|| LORENZO KING's POV ||
It was all over!!!!
It was too late!!
When I reached the exact place where I lost connection with Valentina, I found the love of my life covered in blood probably lifeless already. The amount of blood that came from her stomach had given me the thought that I had lost her or my child.
Looking up at the distance, I saw Leonardo laughing like a maniac. Literally, he went crazy when he found that his wife was pregnant with a girl. I understood his feelings because in his entire life, he cared for wealth only. Love was foreign to his character. His scary character came in front of me when he killed his own pet in his childhood. Then he passed the blame to our old servant who was beaten by his mother over that accusation.
I remembered that Leonardo had a dog called Tommy. That bulldog used to be his favorite but one day, he made the mistake by breaking one of Leonardo's favourite toys. Leonardo was only mad at the dog but I didn't expect to witness such a horrible sight that evening. When no one was present at the house, he took his dog to play in the backyard. I was watching them from the rooftops. He had no idea that I was there, watching over them already.
At first, he was playing really calm until he took out our kitchen knife and stabbed into the dog's head mercilessly. I saw the dog suffering until his last breath. For the very first time, I was so scared of something and cried horribly there. But Leonardo had no such reaction of sympathy on his face. In fact, a quirky smile played on his lips when the dog stopped moving. From that time, I realized that Leonardo was a troublesome character. Hence, I kept the news of her pregnancy as private. Not only that, he pushed Jenny to death before coming here to get Valentina.
On my way to this abandoned house, my father called me to tell me that Jenny had miscarried her child. She was on her due but the bleeding that she suffered from the fall was unstoppable. Thus, her child died in lack of blood and oxygen within a very short time.
What kind of monster was him?
I didn't hesitate this time. Once I saw Valentina's stomach in her blood, I shot the fire at his way repeatedly.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
I shot him in his arms at a distance. Leaving his sight, I rushed over to pick up Valentina. I kept shouting her name madly, not knowing how to wake her up,
" VALENTINA!!! VALENTINA!!!! Open your eyes! Don't leave me.. Valentina..."
Despite my calling, she was unresponsive. Her body was getting cold slowly. In my peripheral vision, I saw Luka running over to Emily and took her in his arms. That poor girl was wounded too. Then, everything went blank around me. I didn't even know how I went to the hospital.
__________
All the voices around me vanished in the dirt. I felt empty inside completely. Nothing bothered me in this world except her blood in my hands. She was almost dead when I brought her to the hospital. Luka was running between two theaters. I was glad that he didn't forget about Valentina. Emily was in a dangerous state as well. The doctors gave her zero chances to open her eyes again. Luka was guilty for her just like me who dragged Valentina's life into this hell.
A hand tapped on my shoulders. Looking up, I saw my father towering over me. All these years, he was never there for me when I was alone or bullied by my step-mother. However, watching him here gave me a sense of security and comfort at the same time. I didn't care about the place anymore. I burst into tears in front of him. I felt like I had failed as a father as a boyfriend and as a partner. I tried so hard yet I couldn't protect my own family.
What will I do with this wealth if this couldn't give protection to my family?
I fell into a warm embrace. Then I realized that my father had pulled me into his hug. I was sobbing into his embrace, feeling dead inside. His warm voice echoed in my ears,
" Be strong, Son! I know, you can. They will be fine."
I couldn't say yes to him because I overheard the doctor's discussion. They said that she had lost too much blood and it was a little late to bring her here. That bastard took her to a remote place which took hours for me to arrive here.
Leonardo had been arrested by the police. This time, it was my father who handed him over to the police. Jenny confessed his crimes after loosing her child. A woman's vengeance was out of this world. Jenny didn't even fear being a widow. She wanted justice for her child. So, she volunteered in the case of his investigation.
Moments afterwards, the doctor came out of the operation theater. His serious face made my heart beat wildly in fear. After glancing around, he called for me,
" Who is Valentina Avery's family?"
My father said that she belonged to our family. The doctor immediately became polite with his words and informed us,
" She has lost an excessive amount of blood. We aren't sure what will happen to her but it is very obvious that we can't save both of their lives. Please choose one of them."
My knees dropped on the floor as soon as his words came out. My father turned pale after the doctor asked about our decision. He gave me a stern glare then turned around to face the doctor. He spoke in a loud voice, making it obvious,
" Is it even a question? Of course, we will save the child."
I gave my father a questioning look. Was he serious with his words? How could I let Valentina die because of our child?
I felt hurt for the child but that didn't mean that I was going to let Valentina die in front of my eyes. I interrupted them quickly, clenching my fists on the side to utter my final decision,
" NOO!! Save...the.. mother... "
____________
Today, I believed that God had given me the best gift of my life. The moment was overwhelming that I ended up crying in front of the nurses. I was too paranoid to think that everything was happening for real. The almighty doctors managed to save both of my precious ones. Now, I was looking down at my son who looked exactly like me just a mini version.
" Stop crying! You are making me laugh!", Valentina laughed in her weak voice. She still looked so wonderful in her white gown. I could never get tired of her beauty. She was just too happy to be the new mama. Putting my son back to the crib, I went over to sit on her bed, took her one hand to kiss it lightly. She spoke getting emotional with her eyes,
" I heard that you wanted the doctor to save me?"
I bit my lips together tightly. It was no lie because she would be my first always. Nodding my head, I confessed truthfully, looking down at her pale face that hid a smile,
" Yes!! There's nothing me without you."
Her eyes welled up in tears once again. Smiling back, her mood suddenly became serious before asking,
" Wait.. Emily..She was there with me..Have you found her? Lorenzo!! She fought to save our baby."
I felt sad for Valentina, understanding how much she cared for Emily. Unfortunately, Emily was beaten hard before getting shot. Even after trying with everything, Luke couldn't wake her up. Her nerves stopped responding. In short, she went into vegetarian state, a live corpse. I lied to Valentina as she didn't recover fully yet,
" She..she is getting her treatment. We will visit her after you wake up, okay?"
Valentina seemed reluctant to believe me but soon, I diverted his attention to our baby, talking about everything nonsense but skipped the part of Emily's coma state. Moments afterwards, she asked with a smile, staring at our son who was sleeping with his pink lips parted slightly,
" So, what are you going to name him?"
I had a name in my mind already. Looking back at my son, I told her the name that kept coming in my mind,
" Elijah King. What do you say?"
Her smile was the brightest one. Repeating the name in her lips, she told me happily,
" Elijah!! Oh, I love that name."
I kissed her on her lips, feeling blessed to have them in my life. I had my biggest plan prepared for Elijah's naming ceremony for her.
___________
|| VALENTINA's POV ||
Around 4 months later......
" Thanks for coming, Jenny. I really appreciate it so much!", I welcomed Jenny who looked like a complete different person in my eyes. She changed so much after loosing the child. Her appearance, attitude all changed within a night. Today was our little Elijah's official naming ceremony. His dad threw a huge banquet to welcome his son officially.
At first, Jenny refused to come but I almost pleaded her to arrive here. Jenny gave me a small smile, her eyes laying on Elijah who was little fiesty in my arms. She didn't even dare to ask me to pass the baby to her as we were enemies before. Smiling, I gave her Elijah on my own and made an excuse,
" Hold her for a while, Jenny. I have to find his dad."
Jenny held him stupified. When I walked far away from her and looked back to see them, she was already playing with my son. I felt pity for her loss. How mentally broken was she to know that her husband was the reason behind her child's death?
For the naming ceremony, I wore a blue gown today with matching pearls. Lorenzo wore the same so did Elijah. We planned to represent ourselves as a family today. Sighing, I missed Emily at this party. She would have heed over in heels to play with Elijah. However, my dear friend was fighting each day with her life. Luka took the charge to cure her. Though I wasn't willing, Lorenzo promised that he would pay close attention to his activities.
Mr.King was in nine clouds to have his grandson. He didn't even raise his voice against me. I believed that my value raised with my son. Shaking my head at those thoughts, I found Lorenzo at a corner.
He looked hot in his blue suite today. Hmm! It seems like I missed our fucking session. When I went next to him, he hugged me tightly in front of the guests and introduced me once again,
" Meet my beautiful girlfriend, Valentina."
His friends laughed at his cheesy words and joked around, subconsciously telling the words of my heart,
" Jeez Lorenzo! She is already the mother of your child. When are you going to ask her hands for marriage? I assume that you will need her permission only since she has no one as guardian in this world."
I didn't tell Lorenzo about my true identity yet. He hid the mystery behind Lily for a long time. So, he deserved this punishment. Moreover, I wanted to prove to Kylie that Lorenzo was with me out of love not because of the baby or the status. So, it was a leftover surprise for him.
Smacking his friends playfully, Lorenzo pulled me into the stage and took the mic. His eyes followed our son in Jenny's arms who was busy in playing with her curls. His face grimaced, lowering his voice down to tell me,
" Take my son from her. I don't want her to hold him, Valentina."
I couldn't argue with him. Exhaling, I went to take back Elijah who didn't want to leave Jenny. As a four months old, he was already a very active child. His favorite was his dad. Whenever I tried to speak to him, he made a face like ' Mommy is annoying'. But when Lorenzo spoke to him, he just talked back in his baby voice as if he was understanding us.
Walking back to the stage, Lorenzo bent down to kiss on his son's cheeks then kissed me in front of a full hall of people. I blushed hard at his actions but smiled contentedly. He was too happy to show off his new family.
Turning on the mic, he spoke to the crowd in an excited voice,
" Thank you for coming in my son's naming ceremony everyone though I am too young to be a father."
The guests all laughed out loud including our son who was just happy to see his father. Boy!! This boy was born from his father's womb probably.
Lorenzo continued, pointing at a screen in front,
" Let's take a glimpse of our beautiful life in that screen."
A screen flashed in front of everyone. The pictures began to display one after another. From our first day on pregnancy, Lorenzo gathered all the pictures of mine including him occasionally. I couldn't hold down the tears in my eyes. Smiling emotionally, I stared hard at the screen that kept playing one after another to showcase our beautiful moments together.
I was completely blown out by the surprise that Lorenzo prepared. Suddenly, Lorenzo smiled up at me, his eyes shining as he spoke through the mic once again,
" This is the woman who changed my life. She is the woman who showed me the value of family. Even when she saw the darkness in my heart, she didn't run away like others. Instead, she held onto me, trusted me and above all, she gave her heart to me. She didn't fear to throw her life when I was in danger. I can never..ever.. find another woman to take the place that she held in my heart."
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened to his touching words. I gasped hard when Lorenzo went on his knees on the stage. His friends began to give whistle from the other sides, showing their support to their friends. I pressed a palm over my lips, sobs coming one after another.
After a deadly silence passed, Lorenzo asked after taking a deep breath,
" So marry me, Valentina. I am pretty sure that there is no one better than me in this entire capital."
Such a narcissist!
I didn't give my answer immediately just to annoy him a little. When he didn't get his answer, he looked up at our son begging,
" Son!!! Tell your mamma to marry me or else your dad will be heartbroken. You love me the most, don't you?"
Our son talked back in his gibberish voice as usual and became aggressive to go over to his father who was proposing me. When I opened my mouth to give him an answer, the projector screen became light again. These time, it didn't wait and another round of pictures began to display in that big screen in front of everyone which took my breath away. In all those pictures, it was me either seductively dressed or almost half naked or in other short dresses.