Chapter 50

~Eliana~

Life, they say, isn’t a bed of roses. I had never really given that phrase too much thought. Lately, however, I was beginning to understand what it meant. To me, we had always lived well and we could never lack anything. I had thought that I would forever enjoy living like a princess, and I never for once thought that things would someday go haywire.

My family had been thrown into a state of total confusion. Everything had changed, and we weren’t as respected as we used to be. In five days, everything we had ever known as happiness had been taken away from us. I should have known that things could change so quickly since one could be alive and breathing this minute, and be gone the next minute. Change is constant, and it happens within a twinkling of an eye.

“Everything will be okay, Miss,” I heard Davies say, jolting me from my thoughts.

I forced a smile. “Thank you, Davies. You’ve always been so kind and nice to me. I’m grateful for your help,” I said.

He smiled back at me, as he swerved the car in the right direction.

Soon, we’d have to dismiss him as we could no longer afford to pay his salary. All our workers were going to be dismissed after throwing a small party for them, where we thanked them for everything they had done for us so far, and tell them we were letting them go, hoping they could understand our plight and see that we couldn’t pay them anymore.

I was definitely selling off my car, since I didn’t have any use for it again. Besides, it wasn’t included as one of the collaterals for the money my parents loaned from several banks. I was going to sell the car and give the money to them, at least, to assist them in starting our lives over again.

Eleanora, feeling embarrassed and ashamed, after her soon-to-be ex-husband had been publicly humiliated and disgraced for being violent towards her, had returned home in tears. She cried more when she discovered that we would be asked out of the house soon, and that the diamonds weren’t even diamonds. Nope, we were no princesses living in a diamond castle. We had been living a lie all this while.

She blamed our parents for forcing her to get married to such a man, and said that they made her believe that money was everything. She had also had a low self-esteem, because Daniel made her feel like no one else would accept her just the way she was, and she didn’t want to bring shame to the family by becoming a divorcee. She revealed that she had lost two pregnancies during the time in which she was married to Daniel, the unfortunate son of a bitch, and that she was nothing but his punching bag.

My father had used the money he was saving up to acquire a good lawyer for her, in order for her to get divorce papers and acquire a profitable alimony. Daniel, who was in prison awaiting his trial for domestic violence, had blatantly refused to sign the papers, asking to see Eleanora with false promises of his love for her. His folks were wealthy, no doubt, and he could easily wriggle his way out of prison in a few months, but with the evidence of abuse, especially with the proof that she had lost two different pregnancies because of him, he was definitely going to pay an alimony, and the lawyer had assured us that it was only a matter of time before he signed the papers.

As for Elvira, pictures of her and her girlfriend had been uploaded on the Internet. Elvira was in an open relationship with the CEO of a beverage manufacturing company, and her bisexuality had come as a shock to us all. According to the anonymous source which had uploaded the information, Elvira was actually a lesbian, but had been forced to be in a relationship with a billionaire by her parents, who were just gold-diggers and a set of hypocritical people. My parents were termed as homophobes, and Elvira was also condemned for being ashamed of who she was, and hiding her girlfriend while pursuing a billionaire she didn’t even love.

One could easily guess how that story ended. Elvira’s boyfriend ended things with her, and being the one who hardly showed her feelings, she had been living normally and acted like she wasn’t bothered about what people were saying about her. Yesterday, she had even told me that she was glad the news came out, as she felt like a heavy load had been lifted from her shoulders and now experienced the freedom to be herself, without caring about what anyone said or thought.

However, it wasn’t the same feeling for my parents. They felt offended that Elvira couldn’t trust them with her biggest secret, and were pretty annoyed that she could actually think they would not accept it if she was open about who she was. They told her that they would have found a wealthy lady, who was also into girls, on her behalf. All they wanted, according to them, was to preserve our future, and that’s why they made sure we got mixed up with people of the high class, as they already knew that their business was crumbling.

Elio, aside from being a managing director in the company, had also been working as a manager in one of the branches of Flora's parents Insurance Company, had been exposed for embezzling the company’s funds, and he had been greeted on Monday morning with a sack letter and an arrest warrant from the police.

Being the loving and devoted wife that she was, thanks to my brother treating her like a queen even though she obviously wasn’t, Flora had persuaded her family to settle the matter outside of the court premises. My mother had sold her expensive jewelleries to pay back all he stole, according with the interests. When asked, he had admitted having a gambling problem and he confessed that he had been using the money to settle his debts, and hadn’t known when he had already taken millions of dollars solely for that course.

No one knew if he and his wife were getting a divorce, and we all doubted that they were, except if Flora's parents convinced her otherwise. They loved each other so much, which wasn’t a surprise, because they were both annoying, and birds of a feather have been said to flock together. Surely, he needed to go to a rehabilitation centre to stop his gambling habits, and his wife felt that he needed all the support he could get. For now, he was living with us, and Flora felt that when she was able to forgive him again, he could come back to her and their son.

Thankfully, I had been hiding no skeleton in my cupboard, and there was nothing to be said about me. Everyone already knew me as a crazy bitch, and even though some people’s minds had changed after Sam’s return and revelation, people were beginning to have doubts again. I was less concerned about it. I was used to being called a psychopath, and I didn’t care if they were about to start calling me that again.

Just like that, the once powerful Venator family had fallen. Our relatives were in New Mexico, and after a clash, they had nothing to do with us. I could bet my life on it that they were overjoyed seeing the news that had spread across the world about my family’s downfall.

The shareholders in the company had withdrawn their investment and it was basically a one-man company now. My father felt sad that he couldn’t give us the world like he had promised, and everyday, he’d sit in the gazebo, staring blankly at the wall, with a newspaper in front of him. On the other hand, my mother tried to act like everything was okay, and busied herself with doing chores and singing, when she’d actually prefer to be with women married to rich businessmen, gossiping and laughing about irrelevant stuff.

The banks were coming for the house and cars soon, and no on was interested in buying an already dead business, even for the smallest amount. All the workers at the company had been laid off, and yeah, we were back to square one. It wasn’t like I had ever been in square one, so it’s better safe to say that we had hit rock bottom.

“Should I take the left or right turn?” Davies asked.

“Left,” I responded, grabbing my jacket and purse, knowing that we were soon going to arrive at Kindred Hospital, Los Angeles, where my personal doctor, Anne Thomas, worked, and was thankfully back from her leave.

He drove into the hospital’s parking lot, and parked in a free space, while I unfastened my seatbelt, and alighted from the car.

“I’ll be right back. I just need to do something quickly,” I told Davies.

“Okay, Miss,” He said, with a smile, and without even waiting for me to leave first, he went straight to the Skype application, apparently to have a video call with his mother or girlfriend.

I reserved my comment and walked into the hospital, where I was asked to wait a bit at the reception. As I sat down, I noticed people were staring at me and I could not guess why.

I knew I was dressed well. I mean, I was putting on a white flare dress, with a blue floral jacket, along with white high-heeled sandals and a white purse. To the best of my knowledge, I looked perfectly fine and there were no large pimples on my face causing them to stare at me, unless...

Dammit! They were all staring at me because I was related to the fallen Venator family. Had I known, I would have worn glasses and a face cap, in order for no one to look at me as a member of a dysfunctional family, who was also nuts.

Soon, people were going to forget all about us and move on to another topic of discussion, but for now that we were still the hot topics, I had better started making my presence undetectable, before reporters came in their numbers to ask my stupid questions that didn’t concern them in any way. I could probably just go on a vacation till the whole matter died down. At least, I had saved more than enough money for that.

Moral lesson: Even if your parents are rich as fuck, have something doing, because you could never tell when their wealth would vanish into thin air.

“Miss Venator,” Dr Anne called, coming into view.

I stood up, wearing a broad smile on my face. “Dr Anne, it’s been a while,” I said, walking towards her and giving her a tight embrace.

She hugged me tightly as well, patting my hair lightly, before letting me go.

“How have you been?” She asked, walking into a laboratory, as she motioned for me to walk behind her.

“I’ve been well, thank you,” I said, wearing a smile.

“You haven’t been coming around, may I know why?” She asked, sitting on a chair.

I sat opposite her. “Well, I haven’t been sick, and I haven’t had the time to come and check up on you. I’m sorry, but I’ve had more important things to do,” I said.

“You needn’t be sorry about anything. You’re honest, and that’s why you’ve always been my favourite. You’d tell me when it’s hurting, what you don’t like, and even how I look. Remember the first time we met and there was another doctor with me who was supposed to give you an injection? You were like, he looks wicked and you would only take the injection if I gave it to you,” She said, and we both laughed.

“Yeah. He felt really annoyed about it, but when you did give me the injection, I knew I had made the right choice,” I said, in between laughs.

I had met Dr Anne as just a child, and she had been our family’s doctor for years. I wouldn’t take any medication if she wasn’t the one giving it, and I grew to love only her. There was this time I fell ill at the university, and came all the way here just to have her treat me. If she ever relocated to another country, I sure as hell was relocating with her.

“So, what symptoms have you been having?” She asked, opening her notepad, and picking up her pen from the table.

“This isn’t your office though,” I said.

“The elevator's broken and I’m too lazy to be going all the way upstairs when I'll conduct the tests downstairs, so, I’ve been I’ve been here all day,” She explained.

“I see. Well, I’ve been feeling nauseous, having occasional headaches, eating way too much, feeling dizzy...I think I even collapsed once at a friend’s place,” I told her.

“Have you been urinating more often, too?” She asked, taking down notes.

I nodded my head, in the affirmative. “Yeah, but I didn’t really take note of that,” I said.

She wore a mischievous smile. “When last did you see your period, Eliana?” She asked.

I was taken aback by her question. “Um...what...what...” I stuttered, as I knew instantly why she was asking that question.

“Just answer the question, Eliana,” She said, wearing a smile.

“Um... Thinking of it now, I think it’s been a while since I last saw my period,” I replied, feeling really apprehensive.

“And you’ve been having unprotected sex?” She asked.

I bit my lower lip. “Yeah. I... we have never used protection,” I said, feeling like a stupid teenager now.

“Please, tell me it’s your boyfriend and not a total stranger,” Dr Anne said, with a concerned expression written on her face.

“Of course, it’s my boyfriend, and he’s faithful, I’m sure of it,” I said, knowing what she was driving at.

“Are you really sure?” She asked, with raised brows.

I nodded, in the affirmative. “I am very sure, Dr Anne. My boyfriend doesn’t have HIV, and we are both very faithful to each other, don’t worry,” I said.

“Okay. That’s good to know. How would you feel if you were pregnant?” She asked.

I heaved a sigh, thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know, but with the drama going on in my family right now, having a child is the last thing I want,” I replied.

“I would have said you likely have Pseudocyesis, but it’s not possible since you don’t even want kids. It may be ovarian cancer though, but you would agree with me that being pregnant is much more better than having a cancer, so, what do you say? Should I run some tests on you to figure out what exactly is going on with you?” Dr Anne asked.

I nodded my head, in the affirmative. It wasn’t like I had any option. A few minutes ago, I had bragged about not having a skeleton in my cupboard, but here I was, about to find out if I was going to be a single mother. My parents would kill me, but then again, Alistair was never going to abandon me. If I was carrying his child, he’d be there for me, and that was all that mattered right now.