Chapter 5 : The Double Pulse.

POV: Alexander

"Wake up, Elena!"

My voice cracked as I ran down the sterile corridor of the Premium Medical Wing.

She was limp in my arms. Too limp. Her white lab coat was soaked in blood, the crimson liquid running down my hands and dripping onto the polished floor behind us.

"Get the crash cart into Operating Room Three!"

Nurses froze.

I didn't slow down.

"Move!"

Dr. Harrison came sprinting from the scrub room.

"Put her on the gurney, Chairman!"

I lowered Elena onto the surgical table.

Her head rolled helplessly to one side.

"Elena."

Nothing.

I grabbed her hand.

It was cold. Too cold.

"Open your eyes."

Nothing.

I squeezed harder.

"You don't get to do this."

My voice broke.

"You don't get to leave me."

A nurse shoved me backward.

"Sir, you can't stay in here."

"That's my wife!"

My voice echoed through the operating room.

"That's my child!"

Dr. Harrison looked at me. His expression was grim.

"She's in hypovolemic shock. If you don't let us work, you could lose both of them."

Both.

The words hit me like a bullet.

I released her hand.

The nurses surrounded her. Tubes. Needles. Blood. Machines. Everything happened at once.

Then the doors closed between us.

I stood outside the glass. Unable to move. Unable to breathe.

Mark grabbed my shoulder.

"Chairman."

I didn't look at him.

"Not now."

"Sir, we have another problem."

I kept staring at Elena.

"Whatever it is, handle it."

"Vivian escaped."

My head turned slowly.

"What?"

"The transport van was ambushed two blocks from the precinct."

My jaw tightened.

"How?"

"They rammed the vehicle."

Mark's voice lowered.

"The drivers were shot."

My hands curled into fists.

"Who did it?"

"We traced the vehicle."

A pause.

"It belongs to the sovereign scientific ministry of Astoria."

I stared at him.

"What?"

Mark swallowed.

"There's more."

"Say it."

"The Astorian council issued a red notice for Dr. Elena Lin."

My blood ran cold.

"They're accusing her of stealing classified stem-cell sequencing research from their royal vault five years ago."

I looked through the glass at Elena.

Five years ago. The same year she disappeared.

"Why now?"

"They want her extradited by midnight."

My eyes hardened.

"They can wait."

"Sir—"

"No one takes Elena."

I turned back toward the operating room.

"Not tonight."

Not after I had almost lost her.

Not after I had finally discovered how much she'd been carrying alone.

And certainly not after learning she was carrying my children.

---

POV: Elena

The world smelled like burning copper. Then cold metal. Then nothing.

I opened my eyes.

Bright surgical lights moved above me.

My body felt impossibly heavy.

"She's awake."

Someone was speaking.

"Increase the anesthesia."

"No."

The word barely escaped my throat.

I tried to lift myself.

Pain exploded through my abdomen.

I screamed.

"Stop!"

Dr. Harrison appeared above me.

"Dr. Lin, you're hemorrhaging."

His eyes were frightened. That scared me more than the pain.

"What did she give me?"

"Vivian injected you with a synthetic abortifacient."

My blood ran cold.

"It is causing the gestational sac to detach from the uterine wall."

My hand flew to my stomach.

"No."

"If we don't remove the damaged tissue, you could develop septic shock."

"No."

I grabbed his sleeve.

"Check the baby."

"Elena—"

"Check the heartbeat."

My voice shook.

"Please."

He hesitated.

I stared at him.

"Don't look at the blood."

My breathing became ragged.

"Look at the screen."

The nurses exchanged glances.

"Doctor..."

"Do it."

The ultrasound machine was moved over my abdomen.

Cold gel touched my skin.

The room became silent.

Then came static.

Shhh... shhh... shhh...

I held my breath.

Then I heard it.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My eyes filled with tears.

"He's alive."

Dr. Harrison stared at the monitor.

"Wait."

His fingers adjusted the machine.

Another heartbeat appeared.

Thump-thump-thump.

Then another. Faster. Lighter.

My breath caught.

Dr. Harrison's face changed.

"That's not one heartbeat."

He moved the transducer.

The sound became clearer.

Two distinct rhythms.

Two tiny lives.

The nurse beside him gasped.

"Doctor..."

He stared at the screen.

"There are two gestational sacs."

I closed my eyes.

"Twins."

The word came out as a whisper.

Two babies.

Two tiny heartbeats.

Still fighting.

"Don't remove them."

Dr. Harrison looked at me.

"Elena, the hemorrhage is severe."

"Use my formula."

His eyes widened.

"The synthetic blood?"

"It contains a competitive inhibitor for the receptor the toxin is attacking."

"That formula has never been tested on a pregnant patient."

"Then test it now."

"Your heart could stop."

I looked at the monitor.

Two heartbeats.

Two reasons to live.

"If you don't use it, I could die anyway."

I swallowed.

"So do it."

My vision began to fade.

"Save my babies."

---

POV: Alexander

The operating room doors opened.

Dr. Harrison stumbled out.

His gown was covered in blood.

I grabbed him before he could say a word.

"Is she alive?"

He nodded.

"She's stable."

My knees nearly gave out.

"The babies?"

His expression softened.

"They survived."

I stared at him.

"Both?"

"Both."

For the first time in what felt like hours, I breathed.

Then Harrison's expression changed.

"You need to go inside."

"Why?"

"She refused full sedation."

He looked at me.

"She wants to tell you something herself."

I pushed through the doors.

Elena lay beneath the surgical lights.

Four IV lines ran into her arms.

Blue fluid moved slowly through the tubes.

She looked so pale that for one terrible second I thought I'd lost her.

Then her eyes moved.

"Alex."

I dropped beside her.

I took her hand.

"I'm here."

My voice was barely steady.

"I'm right here."

Her fingers curled weakly around mine.

"The babies?"

"Twins."

A tiny smile appeared.

"They survived."

I closed my eyes.

Two heartbeats.

Two children.

Ours.

I pressed her hand against my forehead.

Then she tightened her grip.

Her expression changed.

"Alex."

"What?"

"You need to take Leo."

My head lifted.

"He is safe."

"No."

Her voice became urgent.

"He isn't."

"Elena, he's in the adjoining room."

"The Astorians."

My blood went cold.

"What about them?"

"They didn't just help Vivian fake the DNA."

She swallowed painfully.

"They've been looking for Leo."

"Why?"

Her eyes filled with fear.

"Because of his blood."

I frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"My research."

She struggled for breath.

"The research I used to treat Leo five years ago..."

She closed her eyes.

"I didn't invent it."

My chest tightened.

"Then who did?"

"My father."

I stared at her.

"My father wasn't killed because of a shipping-yard robbery."

Her voice trembled.

"He was running."

"From who?"

"The Astorian royal guard."

The room seemed to go silent.

I stared at her.

"Elena..."

"My biological mother is alive."

I stopped breathing.

"What?"

"She's the current Grand Matriarch of the Astorian Ministry."

The words didn't make sense.

"My mother."

Elena's tears spilled down her cheeks.

"She is the reason they've been looking for me."

"And Leo?"

Her voice dropped.

"Leo's genetic code contains the sovereign key to their entire biotech monopoly."

I stared at her.

"That's why..."

"The DNA matched Nathaniel Vance."

My blood ran cold.

"Your grandfather knew."

I couldn't speak.

"Your grandfather helped engineer my birth through an arrangement with my mother."

My mind reeled.

"And Leo inherited something from that bloodline."

Elena grabbed my hand.

"That's why they want him."

Before I could ask another question—

CRASH!

The doors behind us exploded inward.

Mark's body slammed through the glass.

He hit the floor hard.

"Mark!"

Three men in gray tactical armor stormed into the operating room.

Gold Astorian crests gleamed on their helmets.

Their rifles rose.

I immediately moved in front of Elena.

"Stay behind me."

One of the soldiers aimed directly at my head.

Then a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Step away from the table, Alex."

Vivian.

She walked into the operating room wearing a black tactical jacket over her bloodstained white dress.

A silver submachine gun rested casually in her hand.

I stared at her.

"You."

She smiled.

"The sovereign council has reclaimed its property."

Her weapon lifted.

"The woman."

She looked toward Elena.

"The boy."

Then her eyes dropped toward Elena's stomach.

"And the unborn bloodline."

My hands curled into fists.

"They belong to the Ministry now."

I took one step forward.

"You should have stayed in that tunnel, Vivian."

Her smile widened.

"You still don't understand."

She raised the gun toward my chest.

"Your security grid is jammed."

I reached toward the weapon hidden at my waistband.

Vivian laughed.

"Go ahead."

She tilted her head.

"Pull it."

Then she glanced toward the adjoining room.

My entire body went still.

A fourth armed man appeared behind the observation glass.

He was holding a weapon against Leo's head.

My son.

Four years old.

Shivering.

His glasses were gone.

His small hands were pressed against the glass.

His eyes found mine.

"Mom!"

Elena gasped behind me.

"Leo!"

I felt something inside me snap.

Vivian's smile disappeared.

"One wrong move, Alexander..."

The rifle pressed harder against Leo's temple.

"...and your son dies."

I stared at my child.

Then at Vivian.

Then at the three armed men surrounding Elena.

She had made one mistake.

She had threatened my family.

And she had given me nothing left to lose.