Page 50 of Kept By the Bratva

“I won’t force a woman to love me back,” I said dryly.

“I’m not suggesting that you do,” she said.

“But maybe talk to her,” Maxim said, “and see if?—”

“Mr. Valkov!” Margie ran up to the gym entrance, out of breath and pale with worry. “The—” She met my gaze with her terror-stricken one. “Your guest. Miss Amy.” She strained to swallow, breathing so hard from the apparent rush to get here and find me, or any of us.

Looking at Mila next, she frantically shook her head with tears shining in her eyes. “She’s bleeding. Hurry, please. Fetch the doctor!”

20

AMY

Icinched my eyes shut and curled into the tightest ball that I could. The pain wouldn’t stop. All the stickiness between my legs didn’t disappear, either, as I tried to shut out the horror of this sickening sensation.

I’d hadbadcramps before. My foster parents never listened when I begged to stay home, hurting so severely from brutal periods.

This was nothing like those memories. Cramps continued, and I whimpered as I tucked into a tense fetal position on the bed.

I’d gone to the bathroom to throw up—again. Afterward, I would’ve stood in the shower and waited for the steam and massage of the water to wash away the remnants of nausea—again. That was how my mornings went, but this time, something different occurred. This wrenching cramp took hold of me, and I’d just barely made it to the bed before I doubled over in pain.

Pressing my hand to my stomach didn’t help abate the agony. All I could do was tense up and pray I wasn’t dying. That was how bad this felt.

Margie came in, like usual. The guard stopped coming with her, and I supposed with the doors unlocked, I could set out to find a dining room and eat outside Nik’s personal quarters here.

Upon finding me on the bed, crying in pain, she dropped the tray and gasped. Her eyes opened wide, and when her gaze tracked the path from the bathroom to where my legs rested on the bed, I realized I’d streaked a trail of blood.

“Amy!”

Mila’s voice reached me first, but I shook my head. As another woman, a fellow mother-to-be, her presence should have helped calm me down.

All I wanted was Nik. The father of my baby. The lover who never would want me as deeply as I did him. Even though he’d shown me how cool he could be with his affections, it was his comfort that I yearned for. I needed a rock, something to anchor myself to before this pain swept me to delirium.

“Over here!” another called out.

So many voices sounded in a hurried chaos in the room. One was authoritative and calm. It cut over the din of everyone else, but all I cared about was that it wasn’t Nik.

“Miss, I’m Doctor Francis. I’m here to help.” She spoke firmly but gently, full of confidence I didn’t feel about this situation. With rapid-fire requests, she ordered others in the room, and I guessed that at least one nurse or official helper was on hand.

How this crime family could have doctors on staff at a minute’s notice made no sense to me, but I appreciated that they had such resources when I needed them.

“Amy.”

I opened my eyes at Nik’s voice. He was there, sliding next to me on the bed. Sitting on the edge, he gripped my hand and held it tight.

“It hurts.”

He nodded, his brow furrowed as he gazed into my eyes with worry. “We’re going to help you.”

“You.”You came.I wanted his help more than anything, because as long as he was here, I felt stronger.

“I’m here,” he said, likely guessing why I’d said that.

Now that I felt braver to open my eyes, I registered that Dr. Francis wasn’t wasting time. She and another technician or nurse busied themselves in taking my vitals and setting up a portable ultrasound machine next to the bed.

Mila hovered on the other side of the bed, turning to the others who were there. “Alek! Get them back from here. Give her some fucking privacy.” She faced me, worried. “Thank God, Dr. Francis and her nurse were already on their way here. She’s one of the best, Amy. She’s been monitoring my pregnancy all along. I trust her, and you can too.”

I nodded, clinging to Nik’s hand as the doctor quickly draped a sheet over me and examined me. It wasn’t like a pap smear, and the ultrasound wand was cold. Once the nurse wheeled the monitor closer, I heard the first beats of my baby’s heart.