DANIEL

"What did you just say?" I asked not believing my ears.

Tears were flooding her eyes, they streamed down her face, and her emerald eyes filled with sorrow.

"The b-baby m-may not be... yours," she repeated.

My chest started to sting, it felt like I was being stabbed a million times in my heart. I could feel my heart shattering in my chest. She was pregnant and the baby may not be mine. How? I was the only man that slept with her...

"Did this Giovanni, touch you?" I asked her as it clicked.

She looked at me her eyes red from crying before holding down her head and nodding yes.

"Y-yes, he d-did," she said softly.

She dropped to her knees and began to cry. Shania was hurting I know; I could feel it but no matter how hard she cried I couldn't find it in me to comfort her.

"Was it voluntary?" I asked.

She looked at me shocked; it was as if she was asking: how could I think such things about her?

"No, I didn't consent," she answered with disbelief on her face.

I stood frozen. My wife had been raped, she was now pregnant, and it might be for the man that raped her. I didn't blame her but it still hurt me to know that another man put his hands on her and took what was mine: her body and my baby.

She sat on the floor and continued to cry saying 'It's not my fault' over and over again. I wanted to comfort her but I couldn't stand being around her right now.

She was pregnant with another man's child, she was pregnant for someone else...It kept repeating in my head over and over again.

The baby may not be yours...

The baby may not be yours...

It was driving me crazy and I was slowly dying inside.

"Daniel, please speak to me," she said as she walked over to me trying to touch me.

I stepped back, moving away from her and she stopped. Shania stared at me wide-eyed before placing her hand over her mouth and started to cry even more when she saw this sudden retreat.

"I-I can't be around you right now," I managed to say as I walked past her entering the hall and then leaving through the door slamming it shut.

I quickly walked down the hall towards the elevator; my heart was swelling up with emotions. I couldn't hide them any longer and I fell onto the floor, crying. My heart was grieving, my wife, the love of my life was pregnant and the baby wasn't mine.

I punched the wall, hard, causing my knuckles to turn red. I needed to get out of here and release my anger. I got up off the floor, walked to the elevator drying my eyes and stepped in as it opened. As I did a man with blue eyes in a black leather coat and a black hat bumped into me as he walked out.

"Hey watch it," I said angrily.

He walked past me, without even apologizing.

"You dick," I said as it closed.

I could have sworn he said 'burro'.

***

"Another!" I shouted as I drank down my third shot.

The waitress refilled my glass, I quickly drank it. "Another."

Her hazel eyes stared at me with annoyance and she reluctantly poured it but before I could bring it to my lips, she held my hand.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked in a strong British accent.

"Nothing," I bluntly said.

"Oh come on, you can tell me," she said as she took the shot from me and placed her elbows on the counter, her red hair flowing over her hands and onto the counter.

"I don't talk to strangers."

"Well I'm Candace," she introduced. "Now I'm not a stranger so come on. It's what you came here for."

"Fine, Candace. I'm Brad and my problem is that my wife is pregnant."

"So why are you sad? That's great news," she replied.

"But, the baby is not mine."

Her mouth opened into an 'O' as I said this. "How did it happen? Did she have an affair?"

"No she was raped a—"

"Hold on. You're telling me she was raped and is pregnant for the rapist," she asked and I nodded.

"So, that means she must be in her room crying her eyes out while you're here drinking. You need to go comfort her. She was raped and that is traumatizing. Trust me I know. I... I was raped when I was twelve," she said with sorrowful eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," I said not really knowing how to reply.

"It's okay, but you need to go to your wife and tell her that you understand and care. She needs it. It's not easy to cope with it alone. That's why I love my fiancée Michelle, she's been with me through thick and thin, for better and for worse. Now you need to go do that for your wife, Brad," she said as she picked up the liquor bottle and went to serve someone else.

I sat there thinking about what she said. She was right. The way I acted towards Shania was wrong.

I treated her like garbage, I looked at her as if she was a whore and I even treated the fact that she was raped like it was nothing. When in truth it is the most horrific thing that can happen to a woman. She was being abused from she was 16; she has been assaulted, beaten and verbally abused. She tried to play it off as if it hadn't affected her life but it has.

She fears that every man she meets will abuse her and that no one will want her but for sexual pleasure. Sure, I wasn't the man in her life to prove all her theories wrong but I could try.

I loved Shania very much and I would love her baby whether it was mine or not, because she deserved it. She deserved to be loved, accepted, cared for, respected and so did this baby.

I got up from the counter, walked out of the bar and into the lobby. I rushed into the elevator and I was the only one in there. I leaned onto the back of the elevator, took a deep breath, and as I did the phone in my pocket rang. I took out the Nokia and answered.

"Hello?"

'Hey Danny boy, I'm finished. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are ready to move,' replied Marcus.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped through making my way to my room.

"Good, we'll be over. Can you leak some of the money from my account into the Hamiltons'?" I asked.

'Sure just give me the account number,' he answered.

I relayed the number as I reached my door and opened it.

"Oh god," I said as the phone fell from my hand.

'Danny, what's wrong?' I heard Marcus say through the phone.

The room in front of me was wrecked. The sofa was upside-down, the pillows were on the floor the decorative balls were broken in pieces and there was blood on the floor. My heart began to beat rapidly, my eyes widened in terror.

"Shania," I whispered as I ran to the bedroom.

The bedroom was a mess, the sheets were scattered on the floor, the vase was broken, the nightstand was tipped over and the wall was stained with drops of blood.

Who took her and how did they know we were here?

I was about to leave the room when something caught my eye, it was a paper covered in blood on the table. I walked over to the dresser, picked it up and read it.

Burro,

When you repay what you owe and accept our partnership. You will get her back but until then I'll have my fun with your wife.

Ferrez

"Shit," I swore under my breath.

I raked my hand through my brown hair and started to swear uncontrollably. I needed to rescue her but I needed weapons. Then I remembered Marcus, I ran to the living room and picked the phone off the ground.

"Marcus, you there?"

'Hey man, what the hell h—'

"They took Shania."

"Damn, so what's the plan?"

"I'm going to meet my father and when I do I'm going to rip out his throat for threatening Shania's life," I said as I walked out the room and into the hall.

"Mark get ready. I'm coming your way."