Awakening The Hidden Dragon

CH 0004 THE BETRAYAL

"Boss, there's something else. Your mother is about receiving necessary treatments, but requests your presence."

"I'll be there tonight. Don't take your eyes off her, not even for a second."

"That won't be a problem."

Knox instructs him one more assignment to carry out then he ends the call and steps out of the apartment. First, there was something else he needed to do. Someone else he needed to see.

His girlfriend, the woman he'd been counting down the days to see again. The only woman he'd ever loved throughout his years in jail. He is even more to finally see her now that he's free, especially since Bianca is eight months pregnant with his child. She had cried during their last conjugal visit and told him she couldn't wait for him to come home, and now? He's back and can be with her and their child without restrictions.

Despite everything that had just happened, despite the rage still simmering in his veins, Knox felt something soften in his chest at the thought of her. Of their child. Of the family they were going to build together. Especially since he's no longer that ordinary man her friends used to mock.

He'd loved her before prison. Loved her enough to dream about a future that included white picket fences and Sunday mornings and watching their child grow up with both parents present.

Maybe seeing her would remind him that not everything in his life was broken. That something good was still waiting for him.

Knox left the apartment and slid the taxi waiting for him. "Take me to 4th and Lawrence," he told the driver. "The Meridian Apartments."

The building was exactly as he remembered. Mid-rise. Clean but not luxurious. The kind of place Bianca had insisted on even when Knox had offered to move her somewhere nicer.

"I just need us."

Knox took the stairs to the third floor, his heart doing something strange in his chest. Anticipation mixed with nervousness. He was about to see the woman he loved. About to see the evidence of their child growing inside her.

He knocked on apartment 3C.

Footsteps. Then the door swung open.

Bianca stood there, eight months pregnant, her belly swollen and prominent. She was wearing yoga pants and an oversized shirt, her hair pulled back in a messy bun. For a split second, shock flickered across her face.

"Knox," she said flatly.

"Hey," Knox said, something uneasy stirring in his gut. "Surprise."

Bianca stared at him for a long moment, her hand resting on her belly. Then she turned and walked back into the apartment, leaving the door open behind her.

Knox followed slowly, closing the door behind him.

The apartment looked different. Cleaner. More organized. There were baby things scattered around. A crib in the corner, still in pieces. Boxes of diapers. Tiny clothes folded on the couch.

"You're out early," Bianca said, not looking at him. She was rummaging through her purse on the kitchen counter. "Thought you had another year."

"Good behavior," Knox replied, watching her carefully then he took the initiative to hug her, kiss her kiss and place his hand on her belly. “I missed you so much..” He whispered with a smile.

"Cut it out." As if feeling overstimulated, Bianca pushed him aside, pulled out her phone, checked something, then grabbed her purse. She turned to face him, and her expression was completely neutral. Like she was looking at a stranger. "Since you're here, it's only right to make yourself useful."

She tossed her car keys at him.

Knox caught them reflexively, confusion crossing his face.

"I have a checkup at the clinic in twenty minutes," Bianca said, already heading for the door. "You can drive me."

"Bianca, wait.."

"What?" She turned back, one eyebrow raised.

Knox stared at her. At the woman who was carrying his child. At the woman he'd spent seven years dreaming about coming home to.

"You're not even going to... I mean, I just got out. Don't you want to—"

"Want to what, Knox?" Bianca's voice was sharp. "Throw you a welcome home party? Pop some champagne? You were in prison. You're out now. Congratulations. Now can we go? I don't want to be late."

The words hit him like a physical blow.

Knox had imagined this moment a thousand times. A thousand different ways she might react to seeing him. Tears of joy. Relief. Maybe even anger that he'd been gone so long.

But this? This cold indifference? This barely concealed contempt?

"Right," Knox said quietly, his voice carefully controlled. "Let's go."

They walked to the car in silence. Bianca moved slowly, one hand supporting her lower back, the other on her belly. Knox wanted to help her, to offer his arm, but something in her body language told him she wouldn't appreciate it.

He opened the passenger door for her anyway.

Bianca got in without a word of thanks.

Knox slid behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot. The silence in the car was suffocating.

"How have you been?" Knox tried, his voice gentle.

"Pregnant," Bianca said flatly, staring out the window.

"I mean besides that. Are you feeling okay? Is the baby—"

"The baby's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine."

The words came out clipped. Dismissive. Like she couldn't be bothered to have this conversation.

Knox's hands tightened on the steering wheel. The warmth he'd felt earlier, the anticipation of reuniting with the woman he loved, was rapidly evaporating.

"Bianca, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I just got out of prison and you're treating me like... like I'm nothing."

Bianca finally turned to look at him, and the expression on her face made Knox's blood run cold.

"What did you expect, Knox?" Her voice was hard. Bitter. "You want me to pretend everything's okay just because you're back? I was alone this entire time while you were locked up.."

“We had conjugal visits.”

“That wasn't enough.” She rolled her eyes.

"I didn't have a choice—"

"If you didn't kill your father, perhaps you would?" Bianca snapped. "You made that choice! And I'm the one who's been dealing with the consequences ever since!"

Knox's jaw clenched. "He deserved what happened to him. After what he did to my mother—"

"I don't care what he deserved!" Bianca's voice rose. "I care that my boyfriend became a murderer and left me to handle everything by myself! Do you know what it's been like? Do you have any idea?"

"Then tell me," Knox said quietly, forcing himself to stay calm. "Tell me what it's been like."

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand anyway."

They drove the rest of the way in hostile silence.

St. Mary's Medical Center loomed ahead. Soon, Knox parked and moved to help Bianca out of the car, but she was already opening her door, already struggling to her feet without his assistance.

Inside the clinic, Bianca checked in at the front desk while Knox stood awkwardly behind her. The receptionist smiled warmly at Bianca, then glanced at Knox with barely concealed curiosity.

"It's you.. how are you today?” She smiled politely and turned to the young man,” Your husband?" she asked.

"Boyfriend," Bianca corrected coldly. "Baby's father."

The distinction felt like another knife in Knox's chest.

And somewhere in the back of Knox's mind, a small voice whispered a question he didn't want to acknowledge.

What if there was a reason she was acting like this?

Knox pushed the thought away. He was being paranoid. Prison had made him unaware of pregnancy symptoms. Bianca is probably just stressed. Delivery day is in a few days after all.

They'd work through it. They had to. For their child's sake.

"Bianca Aldama?" A nurse appeared in the doorway.

Bianca stood immediately, not waiting for Knox.

The appointment ended with the standard pleasantries. “Keep taking prenatal vitamins. See you in 4 weeks.”

Knox and Bianca were on their way out, when Bianca stopped at the restroom, leaving him at the entrance.

"Mr. Rivera?" A different nurse approached him in the corridor. Older woman, kind eyes, name tag reading ‘J. Patterson.’ "I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to say congratulations again."

Knox's expression didn't flicker. "Again?"

"From when you and your girlfriend came in for the first pregnancy test." She smiled warmly. "I was on duty that day too. Must've been what, eight, nine months ago now? I remember because you both were so nervous, and then when it came back negative, she seemed so disappointed. But I told her, 'Don't worry, honey, it'll happen when it's meant to.' And look at you now! Her previous records are already in our system, so it was easy to print her files.”

He paused. “Previous?”

“Yes. Last year. Same department.”

Knox stood perfectly frozen. "Nine or ten months ago," he repeated, his eyes darting around the hospital in a daze.

"Yes! Time flies, doesn't it?"

He took a moment to digest what he just realized before nodding, "It does. Thank you."

Then the nurse smiled and walked away.

Knox's breath became shallow. His heart trembled but he tried to remain composed.. Nine or ten months ago? Negative test?

He'd been in Rikers nine or ten months ago. In fact, he had never seen the sun in the last seven years, so how in the world could he and Bianca come here?

Bianca emerged from the restroom, checking her phone. She didn't even look at him as she walked past. "Let's go. I have things to do."

Knox caught her arm. Not rough. But firm enough that she stopped.

"Who'd you come here with while I was away?" His voice was quiet. The kind of quiet that made smart people nervous.

"What are you talking about?" Bianca jerked her arm free, glaring at him. "Don't grab me."

"Nine, ten months ago. When you took a pregnancy test here. Who brought you?" Because it certainly isn't him.

The micro-expression that crossed her face lasted less than a second. But Knox had a thing for reading people. He saw it. The flash of panic before the mask of irritation slammed down.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The nurse just congratulated me. Said she remembered us from the first test. The one that was negative." Knox's eyes had gone cold now. The warmth that used to live there when he looked at her had vanished like it had never existed. "I was in Rikers nine or ten months ago, Bianca. So I'll ask you one more time. Who brought you?"

"God, you're so paranoid!" Bianca's voice rose, sharp and cutting. "This is exactly why I can barely stand being around you anymore! You get out of prison and suddenly you think you got balls!"

"Answer the question."

"What right do you have to dare question me? You don't own me, Knox!"

People in the corridor were starting to stare. Knox didn't care.

"Were you sleeping with someone else?" The question came out with a curious expression.

“Wh–where did you get that?” She shouted, trying to cover her panic with outrage, “What are you now, a stalker? Or did you get a private investigator to spy on me?”

“So it's true?” His voice was filled with fury.

"Oh my God!" Bianca laughed cruelly. "You really want to do this here? Fine! Yes! Yes, something was going on with me and someone else! Of course you'd blame me! But have this in mind, I wasn't the one thrown in jail! You left! And you think I'd allow myself to be alone for seven years?! Are you that delusional?"