No Strings Attached

Part 29 - No Strings Attached

"That's no way to speak to your father Riccardo!" the b*tch said

I grinded my teeth, "And this is your concern how? You're just some common wh*re that my father found on a street corner and decided to cosy up with to keep him company in his twilight years."

She gasped, "Excuse me! At least I've kept it in the family! You have married outside of the homeland!"

I raised my hand, but Kimberley pushed it downwards.

"If you're just going to sit here and criticize my house, me and my WIFE, then you can just get out. I never want to see your faces here, again. Are we completely understood?"

Carmelita stood, "With pleasure! Come on, Carl, I told you it was a mistake coming here."

They both stood up, the b**ch my father decided to marry looking at my wife with ill-concealed disgust.

Within minutes they'd grabbed their belongings and stormed straight out of the house.

Kimberley burst into tears.

I held her in my arms, stroking her hair and she put her head on my shoulder.

"Rick," she sobbed, "Was it something I said? I smiled and everything... it's my fault. I'm so sorry Rick, I'm-"

"Shhh..." I soothed, "It wasn't anything you said baby, that witch my father decided to marry is just a nasty piece of work. You don't pay any attention, we never have to see their faces again."

"Riccardo, I've been meaning to tell you something. For a few days now, but I don't want you to freak out."

Tell me something? I frowned quizzically. What could she possibly need to tell me?

"What's up?" I asked

She took a deep breath and looked up at me.

"I'm pregnant.... again."

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Kimberley's P.O.V.

Riccardo was stunned, he gaped at me open mouthed, staggering back slightly.

"What?" he gasped, "You're pregnant?
But how? We...I...you lost the baby...you just lost the baby...how--?"

"I know," I sighed, resigned, "But I took a test. I'm pregnant."

"But this is fantastic Kim!"

"No, Rick, no it isn't. I'm getting rid of it for sure this time."

"No!" he screamed, horror written all over his face, "You can't! Kimberley, you can't!"

"Rick, we can't do this again! I'm not having the baby, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Kimberley! How could you even think about doing this? For you to be pregnant again so quickly after all that's happened? That's a sign. It's a sign from God, the universe, something - I don't know! But it's meant to be. You and I, we're meant to have a baby and we're meant to be a family. And nothing is going to get in the way of that, this time. That I can promise you."

"Rick!" I retorted, my anger rising, "I'm not doing this, and that's final. I let you talk me into it the last time and look where that got us."

He wrenched my arm towards him, "I've given up so much for you Kimberley. Give this up for me. Please..."

I scoffed, "Don't you dare! Don't you bloody dare!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He was really making me do this. Really making me play the card I'd tried so hard to forget since I'd been told.

I want to scream!

"Don't you think that I don't know?"

"About what?" he asked, "Kimberley, about what?"

"About how you f***ing kissed that slut from the office!"

I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

He gasped, staring at me full on, his cheek reddening, his expression galled.

"An 18 year old girl, Riccardo?" I hissed, the knowledge still slicing through my heart, "How could you?"

The news my husband had kissed a girl barely out of high school had hurt me immensely. The fact I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for a loud mouth in the office hurt almost just as much.

Sure, I'd been distant, I'd been carrying this weight around on my shoulders. But I'd been broken, broken for him, broken because we'd gone through something that couldn't be reversed.

"Ki--Kimberley-" he stuttered, "S--she--she came on to me! You have to know that! I pushed her away, I promise you!"

The tears stung my eyes, and emotion dragged at my throat.

"So, no, don't you go on about how much you gave up for me! You didn't give up breaking your vows while I lay in a hospital bed, and you certainly didn't give up sleeping with your ex-wife a week before we married. So don't get on your high horse and preach to me about what you've sacrificed, Riccardo. Because you sure as hell haven't given up a thing."

"Kimberley." He said angrily, clearly blindsided by my ire, "You know it was a one time thing. I was drunk That's not fair..."

"Life's not fair! You see the thing about you Riccardo, is that you'll never change. You can't seem to figure out that I actually love you, unconditionally, despite everything you've done. I've always been faithful to you; I've never even glanced at another man, although they've glanced at me, even more than a glance actually. "I have a husband"; "I'm in a relationship". The same most definitely CANNOT be said for you. Sofia, Tessa... how many more Rick?"

"Kimberley! This is totally un-called for! Now let's at least TALK about it. "

"I'm getting rid of this baby Riccardo. I don't give a sh*t about what you think. It's done."

He raked his hand through his hair, "Kimberley...."

"Don't you 'Kimberley' me! I think I'm going to stay with September for a few days... oh and don't worry I'll be in the office for the board meeting next Friday."

"Kimberley... please don't do this."

"Or perhaps I should just call Ryan Drake?" I hissed

He snapped his head upwards, anger in his eyes, "YOU WHAT?"

I snorted, "I mean, he must have been pretty good, seeing as I'm pregnant again. Perhaps the baby's his?"

He groaned, the agony on his face almost stopping my rant, and put his head in his hands, "Kim, don't say that. You don't mean things like that. Please."

"I mean it could be, couldn't it? Wouldn't the dates match up? That sure would be the icing on the cake of my f*cked up life, wouldn't it?"

I turned, scoffing at him, "But with the amount of sleeping around you've been doing, it's lucky you're not a woman - this could've happened to you a f***ing long time ago." I threw at him

"Kimberley!" He looked at me, helpless, his eyes wide, "It's our baby...please..."

The obscenity formed on my lips but I shut my mouth.

"Merry Christmas Riccardo."

I grabbed the keys to the Porsche and stormed out of the front door, the tears brimming from my eyes and streaming down my face.

What the hell was I going to do?

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So we're coming to the end! Hold on tight!

B. X

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