Bratva Boss’s Secret Triplets by Bella King
Chapter 6
April
“Three?” I ask, almost forgetting to close my mouth after I ask the question. I’m so deep in disbelief that I can barely function, but anyone would be in a situation like this.
Dr. Ryan, the man who has been overseeing my pregnancy since the day I discovered that I was carrying a baby, nods. “Yes, three little ones, and they all appear to be quite healthy.”
For a moment I want to say that it’s a prank, but what doctor would prank a pregnant woman during her first ultrasound. That would be asinine, and I trust Dr. Ryan.
“I know this is big news for you. Triplets are quite rare, but we see a fair share of twins around here,” he says with a smile that tells me he has sympathy for my predicament.
Babies are a blessing, but three is going to be an exceptional task, and I’m a single woman. Their father vanished, and while that’s probably for the better, it still leaves me with the issue of caring for these three babies on my own.
“We’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they’re all developing healthy in the coming months. I don’t want you stressing yourself out about this,” he says.
That’s easy for him to say. He’s not the one laying in a bed spread-eagle in a cheap blue gown, receiving the news that he’s now responsible for three times as many kids as he thought he’d be. One was enough of a surprise.
“I really can’t believe this,” I say, shaking my head.
“See for yourself,” he says, turning the monitor to face me.
“These are the first two,” he says, pointing at some vaguely human shapes on the screen. “And this one over here is the third.”
It’s clear that there are three of them from the ultrasound, but it’s still so hard for me to take in. I’m in shock, but I promised myself when I found out that I was pregnant that I was going to be strong and take this journey with confidence.
I know it’ll be alright. This is a blessing, I just need to figure out how to keep it that way instead of crashing and burning.
Two months ago, I was almost in a world of trouble with the police. My lawyer talked them out of ever bothering me again, but it took money. Legal stuff always does, and it takes a lot of it, even if you’re innocent.
My little roll in the sheets with Rebel cost me everything I had saved up to buy my mother’s ring back, but that clearly wasn’t enough. Now, I’m pregnant with three of his babies, and that means I’m only going to have eight months at most to come up with the money for that ring.
Hello eighty-hour work weeks.
I’m not sure if it’s healthy for a pregnant woman to work that much, but I haven’t yet begun to feel the full effects of carrying triplets. If I’m subtracting the time that I won’t be able to work, then I’m either going to need to start robbing banks for a living, or I’m shit out of luck with saving up for that ring.
If only I could find Rebel. I’m not above asking him for money after what happened. He’d the one who got me into this mess, after all. I didn’t know he was a criminal. He failed to tell me much of anything about himself, only that he wanted me and he wanted me right then and there.
But then again, taking dirty money from a criminal isn’t the best way to start a family. I need to keep myself clean. No more mistakes. I’m responsible for more lives than my own now.
The sun beats down on the back of my spinning head as I trudge back to my car. I’m on my lunch break, and I’m long overdue to get back on my laptop and show that I’m online. Even if I’m not actually working, twirling the cursor around on the screen every few minutes is enough to keep my manager happy.
I should’ve left the windows down to air out my car, but they’re rolled up tight because my work laptop is inside. After the shooting at my old apartment complex, I don’t trust anyone in this town. I can’t afford to get fired over something so easily avoided.
My car door creaks as it opens, a flake of rusty paint fluttering down onto the asphalt from the bottom edge of the door. Rust has been crawling up the side of the door, eating into the metal to the point where I can almost feel the wind running over my feet when I drive.
It gets worse every time it rains, but the sun has been merciless. I should be thankful, but the heat it brings is almost worse than my car falling to pieces.
I lean into my car, pulling the laptop from under my seat and turning it on. I plug my phone into it via a dirty white USB cable, allowing my laptop to use the internet from my phone so that I can appear to be online at work again.
I move the mouse around on the screen before pulling myself out of the car, already drenched in enough sweat to drip past my eyebrows and sting my eyes. I wipe it away with the back of my hand, only to find that I’ve added to the sweat. I resort to using my shirt.
There isn’t much wind, but a slight breeze makes its way through the car. I stand awkwardly beside it, like I’m waiting for someone else to get in and drive me away from the doctor’s office. Funny enough, I can’t think much about the triplets growing in my belly. My mind has drifted back to Rebel, and that fateful evening that took him from me.
It seems like everyone in my life leaves. My parents, my old friends that scattered the minute high school ended, and Rebel. Even though he was only in my life for a single evening, my memories of him are the most vivid.
And then there’s my ex-boyfriend, Dean. He never goes away, no matter how far I move from him, and it’s not because of the memories. It’s because he’s following me.
He’s always finding me, and once he does again, he’ll undoubtably show up to my door with flowers as though I haven’t turn him away a dozen times before.
He’s a stalker, but the word feel harsh in my mouth. He’s never so much as hinted at being dangerous. I believe he’s just a lost soul, and that’s why he feels the need to follow me around the way he does.
I think he truly believes that he’s being sweet, that being tenacious and persistent will win me back eventually. We broke up because I felt like I was his mother more often than his girlfriend, and even brief glimpses into the more romantic side of our relationship would be few and far between, maybe including him buying me a bag of chips on his way home from a friend’s house.
He isn’t a bad person, but he isn’t for me.
I’ll admit, however, that I don’t want him continuing this “checking up on me” trend once I have the triplets. I’m already feeling protective of them, and I don’t want him to know that they exist. He’ll want to know who the father is, and then he might even try to take advantage of the fact that I’m dead broke and become the father.
God, I’d sooner kill myself than tie the knot with Dean. He’s a huge misogynist and only showers when he can smell himself, which is long after everyone else can. I regret ever giving him a chance, because it’s seems as though I was the only one and he just sort of became… attached.
I won’t be making that mistake again, but it seems I don’t have to for it to follow me around every waking second of my life. I need to get rid of Dean once and for all, but I’m not sure how. Perhaps a restraining order would suffice, but it still seems too harsh.
I’ll talk to him before that. He’ll pry into my reasons, but I’ll lay on the threat of a restraining order, and that should be good enough on its own. If he takes things too far, then it’s going to be on him. My conscious is clear.
My car is finally cool enough to be tolerable, but it’s far from pleasant. I slide into my seat and am immediately greeting by the sensation of having pissed myself. It’s just the heat from the sun on the old leather seat, but it’s still unnerving.
I move the cursor on my laptop screen around in circles one more time before starting the car. My lunch break is over, and that means it’s back to the grind.
