Andrea's words were ringing in my ear. Omer constantly was trying to get my attention throughout the night. Zana was frustrated by my mood. She had to physically shove me onto the runway. I was too distracted to know my cue. Everyone clapped and I got a standing ovation. All the lights, and camera flashes made me think. I was the IT girl. They think I have it all. I didn't.
Andrea was right. I needed help. I was broken trying to fix someone else's life when I couldn't control mine. All the money and power I had wasn't enough to fill that void in my heart. But regardless of my past, I know Chole would be better off with me than in the system. I already felt protective over her. I want her to have opportunities she'll never get if she goes back. She's so much like me. Broken. We can help eachother can't we? I can be a mother again. I can try to be the best I can. Nothing will happen to her. I will make sure of it.
Omer's chauffeur drove me home after my after party appearance. According to him Omer was waiting for me at home. I knew the Blairs have controlled my life for too long. I'll find a way to shove them out completely, but tonight I want to move forward. I want to explore whatever Omer and I have. I want to go get help and be the mother Chole will deserve. Everything is happening so fast. I spend way to much time in the past to see the future right in front of me. I have to give it a chance. I need to.
As soon as the car stopped I got out and ran to the house. "Omer!" I yelled for him. "Omer!" I ran up the stairs to look for him. "Omer!" His bedroom opened.
"What-?"
I shut him up with a kiss and pulled away just as fast. I gave him a half smile and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the room. Sitting down of the bed I knew what I had to do. No more secrets. I told myself.
"I'm going to tell you everything."
***Remembering***
I met Charles in college I remember that clearly. I ran into him on my way to class freshmen year.
"Here let me help you with that." He smiled at me while picking up my books from the floor.
He handed them to me with a wink. "Thanks. I'm usually not this uncoordinated." I admitted.
"Well maybe I'll be lucky enough again. I wouldn't mind running into some as beautiful as the sun." He was so charming. What captived me was his piercing blue eyes. Regardless of what he said his eyes just enchanted anyone to him.
I smiled walking away. Giggling like a school girl inside. It was an unknown feeling. Usually people knew who I was, but Charles made it seem like he didn't. I was that blind.
After a few months of constant run ins things got serious. I fell in love with him. I never felt so in tune with anyone else before. It was a dream. We were inseparable. Things were going good for us until my dad found out through some tabloids. He was so mad about it. I never understood why.
"Cora Verdell, you stay away from that boy. You hear me?"
"I can't, Dad. I love him. Just please calm down. Maybe if you meet him-"
"That boy will not be allowed into our home, Cora. I refuse to watch you be taken advantage of by those people. The Blairs are nothing, but power hungry scums. They won't see you more than a dollar sign. Why can't you see that?"
"Charles isn't like that dad. He's sweet. He's everything I've ever wanted. He understands me. Give him a chance. Do it for me."
"The answer is no. If you don't get rid of him, I'll disown you. You can forget about the Verdell name and everything that comes along with it. I mean it Cora. It's him or us."
"Mom?" I turned to her hoping for some kind of understanding, but her teary eyes said enough.
"They are opportunist, Cora. You don't know what these people are capable of. I don't want to see my only daughter hurt. I'm sorry."
I looked at both of them in disbelief. They were confident that I would chose them over him. "You are willing to disown your own daughter because of who she loves? How is that fair? Did you give that same choice to Eddie? Is that why he left?" They didn't answer. They never answer questions regarding my brother. I didn't cry. I never cried back then. "I guess you don't have a daughter anymore."
I ran out the room, hearing their pleas to stop. I couldn't though. I was too blinded by love to heed their warnings.
The next day I got married. It was a small ceremony. His family were the only ones who attended. I hestiated to marry so quickly. Especially with the rift I had with my parents. That wasn't the way I wanted things to happen. Vania, on the other hand, convinced me. She posed like a second mother. I should've seen it.
When I said 'I do' Charles changed. He didn't even bother to come to our honeymoon. A week after I found out about the plane crash. My parents along with Omer's had died tragically. I rushed to hospital where their bodies were taken. I remember Omer trying to calm me down, but I looked at him with crazed eyes. They were in his family's private jet. So I concluded it was his family's fault. I was mourning. I didn't know any better.
Charles was distant. Constantly going out of the country for work. I blamed myself. I thought I had some something wrong, but I couldn't think what. When he showed up to the funeral I thought to myself that he came to comfort me. Well I thought he did. He informed me that my parents had not legally disowned me. Meaning that I was now the head of all of the Verdell wealth. He told me in a way where I really thought he was looking out for my best interest. Edward, my brother, should have been the head, but he disappeared in south America never to be found. Or he hadn't wanted to be found. That left only me.
With my parents gone, I knew the only person I had left was my husband. My sole goal became to win him over. I didn't want to be alone. I seduced him on mutiple times it worked. Well, it only worked for those nights once morning came he disappeared.
After a while I found out I was pregnant. Vania was upset, Charles didn't look like he cared. I was happy though. Finally content with the thought of becoming a mother.
It was odd because soon I became so paranoid. I began to see and hear things I shouldn't. I was losing my mind in that house. Charles came home one night when I had lost all my senses. I pleaded with him to get me out of the house. I knew I looked like a mad woman, but I hoped he would believe me. He didn't. All he did was take me to my room and told me to calm down. I listened to him. I poured myself a glass of water that was place in my room every night. I was tossing and turning in bed scared if what else I could see or hear. When I felt my vision blurring I knew something wasn't right. I remember getting up feeling so weak. I tried to go to the bathroom to wash my face, but I collapsed by the door.
I woke up in the hospital dazed. I was so confused. I didn't u understand what had happened to me. Then he entered the room, with guilty eyes. His mother behind him. I remember exactly what he said to me.
"They're going to take care of you."
Him and his mother watched as I was sedated and taken into a psychiatric ward against my will.
I felt betrayed. Few days in the padded room was enough to make anyone loose their mind. With me it was different. I was feeling like myself again. During my session with my psychiatrist I found out that the reason I was their was because I apparently tried to commit sucide by taking a mixture of prescribed and over the counter medication. I never did that though. He showed me my toxicology report the day I was rushed to the hospital. It was a miracle I made it out alive with my baby.
I became suspicious, I had more questions than I could get answers to. After a few weeks stuck in there, my doctor said I was free to go. Before he released me he confessed everything. His guilt was overwhelming him. He told me how the Blairs paid him for prescriptions. He was close friend to the Blairs. He was under the impression that I was mentally ill and a threat to my pregnancy. So he helped them put me in there. He said he had no idea how same I truly was. Lastly, he told me that he signed off on a report the second day of my arrival which granted Charles a temporary power of attorney to act on my behalf. I was completely stunned by his confession. There was no doubt in my mind that he was telling the truth. Everything started to make sense. My parents warning. The way he used to know where I was everytime we bumped into eachother on campus. Did he plan this all along? For money?
I promised to let him go free if he didn't informed the Blairs of my release and also to leave the country. He didn't hesitate to agree. I took a week to investigate further with Andrea's help. I discovered that Verdell Enterprises had bought the Blair's small company a decade ago. When it was time to sell it back to them they didn't have the money, which forced my father to sell it to the highest bidder. It was basic business. I was the one being blamed for that. They wanted to have what they thought they were robbed of, but I had nothing to do with that.
I got the courage to go confront him. My heavy body of seven months pregnant making it's way up the high stairs. I only found Vania. Andrea was waiting for me outside the mansion doors, giving me privacy.
All my anger rush towards her. "Where is he?"
She seemed surprised to see. She quickly composed herself. "If you are refering to my son. He's not here. He has some business in Dubai."
"You mean my business."
"He has control now."
"Not for long." I couldn't contain my anger. "You almost killed me."
"Are you blaming me? You really should not have been drinking too much water. It is not good for your health." She smiled. Her sinister eyes finally registering in my mind. Did she really put that in my water?
"You're a monster. How could you do that to me? I'm carrying your grandson."
"That thing is not my grandson. It will never be."
"You'll all pay for everything you did to me."
"With what evidence."
"I'll find one." I promised.
The ticked a nerve it seemed. "Stop being difficult, Cora." She gritted out.
"If you think for one second. I'll let you both get away with this, think again. I will never ever stop until I make you pay for what you did. My dad was right. The Blairs are nothing, but opportunists. He forgot to mention disgustingly trashy human beings. Better start forgetting about those Verdell benefits Vania, including this house. I'm taking everything back so you better start packing and leave my property now." I turned around to leave. I didn't even see it coming. I felt a hard shove that sent me flying down the stairs. I screamed in pain unable to move. Holding my stomach trying to see if I could somehow tell if my baby was okay. Vania, on the other hand, stood on the top step with wide eyes and then left me there, retreating down the hall before she was spotted.
Andrea heard my screams and called the ambulance. They rushed me to the hospital. I had to have an emergency c-section. It was horrible, there was no time for sedation. My baby was dying. I gave birth to a baby boy. I named him Adam. I was going in and out of consciousnesses from the pain. When he was rushed out the room with panicking nurses I knew something had happened and yet no one would tell me anything. I waited and waited. The doctor finally came into the room and told me that my son was deformed. He also had heart failure. He didn't give me any hope of survival.
I didn't want to to believe it. After everything, I wanted to have my baby health by my side. I wanted to see him desperately. They kept telling me that I was in no condition to move around. They said I needed to recover from all the blood I lost. I didn't care though. Andrea was trying her best to control me, but I ignored everyone. Wombling from the C-section pain I made my way to the ICU. I refused to wait around for a wheelchair. I was allowed in. He was in a clear box. I put in my hands into the gloves and touched him. He was beautiful. I didn't care how he looked like to others. He was beautiful to me.
I was with him every single day for his two weeks of life. Andrea and I tried to get a hold of Charles. Regardless of what he did to me, he was still Adam's father. I figure he would at the very least show up to see him.
He never did. I was hopeful that Adam had surpassed danger when they let me finally hold him in my arms. I didn't realize that the doctors had given up. That it was his last day. I cried singing to him. Kissed him. Praying that somehow he would pull through. He didn't. My son died at 7:43pm in my arms.
I never felt so lost with myself. Andrea helped me plan his funeral. The day of my son's burial I tried again to get a hold of Charles. His phone number had changed. Andrea stayed by my side. The only one who watched with me as my son was lowered into the ground with my heart.
I vowed that day I will do whatever it took to destroy the Blairs' like they did to us. They will forever remember me as the vengeful woman who turned them to nothing. I swore it on Adam's grave.
****
"I hate them." I told Omer. "I hate them with all that I am. I will keep my promise, but today Andrea reminded me of something. She told me I'm stuck in the past that I can't see what's right in front of me. I want to give this marriage a try, Omer." I looked into his eyes for any doubt. There wasn't any.
He held me in his arms, holding me tight. I breathed in his musky scent. "You were mine the moment you said, 'I do'. I don't take my vows lightly."