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Most of my days had been in a dream-like state. I didn’t remember much for many of those days. It just felt like I had been living at the bottom of a lake for most of the time. Sounds and people seemed so distant. Their images had been so distorted.
I wanted to believe that there was no way that he had done all those tests on me without my knowledge, but the bruising near the veins of my inner arm was unmistakable. I had been pricked by needles, of that I was confident.
“My grandbaby?” I didn’t imagine the tears that now shown in Alison’s eyes as she took a seat on the edge of my bed. “What are bi-paternal twins?” she asked tremulously.
“They’re very rare but they are twins that have different fathers. Blake is now pregnant with Jace or Jaxson’s child and another one of her connections,” Horatio said gleefully before he looked over at me with cool calculation. “I know your need to protect anyone you perceive to be in danger is strong. Did you know that miscarriages in the first trimester are a one in four occurrence? You currently sit at ten weeks, Blake. Two more weeks before your risk drops.”
My eyes widened at his inflection, and I even heard Alison gasp beside me. “You’re not threatening my grandchild, Horatio,” she said in a voice filled with steel.
I was vaguely aware of the girl wiping my belly off and letting my gown back down. She recovered me with my sheets but still refused to meet my eyes.
He laughed coldly. “Oh, I’m not. I’m just letting Blake know how important it is that she starts taking care of herself. For the sake of her children. She is in a precarious position. I can keep her in a state of…slumber and deliver our grandchildren when the time is right and whisk them away before she can even set her sights on them. Or she can finally see reason, and I will allow her to come home with us on the condition that she behaves and stays with us from this moment forward.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to curse him. My hands unconsciously covered my stomach as if I could protect my babies from the monster simply by touch. Having children terrified me, but not having the ones I now knew existed scared me more. I now carried a piece of Jaxson or Jace and one of my other connection’s child. I never thought I wanted them, but now that they were a possibility, the love I felt for them was instant. They would be a part of me and two of the six men that I loved.
I wasn’t counting Lincoln in the equation yet, not only because my feelings for him were all so new but because we had just made our connection a week or so before I was taken. If Horatio was telling the truth, I would’ve had to have been here for eight weeks. I couldn’t imagine losing that much time.
My imagination conjured up a little boy with a mischievous grin and dimple, like Jaxson. Then I could see a little girl with long dark hair and compelling blue eyes, sitting behind a piano as Jace patiently taught her how to play. I imagined a little girl with auburn curls like Noah. A little olive-skinned boy with captivating dark eyes like Troy. A serious but caring little girl with grey eyes like Remy. I could see a blonde haired and a spunky little girl like her Aunt Jemmy because Drake wouldn’t ever have it easy with the women in his life. I even imagined a bronze baby with unique greenish-blue eyes swaddled in a blanket as their father carried them around on his bare chest.
“Unhook me, Papa,” I spat out. “I’m hungry, and I need a shower.”
He laughed once more. “I’ll come back when you really mean it.”
He strode out of the room, taking Alison, and the technician with him.
Chapter 31
Two more weeks. Horatio kept me in that state for two more weeks before I was finally allowed out of that hospital room. I was then heavily guarded, blindfolded, and transferred to a house. I assumed it was his house, but I couldn’t tell from the brief glimpse I got of the landscape outside. I was surrounded by pine trees and snow. No tell-tale markers of where I could be.
The halo remained on, and my room was my prison. It was a beautiful room, but a cage nevertheless. It had a large bed that occupied the place and had its own ensuite bathroom. Comfortable clothing was stocked in my closet, meant to bring me ease as my baby bump was now making itself known.
I lived in a state of almost unconsciousness. I was just going through the motions of eating, waking up, walking on a treadmill, and watching mindless television.
I got visitors, mainly Horatio or Alison, and it was hard to pretend I was content in this cage. I knew asking for freedom would be suspicious and my attempts at removing the halo were fruitless. All my attempts at removing it provided painful results.
I had to stop. I had no clue what effects the shocks were having on my brain and the babies.
On my fourth day at the new prison, Alison came bustling in the room. “Would you like to come down for family dinner tonight?”
I bit back all my caustic remarks. This wasn’t my family just because they wanted it to be so. I knew Bridgette and her boyfriend were somewhere in this house, but so far, I had successfully avoided them.
I shrugged. “Can I have a bath?” I asked.
I had only been allowed one bath, and it was supervised. It was the only time I was allowed to take off the halo. Not that that seemed to help. I was unable to reach the guys no matter how hard I tried. I figured Bridgette’s connection had me blocked, and I couldn’t get past it.
Alison looked at me shrewdly. “You know I love my sons. More than anything in this world.”
I didn’t know why she felt the need to clarify that. She went from talking about a “family” dinner to professing her love of her sons.
I couldn’t stop the snort from leaving me. “You have a funny way of showing it,” I said scathingly as I looked back at my television. Chopped was on, and I was sucked into the marathon they were having.
“They were too soft to live in my world.” She sniffed. “I love Horatio. I could never leave him.”
“I’ve been a mother for about twelve weeks now,” I said not deigning to look at her. I rubbed my baby bump lovingly. “I would never pick a man over my children.”
“Yet you did,” Alison bit out.
“No,” I looked over at her, expressionless.
