Broken Kingdom (Royal Hearts Academy #4)(133)

Sometimes, if they’re lucky—they earn forgiveness, too.

But there’s no forgiveness for this.

Because what I took from her.

From us.

Can’t ever be replaced.





Chapter 63





Oakley





Past…





I’m so groggy from all the medication they pumped me with, I can barely see straight.

“No more,” I tell the nurse, fighting my tiredness.

I want to be alert when Bianca gets out of surgery.

“You’re clustering,” she informs me, as if I didn’t already know.

I eye the two police officers who haven’t left my room.

“Where’s my dad?”

“He went to the cafeteria.”

The nurse squeezes my shoulder. “Try to get some rest. I’ll be in to check on you in a little bit.”

How the fuck am I supposed to sleep when the girl I love is fighting for her life?

My eyelids grow heavy as another wave of drowsiness surges through me.

I force myself to fight through it, but it’s a losing battle.

The shit the nurse gave me must be strong because I hear footsteps enter the room followed by voices murmuring.

“Who are you?” one of the officers questions.

“I’m the brother of the girl who was in the accident,” someone who sounds a lot like Jace grunts.

Shit.

“I’ll give you both five hundred bucks to take a walk for five minutes.”

My eyes open in time to see Jace place a wad of cash in their hands.

“You can’t kill him,” one of the officers warns before they leave the room.

“Jace—”

A punch to my face stops me mid-sentence.

“You motherfucker.”

Jace has every right to be furious with me.

But there’s only one thing I give a fuck about right now.

“How’s Bianca?”

He looks like he wants to clobber me again. “How she’s doing is none of your goddamn business.”

The fuck it isn’t.

“Goddammit, Jace. I need to kno—”

“She just got out of surgery.”

Relief surges through my chest, but it’s short-lived because Jace gets close to my face and grinds out, “They said her HCG levels are elevated.”

I have no idea what that means.

“What—”

“She’s pregnant,” he spits.

Red-hot panic slams into me and the room starts spinning.

How the fuck is that even possible? She’s on the pill.

My voice is low, rippling with anxiety. “She’s pregnant?”

Jace laughs, but there’s no humor. “Given you look like you’re about to shit yourself, it’s safe to say I know who the father is.”

Goddammit. This isn’t how I wanted him to find out about us.

“It’s not what you think. She wasn’t just some booty call. I care about her.”

More than care. I love her.

What Bianca and I have is far beyond a summer hookup.

She taught me things no one else could and made me a better person.

Before I went and fucked it all up.

And yeah, us having a baby right now isn’t ideal—especially since I’m headed to prison and all—but maybe I can use my dad’s connections and cut a deal.

Jace doesn’t look convinced. “Then why did you lie about it?”

Fucking hell. He’s got me there.

But explaining that it started off as a fling will only make things worse.

“Because I know you well enough to know you’d never be okay with me dating her.” I meet his stare. “I was going to tell you, though.”

Jace’s eyes narrow as he fists the neck of my hospital gown.

“I swear to God, motherfucker. If she dies, I’ll fucking kill you.”

My chest recoils. If she dies…I won’t want to live.

It looks like it’s taking every ounce of his willpower not to punch me again.

However, he doesn’t have to punch me…because his parting words are like a dull blade twisting my heart until it snaps.

“She was pregnant,” he whispers, gripping the door frame. “She lost the baby…because of you.”





Chapter 64





Bianca





No. It’s not true.

He’s lying. He has to be lying.

My heart folds in on itself when I peer up at him, because the devastation etched in Oakley’s features tells me this isn’t some cruel joke and he’s telling me the truth.

I clutch my stomach. I was pregnant.

How can that be, though? Amnesia or not, surely I would have remembered something that significant.

I rub my temples, not understanding how this happened.

I was on the pill. I know this because the moment Oakley and I started our fling, I made a doctor’s appointment to get it.

And even though he refused to have sex with me for most of our relationship, I took it every day faithfully.

I close my eyes when I realize.

Until the day of the fire…