We got home and Dante was already back home from work.
"Hi Mom, hope you both had a great day?" He asked, paying no attention to me.
I went straight up to the bedroom and I was tensed pacing around the room. I had made up my mind, I was going to end this scam and move on with my life. Get a new job and start all over.
"Anything wrong?" Dante inquired as he walked into the room.
I paused to catch a breath before I began to speak.
"I can't do this anymore Dante" I said
"You can't do what anymore?" He asked with confusion clearly written all over his face.
"I can't do this faking anymore, your mom deserves better. She deserves to genuinely be happy Dante. She gave me a family heirloom, how'd she feel when she finds out this is all a lie. I can't-"
"You can Sienna," he said, cutting my statement off.
"Yes you can. She's my mom, leave that to me to worry about. It's not your problem. You might as well enjoy the bond with her considering your own mother is non-existent in your life"
"You have no right to speak about my mother", I yelled.
I was in tears at this point. He had no idea why I was away from my family and so he had no right to speak about them.
"Oh well, I'm sorry if I upset you but you signed a contract and there's no going back now. Your pay for the week has been wired to your account, there's an extra 500$, get some nice stuff for yourself and the baby" He said before storming out of the room.
'You signed a contract and there's no going back now' it kept echoing in my head. I should've known better. What was I thinking to agree to this? I was angry and helpless at the same time. Dante was right, I signed a contract and I had to fulfill my own part of the agreement.
As promised, the pay for the week had been sent to my account. I thought to return it back to Dante but it wasn't going to change anything. I drove over to my own apartment to just be by myself and clear my head. It got late and I was too comfortable in my own bed. I didn't want to go back to Dante's house, so I decided to crash at my place.
A loud bang at the door woke me up hours later. I wondered who could possibly be knocking at my door by 11:00pm in the night. I checked my phone and saw that I had missed over 10 calls from Dante. I hurriedly rushed to the door and it was no surprise, he was the one banging at my door.
"I was worried about you, why weren't you taking my calls" Dante said and pulled me into a tight embrace.
"You could have picked up at least or sent a message, you had me worried about you. My mom won't stop ranting about how careless I am to not watch over you" Dante said, still hugging me and stroking my hair.
"I'm fine. Why do you even care?" I asked pulling away from him.
"Why do I care? Now that you're asking, personally I don't give a fuck but then the whole world believes you're my wife as well as my mother and that makes me responsible for you, so of course I have to care" he shot back at me.
I was alright and that was all that mattered.
"Get your stuff and let's leave" he ordered.
"I'm not leaving with you" I snapped.
"Don't make this difficult. Get your stuff and let's head back home"
"No Dante, I'm not leaving with you. Not without a proper apology. Until you're ready to do that, I'll be in my room, having a goodnight sleep" I said and walked away, back to the room so I could go back to sleep.
I laid in bed for almost thirty minutes and Dante didn't show up. I guess he left already. As expected, he wouldn't drop down his ego to apologize to me.
"We don't have to go back home tonight, but I'm sorry for yelling at you the other night, it certainly had nothing to do with you and I apologize for earlier today. I was wrong to let my temper get the best of me" Dante said, standing by the room door.
Never in my wildest imaginations would I have pictured Dante rendering an apology.
"Did you get any smaller?" I asked teasingly.
"No. Why?" He asked, looking a bit confused.
"You see, it wouldn't cost you anything to apologize," I replied.
He walked over to me on the bed and sat down. He took off his shoes and laid down beside me, with his face focused on the ceiling.
"Have you thought of a name for the baby?" He asked.
That was a very random thing for him to ask but I wasn't in any way offended by his question.
"Not really, I've barely thought about this baby in a while" I responded.
"Can I ask a question?" He turned to face me.
I believe I knew where the conversation was going, but It was inevitable. No matter how much I tried to avoid it, we would have to talk about it at one point. I would have to talk about it in order to help me get it off my chest.
"Yes? Go on"
"Is your ex-husband responsible for your pregnancy?"He asked.
"Yes" I replied without adding any extra details.
"Alright. Is he aware you're pregnant?"
"No he's not" I replied again without adding any details.
"Alright, I'm curious to know why, but I won't invade. If you wish to tell me, you can whenever you're ready to" he said.
I respected the fact that he wasn't prying.
He curled up closer to me on the bed with his hands wrapped around me and It felt so comforting.
"I booked an appointment with the family's private doctor so you can get registered for your ante-natal care, it's never too early" He said in a hushed tone.
"Thank you," I replied.