A MOTHER'S DEFIANCE

003

Clara had been raised by her adoptive parents, Samuel and Ruth, devoted people of faith who had instilled in her the sanctity of life from an early age. Because of the values they had nurtured in her heart, the very thought of ending her pregnancy was unthinkable. No matter how relentlessly Nick pressured her, Clara could never bring herself to abort the child growing inside her womb.

Clara glanced at the fading sky outside the window. She had less than an hour before sunset. With trembling hands, she packed a few clothes and gathered her most important documents into a worn travel bag.

There was no way she would trade a roof over her head for the life of the innocent little angel growing inside her womb. If staying in that apartment meant killing her baby, then she would leave. No matter how uncertain her future was, she would choose her child every single time.

With only a few dollars in her pocket and the wedding ring Nikolai had given her, Clara set out on the road alone. The ring was the last valuable thing she owned. She would sell it if she had to. All she needed was to find a shop willing to buy it.

As Clara waited for a local taxi, a faded Corolla screeched to a stop beside her, nearly making her heart leap out of her chest. The rear door flew open, and there stood Percy, her Aunt Esther's husband. His eyes were bloodshot, as though he had not slept for days.

Without a word, he rushed toward Clara, grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward the backseat. “You’re coming with us. Get in,” he said urgently. “Now.”

“No,” she said firmly, shaking her head. “I won't come with you.”

The shotgun seat door opened wider, and Aunt Esther appeared, her expression sharp and cold instead of kind. There was no warmth in her eyes.

“Clara,” she said firmly, almost commanding. “You’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”

“I have no reason to come with you.”

Clara struggled to pull her arm free from Percy’s grip, fear rising in her chest. She did not trust them, not after Aunt Esther’s threat that morning to sell her to another man. Clutching her bag tightly, she refused to be trapped again.

“Look, Clara,” Aunt Esther said, her tone shifting into something carefully controlled. “As I said, your grandmother Luz had a mild heart attack. Even if you are not her granddaughter by blood, she still wishes to see you. You will come with us to the hospital.”

Clara didn’t look convinced. She didn’t move, standing her ground as her eyes stayed fixed on them, guarded and unmoving.

“I am not lying,” Esther said sharply, stepping closer. “Come on, Clara, do you really think we would make something like this up? Go and see your grandmother. She is dying. At least do that for her. The old woman has done something for your life. Will you really let her die without even seeing you? Have you become that heartless, that without conscience? If something happens to her, can you live with that? Don’t let pride make you cruel. You’ve always been emotional, always soft-hearted… don’t start becoming someone you’re not.”

Uncle Percy’s voice cut in, softer but edged with pressure. “Clara, don’t be stubborn. If you still have even a little gratitude in you, you will come with us now and see your dying grandmother.”

After the heavy, persistent pressure, Clara’s resolve wavered. Her breath trembled as she looked between Esther and Percy, the fear and guilt weighing down on her at once.

Finally, she let out a small, defeated sigh. Without another word, she slowly stepped toward the car and got in with them, agreeing to go and see her grandmother Luz.

Clara thought Uncle Percy was just doing a kind deed by locking the door behind her. She never saw it coming. Moving with sudden, lethal precision, he lunged forward and pressed a black handkerchief over her nose and mouth. The chemical scent hit her instantly, and the world went black.

The Corolla sped away as Percy and Esther rode inside, as they grinned in dark, triumphant satisfaction while Clara lay unconscious in the backseat.

The couple brought Clara directly to an abortion clinic, where Nick was already waiting.

Nick handed Esther and Percy a medium-sized purse filled with dollar bills as payment for fulfilling his order.

“You are such an angel sent from above, Master Nick.” Percy kept praising Nikolai.

Nick showed no emotion toward the greedy, shameless couple and dismissed them. The couple quickly left the clinic and rushed back to their car, where Esther and Percy immediately began fighting over the money inside the medium-sized purse.

Minutes later, the couple reached an agreement, both driven by self-interest. “Let’s go to the casino now and try to turn this money into more,” they said, eager to gamble on the payment Nick had given them for abducting Clara.

An hour later, Percy and Esther were forcibly thrown into a dark, dangerous room, where Percy was brutally beaten by the casino’s loss prevention officers. They had only been inside the casino for a few minutes before they were dragged out and locked up.

“What have we done for you to drag us out like this? We only wanted to enjoy and gamble, for Christ’s sake!” Esther screamed.

The loss prevention officers threw back the money to Esther and Percy, the money they had received from Nick. The men's movements were cold and ruthless, like men who could kill without hesitation.

All three men had black lotus tattoos inked on the right side of their necks.

“In Morcant Casino, we punish people like you who try to commit fraud,” the officer said coldly. “No counterfeit currency is tolerated here.”

“What the hell do you mean?”

“Don’t act clueless. This is not some cheap casino—this is owned by Don Cassius Morcant!” the officer said coldly. “And you even have the audacity to bring fake dollars in here? You’re really bold. Be thankful Don Morcant is in a coma, otherwise, you wouldn’t be leaving this casino alive.”

Esther could only kneel down, silently blaming the man named Nick for handing them counterfeit money!

The money they received turned out to be worthless, like so much trash in their hands. Nick had tricked them!

Back in the clinic, Clara opened her eyes to the sterile abortion room before her, while Nick sat beside her, bored and impatient as he waited for her to fully come to.

“You nearly bored me to death with how long you stayed unconscious,” Nick said coldly. “Now that you’re awake, the procedure will begin, Clara.”

“Nick, please don’t do this. I never agreed to this. I will willingly leave that apartment because I refuse to harm the innocent life inside my womb. I don’t want to sin against God. I’m not like you, Nick.”

Nick let out a cold, mocking laugh at the mention of God. “Then start calling your God louder, Clara,” Nick said coldly. “But that child must be terminated.”

Clara couldn’t do anything, she was powerless, tied to the clinic bed.

The abortion doctor and assistant entered the room and instructed Nick to wait outside.

The procedure lasted almost half an hour. Nick returned afterward, watching Clara, who was visibly weakened from the ordeal. He observed the light spotting as a sign that the procedure had been completed successfully.

Nick grinned in triumph. He leaned in, his touch cold and fake as he gently caressed Clara’s hair. “Good girl, Clara,” he whispered.

More than an hour after Nick left, the clinic was closed. The doctor returned and leaned closer to Clara, speaking in a cautious whisper. “Leave now. It’s safe for you to go, Miss Merrick.”

Clara moved quickly. The weakness and helplessness she had shown earlier in front of Nick was only an act, a carefully maintained facade.

Clara, on the verge of tears, thanked the doctor—one of the few who did not turn blind to the money Nick had offered for the forced abortion. The doctor had shown compassion and pity for Clara.

While Nick was outside, believing the procedure was proceeding as ordered, Clara and the doctor had silently communicated through written notes instead of speaking. In those notes, Clara revealed that she was being forced into an abortion and that she loved the child in her womb, the only real family she believed she had left by blood in that lifetime. The doctor, deeply moved by her plea, chose to help her.

The light spotting Nick had seen earlier was not what he believed it to be—it was blood from a small cut on Clara’s inner thigh.

“Thank you, Doc… for letting my child live,” Clara said softly, her voice breaking with relief and gratitude.

The doctor smiled with quiet humility. “I am a woman deprived of a child,” she said softly. “Sometimes I think it is the price I pay for choosing this work. But I will not burden your conscience by going against your will, Miss Merrick. Please… take care of your child.”

The doctor helped Clara dress in a way that made her appear like a clinic assistant nurse as she prepared to leave cautiously.

She took a different cab first, then boarded a bus without knowing its route. It didn’t matter where it was going—what mattered to Clara was that she still had her baby.

Clara gently caressed her small, barely visible bump, tears slipping down her cheeks.

She whispered brokenly… “Even if I have nothing left… even if the world turns against us… I will still choose you. I will protect you, no matter how much it costs me. Mommy will be brave for you, my child.”