Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
So, this was driving her crazy. This wasn’t fair. Which made her feel like a child.
Draven moved them around the small gathering of people, saying hello, greeting them. They had no choice but to include her. The women gave her deadly looks, while the men seemed to wear poker faces. She had tried to save these people, and yet they saw her as the enemy. She was never going to win with them. She didn’t even know why she bothered to try.
Maria had been loyal to this family.
By the time they got to Antwone, her stomach felt way too tight and her nerves were shot. If one more person glared at her, she felt like she was going to snap. She already knew they all believed she should be dead. To come from a family of traitors, she was their offspring and should have been dealt with accordingly. They didn’t know she could hear this as the women gossiped about her in the bathroom like it was the most natural thing. It was hard to ignore, but she found herself able to do so. Now, though, she wasn’t in a great mood.
Antwone took her hand, and kissed her on the knuckles. With Draven, he shook his hand. Maria didn’t leave Draven’s side, and she sipped at the water.
“Maria, you’re looking simply radiant tonight,” Antwone said. “Does this mean there’s some happy news?”
She couldn’t help it. Panic filled her and she looked toward Draven in time to see his jaw clench. This wasn’t good. She tried not to think. Tried not to panic. She took several deep breaths, but even that didn’t feel good. What the hell was she supposed to do?
Antwone looked from her to Draven, and then she felt her husband pull away.
“Excuse me,” Draven said.
Maria couldn’t believe he was leaving her. Antwone took the glass from a passing waiter and she watched as Draven made his way into the kitchen.
“My dear, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m pregnant and Draven’s going to send me away because he doesn’t want to have children.” She spoke the words to his brother, knowing there was a big chance of that happening tonight.
Maria finished her glass of water and then turned on her heel. “Could you tell Draven I wasn’t feeling very well? I need to go home.”
She didn’t wait for Antwone to answer. Draven had left her side. That was all she needed to know. He wasn’t going to want her or this child. Their child.
Tears filled her eyes, but she sunk her nails into her flesh, hoping to stop them from falling. This pack of vultures would have a field day to see the woman they considered a traitor, crying. They wanted her blood. They were not going to witness her tears as well.
Stepping out of the building, she spotted Draven’s driver and rushed toward him. “Take me home, please.”
He held the back door open for her and she climbed inside, removing the heels from her feet. Tonight had been a nightmare. She should have known it wasn’t going to end well. These kind of events never did for her.
Leaning her head back against the seat and without her husband’s scrutiny, she placed her hands on her stomach. This was the first time she had done so since seeing the test result. Their child was inside her. A boy or girl, she didn’t know which, but they were going to have a baby. The tears she’d tried so hard to keep inside spilled out. She stopped touching her stomach to press her hands to her face. These blasted tears needed to stop. They didn’t have a place here.
Her life was falling apart, only months after it had been put together.
****
Parties were always a cause for concern. They were prime targets for attack, which is why Draven had to leave his wife’s side. Fucking Antwone. He couldn’t believe his brother had to open his stupid mouth and say those things.
Yes, he’d noticed how radiant Maria looked. He’d seen how stunning she was. Anger rushed down his spine.
An ex-soldier had decided to use the party in an attempt to attack several of the capos. The soldier had come in through the kitchen, and it had caught Draven’s attention, so he dealt with it. The threat was gone, and as he made sure nothing else was going to cause problems, he walked back out to where Antwone stood, but there was no sign of his wife.
“Where’s Maria?” he asked.
“She’s gone home.” Antwone glared at him.
“Then I will leave.”
He turned on his heel and without another word, he made his way outside. Of course his driver wasn’t there, because Maria would have taken him. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed his driver.
“We need to talk,” Antwone said.
Turning off the call, Draven glanced around the main driveway. “You need to go back inside.”