RUTHLESS BEATING (CONT.)

Ivy's POV (cont.)

When I told Antonio that I was pregnant, he seemed happy, excited, and shocked. He made a promise to always take care of his child and do what his father never did for him. At that time, I trusted him enough to believe every word he told me without doubt or question. I never in a million years did I see what was about to happen coming.

Harley wasn't even born yet. Antonio came home drunk after being out with his dumb ass friends. We got into an argument after I saw lipstick and a hickey on his neck.

As they always do, he tried to flip the script and accuse me of cheating on him with his friend Tyrese. Tyrese and I were only acquaintances. We hung out a few times, I knew he liked me, but it wasn't anything romantic.

One night, Tyrese invited me to go with him and his little brother to the movies. He knew what the relationship was like between me and Antonio and wanted to get me out of the house for a while. After all, he knew that I had been on edge lately and this was not good for the baby's development nor for me.

Tyrese treated me well and was always the perfect gentleman. He was just one of those truly genuine people. A genuine person which is very rare to find.

After the movie, Tyrese dropped me off at home around 11:45 p.m. I enjoyed the movie it was a Sci-Fi Thriller and my favorite type of movie. While riding home, suddenly I became tired and really wanted to go to sleep.

I thanked Tyrese and his little brother for inviting me to see the movie and exited the car. Tyrese pulled off after ensuring that I had walked into the apartment building.

Staggering into the apartment building, at the end of the hallway stood Antonio, glaring at me. I could tell he was on some drug, but I didn't really care. I was 8 months pregnant, tired and sleepy.

As I walked past him trying to make my way up the stairs into the apartment; Antonio turned around and began to follow me up the stairs. Just as I opened the door, Antonio violently pushed me in, grabbed my arm and swung me into the glass shelf mounted on the wall. He never said a word, he looked like he wanted to kill me.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING ANTONIO?" I yelled at him while rubbing the back of my head and neck.

Pregnant or not, I wasn't one of those types of chicks to just sit there and get her ass beat. With all of my energy I kneed him in his stomach and shoved him away from me

Still not saying anything, Antonio ran towards me and punched me so hard I almost fell. I was stunned for a moment, re-playing in my mind what had just happened.

The burning and stinging of my face is an indescribable pain; I could instantly feel my face swell. Shocked, I finally realize he had punched me.

So, I grabbed the closet thing next to me, which happened to be a small glass lamp and threw it at him.

Antonio and I went at it hard for a good 20 minutes. For every hit I took, I returned it in-kind. I was never under the impression that a woman could beat a man. Men are just naturally stronger than women. But it does not mean that women aren't smarter fighters and we do occasionally win. But not tonight.

Broken glass was everywhere. The flat screen hit the floor, chairs were turned over and shit was flying from one room to the other. Just so happen one of Antonio's friends, Sean, was on his way back to drop off Antonio's wallet and heard us fighting.

Sean ran up the stairs into the apartment and pulled Antonio off me; slamming him against the wall.

"Man, what the fuck is wrong with you Antonio? She's pregnant with your child and you doing this shit!!"

"Naw, naw, you got it wrong man. This bitch was out fucking Tyrese tonight. Yeah, I caught her! Yeah, he had just dropped her off, I saw her getting out of his car. He...he fucked her so hard, she comes staggering through the door." Antonio said while pointing at me, pacing back and forth, he was mad.

I could feel the warmth of my blood just oozing out of my body from all over. I was in pretty bad shape. I could not see out of my right eye. As my breathing slowed, I was beginning to pass out.

"Man, I told you before, stop letting your brother put dumb shit in your head. I just ran into Tyrese and his little brother at the corner store. His little brother was so excited about the Sci-Fi movie they had watched and was telling me all about it. Tyrese mentioned that Ivy had gone with them and told me that I should talk to you because she has been depressed lately."

Shaking his head and pointing his finger in Antonio's face, "I come back here... to give you your wallet... and you're doing this…. to HER! Man fuck you, you ain't no goddamn man! What man does this to a pregnant woman?"

"Ivy, let me get you up and take you to the hospital." I could barely nod my head.

Sean carried me out of the apartment and drove me to the hospital. That night, I received thirty stitches and had 20 shards of glass removed from all parts of my body. I had to stay in the hospital for 3 days.

Unlike most females who stay and try to work things out; because they are in love and/or have nowhere to go; I decided that I wasn't going back. Because if I did go back, it would either end in me or him 6ft under.

On the 4th morning I was released from the hospital. I hailed a taxi and made my way back to the apartment. I told the taxi driver that if he would wait with me for a while, I would pay him more than he has ever made in a week. Thank goodness he agreed.

I waited until Antonio and his brother Dominick left the apartment. I didn't know how long he'd be gone, so I had to hurry. The only thing I thought about was to pack as many of my belongings as I could and get out.

I took $40,000 dollars from the safe we kept in the house, a gun and some of his shirts. I quickly loaded the taxi and paid the driver $2500 dollars.

The way I figure is since Antonio is a doughboy, it's not like he could call the police, so I could get away with it. Besides, I looked at it as an advance of child support that he was never going to pay. This money would give me time to figure out what to do next and to be somewhere safe.

For three months he continually called me. The sad thing is, none of the calls were never about how I or the baby were doing. By then I had already had our kid. Antonio's only concern was about me dropping the domestic battery charges against him.

I was not the one who filed the domestic battery charge. Apparently, when I was admitted into the hospital and considering the condition that I was in; the doctor who treated me filed the charges.

All I remember was being in pain, angry, and confused. I was worried about my child and if the baby would be okay. I remember the social worker and the doctor asking me a lot of questions about the father, his name, what happened and my address for insurance purposes; they stated.

I can only assume that it was them because I did not lie and told them the truth. Putting two and two together, it had to have been them.

What Antonio failed to understand was, even if I try to drop the charges the state would continue to prosecute anyway. In this state the Prosecutor's office does not require the victim's direct testimony because they have photo evidence, statements from the Doctor, Social Worker and anyone who came in contact with me while in the hospital. Because my injuries were consistent with the statement that I had given to the Doctor and Social Worker there was enough evidence to stand on its own merits.

What I didn't know is that he was already under surveillance for drug dealing and other criminal activity. The domestic battery charges were just the icing on the cake for the police and prosecutor's office.

There was no way that I was going to put Harley in harm's way. No one would ever take her from me nor have an opportunity to hurt her.

I've never allowed Antonio access to his child for obvious reasons. The most that I've ever done was send him a photo via text. Three months had passed since I had last seen him. One day I received a text from Tyrese stating that Antonio had gotten locked up.

END OF FLASHBACK

Today I was going to the prison see him to have him sign over his Parental Rights. I don't want him to have any claim to Harley whatsoever. Because she doesn't know him, I'd rather keep it that way until she's 18 and old enough to choose to associate with him or not.

Antonio was and is a petty type of person who would do shit just to spite me. What I did not want him to do, was to play games with Harley's love and affection.

It's been two years since I've last seen him. The one time that I did try to reach out to him, through one of his friends, the hilarious message was, "F*ck you Ivy, don't ever let me see you again." that was a year ago.

Apparently, something has changed within the last year. Antonio reached out to me through Tyrese and said that he wanted to see me.

The prosecutor had originally requested a 10-year sentence, for a whole list of shit that Antonio had done. However, because of who Antonio's brother is and the amount of money he had spent; they were able to find a good attorney and paid off the judge. Antonio only received a two and a half years sentence.

Tyrese had supplied me with the information I needed to contact Antonio. When I contacted him, I was then put on the visitors list as his wife. Why would that fool put me on the visitor's list as his wife? I have no idea, but I am sure he has an ulterior motive for doing so.

After thinking about all of this, I got out the bed, took a quick shower and ordered room service. After I ate, I put on my make-up, got dressed and called a driving service to go see this fool; two hours away.

Hopefully this all goes well, and he doesn't decide to act stupid. Even after being with this man for three and a half years; I still don't trust him to be civil. However, for some people being locked up forces them to grow up in unimaginable ways. I can only hope he's used this time in prison to reflect and think about his fucked-up ways and try to become a better person... Haha I wish I could say that with a straight face.