Page 28
She leaves quickly, professional enough to read the air correctly, and the door clicks shut behind her, leaving Harper and me alone.
Harper’s hand rips out of mine before I’ve even processed that the doctor is gone.
“This is your fault.” Her voice comes out shaking, low at first, and then it isn’t low anymore. “You did this to me. You kidnapped me. You locked me up. And now I’m pregnant. I’m going to have a baby because some man decided he wanted to kidnap me!”
“Harper—”
“Don’t.” She’s out of the bed before I can stop her, IV line pulling taut, and I’m on my feet reaching for her before she yanks it free entirely. “You ruined my life. Do you understand that? Whatever I was supposed to have, whoever I was supposed to become, none of that exists anymore because of what you did to me.”
She shoves at my chest with both hands, hard enough that I take a step back to absorb it rather than let her overbalance herself with the line still half in her arm. She swings again, wild, catching my shoulder more than anything, and I catch her wrist before the next one lands, not gripping hard, just enough to stop it.
“Let go of me.”
“You’re going to pull that line out of your arm.” I keep my voice level, refusing to match the volume she’s throwing at me, though nothing in me feels level right now. “Hit me all you want after. Not with a needle still in you.”
She’s crying now, furious tears, and she yanks her wrist free the second I loosen my grip, putting distance between us instead of coming at me again, chest heaving, both hands pressed flat against her own face like she’s trying to hold herself together by force.
“I hate you,” she says, the words breaking apart halfway through. “I hate you so much right now. You don’t get to decide this is fine. You don’t get to sit there being calm about it like it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“I’m not calm,” I say it plainly, no defense in it. “I don’t know what I look like to you right now, but I promise you I’m not calm.”
“You should be terrified. You should be as scared as I am.” She drops her hands, finally looking at me directly, mascara streaked, eyes red. “I’m going to have a kid in captivity, Artem. Do you understand what that actually means? A whole childhood behind gates.”
“I understand exactly what it means.” I don’t move toward her, giving her the room she clearly wants. “You’re right about all of it. I took you. I kept you. Whatever this child’s life looks like from here forward, that starts with a decision I made, not one you ever had a say in.”
“Don’t agree with me like that fixes anything.”
“It doesn’t fix anything. I’m not trying to fix it.” I hold her gaze, refusing to look away from whatever she needs to see in my face right now. “I’m telling you the truth because you asked for it, and because you deserve it more than you deserve me managing how this conversation goes.”
She stands there, chest still heaving, and the rage doesn’t lose its edge so much as it curdles into something worse.
“My life is never going to be the same again.” Her voice drops. “I’m going to have a baby in this house. Who’s even supposed to help me? Because it’s not going to be my mother, and it’s sure as hell not going to be Caleb.”
She wraps her arms around herself, shrinking down slightly, some of the strength that carried her out of that bed already gone out of her body.
“Do you know how bad his wife’s pregnancy was? She had somebody with her every single appointment. Her mother flew in for two months. She had people.” Her voice cracks on the word. “I have guards. I have a man who kidnapped me standing in a hospital room telling me it’s fine to be scared.”
“You’re not going to go through it alone.” I keep my voice even, though everything in me wants to close the distance between us right now. “Whatever you need, whoever you need, I’ll make it happen. A midwife who stays with you around the clock if that’s what it takes. Someone you trust in that room with you, not just me.”
She doesn’t answer. She just stands there swaying slightly on her feet, the adrenaline finally draining out of her all at once, her legs looking less steady by the second.
“You should lie back down.” I move toward her slowly, giving her every chance to tell me to stop. She doesn’t. “You just pulled an IV halfway out of your arm and screamed at me for five minutes. Whatever you’re feeling right now, your body’s had enough for tonight.”
She lets me guide her back toward the bed, one arm around her shoulders, the other steadying her elbow, and she doesn’t fight it this time, some of her weight actually leaning into me as we cross the few feet back to the mattress. I ease her down onto it, careful with the IV line still trailing from her arm, and pull the blanket up over her legs without being asked.
She doesn’t say anything else. Her eyes close, her hand still resting against her stomach, and after a minute her breathing changes.
I pull the chair a little closer and stay.
19
ARTEM
I’m back at the estate within an hour of leaving Harper settled for the night at the hospital, and Yuri’s waiting for me in the study before I’ve even taken my coat off, a folder already in hand like he’s been sitting on this for a while.
“You said to trace what she ate.” He sets a folder on the desk, thinner than I expected after three days of work. “Didn’t take as long as I thought it would.”
“Tell me.”
