The Road to Price (7 page)

Twenty minutes and
fourteen pages later I want to shoot myself. This is why I could never be a
lawyer. I would fall asleep during my own cases. Why do they have to use shut
legal terms? Basic words would work fine too!

I have just
finished reading my background check when I get to a letter from a man I have
never heard of.  The letter is dated with today’s date.

Mr.
Price,

This
is the information I found on Mia Dechino. It’s the best I could do in the few
short hours you gave me.  If this isn’t sufficient let me know and I will
continue my search. I wish you the best of luck.

Charles
Scott

The
Scott Private Investigation Team

Miami,
Florida

What the
hell? He hired a private investigator. I guess a background check wasn’t enough
for the rich and powerful. I turned to the next page to see what this guy had
pulled up on me.

Name:
Mia Grace Dechino

Age:
23

Birthday:
September 24
^th

Hometown:
Riceboro, Georgia

Population:
768

Children:
A son, Miles, deceased at the age of 6

Boyfriend:
none

Marriage
history: none

Criminal
history: none

Law
suits: None. She did have a legal case that was thrown out of court when she
was a minor. The defendant was Kyle Monroe. He pled not guilty and never served
jail time. Mr. Monroe is currently in jail for a string of rapes the happened
in Atlanta, Georgia four years ago.

My background
information continued for seven pages. It felt like I was looking over someone
else’s life. I continued to read.

History:
Mia grew up in a small town outside Atlanta, Georgia. She gave birth to a boy
at sixteen years old. The pregnancy occurred after a rape by a neighbor when
she was just fifteen years old. Mia kept the child and worked part-time jobs
while in high school. Mia received her High School diploma when she was
seventeen years old. She then went to college at night and over the Internet.
She received her associate’s degree when she was twenty. She had been working
for a financial institute up until five months ago. Her son Miles passed away
after an automobile accident. A friend of the family was driving. Mia attended
the funeral but a month later left town. Mia has had no contact with family,
her previous employer, or her friends. She is not considered missing because
she placed a call to her mother a month after leaving just to let her know that
she was okay.

I stopped reading.
This felt wrong. He had no right to know this information about me.

This is what I was
running from. I didn’t want the poor Mia looks.  The girl who was raped
and then lost her son now had to run away so she could cope. This must be what
he was thinking. Well he can fuck off. He crossed the line and I need to make sure
he knows it.

I got up from my
bed and threw on a tank top and some sweat pants. I didn’t care that it was
late and I probably looked like a lunatic. He was hearing about this now. I
know he said he had something to do but that could wait. My privacy was more
important.

I walked into his
home and went on instinct. He was in his office… he had to be.

I made my way down
the west wing. The doors to the lobby of his office were open. As I walked in I
could here some low noises and movement coming behind his office doors. I
debated briefly if I should just walk in.

Well he invaded my
privacy so why shouldn’t I extend him the same courtesy. I opened the double doors
to his office ready to tare him a new one. I froze, my hand still on the door.

Rachel, the woman
who prepared my dinner, was standing with her chest pressed against the top of
Sebastian’s desk. Her head was turned toward me, her eyes were closed, her
mouth slightly open, and her pants and thong were around her ankles. Sebastian
was fucking her from behind and his pants were completely missing.

I couldn’t move.
My eyes were trained on their bodies and Sebastian moving in and out of her.
They hadn’t noticed me and Rachel’s moans got louder and louder. Sebastian’s
hands were on Rachel’s hips guiding her faster on him.

Then the
unthinkable happened. Rachel opened her eyes.

The second she saw
me she screamed. Sebastian’s head turned toward me to see what had happened.
When he saw me he stopped moving. His hands dropped from Rachel’s waste. Our
eyes held for several seconds before I broke the connection. He almost looked
ashamed.

“I’m so sorry. I
came to talk to Sebastian about something important and I didn’t realize he was
in here with someone. I’m leaving right now,” I said embarrassingly.

I raced out of the
office and closed the door. I didn’t stop running until I was back in my room
with the door closed and locked.  Tears started to slowly run down my
eyes.

Really?

I was crying over
a man I met less than twenty-four hours ago. I use to make fun of girls like
me. I have no reason to be upset. I was the one who told him that nothing would
ever happen between us. I rejected him.

Sebastian was a
stranger. I knew nothing about him. My body needs to get the memo that I am not
this girl who falls for a guys she barely knows.

My tears weren’t
because I was some lovesick pathetic girl who is attached to her boss she just
met.

 I was upset
because he was about to have sex with me just a few hours ago and now I see him
fucking another woman a few hours later. I was upset because he obviously
doesn’t respect any of us. I was upset because he looked at woman as a way to
get off and nothing more.

I should be a
treasure dammit! Rachel, Vanessa, Michelle, and all the other girls may not
have respect for themselves but I do.

This just confirms
what I already know. Sebastian has no feelings for me. What I felt earlier was
lust and nothing more. I could control lust. I just need to make sure I guarded
my heart because if I didn’t, Sebastian would surely break it.

7 years ago

“I NEED IT NOW!” I
screamed out.

The pain was
unbearable. How women did this naturally was beyond me because no one should
have to go through this kind of pain. There was a reason for modern medicine.

“A doctor, nurse,
or some kind of fucking medical professional needs to get in here and give my
little girl some drugs,” my Momma yelled out into the hallway of the third
floor labor and delivery wing at our county hospital.

I was about to
give birth to the baby I had been carrying around the past nine months.

I had gone into a
deep depression following the night of Tanya’s party. I stopped speaking with
my friends and ignored my family. The four pink walls in my bedroom helped keep
me safe and locked away from the rest of the world.

It took two months
for me to realize that my period never came.

I hadn’t reported
what had happened with Kyle that night. I just wanted to forget it but when the
pregnancy test I bought at the corner store showed a plus sign, I was forced
back into the real world.

I just turned
sixteen, I was going to have a baby, and my rapist, Kyle, was the father.

Chelsea was the
first person I told. She listened to me while I gave her every grueling detail.
Once her initial shock wore off and she was able to process what I told her,
the blame came.  Only… she blamed herself. 

I wish I could say
we were able to move past it but we weren’t. I didn’t blame Chelsea for what
happened and I tried to tell her this over and over. Sometimes words just
aren’t enough.

Chelsea blamed
herself for not bringing me home like she promised and every time she looked at
me she was reminded of that. She slowly started distancing herself from me
until eventually she cut all contact.

I was six months
pregnant when I lost my best friend.

Chelsea was with
me when I told my Momma I was pregnant. Thank God for that. My Momma didn’t
take it well. She called me every name in the book. When I told her what Kyle
had done to me she threw me out of the house. She thought Kyle Monroe was a respectable
young man and I needed to stop spreading lies about him.

I stayed with
Chelsea for a few weeks until my momma let me come back home. The only
condition was that I needed to stop talking about the rape nonsense. I needed a
place to stay so I let it go, for my mom.

My momma had come
around these past few months. We went to the library and read up on what I
should expect as a new mom, we went to the local goodwill and bought some
maternity clothing, and we even went shopping for a crib. It wasn’t an ideal
situation but she was being supportive and that’s exactly what I needed.

I left school as
soon as the rumors started. I hid my growing belly for as long as I could but I
knew eventually everyone would know. The father stayed a secret but the people of
this town came up with some ridiculous possibilities. One rumor stated that our
married science teacher was the father.

That one was
disturbing.

I started
attending night school for pregnant teens and teens with children. The people
were nice and there was a therapist on staff who was helping me deal with what
had happened. She even encouraged me to press charges. When I finally did it
was too late. Kyle denied everything and there wasn’t enough physical evidence.

The bastard
claimed it was consensual.

Now I’m at the
hospital and four centimeters dilated. The contractions are already kicking my
ass. Lucky for me, the anesthesiologist just came in to give me the epidural.
My momma sat back down with her knitting needles and started praying to Jesus
that the epidural would work. She didn’t like to see her baby girl in pain.

I had to stay
still while the anesthesiologist put the rather large needle in my back. He
warned me about the pain but I didn’t even notice it because my abdomen hurt so
badly. Thankfully I started to feel the result of the epidural right away.

Within fifteen
minutes I no longer felt any contractions. The nurse told me I should take
advantage of this time and rest before I had to do the hard part, delivering my
baby.

I was in and out of
consciousness for the next few hours. I was trying to get as much rest as
possible before I had to deliver my baby. I started feeling pressure below,
which is what woke me up.  My momma came right over to the side of my bed
and placed her hands on my belly.

I had the urge to
push. It was weird because I still was feeling no pain but I had this intense
feeling to push. I read enough in my preparation for delivery to know that this
could be a sign that I was ready to deliver so I had my Momma get the nurse
right away.

After an internal
exam it was official. I was ten centimeters dilated and ready to have my baby.
I was scared. I had been so strong during my pregnancy but in this moment I was
terrified. I didn’t want to deliver my baby. I wanted my baby to stay inside me
forever.

I was losing my
hold on reality. The hell I have lived in these past nine months has finally
caught up to me. What was I thinking having this baby? It was going to be a
constant reminder of what happened to me. How could I even love it?

I couldn’t really
tell you what happened next. It was like an out of body experience. I was
physically there but I had mentally checked out. It was like watching a movie
being played out right in front of me. It wasn’t happening to me, it felt like
it wasn’t me at all.

A doctor came in.
More nurses. My mother was standing next to me talking but I didn’t hear her.
My legs were placed in stir-ups. Medical instruments were placed to the left of
my feet, while the doctor sat in a chair in between my open legs. I couldn’t
hear anything to know if I was given instructions, but I didn’t need to. My
body knew to push. It was instinct.

I was pushing.

I was watching my
mother. She was looking at me; still speaking what I hoped were words of
encouragement. The doctor was looking at me, then between my legs, then at me,
then between my legs. His mouth was also moving but I couldn’t make out what he
said.

I continued to
push.

It was draining
all the energy out of me. I was so exhausted and I knew this next push was the
last one my body could take. Luckily it was the last push I needed. My baby’s
head was out and then it’s body. The Doctor placed a towel around my baby’s
body and placed my baby on my chest.

“Congratulations,
it’s a boy.” My doctor said.

That was all I had
to hear to bring me back to reality, back in this moment.

I have a boy. He
was beautiful. He still was covered in goo from my placenta but he was the most
beautiful creature I had ever seen. His perfection was only proven by the fact
that he snapped me out of my mental breakdown.

I could do this
and I know this now. He was the only thing that mattered. I was going to be a
fantastic mother and do right by him.

“He is one
handsome devil,” my momma said. “Have you thought of a name for him?”

Name? What would I
name him? I hadn’t thought about it yet.

I had been down
such a rough road the past few months and the miles between had taken its toll
on me. I never thought of what I would name my little girl or boy.

It had to be a
strong name, something that he could live up to. He was going to have to face a
lot of truths in the future, some I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know. The road
ahead of him was going to be rough and I wanted him to make it out the other
side a strong man. I wanted the miles in between to be paved, smooth, and
beautiful for my perfect little boy.