There Will Be Freedom (not mine)

13. Valentino the Python

MADDIE POV

No, this can't be happening right now.

I stood, banging my head against the cold wall in the bathroom. I took deep breaths and tried to think rationally, but it was hard to convince myself of anything other than the truth when it was staring at me in the face.

Ten pregnancy tests were lined up on the counter all with some form of "positive". There were two lines, pink dots, plussymbols, and even the word 'pregnant' on one of them. There was no denying it.

I was going to have a baby.

Besides all the physical evidence, I could feel it. There was something growing inside of me, and I was holding back a flood of emotions that were threatening to break the dam I had built after losing Elizabeth. I couldn't do this again. Not yet. I wasn't ready.

I realized that something was off about a week ago after Justin's coronation. I was so tired and just felt... off. I was always hungry, and no matter how much I ate, I always wanted more. I knew what that meant. But I didn't say anything or tell anyone because I wasn't sure yet. I definitely had an answer to my questions four days ago when I didn't have my period. That did it. I brought a heap load of pregnancy tests and hid them in the bathroom until I had a chance to be by myself.

I was about a five weeks along and I could count back the days perfectly. I knew exactly what night it was when Justin infected me with his devil sperm; the night we were ambushed on the island. All the signs were there: my boobs starting hurting a couple of days ago, I woke up from eight hours of sleep still exhausted, my back ached slightly, I could smelleverything, and this morning I threw up twice before breakfast.

I looked at myself in the mirror and turned to the side, trying to see if I could tell. I could have sworn that there was a bump. Maybe the hormones were making me delusional.

I wanted to smile, and then I wanted to cry... and then I wanted to smile again. I was going to have a baby-Justin's baby.

This wasn't the best time. He had just taken over the largest crime syndicate in the world, for God's sake. Now we had to worry about a child. This was not going to go over well. I tried not to think about how Justin was going to react. He claimed that he would be fine with it, but I knew him better than that. He was going to flip.

It wasn't like I had planned this. I was on birth control, but I knew the statistics. This was bound to happen at some point or another.

The door banged open and Jaxon was standing there with a large camera, like the kind they use on the news.

"And here we have my sister-in-law Maddie." He put the lens right in my face.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screeched. "Get out!"

"I'm making a documentary for class. You signed a waver saying that you'd do it, remember?"

"Of course I remember, but don't you think you should have knocked first?"

"Oh, right." He shrugged. "Anyway, say something nice."

"No, and this isn't going in that video. I could have been naked."

"Well then... I guess you'd just make a different type of movie." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Get out!"

"Alright, alright." Jaxon rolled his eyes and turned the camera away from me. Unfortunately, his lens landed right on the counter. "Oh."

I quickly got rid of all the pregnancy tests, which wasn't easy since he was blocking my way, but I put them in the trash.