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Chapter one
Natalie
“Congratulations, Miss. Grant, you are pregnant,” the doctor’s warm voice told me.
“Excuse me?”
He had to have had the wrong patient. There was no way I could be pregnant. I was told I would never get pregnant, that I could never carry a child. When I was thirteen, I started to get horribly sick. There was excruciating pain in my right thigh. It was so bad I thought my leg would break with every step. The doctors finally told me I had bone cancer and had to go through all these tests, surgeries, and treatments. The end result was some nasty scars on my thigh, but I kept my leg. I was told the chemo and radiation had destroyed my ovaries. I would never be able to get pregnant. It’s why I wasn’t on birth control; there really was no point.
“You’re pregnant,” he said again before he continued, “I am assuming by your reaction that you weren’t trying for a baby.”
“Not even a little. Since I was a young teenager, I've been told that chemo had destroyed any hope of me having children.”
“In most instances, that is true. However, in one in a million chances, it happens. It only takes one egg to be released to get pregnant. Given your history, though, I will refer you to a high-risk OBGYN who will run the proper tests and keep a very close eye on you. I don’t want you to worry; lots of women carry healthy babies to term after chemo. You and your significant other don’t have to worry.”
Significant other? Ya, I’ll go with that. There was no way I was telling this complete stranger that I had a one-night stand in a side alley six weeks ago and the condom broke. I didn’t even take the morning-after pill because, hello, I can't get pregnant.
“Thanks, doc. This is just a bit of a shock is all. Do I need to do anything?” I asked, trying to get my mind to kick back in.
“I am going to write you a prescription to help with any morning sickness. You also need to get prenatal vitamins everyday. I will also have my office set up appointments for you. Is the phone number on file the correct one?”
“It is, yes.”
“Perfect, I will be in touch then,” he offered with a warm smile before heading out.
This was not what I had been expecting at all. I hadn’t been feeling too great recently, terrified that my cancer was coming back. Out of all the things the doctor was going to tell me today, this was not one of them. I was shocked, but I’m not mad. This was a dream come true. I have always wanted children, but I had accepted the fact that they wouldn’t be mine biologically. Now against all odds, I was going to have my own baby.
I was going to be a mother, holy shit. I sat here for a few moments, trying to process it all and take it all in. I knew I should be freaked out, panicking even, because I was not in a position to have a child. I was only a receptionist at a funeral home. I didn’t make much money, just enough for me to live on, but not enough to raise a baby. I would need to find different work, but I didn’t know what that would be. I didn’t go to college; instead, I went straight to the workforce and started to make money. Now, I only had nine months to get it all sorted out, and I knew it was going to be a lot of work.
I headed out, made my way out of the building and started to walk toward my car. The area was busy. I had to park a good four blocks away, but it was nice out, so I didn’t mind the short walk. I still couldn’t believe it. I was going to have a baby, but at the thought, I felt a tsunami of pain slam into me. I was going to have a baby and my mom wasn’t going to be there for it. She died five years ago from a stroke she had never recovered from. It was devastating. I was an only child, and my relationship with my father was anything but close.
All I had was my mom. We used to talk about what we would do when I had a child and the places we were going to go. Mom would talk about different nursery ideas. All she wanted was to be a grandmother, and now that it was finally going to happen, she wasn’t here to enjoy it with me. It was a bittersweet moment, and I knew it was always going to sting not having her in my life. All I could do was try and make her proud and raise this baby to the best of my capabilities.
I turned the corner to walk down the side alley to reach my car on the other side. I pulled out my phone to double-check that I wasn’t going to be late getting back to work. I had taken an hour off to meet with my doctor, and my boss was not happy about it. He was never very friendly, especially when I needed time off. He saved up all his people skills for the clients that came in.
Not that I could really blame him. It costs a small fortune to bury someone. If I only had the people skills stored up, I would save them for the tens of thousands of dollars that walked through the door all day. Before I reached the end of the alley, I heard a glass bottle being kicked. Just as I turned to see who was behind me, a thick bag was tossed over my head.
Instantly, I dropped my phone and started fighting against the bag and the strong arms around my torso. I had no idea who was trying to grab me or how many there were, but it didn’t matter. I kicked and squirmed, throwing my body around, trying to do anything to get away from my kidnapper. Everything I tried didn’t work as he continued to drag me down the alley. I felt hands on my legs, confirming that there were at least two people.
My legs were quickly picked up, and a tight grip helped them in place. I wasn’t in the air for very long, maybe a couple of seconds, before I was tossed into what I suspected was a trunk. I shot my arms up and started to swing; they weren’t impressed by my lack of cooperation.
I felt a bruising grip on my wrists as my arms were pulled behind my back. They put what I assumed was a zip tie around my wrists if the feeling was anything to go by. I didn’t let it stop me, though. I started to move my legs, trying to kick out, but the trunk I was in wasn’t huge, and I kept getting my feet caught on something. All my efforts were in vain when I heard the thump of the trunk lid closing, trapping me entirely in darkness. I heard the thump of two more car doors closing before I felt and heard the engine revving up before the car started to move.
Complete panic set in as I felt the car driving away, taking me to god knows where for god knows what. I couldn’t stop the tears from building in my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t get my prayers answered, only to be kidnapped and killed before I could even hear my baby’s heartbeat. The world was cruel, but it couldn’t be this cruel.
I kicked out at whatever I could contact in frustration. I don’t know what I was hoping for, maybe breaking a light or something, but nothing I hit helped me. I felt the tears taking on a whole new life, and all I could do was lie trapped in the darkness, crying and praying this wouldn’t be the end for me or my baby.
***
I had no idea how long we had been driving, but when we finally stopped, I felt my heart beating faster. It was going to beat right out of my chest! I could feel a slight tremble starting within my body, and I couldn’t help the flinch when the trunk’s lid was opened. Once again, rough hands grabbed me and pulled me out. I couldn’t get my feet fully under me before they started dragging me away from the car. I couldn’t see, but I forced my mind to focus on my other senses.
I knew we weren’t on pavement; I could feel and hear the tiny gravel crunching and moving around. I didn’t hear any cars, no children, or other people talking, so we had to be somewhere isolated, which wasn’t good for me. I had seen enough crime shows to know that the first twenty-four hours are vital and will dictate what happens to me. As hard as it was going to be, I just had to stay calm.
Once my boss discovered that I hadn’t returned to work, he would call me and try to find me. The trick was going to be how long he would try. He might assume I had quit and moved on to another receptionist job. There was no guarantee that he would call the police, and from what I also knew from the crime shows, you had to be missing for twenty-four hours before a missing person’s report could be filed. The irony was not lost on me right now.
I heard the metal door's bang before being pulled inside, and I felt cold. The air within this building was cooler than the warm sun just moments ago. I was led down multiple hallways before being turned around and dropped into a chair. I couldn’t help the groan at the pain that shot up my arms from my restrained wrists, hitting the back of what felt like a metal chair.
The zip tie was cut, but my relief only lasted a second before both of my wrists were grabbed and held down on the arms of the chairs, where new zip ties were added, effectively keeping me in the chair. I had been expecting the bag to be removed from my head, but instead, I could hear the footsteps moving away slightly. They never left the room, but it almost sounded like they were pacing. I could hear hushed voices but couldn’t make out all the words. Just bits and pieces and none of it was telling me what was going on…who these people were and why they had taken me.
