The Billionaire & I

28.

She quickly stood and wiped her tears away. She had heavy bags underneath her eyes and the trousers and shirt she wore were two sizes too big and wrinkled; a vast contrast from the Cecile I knew. She looked horrible.

"What are you doing here?" I asked then instantly thought of our parents and felt a flash of uneasiness. "Did something happen to mom and dad?"

She shook her head then shocked me even more by holding my hands between hers. "Please help me Ophelia."

"Why? What's wrong?" I slowly asked.

"He killed my b-baby, please help me, I don't want him to find me." Her eyes moistened with fresh tears.

Mine widened at her answer. Different questions plagued me but I didn't ask any. Instead, I unlocked the door and let her in. I motioned for her to sit on the couch then quickly locked the door again.

When I turned to her, she was crouched over, seemingly facing the floor blankly but I could hear her sobs. I neared her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched but looked up at me, eyes full of more unshed tears.

"Tell me what happened Cecile."

"He killed my baby Ophelia, h-he killed my baby," she breathed hard and held on to her waist tightly. Everytime Cecile and I spoke, we fought. I looked down to where her arms wrapped around her lower abdomen. Her ever being pregnant was news to me. A plethora of scenarios passed my mind and I swallowed the lump that now formed in my throat.

"Who did?"

She only kept crying.

"Was it... was it... Richmond?" I carefully voiced the dreadful thought. She blinked back her tears and slowly nodded. My chest tightened thinking of her husband of over five years. I'd never liked the fucker but always thought he and her were well suited.

"How?" Another direful question.

"B-beat me till I lost it." She whispered and a curse left my mouth. "I only discovered I was p-pregnant a few days ago. He's a-always had an a-aversion to having k-kids and I knew he wouldn't be happy about it so I h-hid the tests but he found t-them anyway." She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stop her sobs.

He beat the child out of her? My head was in a mess trying to understand those words.

"When he f-found the tests, he was so angry, angrier than I'd ever seen. He yelled at me and b-blamed me for everything. But I d-didn't, I really didn't know. I don't know if it was his palm or fist I felt first but it was the floor that came next. T-Then the kicks, all targeted at my w-womb. I couldn't run, he wouldn't let me. I was too l-late." She closed her eyes and breathed even harder. My heart sank more and bile rose to my throat as she continued.

"He left me there, b-bleeding and crying and I couldn't m-move. He came back much later to clean me up like nothing had happened then took me to the hospital. They only c-confirmed what I already knew. My baby was g-gone and he was happy. He left to answer a phone call and that was when I finally ran. Out of Malibu and straight to here. Please help me Ophelia." She held onto my hands again and I quickly nodded.

I never knew or imagined Richmond was such a sick fucker. He deserved to be arrested, neutered then sentenced to an electrical chair.

"That wasn't the first time he, he hit you, was it?"