Chapter 18
1048 Words
The truck hit her from the side, sending her crashing onto the harsh tar in a pool of blood.
Xavier ran to her in horror, afraid he might be met with an even harsher reality.
But that didn’t stop him as he knelt before her lifeless body.
“Jade?” he called, hoping she might respond, even though he knew very well that hope had already died inside him.
He quickly picked up her blood-soaked body.
He didn’t care how they were going to do it—he just wanted her standing on her feet again, no matter what.
Some nurses took her from him and rushed her into the operating theatre.
He sat still in the private room, waiting for news about his wife.
He knew what he was going to hear, but he stubbornly hoped he would hear what he wanted—because if not, the whole city would feel his wrath.
Raquel walked in.
“We have work,” she informed him, holding a rifle in one hand.
Xavier sat on a chair next to the bed, head in his palms.
“Xavier, you need to pull yourself together. I’ll station some of my men to watch over her while they operate, but we have to move. Now,” she said sadly.
“Take as many men as you need. You’re in charge of the mission.” He finally lifted his head to look at her. “I can’t leave her.”
“But—”
“That’s an order!” he said firmly.
She bowed slightly. “Yes, sir,” and left.
Xavier’s patience was running out.
What the hell was keeping them in there?
But then, a stretcher with Jade was rolled in.
He immediately stood up and watched as her body was transferred onto the bed.
“She is fine,” Dr. Vince said as he walked toward him.
“She looks terrible,” Xavier said, sitting beside her.
Her head was bandaged, her left arm was in a cast. There were bruises scattered across her body, and one eye was swollen shut.
“Don’t worry, it may look bad, but it’s not that serious. She’ll recover in time. Just take care of her,” the doctor said.
“Okay. Get her transferred to the house immediately, and I want your best staff as well,” Xavier ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Dr. Vince hesitated. “M-Mr. S-Stone…”
Xavier turned to him. “Speak.”
“The b-b-baby…”
“I ordered you to kill it, didn’t I?” Xavier stood up angrily, almost forgetting about the child she had been carrying.
Over his dead body would he allow that child to come into the world—and he wasn’t dying anytime soon, so the child was gone.
“The child is dead. She lost it,” Dr. Vince said. “She had a miscarriage.”
Xavier sat back down.
Good.
---
Jade took her time to recover as weeks passed before she opened her eyes.
She sat up with a groan from the pain she felt in her abdomen and the ache in her arm.
“Maria?” she called loudly.
The bandage around her head had been removed, but the cast was still on her arm.
“Ma’am!” Maria ran into the room happily. “You’re awake!”
Then Xavier walked in.
That was when she remembered their last encounter.
Her baby.
“Xavier,” she called worriedly.
He signaled for Maria to leave.
“What about my baby?” she forced herself out of bed.
“A child that isn’t mine will never live,” he stated simply.
“How dare you kill my child! You monster!” she attacked him, but he pushed her away easily.
“The sooner you understand that you can only have my children, the better,” he said.
She glared at him, shaking her head as tears rolled down her face.
How could he kill an innocent child and live with it so easily?
And he was unapologetic about it.
She lifted her hand to strike him across the face, but he caught it easily and pushed her back onto the bed.
“Behave yourself,” he said, grabbing her chin. “Let me make this clear. You are only permitted to have my children. And you will.”
“I will never!”
“Oh, you will! It’s not an option, Jade. You will bear my children!” he stated and released her.
“I hate you!”
“You don’t have to love me to give me babies. That’s what your womb is meant for.” And he walked out the door.
Jade threw a pillow at him and broke down in misery.
Her life was completely ruined. There was nothing she could do about it.
No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, this was it.
This was her reality.
Xavier was her reality. He was her life and destiny.
Now she saw that.
There was no escape. No running.
This toxic life was hers now.
She never wanted to get married, but she never imagined life with another person could be so brutal.
What happened to that fairytale wedding?
That happily ever after?
This was her happily ever after.
She could never run from him.
She was trapped here.
All hope left Jade’s spirit that night.
This is my life, she kept repeating to herself.
That was the only way forward—to accept it—because she couldn’t fight it anymore. She didn’t even have the strength.
First it was Lily, and now her innocent baby.
“Oh Aaron, I’m sorry,” she broke down again.
But what had she done to deserve this punishment?
How did her life change so drastically in one morning, and how did she end up here?
It was her stubbornness, her resistance, her need to always have her way.
But she had finally found someone who put her exactly where she belonged.
It scared her to the core—because she knew what he was capable of.
All those poor innocent people were suffering because of her.
Well, no more.
No more fighting back.
Jade took a deep breath.
Xavier was her husband, and this was her home.
- Writer
