Tiara ignored their argument and ran up the stairs to her room. When she got there, she had a complete mental breakdown and fell to her knees. She did the only thing she had the energy to do; she cried, and she screamed. She cried for her father, she cried for Brandy, and she cried for the fact that the boy she had fallen in love with had betrayed her. Tiara had tried to call Mario many times, but his phone had been disconnected. She didn’t know where he lived. In the months that they had spent talking and getting to know each other, she never inquired on where he lay his head at night. She felt like a fool, and she didn’t have anything to live for anymore. She threw her hat and veil off of her head and fell to the floor crying in despair.
The images of Brandy and her father’s dull eyes entered her head. Her heart wrenched. She felt like she didn’t have the right to breathe the air she was breathing. Struggling to her feet, Tiara made her way to her panty drawer. From it, she pulled a small bottle of 1800 Tequila. Alcohol in hand, she went into the bathroom. Her eyesight was blurry, and she could barely see where she was going, but she knew what she was aiming for. When she was in the bathroom, she stared into the mirror on her medicine cabinet and saw the mascara running down her face. Her lips trembled when she looked at her own face. All she saw was her father.
“Fuck!” she screamed and punched the mirror.
The glass shattered and blood from her wounded hand dripped into the sink. She ignored the pain in her hand and opened the cabinet looking for anything. Her hand fell on a bottle of Tylenol, and she popped open the top. She didn’t use any water, just alcohol, and, she just took the whole bottle to the head and swallowed pill after pill until the bottle was empty.
It didn’t take long for her to feel the drugs take effect. Tiara dropped to the ground and watched as the world faded around her. She was happy to leave a place where she had absolutely nothing. She was looking forward to joining Brandy and her father. The last thing she remembered was seeing Stephanie’s plump frame entering her room and calling her name. When she saw Tiara lying on the ground and the open bottle of pills lying next to her, she screamed.
Chapter 12
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Cat listened to the machines hooked up to Tiara’s still body. Her normally flawless face was plagued with sadness. The dark bags under her eyes gave away the fact that she hadn’t been able to sleep in days. She was all cried out and couldn’t even force another tear to come from her eyes. She watched the steadiness of Tiara’s chest go up and down. Her own daughter had turned out to be a gift and a curse, and Cat didn’t know how she was going to stomach it all.
It was true that Cat only gave birth to Tiara to make Blake happy. She had never really wanted a child. She knew she was too selfish, and she never wanted to have a kid that would potentially take the attention or the spotlight off of her. But she loved Blake, and she couldn’t risk losing him over not giving him a baby. She was blessed to have found a man that could provide her with the life she always dreamt of, and if bearing one of his seeds was what she had to do to keep him, then it was a price she was willing to pay.
The first few months after having her, Cat woke up every day regretting her decision. She couldn’t handle the sleepless nights and the constant breast-feeding, but she wanted to show Blake that she was capable of being a good mother and taking care of their new baby. Unfortunately for her, she was only able to keep up the façade for barely six months. Tiara stopped wanting to breast-feed, and Cat couldn’t be happier. She hired Stephanie to come in and help her out part time. When she realized how much easier things were with a nanny, she asked Stephanie to work full time for her. Stephanie didn’t mind the extra hours, and as time went on, she grew to love Tiara as if she were her own daughter.
For a while, Cat couldn’t be happier with the way things were working out. She was able to go out and live her life without having to stay home because she had a built-in and qualified nanny that did everything for Tiara. She never regretted her actions because she genuinely loved her life. She was able to travel, buy anything her heart desired, and she had a seemingly endless supply of cash flow. Seeing how things were turning out in the long run, though, Cat was questioning if she’d made a mistake by having Stephanie do so much with Tiara. She barely knew her daughter, and her daughter practically hated her. Thinking back, she was regretting not spending time with Tiara to get to know her more and possibly even become friends with her. She could have made more of an effort to take Tiara on trips with her or even just take her out shopping at the mall.
Cat reached over and caressed her daughter’s hand. She wished to God that she could take it all back and start over. Or if she could just take back what she did yesterday, she’d feel better. She didn’t mean to come off so harsh when she yelled for someone to get Tiara out of the room. She was feeling overwhelmed with the crowd of people all around her, and she felt like she was about to lose her mind. When
