Chapter 36: Chapter 35- The Betrayal (Part 1)

March.  A few days before the wedding.

"Isn't this the most beautiful dress you have ever seen?"

Camelia covered her sparkling wedding dress covered in thousands of delicate crystals with a white sheet, and turned just in time to witness a sickening look passing over Gloriana's features.

"What is it Glory?  What's wrong?  Didn't you like the dress?"  Camelia asks with concern.

"No, no it's not that....I think I'm going to be s–".

Finding it difficult to complete her response,  Gloriana places a hand over her mouth and another over her stomach and runs towards the adjoining door to the bathroom and kneels in front of the toilet clearly ready to vomit.

Camelia quickly strides in after her and gathered her hair away from her face while she continued to throw up all the contents in her stomach.  A sour expression passes over Camelia's features and she had to look away, hold her breath and clench her teeth to keep her own gag reflex from kicking in. However, she was forced to turn back her attention as Gloriana begins to sob, heart wrenching cries shaking her entire body.

"It's okay, it's over now."  Patting Gloriana's back tenderly. "Is it something you ate?"

"I-I don't think so."  She whines as fresh tears pool in her eyes.

Camelia wraps her arm around her waist and helps her stand, walking her to the sink to wash out her mouth.

"Has this happened before now?"  Camelia asks, handing her a towel to wipe her mouth and flushing the toilet and washing her own hands.

Gloriana's face and lips were as pale as a sheet of paper.  Without answering, she clutches the white towel with trembling hands and covers her face beginning to silently cry.

"Glory you're scaring me..."  Assessing her cousin with a speculative gaze and drying her hands.

Something was dreadfully wrong.   Camelia could feel it. It was so unlike Gloriana's character to show anything but excitement and joy. This sad, crying mess in front of her was nothing like her cousin.

"Here, let me help you sit down and I'll go get you some water. Then we'll talk about it."

Wrapping her arm around her waist once again, Camelia leads her into the bedroom and seats her on the lounge chair placing a blanket over her legs and waist. Just before Camelia turns away, Gloriana clutches her arm tightly and stops her.

"Camelia, thank you....a-and I'm sorry."

Camelia tilts her head in confusion. Their was now regret in her cousin's eyes and fear. What could she be possibly sorry for? Giving her a tight smile, she leaves and heads downstairs to retrieve a bottle of water from the kitchen.

She finds her Aunt Cici and mother sitting on the barstools around the kitchen island.  They were talking quietly with heads close together. Both smile when they notice her.

"Hi."  She says and heads straight for the fridge.

"Hi sweetheart, where's Glory?" Cici asks, darting her gaze, expecting her daughter to appear in the doorway any second.

"Uhh...she became violently ill just a few minutes ago, vomiting everything in her stomach. I'm just grabbing her some water to help ease the discomfort."

A flare of surprise turns into concern over her Aunt and mother's faces.

"She's sick?" Cici asks jumping off the chair, rushing up the stairs while she and her mother follow.

*****

Cici touched her daughter's forehead to feel for a fever. She turned to Annie who was a certified nurse practitioner and shook her head. "She doesn't have a fever, Annie."

"Did you eat anything raw in the past week?" Annie asks.

"No." Gloriana answers timidly.

"Have you been sick before today?"

"I-I've felt nauseated but never threw up until today."

"You have no fever..." Annie ponders. "You haven't eaten anything bad recently, you're sure?"

"Positive."

"Have you been feeling dizzy at all? Headaches? Exhaustion? Cramps?"

"Dizzy, yes. Headaches, and cramping no, but I have been feeling a little more tired than usual." Gloriana replies in a low voice, her head bowed.

Camelia silently watches Gloriana from a distance.

She kept her eyes glued to her clenched hands resting on her lap and with such a tightening grip her knuckles were turning white. The simple act was a sign of nervousness, fear, and reluctance.  It was only a matter of time until a she released what she was withholding.

"It can't be the stomach flu." Annie says out loud and then her sharp blue eyes widen with what appeared to be restrained shock. "Gloriana, look at me." Gloriana reluctantly, and ever so slowly raises her head. Fear was etched on every angle of her pale face.

Camelia gulps, feeling the dread hang heavy in the air.

"Have you had your period in the last month?"

Gloriana's throat visibly contracts as she swallows and she begins breathing heavily, the nostrils on her small pert nose flaring. After what seems like a eternity she answers. "No."

A hushed silence distributes amongst the four of them as they held their breaths. The heavy pounding of Camelia's heart sounded loudly in her ears.

"No...? What does No mean?" Cici asks in a somewhat calm tone trailing her gaze over her daughter's distraught face. "Y-you mean she might be pregnant?" Directing her question at sister.

Annie nods silently.

"Are you pregnant, Gloriana?"

She doesn't respond.

"Are. You. Pregnant?" Cici asks again in a deadpanned voice.

"I t-think so...yes, I believe I am." She answers, cowering from her mother's intense stance, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

Camelia places a hand over her racing heart feeling herself visibly pale.

This can't be good.

Being pregnant outside of marriage was a big no, no in their family. They had moral standards they followed–personal traditions. They were supposed to guard their virtues.  It was shunned to even have any sexual relations of any sort outside of marriage. They were expected to wait and Camelia was almost sure Gloriana broke the rules by consorting with males while away modeling and meeting new people.

And now she was caught.

"She's doing the stupid mistakes I made but look at her–the only difference is she got knocked up before marriage..."  Cici said rubbing her temples.  She looked up at Annie and glanced at Camelia then back again at Gloriana. "Who's the father?"

"The father?" Gloriana repeats, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Yes, the father.  Who's baby are you carrying, Gloriana?" Cici demanded.

It seemed like a eternity before she responds. The thick tension in the air couldn't be cut with a chainsaw.

"Kivanç."  She barely whispers.

Camelia's head snaps upwards, and her entire body instantly tenses.

Kivanç.  She said, Kivanç.

Impossible. She must be wrong.   Ready to ask her if what she heard is right, Gloriana speaks again and looks her directly in the eyes.

Eyes that held regret.

"I'm so sorry, Camelia.  It just happened...h-he thought, I was you.  It was the night you asked me drop off his laundry."  Gloriana spoke with a unblinking, far away expression. "It was dark.  I was in his bedroom while he slept.  He smelled your heavy perfume you gave me to spray myself. H-he grabbed me in his sleep–"

Cici gasped and held up a hand stopping her daughter's confession. "Did he...force you?"

Camelia held her breath.

"No!" Gloriana exclaimed, sitting up straighter. It almost sounded as though she were defending him. "He could never do that–I...he and I....." She inhaled deeply as if contemplating her next words.   "I'm so sorry, Camelia–we ended up sleeping together....  I-I know it was stupid and so shitty of me but...but I–I think I love him."  Gloriana sobbed bringing up her hands to cover her face.

She stared at Gloriana and a terrible trembling shook her insides and in the next instant a blast of rising fury filled her like nothing she'd experienced before.

She slept with her fiancé?

She loves him?

Drawing a shaky breath, forcing back tears of rage, and her own immeasurable confusion over the weeks of them lying to her face.

Each hidden truth they kept from her...

To deliver a blow of humiliating pain like that was unbearable.

She stepped back as she turned white feeling what color she had in her face rush down her neck and covers her mouth.  Finding it difficult to stand up straight, too weak with shock, Camelia found a chair and collapsed on it.  Her lips went numb and she couldn't feel her limbs as the shock set in.

"Does he know?"  Annie asked in a hard tone, directing her question to Gloriana.

She sniffled, red faced with tears streaking her cheeks.  "Yes...he knows it was me when we woke up the next morning.  He looked at me with such tenderness and concern....w-we made love again that morning...but he doesn't know I'm pregnant.   I haven't spoken to him yet."

Camelia felt the bile rush up her throat.

Bitch.

She spoke as though they were lovers and Camelia never existed.

"What the hell are we going to do?  This by far is one of the biggest cluster fücks we have ever had to deal with!"  Cici barked out bitterly, pointing a finger at her daughter and looking at Annie.

"It's simple really, she's is going to stand in Camelia's place and marry Kivanç."  Annie said without a second thought.  "It's the only honorable thing he can do at this point and preserve your daughter's reputation and give that child a name. You can't leave her to mend for herself, Cici. She's pregnant."

Annie watched her daughter eyes shoot up in surprise and heard Gloriana's gasp of shock escape her lips. Both girls stare at each other's pale face. If Camelia had looked her mother's way she would have spotted the slightly relieved look passing over her features.

"I-I can't do that.  Camelia is supposed to marry him!"  She exclaimed.

After what? Camelia thought bitterly. However painful it was to hear the truth, her mother was right, she could not marry him anymore.

"How am I going to marry him when you're carrying his child Gloriana?"  Camelia shouted, releasing all the pent up steam boiling inside her, barely keeping her stretched taut emotions in check. "How the hell am I supposed to marry him when he screwed you not once but twice?"

An overhelming sense of loss and unexplainable, bone-deep exhaustion washes over her breaking her down piece by piece.

"You literally back stabbed me without thinking of the consequences! This is what you've always wanted, wasn't it?"  She stopped herself and drew in a deep breath.  "You are nothing but a back stabbing, sick, selfish bitch and an even bigger slut than I thought!"  She said in exasperation and in a tone of voice she could not recognize as her own.

Sammy was right.

Camelia regarded Gloriana, her blood boiling, willing herself to understand why she was betrayed by her own flesh and blood relative and stomping on the urge to walk across her room and choking the life out of her cousin.  Hugging her middle to keep her arms steady, she bent over, her shoulders sagging as mountains of pain and anguish caused her head to throb.

"You couldn't keep control of your raging hormones!  You just had to spread your legs–". Cici shouted in uncontrolled anger.

"Cici, that's enough.  You need to calm down."  Annie urged.

Gloriana's high-pitched cry rang out into the room.  She brought her legs up and wrapped her arms around them as she rocked back and forth in distress.  "I'm sorry.  I'm so, so sorry."  She kept chanting over and over again.

"Gloriana you need to calm down as well, all this stress is not good for the baby."  Annie insists.

The baby.

The reality of those two words knocked the breath right out of Camelia.  All the times Kivanç held her, kissed her, whispered sweet words into her ear, he slept with her cousin who was pregnant with his baby.

She was starring unseeingly down at the carpet.  The two faced son of a bitch.  I trusted him.  He promised to never hurt me.  I was willing to give up my life for him.

The worst part of it all was he lied.  The man she was supposed to trust the most lied.  Another man she gave everything to lied.  Stefan's betrayal appeared bleak next to Kivanç's.

She knew things could go wrong but never to this extent.  Never would have guessed her fiancé's involvement with her cousin.  Never.

Sleeping with her cousin and lying to her face for weeks, acting like she was the center of his world. Never once did the smile slip off his face. Not once did he give a moments doubt about his affections. The trust she easily installed in him and her own flesh and blood relatives betrayal burned in her veins.

Suddenly tears stung her eyes, during all the months of holding back her sadness and looking forward to her happiness evaporated within minutes.  The gripping awareness of all that she lost welled up in her eyes. The spot light of happiness shinning bright on her dimmed down until it extinguished, leaving her in the darkness.

All the planning, the dress fittings...it wasn't meant for her, it wasn't meant to be.

Gloriana swooped in and took her place like a replacement while Camelia was the temp.  The same kind that were replaced with more skilled and qualified individuals that could do the job right.

The finalist.

The winner.

Leaving Camelia the loser, with nothing. Leaving her to find and pick the pieces of herself all on her own.

Why was fate doing this to her again?  Why? Her heart screamed.

Her whole life looked like a scene from a soap opera.  Where the writers were throwing her character into one obstacle after the other until her life came crumbling down until she had nothing left to grasp.

She shook her head, her lips trembling.

"I hate my life."  Camelia said aloud to no one into particular.

Her gaze travels across her room catching the pity in the eyes of her mother and Aunt. It was too much to bear. Their sympathy was unwanted. The comforting words she was expecting were uncalled for.

All she longed for was freedom. To run away and never look back. To disappear where no one could find her. To a place where she could find herself and rebuild her own life.

Camelia stood and walked away abruptly heading straight for the door, never looking back.

"Camelia! Wait, where are you going?" Her mother called to her retreating back.

"I need some fresh air." She replied, bumping her shoulder into the door in her panic, without stopping to rub the painful spot she slammed the door shut as it protested for being mistreated.

The door could fall off its hinges for all she cared.

She had nothing left to look forward to. She lost so much more than she had to begin with. A year ago she would've guessed her life would be the way it was now.  Seeing Stefan for the first time, being deceived by him,  being deceived by her fiancé, her cousin, humiliated beyond repair.  She was being sliced down into little pieces by those she cared for the most.

The tears started to seep out of the corners of her eyes and she wiped them away hastily, keeping her head down.  Fast walking down the hallway she descended the stairs almost tripping.  If it weren't for her hand grasping the rail she would have fell face forward.

Liam lounged on a nearby chair in the foyer, legs crossed casually, with a newspaper spread in front of him.  He folded it when he heard her footsteps.

"What is it, what's wrong?"  He asked in urgency.

The alarm in his voice made her whip her head towards him in surprise, witnessing him reach for the gun secured against his ribcage.

Camelia held her breath and froze.

Liam searched her face quickly noticing her red puffy eyes, the trails of tears, and her pink nose and readjusted his gun in it's holster.

"What happened?" He asked in a tender voice.

"I need to get out of here!"  She exclaimed and continued to take big strides to the front door, stomping on the urge to cry in front of him.

"On foot?"  Asking her with a quirked eyebrow, "I don't think so.  Let me drive you somewhere, you know it's not safe to be on your own."

Too exhausted to argue, Camelia swallowed hard, and reluctantly nodded.

She had no choice in anything.  Her life was dictated at every turn.  Her life never felt like it hit rock bottom like it did at that moment. She wanted to scream. She wanted to pull her hair in frustration. She wanted to break things to unleash all her anger and pain.

But that wouldn't solve her problems. Nothing would.

Instead, Camelia numbly followed Liam into his car and sat in the passenger seat, silent, cold and detached trying to swallow it all inside her. He started his car and maneuvered them out of her parent's driveway. The car ride was silent as Camelia watched out the window.

"Where would you like to go?" Liam asked. When she didn't answer he tried again. "Camelia?" He prompted.

She didn't know where she wanted to go. She couldn't even think straight. She wanted to answer him and say, to the ends of the earth where nobody could find me, but she knew it was ridiculous request that would not be met. Camelia shrugged and leaned her head against the window, closing her eyes defeatedly.

"Where ever you want." She whispered in a trembling voice as the tears began once again to cloud her vision.

They kept trailing down her face uncontrollably. Silent tears reflecting the pain and misery caged deeply inside her. For the amount of tears she'd shed in the last year totaled more than she ever cried her entire life.

Never had she felt so vulnerable, helpless...alone.

"Camelia?" Liam squeezed her arm and she lifted her head.

He was holding box of tissues.

"Thank you." She took the small box, snatching a tissue and began wiping her nose and blotting her face.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Did she? Camelia always found Liam trusting. He had a strong, rough, yet low voice you couldn't help but want to reveal your deepest secrets to. For a former government operative he was gentle and caring and not what she expected in the last few months.

Taking a deep shuddering breath and laying her head back against the seats headrest she closed her eyes.

"I-I don't think I can right now....where are we going anyway?"

Liam shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

Camelia opened one of her heavy lids and shifted her head. "I'm taking you to the place I'm staying...with an old friend. It's secure, in the city and private." He explained, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

Camelia dozed, being a light sleeper, she became wide awake at the sound of the engine being turned off.   Startled, she looked around wildly momentarily forgetting where she was.  Forgetting what she learned until it came crashing down over her all over again.  Blinking several times to ward off the haziness in her vision she looked to her left finding Liam watching her.

"We're here."  He said and unbuckled his seat belt.

They were in a underground garage, where it was dim, private, with a limited amount of cars parked around them.  Camelia mimicked his actions and unbuckled her own seat belt and opened the door.  A rush of goosebumps rushed over her at the coolness of the night.  Wrapping her arms around her middle she silently followed close behind Liam as he led them to the elevators.

A bout of tears threatened to start all over again but she held them at bay, clenching her teeth and blinking her eyes repeatedly.  She tried forcing the earlier events of the day out of her mind but every time she tried, like a scene being played in front of her she couldn't help but imagine Kivanç and Gloriana's bodies intertwined together, kissing, loving one another.  While she was oblivious of the occurring events.

It made her want to crawl out of her skin.  She'd sank to an ultimate low.  The sorrow she was feeling was enough to break her entire composure down. She didn't know how she would be able to look anybody in the eye ever again, knowing all they'd see was a loser, a fool.  The compassion she would undoubtedly see in their eyes was not something she was ready to go back to.  She wouldn't be able to swallow the pitiful stares of her family members nor the regret and sorrow in their words.

"Camelia....?"

Wiping her slightly running nose with the tissue clutched in her hand she sniffles, following Liam out of the elevator and to a thick iron door. It was the only door on the floor.  He punched a secret access code to the pad beside the door.  It beeped and the little light above the pad which was once red turned green.

The doors slid open and they entered.  Floors an immaculate polished grey shone brightly.  The apartment held expensive, modern furniture as they entered the great room.  The city was evident in the background behind large glass window walls framing a beautiful view of the city.  Camelia did a one-hundred-eighty degree turn soaking in her surroundings.  The penthouse was beautiful with warm earth tones throughout.

"Make yourself at home."  Liam announced from behind her.

A startled Camelia placed a hand over her thumping heart.

"Thank you."  She murmured and reluctantly walked further into the open floor plan.

The sound of bare feet padding softly behind them brought her attention to the polished stairs curving, slightly hidden to the left of the apartment.

Camelia's eyes trailed slowly from the bare feet to the jean clad legs and further up to a bare muscled chest.  The breath in her throat made a distressed sound when her eye caught the slight flicker of silver coming from the gun the man was holding close to his thigh.

"Liam?  What's going on?  You didn't tell me you were coming.  Did something happen to–". He stopped talking when Camelia caught his eye.

He did a double take, not believing his eyes.

Camelia's jaw dropped at the sight before her and stared with unblinking eyes when their eyes locked.  His searing gaze made her legs weaken. She watched breathlessly as her heart sounded loudly like a sledgehammer in her chest. The tears she had desperately held down started to well up in her eyes.

Standing there in the flesh was no other than the tormentor of her shattered dreams, the initiator of her breakdown, the destroyer of her trust and beliefs.  The man that hurt her, the man who lied to her, forcing her to run into another's arms to forget him.

The man who started it all.

Stefan.

_____________________________________________________________________

How many of you expected Gloriana to end up knocked up?

This Friday is the next update.

Yes, you read it correctly, I'm giving you all a double update.

Please don't forget to vote, comment and add to your public reading lists.

Thank you again!

Shaz