A few children's toys lay carelessly on the ground and Jason almost slipped on one of the squeaking animal. He lowered himself on the swing. it reminded him of the childhood swing in his mother's house. Elixir had paid a fortune to have it placed in the compound for his use. He was a lonely a boy until he met his first friend, Tamara.

Jason suspected that one of the reasons Elixir hired Tamara's mother as his baby sitter was to give him a friend to talk to. Tamara was part of her mother's CV. Jason hated that his mother bought him a friend but once he saw Tamara for the first time, it was almost worth it.

Unlike when he was a child, his feet were touching the ground and it was obvious he looked ridiculous on it. But it didn't stop him from trying to relax on it. His first line of action will be to place a call to Aaliyah Macks in Manhattan. She was one of the best criminal attorneys he knew in America.

He was going to need her if Kane tries to pin any criminal charges on Naya when she serves him with divorce papers and she could also refer a great divorce attorney money could afford for Naya too.

Jason first met Aaliyah Macks in a function he attended in New York a few years back. They had been attraction on both side but it was never pursued since he was just there for a few days to negotiate a business deal with Tyler Avery who was in a relationship with Aaliyah's best friend, Charity.

They had been flirting and he asked her out on a dinner date. Aaliyah was fun to hang out with.

Jason decided that before he would make all these arrangement, he was going to make sure that Naya was on board and ready to face her husband. The real first step was if she was willing to stop running and face her husband.

Jason heard a stick break and turned immediately to survey his environment. Chike was lurking in the shadows trying to figure out how to tell his friend about what just happened.

"Chike, please stop lurking. I saw you follow me from the house"

Jason knew by now that his best friend was a retired spy even Chike kept denying it.

"Sorry"

"I guess you are here to ask about what transpired between Naya and me?" Jason asked

"Not exactly" Chike moved closer to Jason.

Jason explained anyway.

"Naya is married and on the run from her husband who is the devil by the way and now I have to figure out how to get him to sign a divorce paper without putting my hands on his neck and squeeze…" Jason was interrupted by Chike.

"Naya and I kissed!" it was not Chike's best moment but it was always better to rip the Band-Aid off as fast as possible.