Chapter 7
Ryder worked harder than ever before in order to save every penny he could. Still, despite his efforts, it seemed that they wouldn’t make it in time. Zaria was already about two months pregnant which meant they only had another month or two before she started to show and people would get suspicious. Ryder was doing everything he could do to save money for them but it never seemed to be enough.
Zaria had also done her part, doing everything she could to avoid Oliver. Luckily for her he had been called back to Mokha Island on family business. Zaria was thankful for his absence since it made making the baby a secret much easier. Still she was always nervous he would come back before her and Ryder had the chance to run off together.
It was scary. What if he came back and noticed her stomach had grown bigger? What if he could tell there was a child inside of her? No one else had seemed to notice anything different about her, but she was still afraid that soon enough they would. If they did it would mean death for Ryder and Zaria couldn’t even think of the possibility.
Maybe she should marry Oliver. Ryder would probably be safer without her. If she married Oliver he wouldn’t have to fear being killed. But, no, Ryder loved her and if she left him he would be heartbroken and she couldn’t do that to him. No, they had to stick to the plan and just keep the baby a secret. It would all be okay in the end. No one had figured it out yet so they still had a chance.
She was just glad no one paid enough attention to her to notice her growing stomach. Her father was always busy with business and preoccupied with arranging the wedding. She also had succeeded in avoiding most of her servants anytime she was in the mansion. Everything for the moment was okay so she just needed to calm down and have faith.
That is, everything was okay until suddenly one of her servants told her that Oliver had arrived and that he was waiting for her in her bedroom. The servant said that he wanted to see her as soon as possible. Her heart fell into her stomach. Why was he in her bedroom?
Zaria didn’t like the sound of the request. The last time she had seen him he had tried to kiss her. What if this time he wanted more since they were, after all, engaged? Would she be able to stop him before he did anything? Zaria knew she couldn’t straight up deny him his request to see her or it would be very suspicious. She just had to play along and hope that nothing happened.
With her stomach in her mouth, Zaria started to climb the stairs to her room. She wondered how he would react to her and a million scenarios played in her head, all bad. She wished she could just disappear and not see him at all.
Slowly, she finally approached her bedroom before opening up the door. She gulped as she entered the doorway, and stood scared. She saw Oliver sitting on her bed with a cup of whiskey in his hand. He smirked at her before telling her to come in.
“Ah! There’s my beautiful fiancé! Have you missed me?” He asked, a smirk dancing on his lips. Zaria felt like throwing up. How could she miss a man she had no feelings for? She looked at him, trying to remember that she needed to act like an excited fiancé. She had to act like nothing was wrong and that the sight of him didn’t repulse her.
“Oh… of course!” Zaria chirped, a little too enthusiastic. He smiled at her before standing up and walking towards her reaching out his hand to pull her closer. She hesitated before walking forward. He suddenly grabbed her hand and then frowned.
“Why are your hands so rough my precious little princess? These are a worker’s hands not those of a princess! What causes you to have such rough skin?” He asked her with accusing eyes. There was no way she could tell him the truth because if she did she would have to tell him that she often helped Ryder with his work. She needed to come up with some sort of convincing lie or she would blow their cover.
“I… uh… have dry skin… Yeah… and moisturizer doesn’t really work… unfortunately.” Zaria tried to be convincing, but she knew she sounded like an idiot. She watched as his eyes peered down at her. She could feel the tendrils of doubt run up her spine. What if he didn’t believe her?
“Hmm… I’m sorry to hear that. Well, remind me to bring you some lotion from Mokha. We have this great crème that works wonders!” He said before suddenly pulling her onto his lap. Zaria yelped when he did, not expecting the sudden movement. She looked at him with frightened eyes as he chuckled taking the look for excitement.
Oliver smiled before leaning down and kissing her neck. Zaria could feel her skin crawl as she felt his lips and did everything she could do to resist the urge to run away. Zaria had to pretend to like this guy. She could feel his lips move across her neck and get closer and closer to her chest. She bit her lip, hard, drawing blood. Oliver stopped, looking at her.
“What’s wrong baby? Do you not like it?” Zaria forced a smile. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice the fake smile and hopefully he wouldn’t want anything more from her. She could handle a kiss on the neck but if he wanted anything else he would be pushing her limits.
Suddenly Zaria found herself pinned against the wall. He pushed his lips against hers. Zaria’s eyes grew in shock. She could feel her mouth fill with bile.
She could feel the kiss intensify. Then suddenly she felt his hand crawling up her dress. Zaria grew tense, not wanting what would happen next. When he started unbuttoning his pants she finally snapped.
“Oliver. No. We aren’t married yet.” Zaria tried to stop him. He smirked and shook his head.
“I don’t care.” He whispered in her ear before nibbling on her earlobe. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening. Zaria suddenly felt adrenaline fill her veins as she kicked him as hard as she could.
He fell to the ground withering in pain. Zaria ran. The next thing she knew she was at the stables banging on the door, “Ryder!” She called out hoping he would answer her. She was desperate and sighed in relief when he finally opened up the door.
“Zee… what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She nodded and then looked at him shaking.
“Oliver… he … he tried to… you know…. I panicked and kicked him… we have to leave! Now!” This wasn’t good.