Chapter 11: Follow That Cab

I sat by the window of a tavern far away from Nightsong but near my father's home, debating whether or not to go home and see what other secrets my father was hiding. Torn, my eyes looked out the window. The basement, the hospital, the drugs, the crazy woman, the strange Hank and my strange father… What was the connection? The basement was discovered at Nightsong, and things that were left behind by my father were also discovered here. What secrets were there? What secrets did Hank have? These thoughts had plagued me for several days, and during that time, I never once laid eyes on Edmond. Was he angry at me? I rejected him that day. Would he continue to cooperate with me? My head was spinning. Strange things and the inconsistency of Edmond were driving me crazy! Wait… My attention was grabbed by a man across the road in front of me. Was that... Hank? Why was he here? This territory was far from his packland, and why did he not bring a driver? This was not his usual style, he always enjoyed being served and driven around. He hailed a cab. I didn't think twice about checking out and rushed out of the tavern. I hailed a taxi close behind him. "Follow the cab in front." I instructed the driver. We were moving really fast. Hank seemed to be very vigilant. He kept taking detours and did not let the driver drive straight to his destination. However, gradually, the scenery around me became more and more familiar. Where we headed to my father's house? The car drove into the manor of my family and finally stopped in front of my house. Hank got out of the car and came to the door. He actually took out a key from his pocket and opened the door to enter my house. Why did Hank have a key to our house? I was about to follow him in when I heard the door lock. Fortunately, I had a key of my own. I stood at the door for a moment so that Hank, or maybe a group of people in the house, wouldn't sense my presence. I opened the door and went in. I started looking for Hank. I searched the living room, the study, and even my father's bedroom. There wasn't a trace of him anywhere. All signs indicated that no one had been here. I was definitely not going crazy. So, where the hell did Hank go? Pit-a-pat. Were the footsteps from the basement? There were two people. Were they Hank and my father? I could not let them find me. I hurriedly got out of the house, locked the door again, and knocked on the door. I had to know what they were doing. I knocked for a long time before the door was opened from the inside. "Oh, Liana, my good daughter, why are you back? I missed you so much!" It was my father who opened the door for me. He looked surprised. Was it because he missed me or was he worried because I had come back at a bad time? "Yeah, I miss you too! What took you so long to open the door?" I held my father's arm and leaned my head on his shoulder. He said, "Oh, Hank is here. I was too busy talking to him and I did not hear the knock on the door." "Well, Hank, huh? Why is he here?" I pretended to be surprised so as not to arouse their suspicion. I secretly observed their reactions, hoping to see something in their eyes. However, they only smiled at me. "We're discussing how to protect your pack." Hank smiled at me. My father pulled me to sit next to Hank and said, "Yeah. We're all a family now. We need to keep in touch." I suddenly smelled a very strange smell. Was it a fragrance? Nah, it wasn't the perfume of a woman, or the natural fragrance of flowers. It was like the smell of chemicals. There was also a smell of blood. My father seemed to be closer to Hank than me. "Dad, you forget all about your daughter when you are talking to Hank." My father and Hank smiled and didn't say anything. The strange smell intensified. What were they doing? What were they hiding something from me? "That's all for today. We'll do as we say to protect the pack. Since Liana is here, let's go back together." Hank took the initiative to invite me. His hand touched my waist. I was still disgusted by Hank's touch. I did not want to go anywhere with him. What might happen on the way? I wasn't going to place myself into a trap. "I still have something to do. You can go back first," I insisted. "I'm going to catch up with an old friend while I'm here." "Nico, you are getting better at this!" I smelled the steak in Nico's hand and praised her. "You should come here often if you like. Come on, try it." Nico smiled and placed the steak on the plate she prepared in front of me. The steak was brown on the outside, and there was still a little red when it was cut open. It was charred on the outside and tender on the inside. It was a good medium-rare steak. I speared a piece with my fork and put it in my mouth. It wasn't as wonderful as I'd expected. A wave of nausea swept over me. I spat out the steak. "You were praising me just now. Why did you spit it out?" Nico was a little sad. She cut open a piece of steak and put it in her mouth. "It's not that awful, right?" I didn't know what to say. I still couldn't stop retching. "Try this again." Nico presented the salad to me again. I picked up a vegetable leaf and put it in my mouth. It was the fresh taste of vegetables, but I still wanted to vomit. In the end, I spat out the vegetable leaf. "Even vegetables? Liana, are you pregnant?" Nico placed a hand on her hip as she teased me. I knew she was joking, but I couldn't help thinking about it. 'Liana, let's make a baby. A son or a daughter.' Edmond's voice sounded in my head. He and I had had sex not long ago and my period had not come yet. It should have come a few days ago. Could it be that I was really pregnant? I couldn't get that thought out of my head. I made a hasty excuse and went to the pharmacy. I bought a bottle of stomach medicine and brought back a pregnancy test. I did everything as instructed in the instructions. I just had to wait another five minutes to know the results. One second, two seconds... The second hand on the clock kept walking in circles, hitting my heart with every stroke. I might become a mother. The thought pleased me, but the thought that Edmond didn't really like me any more worried me. My happiness for the child faded. 'Carry a child for me.' His words rang in my head. This thought made me rejoice, and this rejoicing came suddenly, and my apprehension was surprisingly tinged with some anticipation. Oh, Goddess of the Moon! What was wrong with me? I was just fulfilling the contract with him, but what was wrong with me? This touched my chest, leaned my back against the wall, breathed deeply to calm myself down, I kept stealing glances at the test strips, hoping to see the desired result, but once I remembered that Edmund did not really like me, I felt very low again, and my sudden anticipation for this child faded. The rapid heartbeat against my palm also became slow. Please, why hasn't the result shown up yet? Did the test strip fail? Time seemed to be passing too slowly. Five minutes had passed. I slowly raised the pregnancy test to my eyes. There were two bright red bars on it, which was the sign of pregnancy. I was pregnant. I was going to be a mom and really have a child with Edmond. My heart suddenly beat very fast. Although Edmond had ignored me for a few days, I really wanted to share this news with him. I almost hit the dial button as I thought this, but remembering his indifference to me made me hesitate. Edmond was the father of the child, and he had the right to know. Eventually, I used this as a reason to call Edmond. "Hello." Edmond's voice sounded. I hadn't heard his voice for many days, and I was actually a little excited. "Hey, Edmond." I heard a lot of noise there when I said his name. I couldn't help but ask him, "What are you doing?" "What's the matter?" Edmond's words were concise. Clearly, he did not want to answer my question. "I..." His indifference frightened me. I was afraid he would not want the child. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up." He didn't seem to want to talk to me anymore. "Don't. I am preg..." Beep... Before I could finish my sentence, the beeping tone came from the other end of the phone. Edmond had hung up on me, and he didn't even want to hear another word from me. Edmond, what on earth did he think of me? How could he treat me like this? How can he be so cruel? My hand brushed my belly, just a moment before, I was rejoicing in the baby's arrival. Even though it was only the product of our contractual cooperation. I had been wanting to see him… I had been missing him terribly. I was looking forward to his appearance, looking forward to seeing his reaction to this news… I could still hear what he murmured in my ears.... Liana, give me a child. No… I was pregnant, but he didn't care about me or the child any more. It was probably me who expected too much. It turned out, I'm just a container, a tool for his fertility, after all. I gripped the phone tightly, and the cheerfulness of knowing I was pregnant was now mixed with a bitterness that overwhelmed me.