Against Her Will

Episode 8

When Ricardo had come home he did not expect to find Leilani in the kitchen, nor did he expect his son to be sitting on the counter and the both of them laughing with flour, and batter littered around them and on them.

“What is going on here?” He spoke up but immediately regretted it when her laugh faded away as she looked at him with what he expected to be fear but what was instead, a completely blank expression that he found really disturbing, she looked well, dead, for lack of better word, when just moments ago, she had been a completely different girl. She turned away from him as his son jumped off the counter in excitement but being only 5 and short he clearly hadn’t realised how far the counter was off the ground and had nearly fallen over but just as he was about to quickly try and help him, she caught him before he fell.

“Careful Danny, you could have been hurt.” Leilani said gently as she put him down before trying to gently scrub the batter off his face.

“Sorry mommy.” Daniel said and Ricardo was shocked at that. Leilani looked at him for a second before looking away, he wanted her to be a mother to him so that is what she would be and she truly loved every moment with the kid so she didn’t mind it at all.

When he had left the house in the morning, she had felt exactly how she had before, after Luke had saved her that day. She was a shell of her shelf, paranoid all the time, flinching at any man that came near her, it was her friends that coaxed her out of that hole she had been in and she refused to go back to that again so she gave herself a pep talk, she wouldn’t spiral again. She didn’t want to live like that, like she was dead before she had even had the chance to live, she was free from her uncle but was now caged with him, there was no way out of this, she just had to make the most of it. She had went down to breakfast trying not to limp, she’s hid her pain before, she could easily do it again and no one had noticed thankfully.

Sitting down to eat had been the worst thing but she had bared it, his kid, Daniel had distracted her from it. At first he had been really shy but she had slowly coaxed him out of it his shell, and they had had a lot of fun together, it was freeing, she felt like a child again. When he had asked her who she was, she had told him the truth that she had married his father, and then he had asked adorably if that made her his mother and she had agreed so he began calling her mommy after that. She had suggested after a few hours of playing with his toys, watching cartoons and Daniel showing her the many rooms in the mansion to bake cookies and he had lit up at that. The cook had been adamant at first that he would cook whatever they wanted but she had slowly persuaded him to let her bake instead and he had reluctantly agreed and that was how they ended up like this before he came home.

“It’s ok baby, just be careful next time.” Leilani said gently as she ruffled his hair before he ran to his father and hugged him as she turned to the tray and put the finished chocolate chip cookies in one oven and the butter cookies in the other. She had learnt how to cook from her mother before the unfortunate accident and she cherished every memory with her, her father and her brother.

She was about to leave and go anywhere else before his voice called her back, “Where are you going?”

“Away from you.” She mumbled quietly but he still managed to hear her, and he didn’t know what to say to that so he just stayed silent as she began walking out the kitchen until his son’s voice made her pause.

“Mommy where are you going? What about the cookies?” Daniel asked with a pout on his face and Ricardo looked down at him in slight shock, Daniel was the shiest kid he’s ever met, he never got along with anyone because he wouldn’t speak. He used to be bullied because of that which is why he took him out of school, he didn’t want him to suffer at such a young age, it would mess with his mind, so instead he hired tutors to teach him and it was hard for him to speak with them too despite the many lesson he’s had with him and yet he left him for a few hours with this girl, he recalled her name, Leilani, the name the priest had used, and he was talking to her as if he knew her for longer.

“We have to wait for them to come out Danny, it will take around half an hour.” Leilani explained as she walked back in the kitchen not looking at him at all, she still felt suffocated in his presence, especially since she could still feel the very slight throbbing down there so she didn’t want to spend a moment with him longer than necessary.

“Oh, ok. Will you play with me more until then, please?” Daniel asked hopefully with his puppy dog eyes on full display and Leilani immediately caved at that. Daniel had always wanted a mother, when he had been in school, the kids used to insult him because he didn’t have one and his dad never had time to pick him up so he had always felt alone at school and at home though he was glad he didn’t have to go to school anymore, the kids were very mean. When he had come down to have breakfast today he saw a woman sitting at the table, he’s never met her before so he assumed she was just another nanny and he immediately became shy as always but she was so nice, not like the other woman who used to shout at him or tell him off. She was different and he immediately liked her, she was joking around with him, playing with him, watching cartoons with him as he laughed at the silly impressions she made of the characters and then she baked cookies with him, he had never had so much fun. He had been ecstatic to find out that she wasn’t a nanny, she was his dad’s wife, though he didn’t understand what that meant except for the fact that apparently that made her his mother, which meant she wouldn’t leave him like the other nanny’s or be mean to him. He also loved calling her mommy, now no one could say anything to him because he had a mother and she was the best, which was why he wanted to play with her a little longer.

“Ok whatever you want Danny.” Leilani said sighing but there was a slight smile on her face as Daniel beamed happily before taking her by the hand leading her out the kitchen to his room.

“Bye Daddy. Love you.” Daniel called out before they spent the next half an hour in his room having fun.

“Bye kiddo.” Ricardo said as he chuckled before he made his way to his office. It was around half an hour later that his door opened and he was shocked to find Leilani standing there looking down as she shuffled awkwardly where she stood. He got up from his seat and he sighed when she stepped back slightly so he stayed where he was, the both of them didn’t know what to say right now so Leilani quickly blurted out, “The cookies are ready, Danny wanted me to ask you to come and have some, he was too busy stuffing his face to come himself so…” She trailed off looking anywhere but at him, she found that his office was very nice, especially the view, it was beautiful.

“Right, yeah, sure I’ll come.” Ric said and just as he was about to say something else to hopefully explain what happened faster rather than in a few days, Leilani quickly left the room after nodding to him.

As he came in the dining room he saw Leilani and his son laughing as she rubbed the chocolate off his face but when he came and sat next to his son, immediately the atmosphere became awkward as Leilani shut her mouth. Daniel’s chitchat was the only thing that made it bearable as well as the mouth-watering taste of the cookies, he had no idea that she baked so well, well to be honest, he knew nothing about her other than the few titbits he had found out from his parents and Leo. That she was a 19 year old kid without a father, who had married him to pay off her uncle’s debt, clearly they didn’t want to get rid of the lavish life they had but no matter how much he didn’t want this marriage, especially with someone like her, he still wanted to make it up to her because what he did had been wrong on so many levels, even knowing that it wasn’t entirely his fault didn’t lessen the guilt he felt.

It was time for Danielle’s nap, it was clear in the way he was yawning that he was really tired so he picked him up to take him to his room but he whined as he said, “Can mommy take me, please?” Ricardo knew why he’d asked that, his son had never felt the love of a mother and this was his way of finally getting it so he looked at Leilani to see if she would agree and he saw a soft smile on her face as she gazed at his son before she opened her arms and he gave his son to her. When their hands brushed he felt her flinch away from him thankfully managing to hold on to his kid as she quickly turned around to walk away from him towards his ninito’s room. He followed after them, he never went to bed without saying goodnight to his kid after all.

Leilani felt this irrational fear whenever he was near her, understandable considering what had happened but she really hated that feeling, it made her feel weak which she knew she sure as hell wasn’t. Her father and brother had taught her how to defend herself before the accident which just made the situation worse for her because she had known exactly how to get out from under him but the panic attack had made her so weak that she had had no strength to push him away. She hated that feeling and she vowed to never feel like that again, she refused to ever be taken advantage by anyone, she’s had enough of that since the accident that left her brother in a coma, one that he will most likely never awake from and that took her parents from her when she was only 16 years old.

She took the kid to his room that she remembered from when she was playing with him and lay him down on his bed, in her thoughts she hadn’t even realised who was right behind her as she stroked Danny’s hair back from his face before she said, “I’ve never thought I’d have children before because of Liam but maybe there is some good to this marriage. I’ll be exactly what he wanted me to be, not because he said so but because I want to, I’ll be your mother Danny and out of every decision I’ve ever made I think this was the most easiest one. This marriage may have been forced on me by him but at least you’ll make this easier, you’re the most sweetest kid I’ve ever met bambino and I promise to care for you for as long as I am here.” She kissed his forehead softly before pulling the covers over him, she turned around to leave when she froze as her eyes widened at the sight of him standing at the door looking at her with his own eyes as wide.

She didn’t know what to do so and neither did he, as they both stood there staring at each other, Leilani immediately broke her eyes away, she had looked at him for just over a second before she saw his eyes last night, darkened in lust as he used her so brutally and she tried to scurry away past the door but he grabbed her arm causing her to stop still. She felt the stirrings of a panic attack before she remembered what had happened the last time she had succumbed to it, and what she had told herself, she was not going to be taken advantage of again so she quickly twisted his arm behind his back, kicked his knees out from under him and pushed him into the room before she took off to one of the many rooms in the mansion, the last thing she was going to do now was sleep in the same room as him.