Satin Princess(56)

“Inform the nursing staff at the hotel,” I say. “Tell them we’re on our way.”

“Isn’t a hospital a better option?” Yulian asks. “They’ll have access to more equipment.”

“Are you questioning me again, brother?”

He falls silent and I look down at Jessa. Her eyes are wide open and she’s looking up at me as though I can save the baby.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, clutching the front of my shirt. “I didn’t know where you went and I, I, I…”

“What happened?”

“I saw her…”

Both Lev and Yulian look at me when they hear that. Confirmation. So she was definitely there at the market today.

Stalking us.

“You saw her?” I ask. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t know,” Jessa admits. “I see her everywhere sometimes. I’m not sure if I can trust my own eyes at this point. But I tried to find you, but then I got… I just panicked. That’s when I felt the pain in my stomach.”

“You’re going to be okay,” I reassure her. “You’re going to be fine.”

“But what about the baby?”

I don’t say anything. How can I? Even I don’t have the power to save this baby if she miscarries. Money and influence can only do so much. Sheer willpower can only do so much.

We drive in silence for a long time, uncertainty and tension thick in the air. I can taste it on my tongue, acrid and foul.

“We’re here,” Lev says, screeching to a halt in front of the hotel.

He’s parked at the back entrance of the hotel so we can get in with as little fuss as possible. There’s a separate private elevator that leads up to the King’s Suite.

When we arrive at the elevator, two members of my medical staff are standing outside the silver doors waiting for us, including Mathers.

“What happened?” she asks.

“My baby,” Jessa says before I can answer, trying to twist her neck a little to look at Dr. Mathers. “Is the baby going to be okay?”

“Take a deep breath, Jessa. I’ll have to examine you first.”

We pile into the elevator, leaving only Yulian and Lev behind. The ride up takes about twenty seconds, which is twenty seconds too long, in my opinion.

I plow straight for the suite where the bed has been made up for Jessa. I place her down on the edge of it and reluctantly step aside so that Dr. Mathers can take over.

Jessa’s eyes follow me. She’s clearly rattled. Clearly terrified. My chest aches again. I’m starting to really fucking hate this feeling.

“Anton?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t leave me.”

Those three little words are probably the most vulnerable ones I’ve ever heard her utter. Consciously, at least. I wonder if she can sense how much it means to me, that she trusts me enough to be afraid. That she needs me enough to want me close.

My whole life, I’ve dealt in pain. Given it and received it plenty.

She makes me want to try love instead.

I nod. “I won’t.”

She cringes as Mathers examines her. When the doctor uses her fingers to push into Jessa’s belly, Jessa whimpers.

“Gentle,” I growl, “or I’ll cut those fingers off myself.”

Mathers turns to me, her expression clipped and politely professional. She has yet to show so much as a shred of fear at my intimidations. “If you want me to do my job, Anton, you’re going to need to give me space.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Then I’m going to need you to trust me.”

I take a few steps back, but I make sure to stay in Jessa’s line of sight.

The doctor nods, satisfied. “Get her hooked up to an IV,” Mathers orders the nurses. “And roll in the sonogram machine.”

Both nurses buzz around in a flurry of activity while Jessa watches. She looks weak and dazed, like some lost lamb searching for safety.

When the sonogram machine is rolled in, one of the nurses brings Mathers a tube of gel. “It’s going to be cold,” she warns as she squirts some of it onto Jessa’s belly.

I inch forward as the machine blips to life. Jessa has her eyes trained on the screen. It doesn’t even look like she’s breathing. Mathers works the wand—slowly, slowly, slowly.

For a few long moments, there’s nothing. No sign of life. Just the strange palpitations of an empty womb.

Then…

A soft thud, thud, thud.

I grip the edge of a nearby table to stop from sinking to my knees. My teeth are clenched so hard that they might shatter as a tide of emotion swallows me whole.

Jessa merely whimpers. No words, just a single soft note of pure relief. Her head falls back against the pillow and her eyes flutter closed. “Oh, thank God.”

Dr. Mathers smiles. “As you can see, the baby is fine. See that blob over there?”

Jessa pulls her head back up and stares at the screen in awe. “That’s our baby?”

“That’s your baby,” Dr. Mathers confirms. “The heartbeat is strong.”

“What about the blood?”

Dr. Mathers starts wiping the gel off Jessa’s belly. “Spotting is normal in the early stages of pregnancy. Especially when there’s stress or trauma. You were distressed when this happened?”