Chapter Twenty Six

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For the first time in weeks, I woke up in an empty bed. Stefano was nowhere to be seen.

I stretched out against the crisp sheets and yawned before pulling myself out of the bed. In an after thought, I decided to make the bed, pulling the covers back up where the belonged and rearranging the pillows.

I dragged my feet as I walked into the closet and pulled a pair of leggings and one of Stefano's undershirts on. I headed for the bathroom next, brushing my teeth and scrubbing my face clean before going to war on the knots in my hair. I hadn't bothered untangling it after it had finished drying last night.

I had no idea when I was supposed to be leaving, but I was going to go find out. I breezed into the hallway and jumped when I found a man standing outside the room, waiting for me.

"Shit! You scared me." I breathed, putting a hand over my heart.

"Good morning, Alaya." He greeted me.

"Morning." I answered back, a little confused.

The man seemed to read the confusion on my face and introduced himself. "My name is Roger, Mr. Colombo asked me to wait for you to come out before taking you to your apartment."

I was really confused now. "My brother's old apartment is still under his name?" I asked for clarification. It had been empty for months now and I really didn't think Daniel had been the type to pay that far in advance.

"No, Mr. Colombo has an apartment for you. He requested we leave as soon as you wake up." Roger said. "There's a suit case on the top shelf in the closet in his room. Go get your things out of his room and I'll notify Diana that we will be leaving shortly."

I nodded slightly before turning around and making my way down the hall into the room we had shared. I pushed the door open gently and poked my head inside, looking around. The bed was made and the room looked empty. I couldn't help but feel slightly confused and hurt. I was still angry with Stefano, furious even, but a small part of me had expected Stefano to stick around long enough to say goodbye to me.

I had no trouble finding the suitcase, but I had to climb up the shelves to reach it. I pulled it down, stumbling slightly before dropping it open on the floor. In the few months I'd spent with Stefano, I'd slowly taken over a small section of his massive closet. My hands shook slightly as I moved my clothes from the shelves into the suitcase.

I took a step back from the suitcase when I was done. The shelves and drawers that he'd given me were empty. I looked around at the rest of the closet, my eyes landing on a neatly folded stack of dress shirts. I thought it over for a few seconds before grabbing one from the bottom and putting it in my suitcase. He wouldn't notice if one went missing.

I was downstairs within ten minutes, dragging the suitcase behind me. "So where exactly are you taking me?" I asked Roger, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, just as Diana appeared at the top of the stairs with her own suitcase.

"Doesn't matter, now come, come." He shooed us out the door and into an awaiting car, despite all of my unanswered questions.

"I'm sorry your whole life is being turned upside down because of me." I apologized to Diana as she climbed in next to me.

"You don't have to apologize, Alaya. You're my friend and I know you'd do the same for me." She assured me.

I gave her a small smile before looking out the window. I couldn't help but wonder what his angle was. There was no way Stefano was letting me go, just like that, without a catch. He had to be playing some kind of game with me, testing me.

Maybe he was taking me somewhere no one else would ever hear from me again and was just keeping me under the pretense that I was going somewhere else. Maybe he planned to never let me out again. Maybe he-

"Would you ladies like breakfast?" Roger interrupted my rapidly derailing train of thought as he pulled off the road and to the drive thru of a McDonald's.

"No, thank you." I mumbled, feeling kind of carsick.

"I'll have something!" Diana said excitedly. "I haven't been to McDonald's in years."

Roger didn't take long to order, pay and drive off with the food. Within five minutes, we were back on the road, entering the city. I looked out of the window in amazement at the rising skyline and twists of highways surrounding the city. New York City never failed to take my breath away.

We were stuck in traffic for another fifteen minutes before Roger pulled into an underground parking garage. "We're here." He announced.

I looked around the parking garage and was surprised to find that I recognized it, but I couldn't quite figure out why. Diana and I opened the doors and stepped out as Roger was pulling out suitcases from the trunk.

We followed him to a set of elevators. Roger handed us both a key card. "This opens the elevator and the door to your apartment. All you have to do is swipe, step inside and press the top floor."

"This place looks really nice." Diana said as soon as the elevator doors opened.

I immediately knew where I was the second I saw the hallway. The marble floors and expensive looking chandelier were the same as the first time I'd been here with Stefano the night I had tried to kill him.

"This is Stefano's apartment, why are we here?" I asked Roger. Diana gave me a confused look.

"Mr. Colombo insisted. It's yours now. Groceries will be delivered weekly. He has asked that you both stay in the apartment for your safety." Roger said, unlocking the door and gesturing for us to go inside.

The apartment looked the same as the first time I had been here. It was big. Way too big for just Diana and me at least. And it was so nice and looked as if it was straight out of an interior design magazine. I had never lived anywhere nearly as nice as this, with the exception of the time I had spent with Stefano.

I turned to face Roger. "So we can't leave? The point of me leaving the estate was freedom. What's the difference if I can't leave the apartment?"

"He has asked that you stay inside, but he won't force you."

"Are there any hidden cameras?" I asked, looking around skeptically. "I swear to god, if I find out I'm being watched-"

"Mr. Colombo would not have installed cameras in his own apartment. Cameras can be hacked." Roger said with a small smile. "The place is all yours. I'll be off then, it was nice meeting you."

"Yeah..." I breathed as he left. "You too."

"This place is amazing!" Diana said in excitement. "Can you believe we're living together?"

I laughed. "Yeah it's nice."

"How did you know this was his apartment?" Diana asked.

I shrugged. "This is kind of where I tried to kill him."

She started laughing. "I forgot you did that. Do you wanna take the master and I'll take the guest room?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah that works."

I dragged my suitcase into the master bedroom, but as soon as I opened the door, my breath caught in my throat. On the nightstand was a huge bouquet of red roses. The note attached was signed by Stefano.

"Mi dispiace, mio amore. I have left you a hundred roses for the regret I feel in hurting you. I hope you will one day forgive me. Ciao, Stefano." I read aloud.

(I am sorry, my love.)

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I reread the note over and over again. He was gone. He was out of my life and I wasn't planning on going back. I wiped the tears from my eyes furiously and grabbed the entire bouquet of roses, dumping them in the trash can in the adjoining bathroom. I cursed softly as one of the thorns pricked my finger, drawing blood.

Taking deep breaths, I decided I wasn't going to let him rule my life anymore. Diana and I explored the apartment, quickly settling into our new bedrooms. She was sitting on my bed as I began unpacking my clothes into the small walk-in closet.

"We could order pizza tonight!" Diana said excitedly.

"Jeez, it's like they didn't feed you in there." I joked.

"It's not my fault all the food was healthy Italian stuff. I want a greasy, New York pizza because why not?"

"Diana, I have a feeling that living with you is going to make me gain thirty pounds." I laughed. "But we can order pizza tonight, that sounds good."

"I'll place an order later!" She smiled. "I promise you won't gain any weight though, we're going to work out and get revenge bodies."

"I-" Before I could get my sentence out, a wave of nausea hit me similar to the day before.

I ran to the bathroom, threw myself to my knees at the edge of the toilet and wretched. "Alaya, are you okay?" Diana asked, rushing in after me.

My hands shook as I sat back, thinking. My mind was racing with a thousand different reasons as to why I could be throwing up, but one flashed prominently at the front of my mind, sending off warning bells.

"No..." I whispered to no one in particular as I counted back the days to my last period. To my horror, I couldn't remember, but I was certain it had been well over a month.

"Alaya, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you alright?" Diana asked again.

I tried to calm my breathing and still the shaking in my hands. "I can't... I can't remember the last time I got my period." I choked out.

Diana's eyes widened. "Oh fuck, do you think...?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes. "I don't know. I really don't know."

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. "Okay, just stay calm. We're gonna go out and buy a test, alright? It's probably nothing."

"No!" I said a little too quickly, making Diana raise her eyebrows. "No, we can't buy a test. He'll see the charge on his card and I'll be back at the estate faster than I can say pregnant."

She nodded, understanding. "Okay, so what do we do?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to think. "Maybe I could go to a free clinic or something."

"Why don't you just make an appointment with a gynecologist? People go all the time for regular checkups. It'll show up on the bill and a doctor visit and if he asks any questions you can just tell him you had a yeast infection or something." Diana suggested.

I wrinkled my nose. "That's a good idea but I'm definitely not telling him I have a yeast infection. I'll make something else up."

Unsteadily, I stood and walked back into the room, looking through the suitcase for my cellphone. I nervously looked up gynecologists nearby in my search engine and called the nearest one.

I didn't know whether to be relived or terrified that the earliest opening they had for me was in two days. Hesitantly, I agreed to make an appointment. Diana agreed that she would go with me and that she'd be there for me no matter what.

We did end up ordering pizza from a local pizza joint nearby. We watched a movie out in the living room and Diana fell asleep on the couch halfway through. I stopped focusing on the movie and thought about the possibility of being pregnant. It didn't feel real and I really hoped that it wouldn't be. There wasn't much more I could take.


Okay, okay, I promise I know what I'm doing and it's probably not gonna go the way you think it will. Giving you all a double update because I love and appreciate you!

Don't forget to vote and comment! Love you guys :)

-Emma

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