She Belongs to Me (Rewritten Version)

Chapter Thirty Four

Vincent:

Emily stared out of the window with her head leaned to the side, her cheeks stained with tears, as we rode down the bustling highway. There were a million things going through my mind, one of them being that I had to ditch this car as soon as I could get my hands on another one.  I was exhausted from the last twenty four hours, but I wanted to get her as far away from this town as possible.

We could rest in a nice hotel room until I found us a place to live for good.  I only wished that I would have had time to get my hands on some fake ID before moving on with this part of my plan, but I wasn't going to stress about it too much.  There were more important matters to worry about.

"How are you feeling, love?" I asked, running my hand over her dampened, cold face. Her arms were wrapped around her enlarged stomach, and her breaths were short and heavy. "Are you okay?"

She lowered her chin to her chest, her eyes closing as she struggled to breathe.  "My stomach hurts."

My heart rate skyrocketed from the idea that she and the baby were in pain. "You're going to be fine.  Just take a deep breath and calm down."

"You still haven't called 911 yet. You promised you would call them as soon as we were out of town."

"You're right. I'll take care of it." I pulled out the disposable cellphone I'd bought earlier in the day and dialed the number. "Stay quiet for me."

I made the call as promised, casually informing the dispatcher that a young woman had been shot at the address I'd provided her. She asked for my name and location, prompting me to disconnect the call and toss the phone out the window. Emily seemed relieved, though she still held her stomach.

"Something's wrong, Vincent." There were bullets of sweat pouring down her pale face. "My lower back is staring to hurt. I need to get to a hospital."

"Does it feel like you're having contractions?"

"I don't know." I could see the panic growing in her emerald eyes. "Everything hurts. Please, take me to the nearest hospital. I'm scared."

I placed my hand on her thigh. "You don't have to be scared. I'm going to take good care of you."

"I....I don't want to lose the baby."

"You're not going into labor, Emily. We both know you're not due for another month. Stop trying to deceive me.  I won't fall for your lies again."

"I wouldn't lie about something like this!"

My hands tightened around the steering wheel so much that my knuckles became ghostly white.  She would say anything to get away from me. I couldn't let her get into my head. I switched on the radio and drowned out her pleas as best as I could.

***

After a few hours of fleeing the city, I spotted an old lady pumping gasoline into her car at a station in the middle of nowhere.

Fate must have been smiling upon me.

This was my chance to get us another car!

I parked my car behind hers, then reached for the gun stashed inside my pocket.  Emily stared at me with her eyebrows raised.  "What are you doing?"

"We need a different car."

"Are you out of your mind!? You can't steal hers!"

"Lower your voice."

"Vincent!"

My nerves were already on edge from what I was about to do. I didn't need her making it worse.