Love vs. Payne (19 page)

Yes, death was the only light in the thick, black hole that had swallowed her whole and she was ready to welcome it with open arms...

***

Maddox decided to put all of his frustration into his work and build a successful career driven by sheer anger. Xavier had started teaching his son’s about corporate law from the second they were born, so Maddox enrolled into college and applied for a job at the families firm.

Maddox had always been an aggressive overachiever, but now he was becoming ruthless and desensitized. He threw himself into his work and his studies, needing the hard work to distract his troubled mind. Maddox was a bit out of sorts and not sure of how he felt about cementing his family ties by working for his father. Although he loved the rest of his family, Maddox held nothing but contempt for his father, and the fact that Xavier had been right had only solidified his animosity.

He should have listened to his father after all, you should never put your trust or blind love in your sworn enemy.

***

Beatrix was getting more and more worried about Maddox by the day. He was like an empty shell and it broke her heart to see him like that. She wanted to hold him and force him to talk to her about what was going on inside of that brain of his, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. Now was not the time to push him, when he was ready he would come and talk to her. She gave him the space he needed, which was easy, considering she spent all of her time at the hospital. She was still waiting for Tempest to wake up. Her prayers for Maddox had been answered and she was confident that they would be answered for Tempest as well.

***

Gia looked at the glass vial of poison, the thick electric-blue liquid glowing as she held it up to the sunlight. It was a special concoction her aunt made to kill the rats and other animals on her property. It was a lethal brew, just a few drops could wipe out an entire family of small animals. Her aunt Lenore had an irrational fear that the neighborhood rodents would come into the house and kill her precious little Pomeranian. Gia had always had a special place in her heart for animals and could not stand the thought of killing them for any reason, let alone a ridiculous one.

Besides, she could not stand that crotchety, longhaired, over-stuffed rat that her aunt called 'Noah', in fact she‘d prefer to feed Noah to the outdoor animals instead of the poison. She had openly refused to kill any animals, no matter how much her aunt had berated her.

However, when Lenore threatened to call her father, Gia stopped refusing and started pretending to poison the food she laid out. She was collecting all the unused poison in a vial, and waiting for the animals to take their revenge. Gia laughed maniacally as she thought about her aunt’s house being overrun by rats and bunnies.                                         

Gia kept a large vial under her pillow, filling it more each day. It seemed to bring her a morbidly perverse sense of hope when things got very bad. All she had to do was think about the blue poison and how quickly she could end her own torment. She had ruined her entire life, she had betrayed Maddox and fought for the love of a man who would continuously turn his back on her.

In all reality, she could easily end her torment buy simply leaving, she was eighteen after all. However, she knew it would only make things worse between her and her father if she defied him yet again. She was hoping that this would save their dying relationship and that he would be happy that she had obeyed him. She was also praying that he missed her, even if it was only a little bit.

She was the first to admit, that her logic was twisted, but it was one of her last glimmers of hope. At this point, she would take any type of hope she could get, even if it was false.

***

Paige Chancellor was in heaven and things could not be better for her, she had even managed to weasel her way back into Maddox's life. He obviously had no idea she was the one that had ratted him out, so she took full advantage of the situation. He was different now, but that also seemed to work to her advantage. He rarely spoke, he never called her and he never picked her up. She knew if she wanted to be with him, she had to make herself available, so she did just that and he had not objected once.

In her world, everything was perfect and she did not even notice the anger that Maddox was holding back.

***

Gia held the vial in her hands, she was sure she was ready now. As if things were not bad enough for her already, now she was getting sick. She was constantly tired and always starving, the scraps her aunt gave her were not even enough for her precious pooch to survive on. She was getting weaker by the day, her belly was in a constant state of upheaval and then the vomiting started.

It was very bad this morning, she could barely get up to make it to the toilet in time for another nasty session. She just could not take anymore, she had tried her best but it wasn‘t working. She had used all of her inner strength and then some, but she had finally reached her limit.

***

Maddox was fucking any girl who made herself available to him and he did not care who it was. He had no love in his heart, no respect and nothing left to give to anyone. As much as he despised sex right now, he could not control his raging libido. His pent up body demanded the release, so he took whatever was offered.

Paige had resurfaced and had put herself at his disposal. She was always there, always smiling and always had her legs spread, but she was just another faceless girl to him. He could not tell any of them apart anymore and it did not matter, he never saw their faces while he grudgingly fucked them, he only saw Gia's.

***

There was just so much going on in Gia’s life, she had not been paying attention to her own body or the telltale sign of what was wrong with her. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that her breasts had increased a full cup size, or that she was getting a belly even though she was almost starving. She knew exactly what was wrong with her now.

It changed everything, and even though she had no idea what she was going to do, she knew death was definitely not an option.

***

Gia had tried to hide her condition from her domineering aunt, but by the sixth month, it was impossible. To be honest, at this point in her life she was sick of hiding, sick of lying and sick of denying herself.

‘
FUCK THIS
!’ were the words that kept replaying in her mind.

Things were different now, she had more to think about then just herself. She could not stay here and continue the backbreaking work her aunt had her doing all over the house. She had trained herself over the years to be docile and just do the things her father had asked whether she wanted to or not and she found herself in the same exact situation with her aunt.

Well no more, she had enough, she refused to be the family's doormat any longer! She refused to continue to deny herself the pleasure of true love, for a family that honestly did not give a damn about her.

She wore her tank top, the only one of her shirts stretchy enough to fit and a baggy pair of low waist, black sweat pants. She threw on her black winter jacket then put her aunt's long, white cloak over top of it, pleased that the thick layers hid her condition. She put her other two pairs of baggy sweat pants into her pillowcase along with her toothbrush and a small pocketknife for protection, before she headed towards the front door.

"Where are you going? You haven't finished cleaning the debris off the roof." her aunt said standing up from her chair and walking towards Gia. Gia stopped then turned to look at her aunt.

"I'm leaving." Gia replied

"You can't leave here!" Lenore objected.

"I can and I Am." she said seriously.

"You still have work to do!" she yelled.

"No, I'm done being your little house maid." she frowned, feeling her pride rise along with her anger.

"Maid? You little ingrate!" Lenore grabbed her arm, "I fed you, clothed you and sheltered you when your own father kicked you out. This is how you repay me?"

"Fed me?" she snatched her arm back, "You gave me the scraps from your plate, and only what your vicious little lap dog didn't eat." As if on cue, the rickety old Pomeranian came into the room, his long nails clicking against the floor with each step. Gia looked at Noah as he started to growl at her then she bent down and barked back at him, smiling as the pocket-sized bully ran crying in fear.

"You little-" Lenore raised her hand to smack her, but Gia grabbed her arm.

"I wouldn't if I were you," she leaned into her, "I'm liable to smack you back." Her aunt gasped and Gia let go of her hand, "I'm leaving, don't get in my way and don't try to stop Me." she said with a look in her eye that made her aunt step back.

"I am calling your father!" she yelled as Gia walked towards the door.

"Call him, who cares." she shook her head then slammed the door on her way out.

Gia was shaking, she felt the adrenaline spike through her body and an encouraging sense of pride. She had ultimately done it and she was free, she was finally free! She did not care anymore, and from now on, she was thinking for herself. She was going to do whatever she wanted and she would demolish any obstacle that stood in her way. Her life as the Love family kicking bag was over, and as far as she was concerned, she had no last name.

She knew hitchhiking was risky, and she was thankful that she brought her pocketknife with her. She was a bit nervous, but felt she had no other alternative, she had to get home and home was far, far, far away from where she was.

The little-old, silver-haired woman pulled over, her silver colored car shining like a big, iron star in the pale moonlight.

"You need a ride sweetie?" she asked with a sincere smile, Gia looked at the chubby faced toddler in the back seat then smiled.

"Yes." she answered as she got into the car.