Page 76 of Shark’s Rise

“Hello. Yes, I have a pregnant woman going into premature labor.”

Dori’s voice was ridiculously calm as soon as the emergency operator picked up. Actually, she’d been shockingly calm since this horror started.

“Yes, at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.” She listened for another moment. “She’s just over eighteen weeks. Yes, otherwise normal pregnancy.” Pause. “Yes, I will call her obstetrician just as soon as we hang up.” To me, she asked, “Abbigail, are you bleeding? Or did your water break?”

“I— I don’t know.” I gasped.

“Can you check, honey? Please.”

“Lemme see.” Rio pushed my thighs apart like she was going to shove stuffing up a turkey. And I let her. I just sat there, dazed and scared…

Who was I kidding? I wasn’t scared. I was terrified.

And furious. With myself. For the selfish and cavalier way I’d treated my body the last few weeks. For how I’d even entertained the thought that any of it belonged to me anymore. For how I’d figured Kaisan would just be up for any adventure I subjected him to. He was half Sebastian, after all. The man who tackled every day as if it were his last on earth…

Oh, God. Please don’t let this be my little boy’s last day on earth.

Rio bent down in front of me to have a peek and then looked back up to Dori at once. I didn’t see her expression but definitely noticed how Dori lowered her voice when speaking to the operator again.

The next volley of questions was also indiscernible to me, though my senses were thundering with so much fear that I might not have heard an elephant stampede outside the door. Rio ducked in near me and crooned in my ear, insisting everything was going to be all right. Just when I thought her leadership about the event was going to top my list of gratitude points about the woman tonight.

“An ambulance is on the way,” she told me. “Not long now, honey. Hang on.”

“H-H-Hang on? To wh-wh-what?” I stammered.

“The hospital isn’t far from here, so we should be to the emergency room in no time,” Dori interjected. “I’m going to call Dr. Julie now, okay? How are you doing, Abbi?”

“Okay. I’m okay…I th-th-think.” The pain started to subside, making room for overwhelming exhaustion. “Oh…shit. I’m so…tired. I just want to…sleep.” I closed my eyes, longing to shut everything out. The trendy bright lights. The cold sterile bathroom. Having to talk. Having to think.

It wasn’t my lucky night.

Another wave of cramps took hold, and I doubled over again. “Shit! Shit! Shiiit!”

“Hi, Dr. Julie. This is Dori Sanchez, Abbigail Gibson’s assistant. We are heading into the ER at Cedars via ambulance. I think she is in premature labor, possibly. We are hoping you can meet us there. Please call me at 760-555-4833. Thank you.”

Dori looked at me with fearful eyes. “I think I hear the sirens. I’m going to go out front and meet them, okay?”

“I’ll stay with her,” Rio offered.

“Thank you. I’m going to call Mr. Shark as well. He can meet us there.”

She impaled me with a firm look. I couldn’t recall Dori ever appearing that strict. She definitely wasn’t taking no for an answer on the matter. It was written all over her face. When I looked up to my sister-in-law, I saw a similar expression on Rio’s face.

“Let her call him, honey,” Rio said softly. “You and the baby will both need him…now more than ever.”

Chapter Twelve

Sebastian

“Where is she?” I bellowed the moment I walked through the sliding glass doors of Cedars-Sinai’s emergency department.

All heads swung in my direction as I kept stomping through. My voice bounced back at me from every gleaming surface in the place.

Elijah and Grant, who literally had my back, clamped my forearms with mutterings about being calm and levelheaded. The moment I could, I planned on shedding them like a molted skin.

Still, Grant tried again. He stepped right in front of me, blocking my path to the desk, where a doe-eyed nurse awaited my incoming detonation. “Bring your shit down about twenty. Right now, motherfucker—or they will have your ass outside while your woman and your son need you.”

As much as I wanted to rip his head from his body…he was right. I stopped and grabbed my hair until the sharp pain grounded me. “I’m good,” I seethed. “I’m fine! Get the fuck out of my way, Twombley.”