Stolen Fate

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Thirty days. Twelve hours. Thirty minutes.

That’s how long Laura has been married to Charles. That’s how long she hasn’t heard from Lance. More than seven hundred hours of raw pain and agony.

Charles sleeps in a separate bedchamber from hers in the Chapman mansion. In public and in front of Cliff, he pretends to be a devoted husband to her. But inside their bedchambers, he treats her like a plague, like a dirty woman who spent her free hours in the bed of many different men.

After the wedding, Cliff’s standing in Chapman Corp. has been restored. The investors have stopped doubting his capability to lead the company, knowing that he will someday turn over his position to a worthy successor. Chapman Corp. will continue to soar under the Chapman family’s management. They remain solid in the eyes of the shareholders, the public, and the board of directors.

 Every day since they have been married, Charles asks Laura whether she already got her period. Laura knew exactly why he's asking. He wants to know if the night she spent with Lance has borne a child. He will not consummate their marriage unless he is sure that the children she will bear in the future will be his own.

 “Even if I didn't get pregnant with my night with Lance, I would never tell him,” she thought to herself as she eats breakfast with Cliff and Charles, exactly a month after their wedding. “The thought of his body touching mine, and his breath against my skin is enough to turn my stomach upside down!”

 Suddenly, she feels her stomach churning, and she finds the smell of food quite revolting. Her hands feel cold as she grips the silver utensils in her hands.

 “Are you alright, my child?” Cliff asked. “Bacon and cottage cheese are your favorites.”

“I don’t know. Something must be wrong with the cheese today,” Laura says. She feels the contents of her stomach slowly going up. “Excuse me, I think I’m gonna be sick!”

She quickly runs to her bedchamber and into the bathroom, just in time to throw up everything she ate in the sink. Then she takes slow, deep breaths in an effort to calm her nerves before she washes her face with cold water.

“I think we should be calling the doctor now, don’t you agree?” Laura jumps at the sound of Charles’s voice behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Cliff asked me to follow you. The poor old man looks excited. He suspects he’s going to be a grandfather soon.” Malice is written all over Charles’s face. “You stupid, little minx! I am so happy I didn’t touch you yet. Otherwise, you would have succeeded in making me believe that the baby you’re carrying in your tummy is mine!”

“I am glad it isn’t yours, Charles! At least, I’m sure I wasn’t carrying the devil’s spawn in my body!” Laura mutters under her breath.

In a few strides, Charles closes the distance between them, pulling her roughly against his body. “Do you realize what this will cost your father? Our family name? Our company? I will not be the subject of ridicule amongst my peers, the topic of gossips, and bar conversations in this city! You will not make a fool out of me! You will abort this baby!”

Laura stares at Charles in shock. She knows that he is a ruthless man, but she never imagined that he would ask her to kill the unborn child in her tummy.

She puts both hands against his chest and pushes him with all her might.

“Stay away from me! You’re a monster! You’re not seriously thinking of killing an innocent child, are you? Are you crazy?”

“And you’re crazier if you think I will raise another man’s child as my own!” Charles roared. “Every day that I will look at that child, I will be reminded of what a slut my wife was!”

“I would like to remind you that I was never yours! When I slept with my lover, I was still a free woman. This child was conceived with love. And I am thankful that the father of this baby is a man who is a hundred times the man I married!”

Slap!

Charles’s hand lands across Laura’s right cheek as she staggers backward toward the sink. Laura looks back at him, seeing red. She launches back at him, slapping him on both cheeks and pushing him as hard as she could.

“Damn you! Don’t you dare touch me! I am the true heiress of this family! Real Chapman blood runs in my veins!” she fires back at him. She raises her chin to him in an act of pure defiance. “And you know what? Real Chapman blood runs in my baby’s veins too. His father may be a bodyguard, but he is a real Chapman, a true heir of this family. Unlike you, Charles… you will forever be a fake… an outsider… an imposter!”

She sees wrath flare up in Charles’s eyes. He raises his hand in another attempt to slap her on the face, but she raises her chin to him, daring him.

“Go ahead! Hit me again! And it will end for you right here. I will file for divorce, citing domestic abuse as the cause. And since you don’t want people to know that this baby’s father isn’t you, I would tell the press that you’ve been hitting me even though you are aware that I am pregnant with your child. You wouldn’t want to be known as a domestic abuser, would you?”

Charles lowers his hand, but he continues to murder her with his eyes.

“All my father needed was an heir. Because I wasn’t enough,” she says in an even tone. Sadness fills her heart, as it always has for the past month, but this time, something has changed. She feels a new sense of hope surge through her. “My father is still young. He still has many years ahead of him. I may not be interested or capable of running the family business, but who knows? Another legitimate heir of the Chapman family is on the way.”

“I am the legitimate Chapman heir! I have been since you married me!” Charles countered.

Laura stares at Charles’s face, and for the first time she met him, she sees his confidence waning. And she knows, she gets the upper hand this time.

She walks past him and into the bedroom. He follows her like a confused puppy. She turns to him, and with all the confidence she can muster, she says, “You are only a legitimate heir of this family as long as you are married to me, Charles. Without that marriage, you are nothing! Father did not even make it official when he adopted you. He made you use his name, but I bet none of your legal documents will show your legal connection to our family. Except for the marriage contract we signed.”

The blank look on Charles’s face tells her that what she said was true. So, in fact, having this baby will save her from this marriage from Charles.

“It will ruin your family!” Charles roared back. “You will bring shame to your father and his legacy! You have to remember why your father forced us into this situation in the first place.”

“Yes. But I bet I can change his mind when he sees his grandchild,” she argues. “You have to know something about the Chapmans, Charles, if you so insist on becoming one of us.”

Charles raises a brow, waiting for her to continue.

“We are a tough, hard-headed lot, but we value family more than anything! My father loves me. I know that. Even though he forced me into this fate, he loves me with all his heart. And I know he will never abandon his grandchild. He will never allow you to abort this baby.”

“I’m afraid that she is right,” a low, steady voice says behind them, interrupting their argument.

They both turn around and see Cliff standing by the door.