5. Are You Ready Now?

Lori 

"You are lying!" 

"I'm not." The doctor said calmly, flipping through my chart. "You are pregnant."

I blinked, hard. My stomach flipped, nausea and my disbelief played a part. 

"No, I can't be. I...I stopped the fertility meds last month, they were messing with my appetite."

Alex and I had been married for some years and I have always wanted a child. We wanted a child but it became all daunting throughout the years that we stopped trying. Then I didn't stop until last month. I thought we would be able to raise a family, that was before his betrayal surfaced. 

The air that flowed from my lungs crawled in my throat. 

The doctor looked at me, hesitated. "That's...exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

Something in her voice made my skin crawl.

"What?" 

She turned the chart toward me, tap a line of text. "The lab ran some checks on the medication you submitted with your last blood panel." 

"Okay..." I was impatient. 

"You weren't on fertility boosters. The drugs in your system were contraceptives."

I froze. 

"Contraceptives?" It can't be possible.

She nodded slowly. "Your prescription were switched. It was different from the pills I gave you."

I felt my stomach sink. I wasn't paying attention until the loss of appetite and fluctuating weight loss happened. I had complained to Alex, since it was high time we have a child.... Hold on.

Tears formed at the side of my eyes. It didn't take much to know who was behind it. Just like that I knew...

Alex.

Thirty minutes later, I sat in my car, shaking. My phone buzzed with several notifications. I ignored it. It buzzed again.

Another notification. Another headline. 

"Alex Harper makes red carpet debut with rumored new love, Ava Martin.

‎Sources say she's moved into the estate."

Ava.

My maid turned traitor turned mistress. I clicked on the image, heart pounding. He had his arms around her waist, his head bent close like she was something precious. 

A scream built in my throat. 

I needed to breathe. I needed to see them.

*.*

I didnt care about security or the media. Or even the fact that I wasn't invited. I crashed the gala like a storm fuming with rage.

"Ma'am, ma'am...you can't go in..." Someone called but I pushed past them, heels hitting the marble like gunshots. 

And there she was. 

Ava. In green slik. Grinning at the cameras like she hadn't destroyed my life. And Alex, laughing, drink in hand, playing the perfect doting bastard. 

"ALEX!" I shouted. Heads turned to my directions, their gasps echoed.

Ava's smile faltered. 

"Lori?" Alex said, stunned.

"Tell them the truth!" I shouted. "Tell them how you switched my meds! Tell them how you had me arrested like trash."

People whispered. 

Ava stepped toward me cool as ever. "You are not well, you should go home."

"You made me look crazy. You stole my marriage..." She threw her champagne in my face, I gasped. The cold splash stunned me. 

Another gasp. A few phones lifted, recording. Something in me snapped, a wave of anger in agent felt before. I didn't think, I grabbed the bottle from her hands and cracked it over her skull. Glass shattered, she screamed. Her body fell limp to the ground, dropping like a sack.

I didn't blink but everything calmed inside me as the chaos blared further, disruption the event. Before I knew what was going on, sirens. 

Again.

The emergency unit, rolled her off, I'm urgency as they held a gauze to her head. Cops surrounded me, placing me in handcuffs, again.

This time, people woe'd when I was taken out. 

"Lori Harper arrested for assault and attempted murder." the headlines screamed within an hour as the media fed on the news like hawks. Alex added the charges, of course he did. Anything to get rid of me. The bastard didn't even flinch as I was shoved at the back of a cop car.

He just stood there, with a devilish grin.

At the station they shoved me into the same cold chair as before. My wrist hurt, my eyes burned. "This is ridiculous." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "It wasn't attempted murder. She threw champagne..."

"She needed stitches," an officer said. "You broke a bottle over her head. In public." The officer has a disappointing look on his face. And something like boredom. 

I laughed bitterly. "Right. Because defending yourself is criminal now."

The officer snapped. "Ma'am, you don't seem to understand the issue here. You could go to jail, since they are pressing charges." I swallowed, fear tightening the edges of mind. I kept the rest of my words to myself as no one answered. The officers ignored me as they dispersed in different directions. 

Few minutes later, an officer returned. "You have been released." He unlocked the handcuffs from my wrists. 

I blinked. "What?!" Confusion washed over me. 

"Your bail's been posted." He said quietly. "You can go."

"By who?" 

They shrugged. "Didn't leave a name." My heart skipped. Everything inside of me was going against this kind gesture. Who knew me enough to free me from this mess? All these questions chained my thoughts, not being able to think about anything else. I walked out of the precinct, slowly, my head spinning. 

And then, I saw him. 

Leaning against a black Porsche, hands in his coat pockets, like he'd been waiting all night. 

Andrei Orlov. 

My chest tightened as his eyes swirled, like flecks of flame. I wanted to turn around, I wanted to disappear right before his eyes. It didn't take much to know he was here for me. He was the mystery man that posted my bail. Just as he did before. I wanted to run but I couldn't. 

He pushed himself off the car and met my eyes. He didn't smirk, he had a bored expression.

He didn't blink or pretend to be surprised. 

He muttered. "Are you ready to marry me now?"