Chapter 3

Kaeden's reply was muffled, but the placated tone was unmistakable. Clemmie's poison had worked again.

"You've suffered so much, my love," he murmured, his voice now thick with pity-for her. "I'll make it all right."

I heard the soft sound of a kiss.

"I know you will," Clemmie whispered back. "Soon, we'll have everything we've ever wanted. A real family."

Their footsteps faded down the hall, but their words hung in the air, colder and sharper than the metal restraints on my skin.

Perfect match.

A real family.

The pieces clicked into place with a horrifying, soul-crushing certainty. This wasn't just punishment. This wasn't just about teaching me a "lesson."

Clemmie was infertile. She was obsessed with having a child. My child. And my body... my body was a match for something she needed. My organs. They were going to kill me and take my organs for her.

The man I had loved, the father of my unborn child, was conspiring to murder me and harvest my body for his mistress.

A wave of nausea and a chill so profound it felt like death itself washed over me. I looked down. The front of my dress was soaked in blood. My movements had torn something open, something vital. I could see the glistening, raw edges of the wound on my abdomen, a grotesque testament to their cruelty. My insides were on the outside.

It was over.

There was no fight left in me. The pain was a distant, roaring ocean. The betrayal was a black hole that had swallowed my heart. I closed my eyes.

I hope we never meet again, Kaeden. Not in this life, not in the next.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open with a loud bang, splintering the frame.

A man stood silhouetted in the doorway, panting. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

He stepped into the room, and his eyes widened in horror as they landed on me. He gagged, stumbling back a step. The stench of blood and antiseptic was overwhelming.

"Oh my God," he breathed, his face pale.

I recognized him. Alois Rivas. He used to work in the IT department at my company. A quiet, kind man I' d shared a few pleasant conversations with in the breakroom.

My lips moved, but only a dry rasp came out. I tried again, forcing air from my lungs. "Help... me..."

Alois rushed to my side, his eyes taking in the blood, the restraints, the electroshock machine. "Daria? Daria Pratt? What happened to you?"

I couldn't tell him the truth. Not now. Kaeden's power was immense. These people would kill him too if he interfered.

"Car... accident," I croaked, the lie tasting like ash in my mouth. "They... brought me here."

It was a weak lie, but it was all I had. My survival, and my baby's, now rested entirely on this near-stranger.

"Hold on, Daria. I'm getting you out of here," he said, his voice firm with a resolve that gave me a flicker of hope. He began fumbling with the buckles on the restraints.

It was a bitter, cruel irony. My husband left me to die, and a former colleague I barely knew was my only savior.

Alois pulled out his phone. "I'm calling 911."

He spoke quickly, urgently, to the dispatcher, but his face fell. "What do you mean you can't send an ambulance? This is an emergency!" He listened for another moment, his expression turning to disbelief. "Because of a private security cordon for a VIP patient? Who?"

He hung up, his face grim. "They won't come. The whole area is locked down for some big shot at the main hospital nearby."

Kaeden. It had to be Kaeden's doing. He had locked down the whole district to make sure no one could save me.

"No time," Alois said, more to himself than to me. "I'll have to take you myself." He finally got the last restraint undone. He carefully, gently, scooped me into his arms. The movement sent a fresh wave of agony through me, but I bit my lip to keep from screaming.

"Thank you," I whispered, my head lolling against his shoulder.

"Don't thank me," he said, his voice tight with anger. "Whoever did this to you is a monster. We'll sort that out later. Right now, we just need to get you to a hospital."

He carried me out into the hallway and down a service elevator, his steps quick and sure. We burst out into the cool night air of a parking garage. He placed me as gently as he could in the passenger seat of his car.

As he sped out of the garage, the tires squealing, we were immediately stuck. A line of black SUVs blocked the road ahead.

"Move!" Alois roared, slamming his hand on the horn. "Get out of the damn way!"

A man in a sharp suit and sunglasses, even at night, stepped out of one of the SUVs. He walked slowly toward our car, a picture of calm authority.