"She needed to believe that the IVF was her idea." What did he possibly mean by that statement?
I pressed my trembling hands to my mouth to silence the sob that wanted to break free.
The next words from the room shattered me beyond anything I had ever experienced before. Shattered me more than my father's death did.
"The donor eggs that were used are Veronica's??" Zack's voice was horrified like he was trying to come to terms with something he had heard.
"Whose else would they be?" Joe replied like it was nothing.
"So you tricked her into thinking she couldn't have kids, then suggested IVF just so you could use her to carry Veronica's eggs?" Zack said in shock.
Veronica? What is she doing in this conversation? If she was the donor, why didn't she tell me so I could thank her properly? But why was Joe saying it in that tone?
I continued listening.
"But Lily thinks it's hers…. "
Joe cut him off. "That's the point." Then his voice darkened, lower, more careless. After nine months of pregnancy and labor, she'll be ruined. Look at her already covered with stretch marks, saggy tits, and then the tears from labor."
"Jesus, brooo, that is horrible even for you," Zack said, his voice sober.
"I couldn't let my love, Veronica, go through that. Lily was the perfect incubator; take it as a reward for having to put up with her."
I felt my heart break, and everything went numb like I was dipped in ice
I didn't breathe. I didn't blink.
Veronica? My love? His supposed childhood friend. Someone I have come to take as a best friend. No, from what I was hearing, his mistress.
Suddenly a lot started to make sense: her care for the pregnancy, the days I would come back from outings and meet her already in the house, and the way his late nights and 'business trips' usually coincided with her traveling or being unreachable when our marriage was turbulent.
What hurt was that I had grown to see her as a friend over the years.
Everything became blurry; I couldn't take a full breath.
Zack let out a bark of laughter. "Damn. You really don't care, do you?"
"You know that I had a goal in marrying her: the money, status, and shii. And Veronica has been very wonderful in stepping back and becoming a mistress for her dream to be actualized. Everything was going perfectly until that bitch started getting divorce papers," he practically growled out.
How the hell had he found out about the divorce proceedings??
Then he paused like he was trying to control himself, then continued with a much lower voice. "It's her fault, really; if she had not started whining about wanting a baby, I wouldn't have had that genius idea. Once that kid is born, I'll have everything I need. Full control. A baby with her name but with me and Veronica's genes. Then I'll deal with her however I want to. "
Zack paused. "Are you sure she won't find out?"
"She's too stupid to figure it out. Someone who will never even suspect me and Veronica despite the fact that we are careless. You underestimate just how naive Lily is." Joe said nonchalantly. "And even if she did… what's she going to do? She's six months in. She's bloated, tired, alone. Who would want her now? See, one thing Lily's scared of the most is ending up alone without a man to love her or call her own."
Zack laughed hard. "That's brilliant, I have to give you that. You are really eating your cake and having it back."
Then I heard the sound of glasses clinking against each other. The bastards were toasting. I couldn't breathe.
I stumbled back from the door, hand on my stomach. I felt sick, and dirty. Used.
I walked away from the door, step by step, down the hall, past the nursery, into the guest room, where I sank to the floor, my heart pounding so fast it felt like I was about to have a heart attack.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
My face was pale, eyes hollow. My belly stretched out beneath my soft cotton dress.
I had loved that bump. Touched it every morning, sang to it, whispered dreams into it.
But it wasn't mine. The baby I had cried for, bled for, and fought for was never mine.
I was nothing more than a womb on legs, an incubator. A pawn in a game I never knew I was part of.
They made me a fucking surrogate of my own child.
The tears came fast.
I ran to the bathroom, locked the door, and threw up. I held my stomach as sobs tore from my throat, tears and snot running down my face.
I cried until I couldn't anymore.
How could he? How could they?
He planned all of this from the beginning. The charm and the romance kept me out of the business.
I had spent years thinking the problem was me. That I wasn't good enough to keep him interested in me as a woman, wasn't good enough to to give him a child. That I had failed as a woman.
But it was him, everything was his doing. He and Veronica. Jesus, I can't believe I was start stupid, that blind.
I sat on the cold tiles for almost an hour, rocking slightly, hands still cradling the baby inside me.
He plans to take everything my father worked hard for and enjoy it with that snake. Veronica, I would never allow that. I needed to stop being a weak, whimpering fool and try to be the woman my father and Enzo believed I could be.
I would show them that even though I might be the spoiled daughter of my father, I was still the daughter of one of the biggest mafia heads in the country.
I wiped my face with shaking hands, pulled myself up from the floor, and washed my face. Then I went back into the room and got my phone out.
My hands shook as I dialed a number and waited for someone to pick me up.
"Hello, Westview Medical. How can I help you?"
My voice was barely a whisper. "I need an appointment."
"For what service, ma'am?"
I closed my eyes, tears running down my cheeks. "For an abortion. As soon as possible."