Chapter 0432
AIDEN
The detective sent me the address of the hospital Sharon was rushed to.
In the room, Sharon was curled around herself as far as the cuffs that connected her hand to the bed railing could allow.
She quickly sat up when she saw me enter the room. "Aiden," she breathed, eyes wide with fear.
"So not only are you a criminal, but also a liar? A fraud!" I bit out as my gaze briefly fell on her flat stomach. I scoffed to myself as I dropped into the seat that faced her bed. I felt so drained that I could barely stand on my own two feet. She shook her head, tears streaming down her face just like they had rubbed down her face when she was arrested. "It's not what you think, I swear, I-" she broke off and her shoulders shook as she cried harder.
I tilted my head to the side and regarded her for a while. I was not surprised that I felt no atom of pity for her. "If it's not what I think, what is it? Tell me."
"For so many months, you pretended to be pregnant!" A bitter laugh escaped my lips as I shook my head. It still felt like a joke. I would not have believed the detective if all the signs that I had overlooked hadn't been there.
I leaned forward, my elbow propped up on my knee, my fingers interlaced as I placed them under my chin and looked at her. "Why did you do this, Sharon? Why fake a pregnancy? Did I ever pester you for a child?"
Her lips trembled as she shook her head, sniffing. "No, Aiden, you n-"
"I don't want to hear you utter my name."
Her sobs doubled. "I'm sorry. I was just scared of losing you. I'm sorry."
I scoffed. "Scared of losing me?"
"When I found out that I was pregnant-"
I arched my brows. "You were originally pregnant?"
She nodded and attempted to wipe the tears off her face but it was a fruitless act. "You were so happy and somehow, the knowledge that we'd have a baby together bonded us. For those few weeks, I was sure that I would never lose you, all my fears that you might someday leave me for Ana-"
I frowned. "Anastasia? She married for fuck's sake."
"Still, I was scared. I suspected that she still had feelings for you and might also leave her husband."
This is unbelievable.
She swallowed. "I saw the happier you became and I understood that a baby was all I needed to forever make you mine. Everything was going well until..." she trailed off, and sighed. "I lost the baby." For the slightest second, I felt the urge to wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug.
"You lost a baby and you didn't think I had the right to know? You didn't think we could have even gotten closer over the loss? It was my child too!" Technically, I'd lost another child way before Amie.
She shook her head, and looked down at her trembling hands. "I didn't think of it that way. Ana had two children for you. I feared that if you found out that I lost the baby, you'd go to her."
I couldn't even imagine how that would have been possible. Dennis would have probably bought a gun and shot me till every part of me was filled with bullet holes.
"So I-" she stammered. "I pleaded with the doctor to keep it between us. I hoped that I'd conceive again but it didn't happen. Weeks passed by and it was the stage where I was supposed to have a baby bump so I-" "You bought a stomach and wore it all day," I finished for her and reclined in the seat, laughing bitterly. "What a fucking fool I've been."
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, I regret all my actions."
"That's why you didn't want the housekeeper around, wasn't it?"
She nodded meekly. "She saw the silicone so I paid her off."
"Wow. Aren't you amazing, Sharon."
She sniffed. "Please, forgive me. It just hurt me that you'd feel bad that you didn't have a child that you'd grow with..."
"Yeah, but it didn't hurt you to lie, did it?"
I regarded her for a long while,
watching as she cried, her shoulders slouched briefly blamed myself too. I should have strictly kept things business between us. I shouldn't have proceeded with that damned contract marriage.
"What did Amie do to you? Why did you have her abducted?"
"She was not supposed to be abducted," she began in a small voice. "One day, I got a call and the caller introduced herself as my ally and wanted to help me. We met up and it turned out that she liked Dennis. So we agreed to hel
each
other get the man we wanted from
Ana."
She shrugged, "I didn't know how she planned on getting Dennis for herself, but she said we'd make you seem like a threat to the kids so that you'd be restricted from them"
"What the hell?" I muttered, bewildered. "What the fuck, Sharon!"
She flinched and began to cry again. "They were not supposed to kidnap her or hurt anyone. I don't know why they killed Amie and I couldn't reach them again."
"And you didn't think you should have informed me when they kidnapped her?"
"I was scared," she whispered pathetically.
"I didn't realize you were such a coward," I whispered lethally, wondering where the brave Sharon was. The one who was self assured that she didn't need to get her hands dirty to keep a man.
"I'll make sure you get the
punishment you deserve." She
jerked up and gaped at me, eyes widened glistening with tears ag "You'll rot in jail and I mean it in every sense of the word. Even your
parents wouldn't be able to get you
out." Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
"Aiden please, please I'm sorry. Forgive me."
I rose to my feet and tucked my hands in my pocket. "Expect the divorce papers soon." Those were my final words before I turned around and walked out of the room, ignoring her wails and pleas.
***
"Thank you," I told the private investigator I'd hired to help locate what facility Ana had been admitted into as I glanced through the address.
I ended the call, grabbed my car keys and headed there.