Gloria Achabi, David’s mother. She was beautiful, tall, elegant, draped in gold jewelry, and wrapped in an aura of absolute authority. Her eyes swept over Amara’s modest apartment building with visible disgust. “So, you’re the girl?” Gloria said. “Not a question, Mrs. Achabi. I Let me be very clear.” Gloria’s voice was ice.
My son is not going to throw away his future for a girl from the gutter. Whatever you think is growing inside, you will not carry the Achab name. David loves me, Amara said. Her voice shook, but she held her ground. He wants this baby. Gloria laughed. It was the coldest sound Amara had ever heard. David doesn’t know what he wants, but I do. I want you gone.
She opened her purse, pulled out an envelope, thick, bulging. There’s $50,000 here. Take it. Leave Houston. Get rid of the pregnancy or don’t. I don’t care. But disappear. Amara stared at the envelope. At the money that could solve so many problems, pay off her student loans, help her mother, give her a fresh start. She pushed it away. I’m not leaving.
And I’m not getting rid of my baby. David will come back for me, he promised. Gloria’s face hardened. David is not coming back. I’ve made sure of that. What do you mean? I mean, I’ve told him exactly who you are. A gold digger who saw an opportunity. A desperate girl from nothing who got herself pregnant to trap a wealthy man.
I told him you called him a stepping stone. Your exact words supposedly. I told him you wanted the money, not him. That’s a lie. Is it? Gloria stepped closer. Who do you think he’ll believe? His mother, who has protected him his entire life, or the girl he’s known for two years, who conveniently got pregnant right before graduation? Amara felt tears burning her eyes. “He knows me. He loves me.
He loved the idea of you.” Gloria corrected the rebellion, the secret. But when I showed him who you really are, a girl who went through his financial documents, who researched his family’s net worth, who calculated exactly when to get pregnant for maximum leverage, he saw the truth. I never did any of that. I have documentation that says otherwise. Gloria smiled.
