“You have a pregnant girlfriend?” I ask.
He falters. “I did. Never mind.”
I wake with a start. The only sound in the room is my heavy breathing. It must have been a nightmare because I can’t possibly be here with Ryan. I look around the room, the realisation hitting me hard. The flowers he brought me earlier are arranged on the table in a child’s plastic bucket.
I climb out of bed and carefully open the door. I have no idea what the time is and there are no gaps giving away the light from around the window in my room. The chain clunks as I stretch it as far as it will go, allowing me to stick my head out of the bedroom door. There’s a passage leading to some stairs, but they are too far away for me to see what lies beyond. Other than that, the passage is empty—no other doors, no pictures, not even a small table. I hear footsteps and I rush back to the bed and lie down, closing my eyes tightly.
“It’s good to hear you up and about, my love,” he says. “Don’t pretend to sleep on my account.”
“How long have I been here?” I ask. “Where am I?”
“A few hours. A place that’s fit for a child,” he says with a smile.
“I have four months left. You can’t keep me here for four months,” I say. “People will come looking for me.”
“I’m going to leave the baby as long as I can. The longer she’s in you, the better.”
I cry out in frustration. “What do you mean and how do you know it’s a girl?”
“It’s a feeling I get. I knew you came into my life for a reason, and she is the reason,” he says happily. “She was a sign.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “We met because of college.”
“But I was drawn to you, Leia, and I didn’t know why, but God had a plan, I see that now. All my pain, it was killing me, and then I saw you and the fog lifted. Now, you’re bringing me a baby girl.”
I begin to cry because I can’t hold it in any longer. His ramblings both confuse and scare me. “You’re wrong. God took me to Chains and gave us a baby, not you.”
Ryan’s face darkens. “That’s why you could never be her mother. You don’t want the best for her like I do. You’ll poison her.”
“I am her mother. I’ll always be her mother and I’ll do anything to protect her. You try and take her and I’ll kill you.”
He smirks. “My love, that’s not possible. With him on my side . . . ” He pauses and points to the ceiling. “I can do whatever I need to do.”
“Let me get this straight,” I say as calmly as possible. “You’ve taken me because you want to take my child from me.”
“You’re getting it,” he says.
“You want to remove her from me, take her from my womb before I go into labour?” He nods and I begin to hyperventilate. “Why can’t you wait until she’s born?”
“Because the date is August twenty-eighth.”
“But that’s only a month away,” I screech.
“Relax. I’m a doctor. I know what to do.”
He leaves the room, I glance around for the hundredth time, looking for anything to get me out of here. I take some deep breaths and feel my heart slow. I have to get my shit together if I want to get out of here alive with my baby.
CHAINS
My breathing is shallow. There’s a whistling sound with every exhale and I know from previous experience I’ve punctured a lung. “You think she’d want this?” I whisper.
“Shut the fuck up,” snaps Riggs. He’s tired, I see it in his face and the way he slouches against the wall, dangling a whiskey bottle between his legs.
“She’s carrying your niece or nephew,” I continue, knowing that it might be my last words if I keep pushing him. “You want this kid to grow up without a father?”
“Why are you still talking?” he growls.
“You know she’ll hate you forever. She’ll have to tell my kid that I died at the hands of you, it’s fuckin’ uncle.”
“I’m warning you,” he hisses.
The door opens and Cree walks in. “Fuck,” he mutters when he sees me. “Blu said you wanted to see me,” he says to Riggs.
“Finish him,” he mutters and Cree glances at me. “You want to prove I can trust you again, VP, fuckin’ end him.”
Cree rubs his stubble thoughtfully. “It won’t be a kill like the others, Pres,” he says. “This’ll haunt you forever.”
“Stop talking and get on with it.” Riggs throws a knife at Cree’s feet and he stares down at it.
“Anna’s up there having pains,” says Cree.
Riggs laughs to himself. “Like last night’s pains?”
“I think this is the real thing. She refused to let me get you, saying you’d say she was lying.”
“Get on with this and then I can go to her,” snaps Riggs.
Cree picks up the knife. “Man, we been through some tough times.” He sighs. “You remember that time in Kabul? That bomb went off and we thought you’d gone, brother,” he says to Riggs. “Chains wouldn’t stop looking for you, said he’d feel it if you were dead.”
Flashbacks of me looking through dead soldiers’ bodies flickers through my mind. I looked for a solid hour. I ignored the commands of my sergeant because I knew Riggs was still there somewhere. I was right—we found his unconscious body under two men. “He carried you on his back for miles,” says Cree.
“I know what you’re trying to do and it isn’t gonna work. He betrayed me.” Riggs drinks the last of the bottle, then throws it across the room. It shatters. “I’ll do it myself,” he snaps, pushing to stand.
“Tell Leia I’m sorry,” I say to Cree. “And I love her. I always did.”
“Shut the hell up,” yells Riggs, gripping my throat and squeezing.
Panic flashes in Cree’s eyes. He desperately wants to stop Riggs, but he’s torn between friendship and loyalty. I smile to reassure him. I knew it was a risk when I did what I did, and if this is my time, then I’ll take it. I’ve made my peace with it.
“Riggs,” yells Anna from the doorway. Blu is blocking her path. “I need you.”
“I’m busy,” he yells, but his grip loosens slightly.
“I swear to god, Blu, if you don’t get the fuck outta my way, I’m gonna beat you. How will that look to everyone, a pregnant woman kicking your ass?” she yells. Cree moves to the door and says something in a low voice to Blu. He steps aside and Anna marches in. I see the slight falter in her step when she sets eyes on me, but she brushes it off and then doubles over in pain, panting hard and squeezing her eyes shut. “I’m in labour,” she hisses.
Riggs puts his hands on his hips and watches her sceptically. “Like last night?”
“No, not like last night,” she hisses through gritted teeth, groaning and rubbing her stomach. “You’d better take me seriously, Finn James, because I am having this baby.”
“Then get comfy and when I’m done here, I’ll call the hospital.”