CHAPTER EIGHT: I LEFT
1083 Words
QUINN
My grip tightened around my bag as I walked past the receptionist without hesitation.
I didn’t slow down or look back. Because if I did, I knew exactly what I would see: two men who thought power meant control and that I was something to be ‘handled’. Not so anymore.
Whatever I do henceforth will go on my terms.
And so, the moment the glass door slid open, and I finally walked out of the hospital, the outside world hit me fully.
Life felt different: the noises, movement, activities… it felt surreal. I could be likened to a caged bird who finally got freedom.
The air was sharper and more natural. I wasn’t surrounded by walls, voices, or expectations.
Just me, my little bag, and the life growing inside me, the only thing that was mine.
As I made my way into the city boutique, my phone buzzed. It was Joe. I answered immediately.
“Quinn, I was right,” his voice rang at the other end, sounding urgent.
“Right about what?” I asked.
“Seraphina’s pregnancy, something is very wrong…”
Again? What could be wrong? It was supposed to be enough that she championed my divorce and got pregnant for Jasper.
“What have you found?” I said calmly, “I am listening.”
“I don’t like this, Quinn.”
A faint frown touched my brows. “Since when do you start with warnings?”
“Since things stopped making sense,” he replied, “I checked the hospital tied to Seraphina’s pregnancy.”
My heartbeat slowed; it didn’t beat fast. Because something in me already knew. It was like I was only waiting to confirm the truth. My instinct is my power, and when I feel something is not right, then it is not.
“What about that?” I asked.
“The dates don’t align.”
I didn’t react immediately, gasp, or question. I just processed.
“How off?” I asked.
“Enough to raise a red flag,” Joe said, “if she is telling the truth, the timeline shouldn’t look like this.
My eyes narrowed slightly. “So, she lied?”
“I am not concluding that yet,” he replied quickly, “I am just saying something is wrong. And Quinn..”
His voice dropped further.
“It doesn’t look like a mistake.”
Silence stretched between us. At that instance, I had hundreds of thoughts running through my mind.
Mistakes could be forgiven, but planned?
The Seraphina I know is quite cunning and will stop at nothing until she has gotten what she wants. She has been like that since childhood.
“Keep digging,” I said finally.
“I already am. But you need to be careful. Because, if this is bigger than what we see—”
“It is,” I cut in.
The moment Jasper asked for a divorce and discarded a child, we waited for three years, I knew things were not normal.
“I will call you back,” I added.
“Quinn…”
The line went dead.
I slipped the phone into my bag and approached the clothing area of the boutique.
Now came the real question.
Where do I go from here?
Definitely not anywhere linked to my past. Not where Jasper could easily access or where Morrison could control.
It only meant one thing: I would have to disappear.
As I stepped out into the street with my bag filled with clothing and other necessities, a voice called behind.
“Miss.”
I didn’t stop walking immediately or turn. My awareness sharpened instantly. The footsteps behind me doubled, so I slowed down and turned carefully.
The man standing almost close to me was dressed in a simple black suit. It wasn’t flashy but classy. The boots gave him away; he was a security guard.
“Mr. Drax asked me to escort you,” he said respectfully.
I almost laughed.
“He is bold,” I said.
The man didn’t react or say a word. He just stood with a straight face, typical of a well-trained security guard.
“I am not going with you,” I added.
He didn’t argue. “Then at least, allow us to ensure your safety.”
Us? Were there more than one? I instantly became alert. I sharply turned my eyes around the street.
And I could see them, one stood across the street. The other, at the corner. Strategically positioned.
I turned back to the man before me, “I do not need any protection.”
“With respect, Ma’am, you do.”
I paused. Not because of the statement, but the certainty. He had balls.
“You sound so sure.”
A brief pause.
I nodded. “Tell Morrison,” I stepped closer, “that if he wants to protect me, he shouldn’t try following me.”
I didn’t wait for a response as I walked past him. The message was clear enough.
---
The apartment wasn’t luxurious but peaceful with a calm serenity. That was the major reason I chose it—my temporary safe space.
A quiet building in a cool private street. No commercial noise or activities that made my breathing race or pause. No nosy staff or cameras steadily monitoring every movement.
The silence brought peace to my soul. One I had not felt in the past three years.
I dropped my bag and leaned against the wall for a moment as I exhaled deeply.
This was the true peace I needed.
My phone rang again.
I answered, it was Joe.
“What now?”
It was as if I was getting tired of hearing heartbreaking truths. That inevitable human part of me was showing. Each time Joe called since the beginning of this, my heart skipped.
“I dug deeper,” his voice came faster now.
My grip tightened slightly.
“And?”
He hesitated. “Quinn, this is more than just wrong dates,” his tone shifted, “I am afraid it is more.”
“Can you stop speaking in parables?" I whispered, "Tell me whatever it is and how bad—"
“Bad enough that I need to ask you something first.”
I went still.
“What?”
He paused again.
“Are you sure Seraphina was ever pregnant to begin with?”
My voice came out quieter than I expected. “What exactly has she been carrying all this time?”
- Writer
