“Yeah. Can’t keep anything down.”
She nodded, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around my arm. “That’s common in the first trimester. Your hormone levels are spiking, and your body is adjusting. Some women handle it better than others.” She pumped the cuff and watched the gauge. “Your blood pressure is a little low. When’s the last time you had anything to drink?”
“I tried ginger ale a few hours ago. Didn’t stay down.”
“Okay. We’re going to get some fluids in you and give you something for the nausea. You’ll feel better in about thirty minutes.” She pulled an IV kit from her bag and started prepping my arm. “This might pinch a little.”
It did. But the relief that came after—the cool rush of saline entering my bloodstream, the anti-nausea medication working its way through my system—was worth it.
Dr. Chen stayed for forty-five minutes, monitoring the IV, checking my vitals, asking questions about my symptoms and my diet and whether I’d been able to rest. By the time she packedup her bag, the nausea had dulled to a manageable ache, and the exhaustion felt less crushing.
“You should feel significantly better by tonight,” she said and handed me a prescription bottle. “Take one of these every six hours if the nausea comes back. And drink plenty of water. Small sips throughout the day. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” She smiled. “Mr. Landry will want an update. I’ll let him know you’re doing better.”
She left, and Mama walked her to the door. I heard them talking in low voices in the hallway, but I couldn’t make out the words. When Mama came back, she was shaking her head, that knowing look back on her face.
“That man really sent a whole doctor to the house,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“In the middle of the day.”
“Yeah.”
Mama sat on the edge of the bed again, studying me with those sharp eyes. “You still think this is just business?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know anymore.
And that scared me more than anything.
Chapter 19
KAISEN
Ipulled up to my father’s house in Lakeview with my chest tight and my mind racing. The transfer had worked. Truth was carrying a baby—possibly mine, possibly Amai’s—and nobody knew except the people who needed to know. I’d spent the last two hours trying to figure out how to feel about it, how to process the fact that I might be a father without being able to claim it.
The circular driveway was empty except for my father’s Mercedes. Good. I didn’t want an audience for this conversation.
I knocked twice and let myself in. The house smelled like expensive cigars and old money, the kind of scent that reminded you who held the power in this family. My father was in his study, sitting behind his mahogany desk like a king on a throne, reading glasses perched on his nose while he reviewed some document I couldn’t see from the doorway.
“Kaisen,” he said without looking up. “What brings you by?”
I closed the door behind me and moved into the room, my hands shoved in my pockets to keep them from fidgeting. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Then talk.”
I hesitated, trying to find the right words. My father didn’t have patience for rambling or uncertainty. He wanted facts, delivered cleanly, with no emotional baggage attached. But I couldn’t help the excitement that crept into my voice when I finally asked, “Dad, did you know Truth was pregnant?”
He looked up then, his expression unreadable behind those reading glasses. “Of course. Dr. Beaumont keeps me informed on everything.”
Of course, he knew. Winston Landry knew everything that happened in this family before anyone else did. I should have expected that. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, trying to keep my voice steady. “Whose sperm did she use?”
“Both.” He said it like he was discussing the weather, like it was the most natural thing in the world to hedge your bets with two sons’ genetic material.
