Page 97 of Fractured
Besides, Mrs. Schmidt has checked on me every few hours since I got sick. She is so cute. She tried to give me twenty dollars for cough syrup, but I have money to buy cold medicine and what I need. Helen had my bank account transferred about a month ago. She made sure I had enough cash to last a few months when I left, and then I got the job, so I basically live on my wages. I don’t need more, never did. Unless It’s necessary, I try not to use my bank account.
I get up, go to my tiny kitchen, and turn on the kettle. I need tea with lemon. This always helps the chest and sore throat, or so my Nonna always told me. I grab the tea out of the cupboard, take my Ronnie mug down, and put the tea bag in. I stroke the cup and smile. Sebastian really is brilliant and smarter than Hermione ever thought of being.
My kettle is whistling, jerking out of my thoughts as I pour hot water over it and watch the tea bag swirl in the mug. I get the lemon juice out of the fridge and the honey out of the pantry and start brewing my tea. I take a drink and blow over the top. Ahhh! So good.
I snuggle back on the couch and flip on my tiny television andput on Year One. I have another coughing fit and have a hard time catching my breath after this one. If I feel like this now, I don’t think I’ll be going to work tomorrow. I set my empty cup on the table and hold my stomach. I just feel tired and light-headed tonight.
The movie is half over, and I’m just about to fall asleep when a slight knock on my door wakes me. I sit up and wrap the blanket around me tightly. Mrs. Schmidt is probably checking up on me again. She thinks her soup is the cure-all.
“Ich Komme, warte.” (I’m coming, hold on) I start to cough and open the door.
“Bunny.”
He whispers it almost reverently.
Alexander is in his usual formal dark suit, with a dark wool overcoat and black leather gloves. He looks sexy as fuck and then my brain kicks in to who and what this means.
Alexander reaches for me, and I swing up and block his arm, sweeping it away. I haul him back and punch him in the throat and knee him in the stomach, pushing him over as he goes down, stepping over him and running. Wrapping the blanket around myself tightly and I run down the stairs bursting out onto the snow-covered steps and look both ways for my escape. Carlos is leaning against a blacked-out car and stands up in shock at seeing me, and I panic.
I run down the stairs straight for him; sweep his leg out from under him and he goes down in the snow. I turn and run, as fast as my feet will carry me. Holding the blanket closer to me, I keep running when Alexander starts to call after me, his voice getting louder, and I know he’s gaining on me. I’m running out of wind. The air is so cold on my lungs and my legs are getting pins and needles in them from the freezing temperatures.
Excessive coughing makes me stop and bend over at the waist,huffing little puffs of white mist into the air. I can’t get enough air over the need to cough, and my throat is killing me. Looking around, I may have made it half a block and then I start to cry. I was so happy. I almost had it all.
The blanket slips from my shoulders and I cry harder. I’m so cold. I can’t feel my fingers or my legs anymore. They are actually getting warm now in a weird way. The shivers rack my body as well; my sobs make the chill run deep into my bones. I hold my stomach and turn. Alexander and Carlos are only a few feet away. And I think I have an out-of-body experience. I just yelled and screamed at them, and it was like watching the scene from above.
I hold my stomach tight and sob through the words coming out of my mouth.
“She’s mine! You can’t have her. She is my everything, you fucken bastard, and you will not take her away from me. She’s mine!”
Alexander falls to his knees and holds his hand out; a tear runs down his cheek.
“Bunny, please.”
I scream now. My voice breaks from the cold air, but I don’t care.
“Please what? Be a good girl, shut up and follow orders. No, fuck you. You took it all, you had everything, and yet you couldn’t let me be, could you? No, you have to hunt me down like a hound with a fox. It’s all a game to you.”
I cry harder, then I start to cough, and my stupid slippers slip, and I go down on one knee in the snow, still holding my belly to protect it. My feet are frozen, and my slippers are full of snow now. Not the best shoes to try an escape in.
Carlos moves past Alexander, holding his hand out like he’strying to stop me from running, like I’m some crazy person, and maybe I am right now, but I was happy, and they are going to take it away again. Alexander is still on his knees in the snow in shock, his eyes darting to my pregnant belly and back up to my face.
I hold my hand up to stop Carlos from getting any closer to me.
“Fuck you, Carlos! Fuck all of you!”
I look at Alexander right in the eyes, letting him see my rage for once.
“You’ll never have her. I finally have someone to love me. ME!”
I hold my tummy and bend over in front of him; the tears cool on my cheeks as they fall.
I point at my chest.
“She will love me, not for a higher seat in the organization or money. Not someone to be owned and used. Loved! You fucken prick! She will love me!”
“Piccola, lascia che ti aiuti.” (Little one, let me help you.) He kneels down and gathers the blanket standing up. He tries to put it around my shoulders, but I push him off.
I try to hold back the sobs, but every word comes out broken in a puff of mist in the cold winter air.
