With Me From The Start (With Me - book 1)

Chapter 40

I barely got any sleep last night over the thought that I was being watched. When I thought that I was settled into a nice sleep, a noise outside would suddenly wake me up. Once I was up, it wasn't long before Joe woke up and had to calm me down and try to get me back to sleep.

I woke up at 11:30am and noticed that Joe wasn't lying next to me. I got out of bed and quickly walked down the stairs to see where he was. I walked into the living room and noticed that he was standing near the fireplace, talking to someone on the phone. I walked over to the couch and sat down.
“I will. Okay, bye.” He ended the call and turned round to look at me. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Terrible. I'm sorry for-” I started.
He walked over and sat down next to me, taking my hand in his and looked at me. “You have nothing to feel sorry about. You were scared and didn't know what was going to happen. But I'm here now, so don't worry.”
“I better go and get ready if we're going to go to the-” I started, standing up.
“Yeah, because I want to know if we're having a boy or girl.” He smiled while letting go of my hand.
I weakly returned his smile and walked out the room to go up the stairs to get ready for the day.

I decided to wear my skinny jeans, a white vest top and a black cardigan. I was putting my shoes on when the baby kicked. I placed my had on my stomach and smiled. I stood up and walked out the room to go back downstairs.
“You ready?” Joe asked, walking out the living room to meet me at the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah,” I replied, picking my bag up off the table in the hall.
I opened the front door and looked down the street. I froze on the spot and felt Joe's hand on my back to reassure me that I was fine. I looked at him and smiled. We walked over to his car and got in. He started the car and began to drive out the driveway. I leaned my head against the window and noticed that Paul was standing on the pavement at my side. I jumped back and quickly grabbed Joe's arm.
He looked at me, “What is it?”
“I thought I saw-” I started.
“There's nobody there. You're fine,” he said, looking in the mirror to see if there was anyone there.
I let go of his arm and rested further into the seat.

We arrived at the hospital at 12:30pm and walked straight in for our appointment. My doctor knew that we were coming and showed us into the room. I sat on the bed and Joe decided to stand this time instead of sitting. Today, he was going to find out wither or not he was having a boy or a girl.
“Okay, Mrs Hart. Let's see how your baby's doing,” the doctor said, putting the gel on my stomach as I lay back. “Okay, everything looks fine. There's nothing wrong after your little incident with the photographers. Would you like to know-”
“Yes,” Joe replied, leaning against the bed and looking at the screen.
“Okay. Well, I can tell you that you're expecting a...a little boy.”
I looked up at Joe and he kissed my forehead. The doctor cleaned the gel off of my stomach and got up to print the pictures off for us. I sat up and looked at Joe.
“I'm going to have a son,” he laughed.
I smiled at him. “Now you get to take me shopping.”
“Do I?” He asked, pulling me off the bed.
“Yes, you do.” I replied while taking his hand in mine.
“I don't think I do,” he said. I gave him a kiss and he smiled. “Oh yeah. I remember now.”
I laughed at him as the doctor brought the scan pictures back in. I took them off him and we walked out the room.
We walked towards the car and I noticed that there was a piece of paper on the window. I took it off and read it:

'I will get you one of these days and when I do, Mr Hart won't be there to save you.'

I started to shake and Joe took the piece of paper off me.
“Mia, get in the car.” He said, opening the door for me.
I got in and sat in silence. Joe got in the drivers side and looked at me.
“He's not going to stop, is he?” I asked.
“Mia, he will event-” He started.
“No he won't!” I shouted at him. “He'll never stop. He'll always be after me no matter where I go.”
“Mia, your management are-”
“They are doing fuck all to help me! If they were doing their real job, he wouldn't be out to get me! He'd be locked up where he belongs. Can you just take me home?”
“Mia, you don't-” He said calmly.
“Just take me home!” I demanded.
“Okay.”
After starting the car, he reversed out the space and we headed for home.

As we arrived back home, there was police cars parked everywhere. Joe stopped the car two houses down from ours as we couldn't get down any further. We got out the car and walked over to see what was going on. As I made my way to the front of the crowd of neighbours, I noticed that the glass in our front door was smashed.
“My-oh my god,” I said as I ran as fast as I could towards the house.
“Mia, come back here.” Joe called after me. “It might not be safe!”

Taking no notice of Joe and his pleads for me to not go in the house, I went in anyway. When I walked into the house, pictures of me and Joe were lying smashed to pieces on the ground. Red paint had been thrown over the walls and floor.
“Mia, we shouldn't-” Joe started as he came into the house. “What the...”
“My...please don't tell me it's gone.” I went into a panic and ran up the stairs towards the master bedroom. I ran into the bedroom and stopped dead in my tracks.