Chapter Six

Erran

The moment the door closed behind Max, I stared at it for several seconds, I could still hear his footsteps fading down the hallway, I should have been relieved that he was gone, Instead, I felt trapped.

I looked around the enormous room, taking in the expensive furniture, the massive bed, the floor to ceiling windows and the city lights beyond them.

Everything was beautiful but yet so unfamiliar and none of it belonged to me.

I slowly lowered my eyes to my injured leg.

A sharp ache shot through it when I moved, reminding me that I couldn't simply walk out of here even if I wanted to, but I had to try.

I couldn't spend another night in this house without knowing whether I was a prisoner or a guest.

I pushed myself toward the edge of the bed and carefully reached for the wheelchair beside it.

The moment I tried to stand, pain shot through my leg and I gasped and grabbed the mattress.

“Damn it.”

I waited until the pain eased before lowering myself into the wheelchair, my hands trembled as I wheeled myself toward the door.

I stopped with my fingers hovering over the handle.

Max had said I wasn't allowed to leave without his permission but Max had said a lot of things.

I opened the door and the hallway was empty, I slowly rolled forward.

The mansion was even more enormous from inside. Long corridors stretched in both directions, decorated with paintings and strange sculptures I couldn't even begin to identify. Everything looked like it belonged in a museum.

I reached the staircase and stopped, there was no way I was getting down those stairs in a wheelchair, I turned around and headed back toward the elevator.

As soon as the doors opened, I rolled inside and pressed the button for the first floor and the elevator began descending.

For the first time since arriving, I felt a tiny spark of hope, I could leave, maybe I could find a taxi and call someone.

The elevator doors opened and two men were standing outside and both immediately looked at me but no one moved. 

I swallowed “Excuse me.”

One of them stepped forward “Miss Erran.”

My stomach tightened.

“How do you know my name?”

“We were instructed to assist you.”

“I don't need assistance.”

I tried to roll past him and he gently placed one hand on the wheelchair.

“You can't leave.”

I stared at him “Move.”

“I can't do that.”

“Why?”

“Alpha's orders.”

Of course everything came back to Max, I looked between the two men.

“Am I a prisoner?”

Neither answered but I knew that was answer enough for me.

I turned my wheelchair around.

“Fine.”

I didn't want to make a scene, especially not when I didn't know what these people were capable of, but as I wheeled back toward the elevator, something caught my attention, a door beside the main staircase was slightly open, I had passed it earlier without noticing.

There was a desk inside and sitting on that desk was a folder and my name was written across the front.

ERRAN SIMONE.

I stopped breathing and looked behind me.

The guards were speaking quietly to each other, neither was looking in my direction.

I slowly wheeled myself toward the room and my heart began pounding asI pushed the door open.

The room appeared to be some kind of private office.

I looked back once more before entering, the folder was still there, I reached for it.

My fingers hesitated over my name before I opened it.

The first page was a copy of my hospital records, my blood pressure, my test results, my pregnancy results, my X-rays.

Everything about me, I flipped to the next page.

There was a report from the doctor who had treated me after the accident then another document.

The date at the top made my stomach drop.

It was dated three days before I was thrown out of my father's house before I even knew I was pregnant.

I turned the page and there were details about my medical history, my childhood, my school, my previous addresses, my relationship with Brian.

Even information about my upcoming wedding was there, someone had been investigating me.

I kept turning pages, my breathing becoming heavier with every one.

Then I saw it, a photograph of me, I was walking out of a grocery store and another showed me leaving my father's house, another had me sitting inside a café with Brian.

They had been taken from a distance, someone had been watching me. 

I heard footsteps behind me and I spun around but no one was there.

I quickly turned back to the folder and there was one final page, It contained a single sentence.

Subject confirmed as the biological carrier of Alpha Max Black's heir.

My fingers went cold, subject? Carrier?

I wasn't a person in this file, I was a case.

I shoved the folder against my chest and wheeled out of the office, I needed answers and I needed them now.

I barely made it halfway down the corridor before I heard the front doors opening.

Voices echoed through the foyer, I recognized one immediately.

Max and I stopped.

He walked inside, removing his black coat as he spoke to someone beside him. He looked completely composed. Like he hadn't just turned my entire world upside down.

His eyes found mine and they dropped to the folder in my lap and his expression changed but only slightly.

He stopped walking “Erran.”

I held up the folder “You have been watching me.”

The man beside him immediately looked away and Max's jaw tightened.

“I can explain.”

“No.” I shook my head “You have explained enough.” I wheeled closer “You knew my name before you came to the hospital.” He remained silent “You knew about my pregnancy before anyone told you.”

His eyes narrowed.

“You knew where I was.” I held up the folder “And you had information about me from before I even knew I was pregnant.”

He slowly walked toward me.

“Erran, you shouldn't have gone into that room.”

“That isn't an answer.”

“You don't understand what you found.”

“Then explain it to me so I can understand!”

My voice echoed through the enormous foyer, the guards lowered their heads, suddenly very interested in the floor but I didn't care.

For the first time since everything had fallen apart, I wasn't crying, begging or angry.

“You keep telling me that I'm safe,” I continued. “You tell me that I'm carrying your heir. You tell me that your enemies might come after me. But you never tell me why.”

Max stared at me and I swallowed.

“Why me?” His face remained unreadable.

“Why did you know about me before I knew about you?”

I stared at him but he said nothing, 

“How long have you been watching me, Max?”

His eyes hardened.

“Long enough.”

“Long enough for what?”

He walked closer until he was standing directly in front of me and I had to tilt my head to look up at him, his voice dropped.

“Long enough to know you were never supposed to be carrying my child.”