Page 104 of In the Dark

“It’s worth it if he did this …”

“Just please, don’t do anything right now. For peace … or for no one else but me?”

I saw how my “please” rattled him, how he frowned, how he took a deep breath and then he finally nodded, giving me his word.

30

Jasmina

CALLAHAN ASKED ME THE last time I’d seen a doctor, how the hospital stay went with my stomach, and that’s when I felt my nerves creep in. “We had so much going on—”

“And?”

“I didn’t go to the hospital. It was handled privately.”

“By who?”

“Callahan …” I sighed, because I could see his muscles tensing.

“Tell me you got proper care.”

“It’s not—”

“Tell me you got proper care, or your uncle goes on that list of people I’m going to cross off too.”

I had scrambled away from him and pinned him with a look that could kill. “Don’t you dare. My uncle is devastated over this. He was beside himself.”

“So beside himself he hasn’t gotten you the basic standard of care you should have.”

“I’m fine,” I wailed. “I played tennis today and then rode your cock, didn’t I?”

His jaw popped twice before he growled. “That shouldn’t have happened. We’re going to the doctor now.”

“Absolutely not.” I crossed my arms. “I’m fine.

“Then you will go and let them tell us you’re fine.”

“No,” I retorted quickly.

And that’s when he narrowed his eyes. “Jasmina, you go, or I bring the standard of care here. That means every damn nurse, doctor, surgeon, ob-gyn, anyone I can find. Jameson’s in the medical field too. I’ll call him over along with them.”

“Bring them, then. I don’t want to go to the hospital.” My voice was quieter now as I saw how this would play out. As I saw how I’d have to sit in a sterile room with only Callahan and medical professionals as they told us that I was probably barren.

I wouldn’t do that there. I could handle it here. It was a terrible realization, that I was finding comfort in a place that was surely about to be ripped from me after he found out the state of my body.

Callahan seemed to sense my sudden shift, because he got up and grabbed his clothes casually before walking up to me, still naked, and putting his hands on either side of my hips to lean in close to my face. “We got a month before the wedding, baby, and I need you healthy.”

I bit my lip. “What if I’m not healthy?” I whispered.

“Not?” He frowned, and then he watched as I rubbed a hand over my lower stomach.

“Baby”—he let that nickname fall from his lips like a caress—“Contract to marry you is with or without child. And I’d marry you without one over and over again.”

Why did my throat close up and my eyes well with tears I would absolutely not shed? I licked my lips and nodded, holding his gaze. “Then bring the doctors here … but not your brother, and tell them I want them to give it to me straight.”

He smiled big and pecked my lips before he chuckled, “Oh, I was always going to bring the doctors to you or bring you to them, Viper. And I don’t intend to have them sugarcoat anything. You know why?”

“Why?”