se

he heavy, suffocating darkness, dragging me back to consciousnes

ils. I blinked against the bright fluorescent lights, realizing

I took. I looked down and saw my right leg encased in a thick, heavy

the freezing rain, and the sickening lurch of the Maybach sliding

blindly slammed both hands down onto my stomach. Ever since the orphanage fire took my parents,

tal gown. I couldn't feel any flutter, any warmth. My ey

A middle-aged man in a crisp white coat, carrying a

epped to the side of the bed, pulling a small penli

gers clamping down on his white sleeve like a

gravelly whisper. Tears pooled in my eye

on tightening with professional sympathy. He let out a

te. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing my shattered

orced structure of the backseat and the side-curtain airbags absorbed the

paths down my pale cheeks as my grip on his sleeve went completely

, clinical warning. "You are exhibiting severe signs of a th

you require absolute bed rest. No stress, no physical exertion

up and wiped the tears from my face. When I looked back at him, the

ed, my voice steadying. "Who

smoothly. "Your husband is currently downstairs in the minor injuri

y bottom of a frozen lake. The last, pathetic, lingering illusion I

ould I call Mr. Howard now? I'm sure he will be thrilled

eam of my ribs. I fixed Dr. Evans with a sta

n in confusion. "Mrs. Howard, as your husband, he ha

ing as a paralegal in a cutthroat Wall Street law firm before my marriage hadn't

ability Act, my medical records are strictly confidential. If you breathe a single syllable about my pregnancy to Holde

den, venomous aura radiating from the battered woman in

s fingers move across the screen, navigating to the electronic medical

red on the screen did the rigid tension

my lower abdomen. I made a silent, ironclad promise to the tiny

pensive leather dress shoes echoed from the ha

le word to