Chapter Two

Alice reached home.

Sam dropped her when he saw her standing outside the hospital.

Alice told Sam that Jordan was stuck in the traffic, that's why he couldn't make it.

Sam told her to get inside his car, as it was getting late.

Alice accepted Sam's offer because she didn't have any other choice.

Alice walked upstairs to her room. A servant asked her for dinner, but she declined politely.

Jordan and Alice have separate rooms for each other. Their home was enormous for just the two of them.

Jordan doesn't like Alice to be present in his room. She once went to his room to give him food, but he got mad and said hurtful things to her.

She sat on her bed feeling tired and as she thought of how Jordan reacted to her pregnancy news, she again started crying.

After a while Alice's crying subsided a little, then suddenly, her room door opened and Jordan walked in.

Alice stood up from her bed.

Jordan rarely came into her room. She couldn't even remember the last time when he came to meet her in her room in three months of their wedding.

Alice thought maybe Jordan was here to apologize to her. A new hope formed inside her as she waited, holding her breath for Jordan to continue.

Jordan looked stressed out, as his hair was now a mess. His shirt wasn't tucked properly, and he was not wearing his coat.

"Here, take this." Jordan said and gave her a paper bag.

She looked at the paper bag for a second and slowly took it from his hand.

There were some pills in the paper bag.

"What is it for? Sam provided all the medicine for me to take. So I don't need any other medicines." Alice said.

Alice felt butterflies fluttering inside her stomach as she thought that Jordan really cared for her. He brought her medicine.

"These are abortion pills." Jordan stated.

Alice's jaw dropped to the ground as she gawked at Jordan.

Her hopes of Jordan caring for her broke into pieces.

She couldn't believe that Jordan will tell her to kill her own baby. Her eyes again flooded with tears.

"What?" She asked hesitatingly.

She stepped back a little from Jordan to give both of them some space and wiped a tear from her face.

"Take the abortion pills. I don't want that child to be born." He said without any emotion.

Alice started shaking her head furiously as her eyes started to leak from tears which she was holding back.

"No, please. I don't want this baby to die." She replied, crying, and put a hand on her stomach as a protective gesture.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Jordan shouted.

Alice felt helpless.

"Please Jordan, there won't be any problems." Alice pleaded.

"I said take these damn pills." Jordan shouted in her face.

Alice was shaking from fear.

Jordan snatched the medicines from her and opened the pack. He placed the medicine in Alice's palm forcefully.

"No Jordan please, please don't do this. I'm requesting you." Alice said.

"I don't care. Take this now."

Alice didn't have a choice but to take the pill. But she was determined to not let the baby go.

She slowly placed the pill in her mouth and turned around to get water from her bedside table.

Before drinking the water she spitted the medicine without Jordan noticing and drank the water.

She prayed to God to not let Jordan notice of her trick and turned around to face him.

Jordan believed she took the medicine, so he turned around to leave, but his cell phone rang.

He stopped in his tracks and picked the phone.

"Hello?" he said.

"What?" He roared at something whoever said on the opposite side of the phone.

"I am on my way to the hospital." He hurriedly said and ran his hand through his hair.

Alice was listening to what Jordan was saying and got tensed when she heard the word "hospital".

"What happened? Who's in the hospital?" She slowly asked when Jordan hung up the phone.

He turned around, anger clear in his eyes.

"Chloe attempted suicide." He replied.

Alice was shocked to hear that. She walked closer to Jordan and said, placing her hand on his arm.

"Let me come with you."

"I won't take you. And stop pretending like you care." Jordan said annoyingly snatching his hand from her hold and left her room.

Alice stood there and watched Jordan go. She quickly came to her senses and left her room, down the stairs, and out of the house.

She got outside and caught a glance at Jordan's car before leaving.

She got inside her car and started the engine.

*****

Alice padded her way through the hallways of the hospital, searching for Chloe's room.

After taking a turn around the corner, she came across it.

She entered the room without knocking and saw Chloe lying on the hospital bed.

Her foster parents and Jordan were standing beside Chloe's bed.

All of them turned their gazes towards Alice as she stepped closer to Chloe.

"Are you alright, Chloe?" She murmured. But Chloe didn't reply and turned her face away from Alice's.

"What are you doing here?" Alice's foster mother, Kylie shouted at her.

Alice turned her gaze towards her and saw Kylie walking in her way. In quick paces, she was in front of Alice.

Before Alice could have said anything, Kylie slapped Alice on her cheek.

Alice looked at Kylie and placed a hand on her burning cheek, which was now red.

"How dare you show your face after everything you've done?" Kylie shouted at Alice.

"What are you taking about, mom?" Alice asked.

"Don't call me mom." She muttered and continued.

"You are the reason Chloe attempted to suicide in the first place. And now you're here acting like you care for her."

Kylie said as she took a dangerous step closer to Alice, intimidating her.

Alice shook her head and took a step back from Kylie.

"I did nothing, I promise." She pleaded but her pleas were in vain when Kylie again slapped Alice across her face.

She continues to slap Alice in her face. Alice loses her balance and falls to the floor.

"You did! Chloe could have died because of you!" Kylie repeated and started kicking Alice.

"No, I didn't do anything to her, I promise you. Chloe, please tell her I didn't do anything to you."

Alice pleaded to Chloe but Chloe just turned her head away from her, not listening to Alice pleading.

Kylie continued to beat Alice. Alice cried and requested her to stop but she didn't listen to her.

Alice rolled down into a ball, trying her best to save her baby from any harm.

Alice turned her pleading gaze to Jordan, who stood beside Chloe.

"Jordan, please, you should trust me. Help me. Will you?" Alice begged of Jordan.

Jordan watched Alice beaten up but said nothing.

Alice cried to stop Kylie, but nobody listened to her.

Alice thought of what she did to deserve such treatment from her own family.

She was always treated like that for her entire life. Her foster parents always scolded her.

They loved Chloe and never scolded Chloe, even when she was wrong.

Chloe always blamed Alice for every mistake she made, and her parents always believed Chloe and beat Alice.

They never loved Alice and were always cold to her.

Alice remembered once Chloe burned her hand when she was trying to cook something in the kitchen.

Kylie asked how she burned her hand, she blamed it on Alice saying that Alice forced her to cook something for her even though Alice didn't force Chloe to do anything.

Alice even stopped Chloe to not cook and ask the servant to make her something to eat if she wanted.

But Kylie believed Chloe, and she blamed it on Alice. Kylie beat Alice for hours on that day. Alice couldn't walk for days after that, and she missed school for a week.

Chloe didn't even apologize for blaming Alice. Since that day, Chloe always blamed everything on Alice and Alice was beaten regularly by Kylie.

Her foster father Edward never said anything to stop Kylie. He always put a blind eye on her, which encouraged both Chloe and Kylie to do everything they wanted.

They treated Chloe like a princess but towards Alice, they were bitter and cold. Alice always wondered why they treated her like that.

Alice waited for Kylie to stop beating her. She did everything to protect her tummy from any harm.

"Let her go..."