Her Travails

Eight

Erika and Jordan were living their lives peacefully. They didn't know that it was only the calm before the storm. The three of them were happy with one another, and Jordan was seriously considering getting married to her traditionally, in church, as well as adopting Maya.

But fate hadn't stopped dealing with Erika, in fact, it was just preparing her for another fatal blow.

Jordan received a phone call one night just as they were about to go to bed, which made his expression darker.

Erika had never seen him like that before.

"Hello, who am I speaking with?" Jordan beamed.

"Oh I think you know who it is, Mr Scott", came from the other end of the phone.

"Thomas... what can I do for you?"

"No, Scott, that is what I can do for you."

"What?" Jordan asked, seemingly puzzled.

"Well, a little birdie provided me with some information that might drag your reputation to mud, along with that of your lovely bride."

"You are funny, you still have not gotten over the fact that I got married to Erika, Thomas. You're married, keep your perverse ways away from my wife, and stop trying to cause headaches for us"

At that moment, Jordan's phone buzzed with notifications.

"Jordan, I just sent you some documents proving that technically Erika isn't your wife. As a matter of fact, your relationship is a business transaction which you paid for, alongside pictures of your wife's daughter. How will the church community react when they find out that you're not even married, but you hired a w***e to play the part of your wife?"

"Don't you dare call my wife a w***e!"

Jordan was seething with anger. His entire political career and ambition could be ruined if these documents were leaked to the press. Media personalities and bloggers would have a field day gossiping and picking at his reputation and Erika's.

"Why are you doing this to her?" Jordan asked. "She has been through too much to have to be treated like this now, she will be broken."

Thomas laughed maniacally, "don't you think I know that?"

"I don't care, Jordan, I wanted that woman, I wanted to give her the honor of being my mistress, but she refused and because of that, I promise you, I will make it my life's duty for her to suffer."

"You are crazy, and I am not leaving my wife. I don't care what evidence you think you have against us, she doesn't deserve to suffer."

"Oh you will leave her, you will kick her out of your life for good, else I will release these documents."

"Feel free to do so, I do not care, Thomas" Jordan said as he hung up the call.

He turned to Erika, who had been listening all along. She looked visibly shaken, and she was flushed. Tears dropped from her doe eyes and her red lips were shaking.

"No babe, don't cry, don't let anyone hurt your feelings. I am here for you. I'm not going to let him hurt you or damage your reputation, I promise."

"No, it's not that," she continued, sobbing.

He pulled her into his embrace and tried patting the back of her head to comfort her. She sobbed on his shoulder as the recollection of all that had been done to her in her past life came to her.

She couldn't hide it anymore, it wasn't worth hiding from Jordan. Thomas Smith had done too much damage to her in her past life for her to underestimate him now. It was only a matter of time before he and his cunning, disgusting p*****t of a father found out her real identity.

"What is it, Erika, talk to me, I don't like seeing your lovely face wet with your tears like that" he said as he wiped away her tears with his thumbs, circling her face with his palms.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before his lips enclosed hers in a passionate kiss. The moment their lips touched, Erika let her caged emotions pour freely. She had come to trust Jordan and, at this point, there was no one else that could protect her but him.

"There's something I have to tell you, Jordan," she said as she pulled herself away from him.

"Talk to me, Erika, please."

"I have never told you about my parentage, my family or about Maya's biological father"

"Well, I have tried asking you a couple of times, but you always avoid the topic. I just assumed you didn't want to talk about it and I left you alone."

"Well, I will tell you tonight. You see, I wasn't always Erika Liam"

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't always Erika, Jordan, I became Erika shortly before Maya's birth a couple of years ago. Before I became Erika, I was Allison"

Jordan's face wore a confused look, he was surprised.

"Allison?"

"Yes, Allison Brown, that later became Allison Smith."

"Wait, do you mean Allison Smith as the ex-wife of Thomas Smith, and daughter of multimillionaire business tycoon Sarah Brown?"

Erika nodded slowly.

It took Jordan a while to process this information, all this while he thought Erika was a helpless immigrant.

"Wait.....isn't Allison supposed to be dead? I mean she died in that car accident so many years back"

"No, Jordan, I'm not dead, although I came close to death a couple of times."

Erika drew in a deep breath, it was time to share her story finally, and this time she would do so without any reservations. She had been held in trauma for so long, and she bore so much pain on her own. Now there was finally someone with whom she could share her burden, her pains and her sacrifice.

"I was born as Allison Brown, daughter of Sarah and Martin Brown here in the city of New York twenty-three years ago. My mother owned a chain of businesses here in the States as well as abroad while my father was a professor of physics at Princeton, New Jersey.

Despite the financial gap between them, my parents loved each other a lot, and I was born out of love.

My parents made sure I never lacked any good things and I soon grew up to be a beautiful teenager. But life has never been fair to me. On the night of my graduation from high school, I went through the worst form of pain any child my age could pass through.