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“Sorry,” Sapphire said softly, stooping to rub my back. “I know it’s hard to hear, but I want to save you the trouble of trying to escape. I can tell you want to try. But it’s really not worth it.”
“I can’t—” I stopped abruptly and wiped my mouth, chest heaving. “I have to go.”
I turned and fled down the path, retracing my steps toward the mansion. In all the weeks of morning sickness I’d experienced so far, the nausea had never been as intense and overwhelming as it was right now. The sheer horror of my new reality was literally making me ill.
I hurried back up to my room, desperate to rinse the awful taste out of my mouth. When I opened the door, my stomach lurched all over again. Zara and Dr. Carmichael were standing at the end of my bed, deep in discussion.
“We’ll have to tell the others soon,” Zara was saying.
“We should wait,” Dr. Carmichael replied, shaking her head. “We don’t even know yet.”
“But it’s a strong possibility. You said so yourself.”
“I know, but I can’t be sure for a while, so I think we should wait.” Dr. Carmichael sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. “Will it even matter in the end? As long as everything goes smoothly, the client will still receive what he paid for. A healthy newborn.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
The two women turned to stare at me. “Oh, Amerie! I didn’t hear you come in,” Zara said. “Did you go out for a walk?”
“Yes.” I folded my arms. “Can you answer my question now?”
She sighed heavily. “You should sit down. There’s something we need to discuss.”
Heart hammering, I crossed the room and sat on the bed, hugging a pillow on my lap. “What’s going on?”
Zara and Dr. Carmichael exchanged glances. Then Zara looked back at me. “I have to ask you something,” she said in a delicate tone. “I know you were friendly with Jensen, but—”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Dr. Carmichael cut in, rolling her eyes. “Don’t beat around the bush.”
Zara cleared her throat. “You were having sex with Jensen, weren’t you?”
My heart plummeted. Oh, no. Had Jensen said or done something wrong after I was taken? Had the society caught him trying to help me?
“Um… yes.” I swallowed thickly, stomach churning with anxiety. “Why?”
Zara arched a brow. “Was there anyone else? Or just him?”
“Just him.”
“Did you use condoms?” Dr. Carmichael asked, tilting her head.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you sure you used one every single time?”
“Yes.” My brows furrowed. “Oh, wait. No. There was one time we sort of… forgot. But I thought I had the Depo shot at the time, so I wasn’t really worried.”
“See?” Zara turned to look at her friend again. “I told you so.”
“When did this happen?” Dr. Carmichael asked, eyes fixed on me.
“Halloween,” I said. “Why does it matter?”
Zara let out another deep sigh. “Here’s the thing, Amerie. Artificial insemination doesn’t always work. Sometimes it fails, and we have to go back the next month to try again.”
“You fell pregnant right away,” Dr. Carmichael interjected. “So we assumed we got lucky with the insemination. But…”
She trailed off and pursed her lips, head shaking slightly.
