Julia
I feel like the ground falls from beneath my feet. What the fuck is going on?" I can hear Riley talking on the phone but I can't take in a single word instead, I just keep repeating the last words that I heard. I think I may be Nina's dad. Fuck, I feel sick! I pull my hand out of Riley's and put it over my mouth, thankfully Josh is quick to realize what's happening and takes hold of my shoulders and quickly leads me to a side room that turns out to be a bathroom where I proceed to throw up all I have in my stomach.
Once I'm done I sit on the floor trying to catch my breath while sweating like a demon. There's a knock on the door but I ignore it. "Julia?" Riley's voice is gentle and so are his steps, it's like he's approaching a tiger, not a woman over a foot shorter than him and half his weight size. "Julia?" he comes to a stand in front of me then gets down on his knees so that we are face to face. "Stupid question I know but are you ok, sweetheart?"
Part of me wants to laugh at his question while the other part of me wants to rage from all this confusion I'm feeling. "I don't understand." for some reason, his lack of understanding just makes me angry. I jump up from the floor and storm out to sink and begin washing my mouth out. Without saying a word Riley hands me some mouthwash wash which I'm grateful for and just about manage to mumble a thanks.
"Nina I'm so-"
"Save the I'm Sorry speech. I want to know what's going on. First, I want to know when my daughter is being brought back and then I want to know what the hell you mean by you could be Nina's dad?"
"I'd like to know what's going on too." We both spin around when we hear Mandy's voice and I swear I see the colour drain from Riley's face. "Mom..." She doesn't let him finish instead she turns on her heels and walks back to the office and takes a seat in front of Riley's desk. "Fuck!" he mutters while running his hand through his hair. He turns to face me his face covered with a look of anguish and I'd be lying if I said that a part of me didn't hate the sight.
"I'm sorry Julia, I didn't know and then I thought but I wasn't sure and now." his rambling is pain-filled and hard to listen to but I need to know everything and now. "Come on let's go back in there and you can tell us everything that's going on." he nods and slowly follows me as I lead the way.
As we all take a seat including Josh there's a knock on the door and it has me on edge. Is that my little girl? Josh quickly opens the door and a tall guy walks' in dressed in a seriously expensive suit with a face that I already know could give a killer look. This has to be Mario.
"Mario. Thanks for coming so soon." Riley gets up and shakes his hand but I'm straight up on my feet for my own reasons. "Where is my daughter!" He looks at me but remains quiet and I quickly realize that being aggressive isn't going to help me out here, if anything it will just piss him off and that could make things so much worse. "Please, where is my daughter?" I feel tears pickle my eyes but I try with all I have to hold them back, to appear strong even when I feel anything but that.
"She's fine. She's here with one of my men. She is safe with him, he will guard her with his life that I promise you." He seems sure and no one else in the room seems to doubt his words so for now I choose to believe him but that doesn't mean that I trust him, not even close.
Mario walks around the room and shakes hands with Josh before gracing Mandy with a kiss on each cheek and a hug while I just grow more and more impatient. "OK, can someone please tell me what's going on?" I can't wait any longer. "What do you know? Miss Julia. I know you know some but what exactly do you know? My patience is so thin but I know I have to take my time here because I'm pretty sure that one phone call from Mario to his guy and he'll be gone and I won't see my daughter ever again.
I let out a sigh and adjust myself in my chair. "Look, I don't want to be an asshole here but the truth is you're not Nina's dad." he gives me a pissed look but quickly masks it. "Why are you so sure?"
"Because she wasn't sleeping with you when she got pregnant." This time my words cause a look of surprise then realization to grace his face. "She told you a lot, didn't she?" I nod. "Everything." he lets out a small chuckle but I don't think he's really amused. "Like what?" he's testing me but that's ok because this is a test that I know that I will pass.
"I knew the first day that you met at the club, the first day that you slept together. I knew how much she liked you, I even suspected that she may have loved you. I knew the same day that she found out who you really are and what you do... Fuck, she was devastated.
You have no idea how much she struggled getting over you but then she went to work one night and met someone else. She wasn't ready for any kind of commitment and apparently he was the same and so it ended up being just a friends-with-benefits deal, only she ended up pregnant."
I take a breath and sip of my drink while Mario remains quiet seeming to take it all in. "What was his name?" I shake my head while catching a glimpse at Riley who looks slightly pale. "I don't know. That's the one thing she didn't... wouldn't tell me. Apparently, he was a big name and they had agreed that no one knew. She trusted me but we were never alone so she didn't feel right telling me just in case. However, I did meet a guy named Josh. He was a friend of this guy and used to pick her up and drop her off on the main road and I was always there with her.
Mario's head snaps towards Josh who nods. "Was the girl, Julia?" again Josh nods but still doesn't speak. "Fuck!" Mario shouts standing up and shoving his chair away. "you know... I was the first person that she told that she suspected that she was pregnant. I got her the test and stood by her side when she got the results, promising I'd always be there for her, for them but you... you did nothing but threaten her." thinking about the past stirs up my anger so badly. "I... I" his lack of words only confirms my words to be true.
"You threatened her?" both Josh and Riley ask at the same time. Mario remains quiet as if trying to figure out what to say but he can't cover this and he knows it. "Yes, he did. He told her that she was only to keep the baby if it was his, that if it was this other guy's then she was to get rid of it or he would find out who he was and kill him."
"They were just words, I wouldn't have gone through with it." his words light a fire in the pit of my stomach because we both know he's talking bullshit. "You liar! That's bullshit!" he instantly looks pissed and takes a step towards me but both Josh and Riley are quicker as they come to stand in front of me.
"How can you stand there and say something like that when you know the truth? When you know you killed Nina!"