Page 1 of Claimed By the Pakhan

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FIA

“Somebody turn my alarm off,”I groan.

“She’s awake,” someone whispers.

I open my eyes, a horrible white light incinerating my vision.

Perhaps I’m dead, my soul wandering through the gates of Heaven. If so, the place is a lot more miserable than people make it out to be. My muscles ache, everything hurts.

Maybe I’m mistaking heaven for hell.

“Careful, Fia,” says the voice. “Stay perfectly still. You’ve been in a coma for two days.”

I barely hear them. “Someone turn that goddamn alarm off before I kill myself.”

“It’s the heart rate monitor.”

“The… What?”

The more I use my brain, the harder it is to focus. No matter how many times I blink, the white light above me makes it impossible to focus on the two faces above me.

“Do you know where you are, Fia?” asks one of them.

“It’s not heaven, that’s for damn sure.”

“No,” says the other. “You’re in hospital.” She pauses. “Do you know why you were brought here?”

“Probably my boss’s idea of torture,” I huff.

“Torture?” repeats one of the nurses, her tone apprehensive.

“There’s no rest for the wicked in financial forensics,” I drawl. “I wasoneday over the deadline, and this is how he punishes me. Fucking typical.”

I sense the two nurses look at each other, whispering something.

“What is it? Something on my face?” I go to touch it, but my hand is dragged down my something. I’m attached to another machine.

Scoffing, I try untethering myself from the wires, only I’m lacking the strength. My entire hand feels like jelly, fingers struggling for purchase, unable to grab anything. I look down, watching my hand from the third person, like it’s turned into a grabber machine, grabbing nothing but air.

“What the fuck…?”

“You were hit by a car two days ago, Miss Ranger. Do you remember that?”

“I wasn’t hit by anything.” My vision finally focuses, and I see both nurses looking down at me sympathetically.

“She only woke up a few minutes ago,” says one nurse to the other. “Give her time.”

“She should have a vague recollection,” says the other nurse. “Even a small fragment of what happened would be more promising.” She turns back to me, raising her voice a touch, like I’m deaf. “Are you sure you don’t remember?”

I wrack my brain, pushing through the fogginess to try and remember. Thinking hurts. It’s much easier to close my eyes and slip back into the dreamless sleep I’ve apparently been in for two days.

But then something catches my eyes, causing them to widen when I see how swollen my belly is.

Fear injects itself into my bloodstream, the beeping machine increasing in tempo as I sit up, gasping for air, watching the baby bump move with the rest of my body, since it’s very much attached.

“Is that…?” Horror takes away my ability to speak. “No, no, no…”