Kon is infertile.
No one knows.
Maybe that's the key to this whole mess.
Mathew wants me to get pregnant but if Kon can't do that, then maybe someone else can.
After all, there's no way they'd be able to tell that the baby wasn't Kon's and if they did, it would be long after I saved my family from those bastards.
In a surge of desperation that the answer to my problem is right in front of me, I throw myself into Calvin's arms and clutch at his shirt as I try desperately to kiss him.
Try and fail.
Calvin has lightning reflexes, and our lips don't even touch before he's firmly grasping my shoulders and holding me at arm's length. "Rose. Stop."
He doesn't sound angry.
Not even annoyed.
He just sounds sad, like he pities me, and the sorrow in his tone suddenly chips away the last of my resolve and I burst into desperate, open sobs.
The rejection doesn't hurt, but the sympathy in his expression does as if my actions have confirmed whatever he's been thinking about what's wrong with me.
Rather than pushing me away, Calvin draws me into an embrace and my legs give way as I sob against his shoulder.
I'm at a loss.
I have no idea what to do.
No idea how to fix this.
My family will die because I can't fix this, and then Kon will find out the truth, and he will kill or discard me. Either way, my fate is dark and I have no hope of making it out of this alive.
"It's okay," Calvin says and his voice trembles ever so slightly. "Rose, I know you are in pain. Whatever it is, I can help. Kon can help. You just need to talk to us."
"You c-can't help!" I weep through tears and hiccups that roll through my chest. "You've n-no idea what it's like, you've no idea what I have to do! It's all my fault. This… it's all m-my fault!"
"Rose," Calvin says and his chest lifts as if he's about to say something else. But before he can, he suddenly throws me to the ground and covers me with his body as several bangs pop through the air above me.
"Stay down!" he yells in my ear and then he's gone, no longer a protective weight over top of me.
I lay there, frozen and mid-sob as several more gunshots crack through the air.
Panic grips me like a cold vise.
I scramble onto my hands and knees and crawl desperately toward a nearby bench but just as I reach the leg, a hand grabs at my ankle and begins to drag me backward.
I scream and roll onto my back, and chaos greets me.
Calvin's locked in a brawl with a man, trading blows and landing just as many as he's taking.
Two other guards are in similar fights while a third is on the ground with his eyes closed and crimson spreading across his chest.
The stranger at my ankle grins as he drags me away from the bench, and I kick out at him.
My other foot collides with his elbow but it doesn't affect him as he pulls a gun from his waist.
A gunshot cracks through the air and every single part of me freezes, but pain doesn't follow.
