The Great Disapurrance: BBW Shapeshifter Surprise Pregnancy Romance (Chicago Catastrophe) (14 page)

S
ienna sat on the couch
, staring out at the amazing view of Chicago through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her father was glaring at her, looking primed for a tirade. At least he was standing far enough away from her.

The door to the parlor opened and Sienna’s mother walked out, wearing a fitted, cream dress and gold heels.

Carmen Marquez was a picture of perfection, always had been. Expertly applied makeup and some nips and tucks here and there made her look a decade younger than she actually was. As a parent, she was far more well-meaning than Antonio, but her own interests still came first before anyone else’s.

And since Antonio gave her the lifestyle she had always wanted, she would never challenge him. Carmen was very good at looking the other way. Sienna remembered how she would pretend not to see the bruises on her arms, the black eyes or the broken bones. Or how she pretended not to hear her cries when she was locked inside her room for days.

“A little plastic surgery will fix that right up,” Sienna remembered Carmen saying after Antonio had broken Sienna’s nose.

All of it made the genuine smile on Carmen’s face even more chilling.

“Darling!” she called out, walking towards Sienna with her arms held out.

Sienna stood to reluctantly return the hug and even managed a smile.

“Hello, mother.”

Carmen held her at arm’s length, assessing everything about her. She always had a knack for picking out what someone was most self-conscious about and loudly suggesting ways to correct said shortcoming. It wasn’t ever malicious, exactly. She thought she was helping.

“I like your hair long,” she commented, pursing her red lips. “But you’ve gained a bit of weight, haven’t you? I’m still working with that personal trainer we got you before you left, I’m sure he can squeeze you into his schedule,” she said, fussing with Sienna’s curls.

“Mother, I don’t want to be here and I don’t want to go back home with you,” Sienna said sternly.

She knew her wishes didn’t count for much right now, but she could at least make her objections clear from the start. There was no need for anyone to fool themselves into thinking this was some sort of happy reunion.

Carmen released her with a sigh and walked to the dining table, where a chilled bottle of wine and a couple of glasses were already waiting. So her fondness for drinking hadn’t changed.

She couldn’t blame her mother, just feel bad for her. Sienna would probably seek solace in something too, if she was married to a man like her father.

“Stop upsetting your mother,” Antonio ordered, folding himself into one of the armchairs.

The parlor was nice - spacious, full of light, expertly decorated in creams and golds. The huge twin couches could accommodate a baseball team and the electric fireplace added a touch of coziness. There was even a grand piano under one of the windows.

She remembered the one time when her father had slammed her fingers between the lid of the grand piano at their home when she’d missed one key too many. It made her shoulders hunch up.

“Do you know what you’ve put us through?” he asked, staring right through her.

Because you are definitely the victims here,
Sienna thought bitterly.

“I am sure you are going to tell me.”

Antonio bristled at her sarcastic response but she had no intention of reining her attitude in. She had spent most of her life cowering to this man. No more.

“All the lies we had to tell our friends about why you were gone, a gap year in Africa, vacationing in Dubai… It was only a matter of time before people got suspicious. Thank god no one found out you were massaging people for money, or…”

Sienna couldn’t help but laugh.

“You make it sound like I’m sort of a degenerate. There is no shame in making an honest living.”

Antonio shot up from his seat, his features hardening.

“You speak when you are spoken to! Or have you forgotten your manners altogether?”

Sienna remembered all too well. She was supposed to be a subservient little thing, keeping her mouth shut until a man graced her with permission to speak. Her only concern was to look pretty so she could one day be married off to whatever family Antonio needed to cement business ties with.

Too bad this was the 21
^st
century, not the Middle Ages, and she wasn’t a scared teenage girl anymore.

She stood as well, to be eye-level with her father. He was all but trembling with rage, but she didn’t care.

“I am not your property and I will not be silent just because it is more convenient for you. You wanted me back so badly, well, here I am. And you better believe me when I say I’m going to make your life as difficult as I can.”

Sienna had barely finished her sentence when her father’s hand swung back and slapped her across the face, hard enough for her whole head to jerk back. But she managed to stay on her feet. It hadn’t used to be like that.

There was a time when a backhand like that would send her sprawling on the floor, but she was stronger now. She placed a hand on her stinging cheek and turned to stare defiantly at Antonio. Carmen emerged from the dining area, a glass of wine between her perfectly manicured fingers.

“Antonio, was that really necessary?” she queried, sounding like she was admonishing a child for spilling a cup of water.

“Sure it was. He had to put me in my place,” Sienna remarked dryly.

Her father’s hands were balling into fists at his sides.

“Mind your business, Carmen,” he bellowed.

Sienna’s mother let out another sigh and disappeared behind the wall separating the dining area from the rest of the parlor.

“Sit down,” Antonio ordered, voice low and threatening as he turned his attention back to Sienna.

Sienna didn’t want to comply with any of his wishes, but it was smarter to hear what the man had to say to start out with. She didn’t even know how long they would be staying in Chicago. If she was going to come up with a plan to get away, that might be useful information.

It would be a lot easier to sneak out of the hotel than out of the fenced-in, heavily guarded mansion back in New Mexico.

She sat down, fuming but silent. A hint of a smile hovered over her father’s face as she did as she was told.

“Getting you back was inconvenient and expensive. Do you think I enjoyed negotiating with mobsters?”

Sienna knew he definitely did not. This was a man that considered himself to be in a league all on his own and he didn’t like dealing with people he considered to be beneath him. Which happened to be most people.

Antonio sat back down in his armchair, interlocking his fingers before him. He had always thought the gesture made him look respectable. Sienna thought it made him look like a creep.

“We had already paid the considerable ransom when we were contacted by this company calling itself The Firm. They said they had custody of you now, and felt it prudent to notify your family. I could tell right away it was a finder’s fee they were after.”

Antonio smirked at that. He was a big believer in the notion that money made the world go ‘round and everyone had a price, as he had always told Sienna. It pleased him whenever he was proven right.

If only money could buy you a heart, or a conscience.

“Luckily, I was able to freeze the funds I’d already transferred into that Holland person’s accounts before they were moved or withdrawn,” he finished, giving Sienna a pointed look.

Like it was somehow her fault Holland figured out who she was and decided to kidnap her. Or that Arlen happened to re-kidnap her.

Arlen.

Thinking of him hurt much more than her father’s slap. She was sure she would never see him again, a thought that became more unbearable with every second she focused on it.

How she wished he was here now, wrapping her in his arms, making her feel safe and cared for…

“But I will give you a chance to make it all up to me. We’ll be going home soon, after I’m done with my business here. Then will find you an appropriate husband and you will give me a grandson, someone who can carry on the Marquez legacy after I’m gone.”

Sienna had gotten so lost in thought her father’s words almost didn’t register.

“What?” she sputtered out, even though she knew she shouldn’t have been surprised.

She was an only child and in Antonio’s opinion, a woman could never be a worthy heir to his name and fortune. So Sienna was going to be matched up with some other rich snob so she could pump out babies her father could mold after his own image.

Despair took over as she considered that future.

This is even worse than I’d expected.

S
ienna woke
up in the suite’s guest bedroom, her loneliness only emphasized by the lavish luxury that surrounded her and the huge bed she was in. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for just one more morning with Arlen, cramped up on a small bed and tangled in one another’s arms.

Her father’s security guards kept a tight watch on the door leading out of the suite and she was having trouble coming up with a plan to distract them so she could slip out. As she stretched and considered this, there was a soft knock at her door. Her mother entered the room, accompanied by a clicking of heels.

“Sienna, sweetheart, how did you sleep?” she asked, sitting down at the edge of her bed.

It’s worth a shot,
Sienna thought, looking at her mother.

“Mother, please, you have to help me. I’m not a child, father can’t just…”

Carmen put a hand on her leg through the blanket while murmuring soothing words.

“Now, you know your father knows best. I don’t see why you always have to argue with him,” she chided her softly.

Sienna felt like she could scream. Leave it to her mother to totally downplay the fact she was being held against her will. Carmen was still the same woman Sienna remembered. Burying her head in the sand and justifying the unjustifiable.

There was no use in arguing with her, or with pleading with her, as she only heard what she wanted to hear, anyway.

Sienna took a deep breath, calming herself.

She couldn’t hate her mother, even though sometimes it felt like it would be easier that way. Carmen had been putting up with Antonio for years before Sienna was born. Since then, there hadn’t been a day that she hadn’t been reminded how she was a disappointment for not giving birth to a son.

The man’s subjugation tactics had definitely been more effective on Carmen than on Sienna. Add in that and the fact that her mom was too hooked on the lifestyle he offered her to ever rock the boat, and Sienna couldn’t imagine why she had even tried to talk to her mother.

“You’ll be happy to know I’ve already hired a stylist to put together a new wardrobe for you with pieces that would fit you now as well as pieces that will fit you later, once you’ve lost a few pounds. And I’ve booked an array of treatments for us at the wellness center. We’ll get you back to your old self in no time,” Carmen said cheerily.

Sienna remembered what her ‘old self’ was like. Polished and buffed within an inch of her life, all the while seeped in misery. Even her hairstyle wasn’t her own choice. Father had decided her natural curls weren’t ‘sophisticated’ enough, so he had constantly told her to straighten them. She didn’t know if it was the memories or something else, but suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach again.

Her mother yelped as she shot up from under the covers and ran past her to the guest bathroom, holding a hand over her mouth. She barely made it to the toilet as her whole body started to heave. Her forehead and back became clammy with cold sweat as she threw up what little dinner she had managed to force down the previous night.

“Are you alright?” her mother called out, careful not to enter the bathroom.

“Just puking my guts out, mom,” she called back in between retching, taking childish pleasure in the shocked gasp she received in response.

It was a good ten minutes before she felt well enough to brush her teeth and leave the bathroom. Carmen was waiting for her in the bedroom, looking concerned.

“Are you sick, honey?”

“I don’t know… I still feel a little queasy, but I don’t have any other symptoms.”

A little shock ripped through Sienna as something occurred to her. Her cycle was very regular and counting the days in her mind, she realized she was supposed to be on her period already, but she wasn’t.

With all that had been going on, she hadn’t really paid that much attention to it. It could have just been stress that was delaying it, but now, coupled with this nausea…

“Mom, I think I need a pregnancy test,” she said, her voice a little uneven.

Carmen looked baffled for a second, then angry.

“Did that man holding you for ransom touch you?” she asked, showing a lot more emotion than when her father used to throw her around.

So there were some protective instincts buried in there somewhere, they just didn’t apply to Antonio. Sienna almost smiled at that.

“No, it’s nothing like that. It was… It doesn’t matter. Can you help me?”

She couldn’t think of a way to word it, as she didn’t fully understand it herself. But she knew that she had been less than careful with Arlen, consumed by the passion the two of them had for each other.

And now, it seemed she might be carrying his child.

Guess he wasn’t fast enough after all.

* * *

C
armen had immediately
sent someone to the pharmacy and now there Sienna was, back in the bathroom, this time to pee on a stick to see if her whole life was about to be thrown upside down. Even more than it already was, anyway.

She took the test and placed it on the counter, counting the seconds down in her head. What would she do if the test confirmed what she feared to be true? Did she even have any choice in the matter taking her current situation into account? Her father was determined to control every aspect of her life, and he’d already laid claim to her reproductive rights by saying she had to give him a grandson.

The allotted minute ticked by and Sienna stood in the middle of the room, paralyzed, too afraid to look at the results.

“Are you done in there?” her mother asked from the other side of the door.

“Yes, mom,” she sighed.

Carmen strolled in and went straight to the counter, comparing the test to the illustrations on the box it came in with a pinched look on her face.

“It looks like I’m going to be a grandmother,” she declared, sounding
almost
excited.

Sienna felt her knees go weak. She sank to the floor, lost in her own thoughts. She was carrying a piece of Arlen inside her, proof of the love they’d shared, which sounded extraordinarily mushy even to her, but was the truth nonetheless. That alone made her get emotional.

She had no idea what a normal family looked like. Hers was so dysfunctional, she hadn’t the slightest clue on how to raise a child.

What if she turned out to be an even worse mother than Carmen? It chilled her to the bone.

Without even being conscious of it, Sienna’s hand had already flown over her stomach and was hovering there protectively. Sadness overwhelmed her as she realized Arlen would never know their child. Even if she somehow got word to Arlen of her pregnancy, Antonio would never allow him to be a part of the child’s life.

Arlen wasn’t rich or powerful enough for his tastes.

And what happens when Antonio figures out I’m pregnant with a shifter’s baby…

Dread crawled up her spine as she realized she would have little say in her own kid’s upbringing. If it was a girl, her fate would be similar to hers. If it was a boy, Antonio would take charge and groom him to be his successor, if he got over the shifter ‘problem’. Both were equally horrible outlooks.

“Mom, you can’t tell dad about this,” she pleaded, getting up and grabbing hold of her hand.

Antonio chose right that moment to step into the bathroom, eyeing both her and her mother with an arched brow.

“And what are you two up to in here?”

Shit.