Filthy Secret

APOLLO

My phone buzzed on the conference table in the middle of the meeting, over and over again, the same name popping up each time.

I couldn’t answer, not until the presentation was over and I was out of the room. As soon as I stepped into the hallway, it buzzed again.

“Melinda-”

“Mr. Apollo!” The sound of crashing echoed through the line. “Miss

Jessie is going crazy.”

“You tell that piece of shit that I’m going to sue him for every fuckin’ penny he has!” Another crash sounded out.

“Mom! Stop it!”

“Stop it?” She laughed, the sound manic. “I’m not listening to a whore. I fucking saw you. I saw you with him! How long have you been fucking him, huh?”

“No, Miss Jessie, don’t hurt her.”

“Fuck!”

I was running toward the elevator before I’d ended the call. I needed to get there within minutes, and luckily it was after rush hour traffic, so every light I whizzed through with ease. But by the time I pulled up at the house, it had taken me fifteen minutes and Jessie was throwing the last bag into the trunk of her car and slamming it closed.

“You!” She ran at me as I opened my door and flung herself toward me. I tried to veer away from her, but she was like a damn cat, her claws for nails scraping down my face. “I’ll have you arrested for what you’ve done!” I laughed, knowing it would drive her even crazier than she already was. “Seventeen is the age of consent here, Jessie. You should learn the damn law before threatening someone with it.” I pushed her off me, not caring that she went tumbling to the ground. “If you’ve touched one hair on her head…” I trailed off as Olive came through the front door, her own suitcase in tow. “Olive…”

I stepped toward her, but Jessie was quicker than I thought, blocking my path in an instant. “You’ll never have her.” She grinned manically up at me. “I’m taking her away and you’ll never see her again.” She puffed her chest out as if she’d won, but she had no idea what I’d been doing to make sure Olive could never leave me.

“You don’t have a say,” I ground out, grasping her biceps to move her out of the way.

“I do until she’s eighteen.” God-fuckin-dammit.

“Say your goodbyes, Olive,” she sang, her smile making me shiver. She was enjoying this way too much. “Because you’ll never see him again.” She pulled her arms out of my grip, taking one last look at me then spun around and got into her car.

Olive didn’t hesitate as she flung her suitcase into the back of the car and ran toward me.

My arms wrapped around her, just like they had only hours ago in the parking lot. She’d been right, her mom had seen us there.

“You’ll be back, baby girl.”

She shook her head, not believing me. “I won’t. I never know where I’m going until we get there.”

I grasped her face in my hands, bending at my knees as I stared directly into her eyes. “You will. I know you will.” I hated the tears that were streaming down her face, but there was nothing I could do while she was still in school. She only had two months left until she turned eighteen, and once she did, she could do whatever she wanted. Little did she know she wouldn’t have a choice but to come back to me.

“This is it for us,” she whispered, her breaths coming faster.

“It’s not,” I ground out. “I fucked you every day for two months. I made sure that my come was inside you at least once a day.” My nostrils flared, my instinct to snatch her away from what Jessie was doing hit me tenfold. “I told you I was going to put a baby inside you.” I paused, letting my words sink in. “As soon as that plus sign shows up on the test, you call me.” She blinked up at me as I slipped my business card into her pocket. “You’re mine, Olive. You have been from the moment I laid eyes on you.” I pressed my forehead to hers, kissing her gently. “It’s only a matter of time, baby girl.” I pulled back, letting my hands drop from her face. “I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

OLIVE

8 WEEKS LATER

I stared at the first test. Then the second one. And finally, the third.

He wasn’t lying. I’d thought his words weren’t true, but they were.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

He’d done everything he could from the moment I met him to put a baby inside me. He wanted to trap me, just like my mom had done.

My shaky hand held his business card as I stared at the screen of my phone. I opened up a new message to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to type the words he’d wanted me to.

I was eighteen now, legally allowed to do what I wanted. I could vote. I could leave school. I could get my own place. But he’d taken that away from me by doing this. He wasn’t any better than my mom, the woman who I hadn’t seen since the morning of my eighteenth birthday three days ago. See, now she didn’t have to worry about lugging another body around with her. She was free. That was what she’d said to me as she packed her car with her suitcases and left me in a motel with the room paid for a month.

My time was running out with everything. But this was what Apollo had wanted. He wanted me to have no other choice but to go back to him.

I was letting myself be controlled by yet another person.

My hand moved to my stomach, my gaze meeting my face in the mirror.

I wasn’t going to repeat what my mom had done. I wasn’t going to put my own convenience first. There was no doubt I’d fallen in love with Apollo over those couple of months, but this wasn’t just about him and I anymore. This was about the baby growing inside me.

So instead of messaging him to tell him that his final words to me were true, I closed out the message, pushed my shoulders back, determined to find my own way.

It didn’t matter if I fell flat on my face over and over again, all that mattered was that I was the best version of myself for the life that was growing inside me.

Apollo may have forced this on me, but I was going to make sure I was never controlled another day in my life.