Chapter 3 Heartbeat Prison.

Cold metal lifted from my skin, yet the trembling it caused stayed put. Not long after, those odd jolts through the silence just... stopped. Then came again the heavy heat, sinking in like wet wool. Still, tight coils wound deep within refused to loosen. Held fast now in what seemed like breathing stone - closed off where comfort ought to live but didn't. Time here knew one sound only: beat-beat. Beat-beat. Out here, Mom's pulse echoes through everything, steady like some rhythm nobody can stop. That beat? It ticks off time now - nothing else does.

Before, I ran huge businesses, hammered out massive agreements, held power over an empire built on boardrooms and secrets. One word into a phone and entire industries would shift or collapse. People knew me as Adrian Vale - the city's youngest billionaire boss, ruler of Starlight's tallest towers. Eyes shut tight, like they had forgotten how to open. Floating in heat, surrounded by something wet that held me without care. Arms and legs - too weak to do much more than tremble. That heavy stuff on my face just stayed there, no way to push it off. Breathing felt broken, short and wrong. Shame sat deep, sharp in my thoughts. But rage? Rage didn't fix anything here. Something inside told me to slow down. Getting upset wouldn't help at all. Around me, quiet didn't mean nothing was happening. Early on, it seemed like complete stillness, yet once I focused, shapes of sound began appearing. This place hummed without stopping - alive with inner echoes. Fluid moved through tight tunnels. A steady rhythm pulsed beneath. Muscles shifting without noise. Her heartbeat filling my ears, low and steady like distant thunder. That sound held my attention just as numbers once did, long ago. Each pulse moving through her carried meaning I needed to understand. From somewhere beyond skin and blood, words found their way back. "Victor," came the voice, calm but certain, "he's holding steady." . A whisper through fog, yet familiar somehow. That flat, emotionless rhythm again. Dr. Graves. Though sounds blurred, movement gave him away - he'd moved back from beside Elena's bed. "Heart rate surge seems brief," came the voice. "Probably just natural variation. Fetal brains can't process speech." I did not move a muscle, every sense tuned in. Victor cut in fast, edged with annoyance. Across layers of tissue, his manner held that old pride I knew too well. "Keep it under control, Doctor," he said without warmth. "Should this offspring of the Bloodline display any trace of Adrian's defiance," - his words slowed - "eliminate the risk before birth." Inside the warm dark, my small fists tightened on their own. Fury burned hot despite the form still forming. Shut down. Words they'd spoken once before. Clearer now, though. Not simply waiting for me to be born. Already set on removing me should I fall short. In his eyes, I wasn't a person. Just numbers adding up. An experiment shaped like fate. A shape in his hands might help or just get thrown away. Cold anger rushed into my thoughts. Not long after, a new thing happened instead. From Elena came a different pulse. Her heartbeat picked up speed, free now from the sluggish drag of medicine. The air near me shifted, just a little. Through the cord linking us, energy moved like a quiet ripple. Waking now, she stirred into awareness. Her mind cleared from the chemicals holding it down. Then came sound - her voice broke the silence. Soft. Gentle. A slight tremor ran through it as it moved between the folds of tissue dividing us. "My baby..." came her whisper. Her words hummed deep within me, turning the dark into something warm. Against her belly, her palm pressed - right where my small head drifted. "I felt you stir," she murmured then. "Such strength already." That softness in her tone cracked open something raw inside me. Before that second, rage ruled every thought. Victor haunted my mind. Betrayal burned bright. The loss of what once belonged to me never faded. Now, though, Elena's soft words stirred a different feeling deep inside. Not just memory - something tighter, sharper. Back then, she stayed kind when others did not. Never tangled in the Vale family's endless fights for control. Gentle, yes. Believing the best even when it hurt her. Too pure for that sharp-edged world. Today, silence surrounds her where support should be. Little did she suspect the faces close to her held hidden plans. Not once crossed her thoughts that something strange sat at the bottom of her cup. The gentle hands examining her belly carried silent agendas beneath their calm. To her, it felt like ordinary motherhood unfolding. All along, sharp eyes watched behind soft words. A warning needed to reach her. That idea hit hard, sudden, impossible to ignore. She deserved the real story. Yet where would it come from? Just layers of growing tissue, delicate wiring barely holding together. Speech wasn't an option. Not even close to shaping sound. Something stirred behind my eyes, a flicker of effort taking hold. Not speaking - fine - so long as there remained some path toward connection. With nothing but quiet pressure, attention turned inward, probing limbs like untested wires. Each small shift came late, uneven, like signals through thick water. Still, motion happened. Power lingered, even if thin. Footsteps neared Elena's bed, then. Through the floor they came, sharp and steady, carrying weight. Victor once more. Every thought snapped tight, alert. A second passed before his words arrived, coated in something too sweet to be real. "Elena, my love," out it slipped, smooth like oil on glass. That voice - thick with pretend care, almost cloying. She moved just a little, lifting herself upright beneath the sheets. A distant chime of glass pulled at my attention. Still talking, Victor leaned forward. With gentle words came the suggestion: drink now, keep it fresh for growth. Yet something in how he spoke stirred unease deep inside. Just as the rim met Elena's mouth, a thin thread of warning shot along the link between us. Time stopped. What entered her body carried none of the familiar nourishment from earlier days. Instead, sharp edges scraped against my awareness - harsh, foreign signals where balance once lived. Though small, though new, recognition arrived clear. Not food. Poison. A quiet kind of venom, meant to mimic what happens when a pregnancy ends on its own. My mind snapped awake, sharp and loud. Waiting wasn't his plan. He had already moved against me. Should she finish drinking all of it, the toxin would move fast inside her veins. Soon enough - just hours - the body would start fighting the life within. One last push came from somewhere deep inside. To others, it might seem like just bad luck. Not me though. I saw what was really going on. Stopping it became the only thing that mattered. Every part of me strained at once. A sudden burst sent my legs shooting ahead, hard and fast. A heavy impact hit Elena deep in the chest. From where I stood, her breath caught suddenly. The glass dropped through her hands. Breaking came fast when it met tile - a loud, sudden noise filled the room.

Cliffhanger: Staring down, Elena froze at the mess on the floor while Victor's steady face finally broke - his plan undone by something silent: the life inside her reacted first, blocking death before it took hold.