Chapter 1

Adrian came toward me, his eyes red-rimmed. Then he saw my belly and Lucas's jacket around my shoulders, and he stopped dead.

"Elena, I've been looking for you for three months."

I walked toward him barefoot. "All Lucas did was find me at a gas station. The people who took me—"

My mother-in-law, Evelyn Holt, rushed at me and slapped me so hard my head snapped sideways.

"You vanish for three months, come back pregnant with your old flame in tow, and you have the nerve to make excuses?"

The ultrasound showed I was 16 weeks pregnant.

I was already four weeks pregnant when I disappeared.

The doctor said he was on the small side, but his heartbeat was strong.

I lay on the exam table listening to that fast little thump-thump-thump, and the tears wouldn't stop.

Down in that basement, I'd talked to him every day. I told him to hang on for one more day and promised his daddy was coming to get us.

Now I was finally back with Adrian.

I pressed his hand to my belly. "He's moving."

Adrian's fingers stiffened, and he drew his hand back almost at once.

But that night, two bodyguards came into my hospital room with a doctor carrying three abortion pills.

Then I saw the signed paperwork in Adrian's hand.

"This is your baby." I wrapped both arms around my belly. "Look how far along I am. Go ask the doctor—"

"I know."

Those two words stopped me cold.

Adrian sat down on the edge of the bed and gently squeezed my hand.

"The rumors are already out there. We can't keep this baby."

"Rumors? This is a life!"

My teeth were chattering. "They kept trying to make me take pills. Every time, I hid them under my tongue and spat them out as soon as they turned away. I fought so hard to keep him alive."

I grabbed his sleeve. "Please. Just listen to his heartbeat, just once."

He swallowed hard and pulled me into his arms.

I thought he'd softened. A second later, he locked both my hands against his chest.

"Give it to her."

I fought like a wild thing. I slammed my head into him and sank my teeth into his hand. The bodyguards pinned my legs, and the doctor pried my jaw open and forced the pills down my throat.

Adrian held me the whole time.

"Don't be scared," he murmured in my ear, over and over. "We'll have other babies."

When the pills kicked in, the pain was so bad I rolled off the bed onto the floor, begging him again and again to get me to a doctor.

He just knelt down and held me tight so I couldn't reach for the door.

Blood soaked through my nightgown. When I felt that warmth leave my body, I heard myself let out a scream that didn't sound human.

My baby died in his father's arms.

Even as I blacked out, I was still shielding my belly.

Adrian tried twice to pry my hands away and couldn't.

But there was nothing left for me to protect.