Chapter Three

Erran

"That's no choice really, I should have a choice in this, it's my body too and my baby and I don't even know if I am keeping it." I said, trying to hold back the tears, everything was moving way too fast one moment I was getting ready to marry the love of my life the next I was being thrown out and now I was pregnant and someone I had just made was already threatening me. 

"My sister is the reason I am in this situation in the first place, she did this to me, I didn't want this, I don't want any of this, I have never even had sex before, this is all crazy." I continued in tears." How sure are you that I am even going to keep the baby, it's still early I could make another choice that won't have me marrying a strange man I just met. "

"I am sorry, but you can't do that Erran. This is my only chance of becoming a father, giving my family an heir. "he said it like I was supposed to care about him. 

"That's not really any of my business, in fact I should be suing for violation, this is wrong and illegal, you can't make me have this baby" he cut me off almost immediately. 

"You have just told me you have nowhere to go and clearly no money, how are you going to even take care of yourself Erran, if you don't want to marry me, after you have the baby I can have you compensated and you will have enough money to start over somewhere else and live comfortably and we both get what we want. " he said confidently, and he was not wrong about me being homeless and broke, but he forgot to mention the part where I have to abandon my child and leave it to be raised by some stranger. 

"Excuse me, but if I decide to have this baby and it's a big if, I am not leaving my baby to be raised by a stranger when I am still alive and capable, I am not, I will never sign away my rights." I say rubbing off the tears now, 

"Then marry me Erran." he said calmly 

In a moment everything I knew about my life had changed. I wanted to pursue family law after I got married to Brian, that had always been the plan, but now I had to make plans about a baby I didn't even know I was pregnant with. 

"You are not hearing me." i said now full facing him, "everything is moving too fast for me, I need time to catch up." 

Tears stung my eyes again, hot and fast. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. I didn’t ask for any of it. I didn’t choose him. I didn’t choose this.

"You don't have a lot of time Erran because I told this people that I am your fiancee, you have no family and in a few hours they will need to release you, and they need to release you to me." he said now standing up, his hands in his pockets as he paced around the room, he seemed agitated, I could tell he was not someone who was used to being questioned and it bothered him. 

My hands slowly went to my stomach and I rubbed gently at my stomach, the whole idea foreign to me that a life was growing inside me, before today, I didn't even think I wanted kids, it was a subject I was cold and warm about. But with this life growing inside me I knew I would do anything to protect it. 

The memory of my childhood flashed through my mind, the nights I cried alone in my room after my mother died, the indifference in Angela’s eyes, the coldness of my father’s voice. I knew what it meant to grow up unwanted, I lived that life and I always said if I ever became a mother my child would never feel unwanted, and my baby, my baby, this baby I was carrying deserved better than I ever got and I was not going to just abandon it. 

I looked at Max who was now standing by the window, he looked like a man who never lost anything, a man who always got what he wanted but I also saw something else desperation. 

“Why do you even want the baby?” I asked softly.

His jaw tightened before he answered. “Because he is half my DNA, that's reason enough and that's all you need to know.”

A knock at the door interrupted us, and a nurse peeked in.

“Is she cleared for discharge?” Max asked without waiting for the nurse to say anything. 

The nurse smiled. “I hate hospitals too, her vitals are good, her blood pressure is stable so yes she is good to go.”

“Thank you,” he said and walked back to the chair he had been sitting on and picked up his jacket.

I sat up slowly, still groggy. “Wait, I thought you said I would stay here overnight for monitoring?”

"They will have a night nurse stationed at home to check in on you," he said quickly and the nurse just nodded and walked out. 

"So where is home?" I asked looking at him, 

"I have a mansion in Manhattan, you will be staying there from now on, its safe there." 

"I still have not agreed to this." 

"We can talk about that later, but right now I need to get you home Erran," he said as he helped me out of bed so gently it almost shocked me, he handed me a warm coat, it looked expensive and brand new, tags still on. 

“Had someone pick this up,” he said. “Didn’t want you walking out in a hospital gown incase the paparazzi spot you”

"The paparazzi? Why would the paparazzi spot me?" I asked him confused laughing, but he didn't answer, he helped me into the wheelchair and covered me with soft blanket and started pushing me out. 

We left the hospital through a side entrance, not the ER or the lobby. A sleek black SUV with tinted windows was waiting for us, the driver already holding the door open.

The city lights were blurry through the glass as we drove. I didn’t speak, I couldn’t, everything was moving way too fast for me.

Max sat beside me in silence, scrolling on his phone occasionally, taking calls in short clipped tones. Italian? Mandarin? I couldn’t tell. It felt like I was in a movie but I wasn’t the main character. I was the girl caught in the whirlwind of someone else’s plot. 

The car finally came to a halt and max looked at me and said, 

"We are here."