Jayden's POV

Gabriel and I have been searching for Isabella all around the vicinity of the hospital for more than an hour all to no avail.

We have been doing this in complete silence, not only because we are not on good terms but also because I'm worried and I am sure he is too.

Isabella is missing and I am going crazy trying to think of where she would have gone.

No one saw her leaving the hospital and I don't even want my imagination to run wild and have me thinking she must have been kidnapped or killed.

My grip on the wheels tightens instantly and I wish I have a supernatural power to find out where she is.

I know she did this on purpose. This is because of the baby. The baby she is carrying.

My baby.

We found out about her pregnancy just this evening and when her grandmother came out of the room to meet Gabriel, Sabrina, and me outside, I wanted to go in but she stopped me.

Isabella said she wanted to be alone.

If I had known this was her intention, I wouldn't have listened to her Grandma. I would have walked in just in time to stop her from doing what she did.

This is a rash decision and I am scared something bad would happen to her.

The first place I thought of checking her was her Grandma's place but she isn't there and we have been driving all around trying to see if we can find her.

It is almost 4 am and I hope she is safe wherever she is.

"I can't seem to wrap my head around all of these", Gabriel breaks the heavy moment of silence between us. "Where could she have gone to? Is it because of the pregnancy? Did she freak out because she knows that you would never accept the baby to be yours?"

I hit my hands on the steering. "The baby is mine!"

"Oh, really?" He is being sarcastic now and it is adding to anger and frustration. I am really in no mood to argue with him.

Why would he say such a thing? The baby is mine so why won't I accept him or her as mine?

"The baby is yours", he repeats. "I love the tone of possessiveness you are using but it's just so sad that it doesn't look like it's yours."

I step on the brake to stop the car abruptly before turning to Gabriel, my chest heaving up and down in anger.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!"

"She can only be pregnant if you had sex with her, did you two have sex?"

I feel like slapping his face at the moment. Do I look like I need one of his silly jokes right now?

"Don't be a dumbass, I told you we had sex…"

"Oh!" He fakes surprise. "Really? You two had sex?"

Talking to him will do me no good. Exuding a deep sigh, I turn back to ignite the car into action, thinking of where to go next.

"You were practically showing how much you hate babies to everyone, Jayden'', his tone is serious now. "If I was in Isabella's shoes, I would have done the same thing."

I don't say a word.

I know I made it crystal clear that I hate children and I don't want babies but Isabella and I never had a reason to discuss this because it wasn't part of our plan.

I have my reasons. I have reasons for every single thing I do.

What does everyone take me for?

She should have allowed me to talk to her. I wanted to clear the air between us but the next thing she decided to do was to run away.

I can't let her go with my child growing in her womb. Whether I want the baby or not shouldn't be her concern, she is still my wife after all and that baby inside of her is our legitimate child.

I can't watch her go away with my child.

"Where do you think we can find her?"

"I don't know", I say with all honesty. The only place I have in mind is the lake house. I doubt if Isabella even remembers the road to that place. We haven't gone there since the first time we visited and it will be very hard to differentiate the routes if she hasn't been going there regularly.

"What about Eunice's place?"

"Sabrina's friend?" I spare him a hard glance.

What will Isabella be doing with that woman? I know they went to a party together but I am so sure she won't be with Eunice or whatever her name is.

Besides, Sabrina would have said something to us about it before we left the hospital. She is damn worried too.

"Yes."

"Isabella can't be in her place…"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know her…"

"You know her yet you didn't expect she would freak out and run away when she gets to know that she is carrying your baby?"

Silence falls.

Gabriel wants to make me feel guilty and he is succeeding.

"I see no reason why you should be worried about her. But when I think of it, it hits me that you are doing this for the baby…"

"What?!" I exclaim in disbelief.

"Yes. You shouldn't be bothered about any of them. You don't love Isabella and you don't like babies, so why the stress and worry?"

Instead of replying to him, I keep mute, my anger mounting with each passing second and each annoying word that comes out of his stupid mouth.

"You don't love her, Jayden so stops with the worry. I'm sure she will find a safe place to stay and that will be the end. The end of you both. You will end up being single and miserable for life and she will end up being a single mother raising a billionaire's child on her own…"

I step on the brake again and the car jerks forward before it stops.

The action also shut Gabriel up as his eyes widen in fear. "You want to get us killed?"

My breathing becomes heavy, my heart begins to beat twice its normal rate, my eyes become red and I feel like bursting out all the emotions in me.

"Get out of that seat. I will drive!" He drops from the passenger seat and rounds the car to come to the driver's seat.

I feel numb all of a sudden and as he pushes me to the seat he was sitting on earlier, I let him.

My body is so weak and my hands are shaking.

When he is settled in the seat, he adds. "I was just telling you the truth. I just wanted you to see the future laid out before you…"

"Shut up, Gabriel!" I want it to come out as a yell but I can't shout. My voice is low and it feels like I will soon break down.

The car roars to life again and the silence continues for a while as I place my head in between my palms.

I am not crying. But I am on the verge of crying.

I want to cry because of the confusion I feel.

The confused emotions. I have always been so organized with my life and my plans but everything is a mess now. I dislike people who don't have plans for their lives. I dislike people who are so confused and indecisive on what to do with their lives but here I am in the same situation, feeling miserable and pathetic.

I am hopeless.

Gabriel is right.

I have always claimed to dislike children and I also claimed not to like Isabella the way she likes me.

He is right. I shouldn't be worried since I don't want babies and I don't want Isabella but I will be lying if I said I won't be worried.

It will only add to my misery.

Not being worried will only add to the aching of my heart.

Gabriel has been right all along. I shouldn't have said those words to Isabella. If I was in her shoes and I was told those same words, I would be hurt and I might overreact.

Isabella is right for wanting to leave. Isabella is right for wanting to choose Romeo or any other man over me. She is right by running away but do I really want her out of my life?

For three months, she has been the only one I could talk to freely apart from Gabriel. When Gabriel is too busy with his wife or when he is too playful to understand me, she is there.

She has always been there. To comfort me. To console me with her words. To make me happy.

She has always been trying to break through the wall I built around my heart. I built them with strong reasons not to let them break down but I have come to realize that I have the power to break that wall myself. I have the power to give someone else the key to unlock the doors or break the wall to the ground.

This is all about choosing what I want and sticking to it no matter what happens or what my past entails.

Helena would want me to be happy.

She smiled at me today. When I dozed off on the hospital reception chairs waiting for the doctor to come out and tell us the result of the test he did.

We already knew Isabella was fine but I never thought it was pregnancy. I thought it was because she hadn't been sleeping because I could see it all in her eyes.

She has not been sleeping and I have not been doing the same too.

I don't need to ask anything if this is my fate. It is left to me to decide if it becomes my fate or not.

"Your decisions usually make up your fortune or your doom", Gabriel mutters calmly, as if hearing my thoughts.

When I raise my head, a tear rolls down my eyes.

"Drive back to her Grandma's place", I instruct him sharply, wiping the lone tear stylishly so he won't see it.

I know we have gone to her Grandma's place to find her there already but I believe that will be the first place she would go to if she doesn't find somewhere to sleep for the night.

When he turns to look at me with a raised brow, I add. "She might be there."

****

Do you think Isabella would be there? If she isn't, where do you think she is hiding?

Will Jayden find her?

Air your views and don't forget to VOTE for this chapter.

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