Chapter 4: His Eyes

Three weeks passed in the Emmanuel mansion. Three weeks of routine that I grew used to faster than I expected. Every morning, I woke up early, had breakfast with Mabel, then went to Victor's room. I would sit beside his bed, talk about nothing and everything, then leave for my university classes in the afternoon.

The doctors came every three days. They checked his vitals, scribbled notes on their clipboards, and left without saying anything hopeful. Deborah, the night nurse, told me his condition was stable but unchanging. "Stable" in medical language meant he was not getting better, but he was not getting worse either.

My father's hospital bills were paid in full within the first week. The relief of that was so enormous I nearly collapsed when Mabel confirmed the transfer had gone through. Dorinda received her thirty percent and disappeared from my life like smoke after a fire. Good riddance.

Benjamin texted me every day. Sweet messages, concerned messages, messages asking when he could come visit me at the mansion. I responded with short, polite answers. I could not bring myself to confront him yet. Not until I had a plan. Not until I was strong enough to face him without shaking.

On the fourteenth day of my marriage, Evelyn summoned me to the main house for tea.

I arrived to find Franklin and Tonia already seated in the living room. Franklin barely glanced at me. Tonia gave me that same poisoned-sugar smile.

Evelyn sat in her usual chair, back straight, chin high. She waited until I sat down before she spoke.

"Shaznay, I want to discuss something important with you."

"Yes, Grandmother." She had asked me to call her that after the wedding.

"Victor's condition has been stable for seven months. The doctors say his body is healthy, even if his mind is absent. His organs function normally. His blood results are excellent." Evelyn paused and fixed her sharp eyes on me. "I want an heir."

The room went still. I could feel Franklin stiffen in his chair. Tonia set her teacup down with a small clink.

"An heir?" I repeated.

"Victor has no children. If he dies without an heir, his entire estate falls to Franklin according to our family charter. I do not want that." Evelyn did not look at Franklin as she said this, but the words hit him like a slap. His face went red.

"Mother, that is outrageous," Franklin said. "You cannot ask this girl to carry a child for a man who is unconscious. It is unnatural."

"I can and I will," Evelyn said calmly. "The doctors have confirmed it is possible through medical procedures. Shaznay, I am asking if you are willing."

My mind raced. A child. Victor's child. Carried by me, a woman he had never met, never spoken to, never chosen. The thought made my skin crawl. And yet...

If I had Victor's child, Benjamin would never get a cent of Emmanuel money. Franklin would never get control. Every single vulture circling Victor's empire would be locked out forever.

That thought tasted like justice.

"I need time to think," I said.

"You have three days," Evelyn replied. "After that, I will need your answer."

Franklin stood abruptly and left the room. Tonia followed him, but not before shooting me a look so full of venom it could have killed on contact.

Evelyn watched them go with no expression on her face. Then she turned to me and said quietly, "They will try to make your life difficult now. Be ready."

I left the main house with my head spinning. The driver took me back to the mansion, and I went straight to Victor's room. I needed to think, and strangely, his room had become the one place where my mind felt clear.

I sat in my usual chair and looked at his face. The afternoon light caught the angles of his jaw and the straight line of his nose. Seven months of silence. Seven months of lying here while people fought over his legacy like dogs over a bone.

"They want me to give you a child," I said. "Your grandmother. She thinks it will protect your estate." I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. "What would you want, Victor? If you could speak right now, what would you tell me to do?"

The heart monitor beeped steadily. His chest rose and fell.

I reached out and touched his hand. His skin was warm, surprisingly so. I had expected it to be cold like my father's, but Victor's hand was warm and alive under my fingers.

"I am going to say yes," I told him. "Not for the money. Not for Evelyn. For you. Because everyone in your life is trying to take from you, and nobody is trying to give you anything. If I give you a child, that child will be yours. Really yours. And nobody can take that away."

I squeezed his hand gently and started to pull away.

His fingers closed around mine.

I stopped breathing.

His grip was weak, barely there, like a baby holding a finger. But it was real. It was deliberate. His hand was holding mine, and he was not letting go.

"Victor?" My voice came out as a whisper.

His eyelids twitched. Once. Twice. Then slowly, like curtains being pulled apart, they opened.

Dark brown eyes stared directly at me. Not empty, not unfocused, not glazed over like the doctors described in their reports. These eyes were sharp. Alert. And burning with something I could not name.

His lips moved. No sound came out at first, just a dry rasp of air. Then one word, spoken so low I had to lean in to hear it.

"No."

I jerked backward so hard the chair scraped against the floor. My hand was still trapped in his grip. His eyes followed my movement, tracking me the way a predator tracks prey.

"Mabel!" I screamed. "Mabel, come now!"

Victor's eyes stayed locked on my face. His grip did not loosen. And in those dark, burning eyes, I saw something that made my entire body go cold.

He was not confused. He was not disoriented. He was not waking up like a man emerging from a deep sleep.

He was looking at me like he already knew exactly who I was.