Chapter 4

"I'm driving you to the city," Caleb said, his voice tight with panic as he laid me in the back seat of the Bentley. "We're going to the best private hospital."

I was weak, the pain in my belly a constant, grinding agony. "Caleb, no," I whispered. "The charity gala... your family... you can't be seen like this."

I was testing him. I needed to see how far he would go.

"This baby is the last of the Pact Keepers," he snarled, ignoring my protests as he sped down the long driveway. "I won't let anything happen to him."

He used his family's name to bypass all the security at the hospital. He stormed into the emergency room, carrying me in his arms, shouting for the top surgeon. He cornered Dr. Hughes, a tired-looking older man, and threatened him, promising to ruin his career and his family if he didn't save my baby.

Dr. Hughes examined me, his face grim.

"The fetus is in distress," he said, his voice low. "The only chance to save it is with a high-risk, experimental drug. It will almost certainly stabilize the pregnancy, but it will cause permanent, severe damage to your wife's health. It could leave her an invalid."

Caleb didn't hesitate for a single second. He didn't even look at me.

"Give it to her."

He took the pill from the doctor and forced it between my lips, holding my jaw shut until I swallowed. He leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear, his voice a venomous whisper meant only for me.

"The baby is tied to Jennifer's life. He cannot die."

My health started to fail almost immediately. The drug worked, the bleeding stopped, and the pregnancy was declared stable. But I grew weaker by the day. I was confined to a hospital bed, a prisoner in my own body, while Caleb watched over me like a hawk.

One afternoon, a week later, Caleb received an urgent text. His face went pale. He turned to Dr. Hughes, who was checking my vitals.

"Jennifer has taken a turn for the worse," Caleb said, his voice shaking with a rage that wasn't for me. "I need my wife's heart's blood. Now."

"Mr. Scott, she's too weak," Dr. Hughes protested. "Taking heart's blood could kill her."

Caleb grabbed the doctor by the front of his coat. "My brother is on the board of this hospital. Your granddaughter has a rare genetic disorder, doesn't she? It would be a shame if her experimental treatment funding was suddenly cut."

The threat hung in the air, vile and absolute. Dr. Hughes looked from Caleb' s furious face to my own. I met the doctor' s terrified eyes. And from behind Caleb's back, I gave a slow, deliberate nod.

I mouthed two words to him. A pact.

His eyes widened in understanding. He knew the stories about my people. He knew what I was offering. A life for a life. His granddaughter's for my freedom.

In exchange for a life pact to save his terminally ill granddaughter, Dr. Hughes gave me a powerful drug to induce labor.