Chapter FORTY-SIX

It has been two weeks since I told Stefano I was pregnant. The night I told him I was pregnant, he had me move my things to his penthouse. He has been super protective of me, I know it is because of the baby. He has been excellent throughout my stay at his house. It makes me wish we were together while having our baby. We arrived at the hospital not too long ago. I have already changed into a hospital gown; and we are waiting for the doctor to arrive so that we can have the vaginal ultrasound. "Are we ready?" Doctor Angelina says, walking into the room. She is the English-speaking OB-GYN in Sicily, that Stefano trusts. "Yes, we are," I say and adjust myself a little to become more comfortable in the position I am in. Stefano is beside me, once she starts working on the computers in front of her, he takes my hands in his and gives them a warm squeeze. "Everything is going to be alright," He whispers into my hair as he lays a little peck on my forehead. This little act of his makes my heart flutter like the first time I fell in love with him. I think he also said those words out loud for himself. I know he cares about our baby a lot. "Here is your baby, and this is the heartbeat," Doctor Angelina says, bringing me out of my daze. She increases the volume on the monitor, and I hear my child's heartbeat. My eyes fill up with tears the more I hear the steady heartbeat of my child. I turn to Stefano; he is smiling at me. I think this is the most beautiful smile I have ever seen on him. "How is the baby doing?" Stefano asks. "The baby is healthy and doing fine." "That's great to hear," I say, looking at the monitor trying to see the baby. "You might not see the baby yet, it's just your first trimester, but it is there," The doctor says, noticing my struggle. "I understand," I say, looking at my belly. I can't see the baby yet, but I feel him or her in me, and I can hear the heartbeat. That's enough for me, the morning sickness is also an awful reminder that I am pregnant. We leave the hospital after the doctor reminds me of all the do's and don'ts while pregnant, even though my OB-GYN back home already did. Later that night, I have some difficulty sleeping, I decide to walk around the apartment. I walk for a few minutes and stop once I reach Stefano's bedroom door. I feel this urge to see him sleeping, I gently turn the doorknob and quietly push the door open. I step inside and see him sleeping peacefully, I can't see his face. I walk over to the other side of the bed, where his face is turned towards. I stand beside the bed, even though his face is facing this side, I still can't see his face clearly, it is dark. Without thinking about the consequences of what I am about to do, I do it. I remove my slippers, lift the covers, and quietly get on the bed. I move closer to him to get a clearer look at his face, but I make sure to leave a little space between us. I can see his face a little clearer now, this makes me want to touch his face. I stop my hands from doing so, I am sure the second my hand touches his face, he will wake up. I dip my head deeper into the pillow, his scent that I have missed for weeks drifts through my nose. I can feel my whole body calming down because of it. I turn away from him and look around his room. We always met in the US when we were together, this is my second time in his room. I feel myself getting sleepy the more I lay on his bed. I am about to lift the covers off me when his muscular arm wraps around my waist and pulls me closer to him. My eyes widen because of his actions, I do not move an inch in case he thinks I am someone else. I feel his nose on my shoulder. He rubs the tip of his nose on my neck and all the way to the back of my earlobe and stops in my hair. He mutters something in my hair, I hear it, but I want to believe what I heard was wrong. "Never leave me again. I have missed you so much," Stefano says into my hair tightening his hold on my waist. Why would he say that? It doesn't make sense why he would say this to me, if I remember correctly, he is the one who dumped me, not the other way around. Maybe he thinks I am someone else, I doubt it, every human has a unique scent. I can bet he sniffed me when he was rubbing his nose on my neck. I am starting to think Stefano lied to me about the reason he broke up with me. I need to find out if there is another reason, if it is something we can fix, I will gladly repair it with him. The following day I wake up with the urge to pee, badly. The sun hasn't risen yet, Stefano is still asleep. Thank God, imagine if he woke up and found me in bed with him. I gently remove his arm around my waist and get out from under the covers. I wear my slippers as quietly as possible and walk over to the door in the same manner and leave his room. Thank God, again, that I did not wake him up while trying to leave. I walk back to my room and pee, then I go back to sleep. I wake up later in the morning; I freshen up for the day and walk to the kitchen to find something to eat. I find Stefano still here. I thought he would have left for work by now. "You are finally awake," he says, walking up to me. "Do you need something?" I ask, wondering if he is still around because he needs something from me. "I need you to get your things, I am dropping you off at the estate." "Are you traveling for a few days?" I ask, walking back into my room. "No, you are moving back there," he says, following me into my room. "Why?" I ask confused. "Because I want you too." "Why?" "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be staying here." "Why, is it suddenly not a good idea?" "It's not a good idea anymore, I don't think it is safe here for you and the baby." "Suddenly," I have this feeling that there is more to why he is sending me away. "Yes." "Stefano, can you please tell me the real reason you are suddenly kicking me out of your apartment," I say, not believing his words. "There is no other reason," "Alright, wait for me in the living room. I will be ready to go in a few minutes." I don't want to push him to tell me why, I know it is not only for the safety of me and the baby. I think it's because I slept in his bed, and he is worried he might start having feelings for me if I continue living here. He makes it seem like having feelings for me again is such a bad thing. It makes me feel sad that he feels like that. I wish he would allow himself to love me again. I don't even know why he stopped having feelings for me. I wonder what caused him to stop. I guess I will never find out since he won't tell me. I can't even believe I thought last night that he still had feelings for me but lied. I think it is time I accept there is no future with Stefano and move on with my life. It's been a few days since I moved back to the Costanzo estate. The baby and I are doing fine, the day for me to leave has arrived. Stefano plans to send me to Singapore till it's safe for the baby and I to be in Sicily or Miami. Nobody knows where I am going except Stefano and me. We all felt it would be safer that way; even my mom doesn't know. I have all my things packed; and I am waiting in the living room for Stefano to arrive. "I am going to miss you," Aurora says, walking into the living room. "Me too." "Hopefully, Stefano will deal with Vladimir soon, so it will be safe for you to be around us again." "I pray so too, did Stefano tell you anything to tell me?" I ask, checking my wristwatch for the second time in twenty minutes. "No, was he supposed to tell me something to tell to you?" "Not really, he was supposed to be here an hour ago, I haven't heard from him since we spoke this morning. I was hoping you might have heard from him or know why he is late picking me up." It's noontime. "Oh, I haven't spoken to him since this morning. Did you try calling him?" She asks picking up her phone from the table, to call Stefano. "I did, but it keeps going to voicemail. I am starting to get worried, Aurora." "No need to panic. I am sure everything is fine." "I pray so too, and…" I get cut off when my phone starts ringing. I check the caller Id, expecting to see Stefano's name, it's an unknown number. I still answer in case it's Stefano. "Hello, my Love, it has been ages since we last spoke," The person on the phone says. "Ivan," I say, squeezing my phone in anger just from hearing his voice. "That is no way to talk to your savior." "Savior, you should be lucky I can't pull you through a phone and squeeze the life out of you, you bastard!" I bark into the phone. "Yes, I am your savior. Did you really think I didn't know you still had a pulse on you when I was done with you? I am the reason you are still alive, Baby, so you should be thanking me instead of threatening me." "I would have rather you kill me, than thank you for letting me live!" I knew the reason I survived that beating was not because I was lucky. I wasn't sure he let me live, but now I am. There is no way men like him would kill someone so quick. I would have been tortured for days before he would end my life. "Don't say things like that, my Love. I could never kill you. You are the love of my life." "Why the fuck did you almost beat me to death if I am the love of your life, you bastard!" "I needed to show you that your life is in my hands, only I can keep you safe, not Stefano." "You are the sickest human being I have ever met in my life! Goodbye," I say, about to hang up, but he stops me. I can't believe he made me think he beat me up because he couldn't have me. This new reason is even more fucked up than the last. "Don't hang up yet, Dear. Don't you want to know why I am calling?" "Why are you calling me?" He must have a good reason why he called me today. "I am sure you have noticed that fool who stole you from me didn't arrive at the Costanzo estate today." "Ivan, what have you done to Stefano?" I ask in a threatening tone. "I have a little present for you. I will leave you to enjoy it. Bye for now." he says ending the call. The second he drops the call; a maid walks in with an envelope for me. I quickly collect it from her hand and open it. There is a phone inside. "A phone," Aurora says, looking at the phone as confused as I. "Where did you get the envelope from?" Aurora asks the maid. "The security guard at the gate gave it to me?" "Did he tell you who gave it to him?" I ask. "No, he didn't. Is there a problem, Miss?" "No, there's no problem, Lisa, you may leave." "We should ask the security at the gate to track the person who delivered the phone," I tell Aurora. "I am already on it." "Thank you. I wonder why he sent me a phone, what does it have to do with Stefano being late." "Let's find out," Aurora says, pressing my finger that was placed on the on-switch button. I switch on the phone, and luckily for me, it does not have a passcode. I check the call logs, but it's empty. I check messages, same thing. I move to the photos, and it has no pictures, only one video. I click on the video, the minute the video starts, tears roll down my face with each passing second that I watch the video. My legs become weak, and I almost fall, luckily for me, the couch was right behind me. "Aurora, tell me what I just watched is fake!" I say to her with my bloodshot eyes. "I wish I could tell you that," she says, with tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong? Why are you guys crying?" Thomas asks, walking into the living room. I try to give him the phone to watch the video, but my hands fail me. My whole body is drained because of what I just watched. "What's on that fucking phone?" Thomas asks, picking up the phone. Before he can play the video, a voice behind answers his question. "Stefano has been kidnapped," A voice from outside the living room says, and it makes me burst out in tears, again.