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His eyes narrow. “To protect my people.”
“At the expense of other people?”
“If that’s what it takes, yes.”
I can almost admire that—or I would, if me and my baby didn’t happen to fall into the latter category.
I sigh. “For what it’s worth, I liked you, too.”
The door opens and Dr. Liza walks in with a cheery smile on her face. “Mr. Beckhoff, I presume,” she greets, giving Cian a friendly nod. Then she turns to me. “Mrs.—” The smile freezes on her face. “Wren?”
Cian steps behind her, close enough for the move to be threatening. “Her name is Mrs. Alison Beckhoff. Is that clear, Doctor?”
The shock melts off Liza’s face in seconds, replaced once again with her professional smile. “Crystal.” She swallows and the cords of her neck stand out with tension. “Welcome, Mrs. Beckhoff. I see you’re quite far along.”
“It’s preeclampsia,” I offer her. “I’m bleeding… Something’s not right with the baby.”
Liza doesn’t bat an eyelid. “Let’s take a look, shall we?”
As I pull my legs up, Cian sidles closer. I clamp my knees together again and glare. “Do you mind?”
“I’m not leaving the room,” he growls.
“Fine. But stand over there.”
Rolling his eyes, he moves towards my shoulders. Only then do I raise my legs and part them. I’m pretty sure Liza instantly spies the cut at my thigh, but her expression never falters. “Okay,” she says in an authoritative voice. “We have some breakthrough bleeding.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s not bad or good,” she demurs. “We just need to normalize your blood pressure and get you back on the right medication. Let me just go and get your chart?—”
She turns towards the door but Cian blocks her immediately. “I’m afraid I can’t let you leave this room, ma’am.”
Liza doesn’t waver. “I need her chart to prescribe?—”
“Then call in a nurse.”
She sighs. “I’ll send a message.”
“No. You’ll call in. I want to hear what you’re asking for.”
My heart is thudding hard. Cian is blocking us at every turn and I can see my window of opportunity closing slowly. Which means, if I’m going to drop a hint about my location, it’s going to have to be here and now, in full sight of my watchdog.
Once the nurse arrives with my file, Liza makes a show of looking through it. I’m desperately hoping Cian can’t read a medical chart, because if he does, he’ll be able to see that there’s no sign of preeclampsia anywhere on it.
“Okay, let me just give you a mild dose of hydralazine. That’ll reduce your blood pressure and you’ll start to feel better after that.”
She moves to the table and busies herself with bottles and needles. I have no clue what she’s injecting into me, but I trust Dr. Liza. She’s capable and smart. Now, if I can only drop a hint without Cian getting wind of it…
“This is going to sting a little, Wren?—”
“Alison,” Cian hisses.
“Right. Alison.” Liza looks me right in the eye. “Don’t concentrate on the stinging. Think about something pleasant. A pleasant childhood memory, maybe. Tell me about it.”
I swallow and nod. “Right. Pleasant. Yeah. My, uh… my dad used to have this old convertible when I was younger. He’d take us on Sunday rides. I loved driving around in it.”
“Yeah?”
