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I looked around the room again. “Where am I?”

The doctor hesitated. “Ronan O’Connor’s penthouse.”

My blood turned to ice. “Why? Why would he bring me here?”

“You were discovered following the assault, and Mr. O’Connor requested that I examine you. You required immediate medical attention, and this was the safest environment to provide it.”

My grip tightened on the sheets despite the throbbing in my head. After all we’d been through, waking up in his apartment made me feel like a prisoner. He’d lied about who he was when we’d first met. He was responsible for my father’s death!

I’d thrown him out of my apartment and sworn that I never wanted to see him again. Now, I was in his penthouse.

She checked my pupils and asked me a few questions to ascertain my degree of understanding. Bruises and a few nasty cuts from the broken glass were my only other injuries. There were, she assured me, no signs of skull fracture or further damage to my head. She confirmed how lucky I was that Ronan had found me.

“How long was I out?”

“Several hours. Almost a day.”

I turned to look toward the windows. It was still dark. Before I could ask any other questions, the door to the room opened and Ronan walked in. He looked more exhausted than I’d ever seen him. His shirt was wrinkled and his hair was messy. There were dark shadows under his eyes, and he looked nothing like the composed man I’d known.

He took one long, deep, shuddering breath, as if he couldn’t believe his lungs were working properly. Then, his voice low, as if afraid that raising it would somehow break the spell or make me disappear:

“Sofia.”

He walked up to the bed, but didn’t climb in. He just stood there and stared at me without saying another word. I stared back, and despite everything I knew about him, despite the anger and betrayal I still felt bubbling under my skin, I saw what lay behind the relief in his eyes. He’d been terrified.

Dr. Lowry went over more tests. She told me I needed several days of good rest, food, and very little stress as I recuperated from the concussion.

“You may also begin prenatal vitamins,” she said as she reached into her medical bag for another pill bottle. “These will be essential, and you’ll need to remember you’re eating for two.”

Prenatal? I blinked with confusion. “For two?”

“Yes. Wait, you didn’t know?” The doctor looked at my face intently before glancing at Ronan and back again. “You’re pregnant, Sofia.”

For a split second, I told myself that I’d heard it wrong. My head started swimming.

“You’re pregnant,” Dr. Lowry explained as a gentle smile touched the edges of her lips. “It’s very early yet, but it was clear from your tests.”

My brain felt paralyzed as her words continued repeating inside my head. Dr. Lowry continued explaining what I needed to do during the next few weeks, but I barely heard her. I understood that I needed rest, proper nutrition, and regular medical appointments, yet none of those things seemed important compared to the single fact that had just changed my entire life.

My hand rested over my stomach. There was nothing I could feel yet. Nothing had changed physically. But knowing that there was a child growing inside me made my body suddenly feel unfamiliar.

I was pregnant. And the father was Ronan. I looked across the room at him. He was still standing in the same place, staring at me with an expression I’d never seen on his face before. Ronan had always seemed impossible to shake. Even when he was angry, there was usually something controlled about him. Now that control was gone.

He looked stunned, so I knew he hadn’t known. For some reason, that made the situation even more frightening. If he’d known, I could have accused him of hiding it from me. I could have been angry about another lie. Instead, we were both hearing the truth at the same time.

My thoughts returned to everything that had happened between us. I remembered meeting him when I thought he was simply Ronnie, the quiet and intimidating man who somehow made me feel safe. I remembered letting him into my apartment, allowing myself to trust him, and eventually falling in love with him.

Then I’d discovered the truth. Ronan O’Connor was the man who’d killed my father.

I’d spent days trying to accept that the man I loved and the man responsible for the worst night of my life were the same person. I’d thrown him out of my apartment because I couldn’t look at him without seeing both men at once. Now there was a child connecting us, and I didn’t know what that meant for me.

I didn’t know what it meant for him. Most of all, I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. Fear was there. So was anger. And disbelief. And beneath all of it was an emotion I wasn’t ready to name, because admitting it would make everything more complicated. I was going to have a baby, and Ronan was the father.

Fuck!

Dr. Lowry finally closed her medical bag and stood. “I’ll give you both some time alone,” she said. “Sofia, please remember that you need to rest. I’ll come back later to check on you.”

I nodded. She left the room and closed the door behind her. For several seconds, neither of us moved. Ronan finally walked toward the bed, but stopped a short distance away. He looked at me, then at my hand.