RUBY.
Shock then fear goes through my body as I look at pictures of Aiden and me boarding a private jet, landing, our arrival at the inn and the entire day we just spent together plastered on the internet. Someone must have had us follow the entire trip. My heart dropped when I scrolled through and saw everyone's favourite picture. We were on the fields at the team farm. I remember that moment, something had gotten into my eyes and he had tried to take it out but the picture looked like we were about to share a passionate kiss. I let out a cry as I looked at headline after headline, each one painting me out to be the devil herself.
"Ruby Ditches Her Husband For His Cousin."
"Whose Baby Is It Anyway? The questions are on everyone's mind as they spot Toby Daniels's pregnant wife cuddling up with his cousin."
"A Daniels Affair."
"Another Cheating Scandal Rocks the Daniels."
"What's So Hot About The Fatty."
These were some of the nicer headlines, they were maliciously bitter. The only person I could think of who had the motive to do such a thing to me was Yasmin.
"What is the matter?" Aiden asked after he finally noticed my distress. I gave him the phone because I felt too overwhelmed to talk. He scrolled through my phone with his mouth open in shock and horror.
"What they have to say doesn't matter, we know the truth," he said. He pulled me into my arms and kissed the top of my head.
"But it is true, we are not married. I look like a whore right now," I said. I shivered against him.
"Let's elope, we could travel to another continent and start over. I hear Egypt is nice."
"You're crazy," I laughed, he brushed aside a few tears that had trailed down my face unnoticed a few seconds ago.
"I'm dead serious," he said looking me in the eyes.
"And I'm married," I answered.
"It's all a sham, why can't you just walk away."
"No one knows it's a sham, if I walk away now I'll just look like a cheater and Toby will be free to play the victim. I can't let that happen."
"Appearances, is that what this is all about? What about your happiness? You are just like Toby," he said, his voice going two octaves up.
"Don't yell at me. This is not just about appearances, I married Toby in front of my family and I can't be with you until I divorce him."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you but I can't pretend what you just said doesn't hurt. I feel rejected," he said. He stupid by my feet at the end of the bed. He looked so vulnerable and hurt standing at the foot of the bed, running his long fingers through his shiny locks. How many of us needed to get hurt in this unfortunate situation we didn't cause?
"I'm not rejecting you, it doesn't just feel right running off with you when I'm still married even if the world thinks I'm doing just that. It's not fair on any of us but it's our reality."
"I just wish our holiday didn't have to end like this," he sighed.
"Let's just push everything aside and sleep," I suggested. We did just that, he powered off his laptop and joined me on the bed. We slept off in each other's arms.
I feel myself being pried out of Aiden's arms and it almost seems like a dream but I open my eyes to see Aiden struggling with two men as he tries to hold on to me.
"Take your filthy hands off her," Aiden said. It feels like I am being torn in half as Aiden pulls on one of my hands and a buff-looking man dressed in black from head to toe with his face covered pulls on the other. Another man dressed in a similar attire walks in and wrenches my hand out of Aiden's. Aiden pulls free from the man trying to restrain him and lunges toward me to fight my attackers off but the man holds him by his nightshirt. I watch in horror as Aiden begins to wrestle with this man that is twice his size. I try to scream but it seems like my mouth is frozen shut and all I can do is watch. The men that were holding me quickly got to work tying my hands and my legs and taping my mouth shut. They sat me down at the foot of the bed and descended on toby. Two men held him down while the third covered a white handkerchief over his mouth. I watched as the fight receded out of him until he finally passed out. They tied him up and taped his mouth with zero restraint from him.
One man hefted me over his shoulder while the other did the same to Aiden's lifeless form. The third man led them out the pristine French doors and to a car with a man dressed just like them with only his eyes visible sitting in the driver's seat. The car was left idling on a back road some distance from our room. They dumped us into the backseat of the car and sandwiched us between themselves. I tried to look out the windows even though the two hefty men were blocking my view and the cover of darkness didn't make it any better but from what I could see we were headed towards the airport.
My hunch was right, we drove right up the tarmac and they loaded Aiden and me onboard a slick private jet like we were nothing but luggage. They threw me on a seat and a sharp pain shot up my back. All I had read about back pain and early labour began to run through my head. It was too early, I was not going to go into induced labour because of these buffoons. I continued to encourage myself and try to be as calm as possible for my baby's sake. In my panic I didn't realise when we took off, I just found that we were cruising at a high altitude.
Without warning, someone yanked the tape off my mouth and I screamed. They did the same for Aiden and it seemed to have some him up.
"Untie me this minute." He struggled. One of the thugs gave him a resounding slap.
"We untapped your big mouth out of the goodness of our heart now don't make us regret it." Aiden kept mute but he still had a look of defiance in his eyes.
"Where are they taking us to," Aiden asked as we felt the jet land. I shrugged but I had an idea of where we might be headed. They hefted us out of the jet in broad daylight but nobody seemed to care about the suspicious activity. We didn't bother shouting because they could see us. All the staff minded their business as we got our ass shoved into a black-tinted vehicle like masked men carrying two grown adults who had their hands and legs bound on their shoulders was a regular occurrence.