Page 317 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2

"What?"

"Penny, you looked like you were going to throw up. And your face got really pale. And you kept putting your hand on your chest. Should I call your doctor? Is your chest hurting? You don't look well."

Why did everyone keep telling me how awful I looked? I grabbed my stomach as my son decided to kick me as hard as he could. Maybe I did feel a little nauseous. I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat.

"What's going on?" James' voice instantly calmed me down. He had materialized from out of nowhere. He looped his arm behind my back. "Baby, tell me what's hurting."

Yes his presence calmed me, but Daphne was right. "I don't feel good," I said as I melted into his side.

I heard him snap his fingers and the sound of rubber squeaking against the asphalt. "Call Dr. Nelson and tell him we're going to the ER," he said to someone. I wasn't even sure who he was talking to.

He lifted me into his arms and the smell of fresh leather soon washed away the scent of his strong cologne. I turned my head into his chest so that I could be engulfed in his familiar smell. The car door slammed and the tires squealed on the street.

"Baby, don't close your eyes." James gently tapped the side of my face.

I opened my eyes and looked up at James, a line of worry etched across his forehead. "I'm sorry," I said.

He lowered his eyebrows as he looked down at me. "You always have had a habit of apologizing when you've done nothing wrong."

I tried to smile but the pain made me wince. Hadn't I done something wrong? I wasn't supposed to be out. I should have been in bed today. "Is the baby going to be okay?" Tears were starting to well in my eyes.He has to be okay.

"The baby is fine," James said very matter-of-factly. He cupped my face in his hand and glanced at the front of the car. "Put your fucking foot on the gas, William!"

The car lurched forward.

The baby is fine.So that meant I wasn't fine, right? But if I wasn't okay, the baby wasn't either. I squeezed my eyes shut as it felt like someone was stabbing my heart.

"Penny, please open your eyes."

I looked back up at him. There was fear in his gaze. "It hurts." My voice came out as a whimper.

"What hurts, Penny?" He pushed my hair off my forehead.

"My heart." I knew what heartache felt like. I knew how painful that could be. But it wasn't like this. It felt as though my heart was literally breaking, cracking in two.

He clutched me a little tighter. "Okay, baby. We'll be there any second. Please just keep looking at me."

He didn't realize that it was hard to look at him like this. That looking at him made me feel like I was slipping away. Is that how I looked on our wedding day? When I watched his body collapse onto the ground? Was I dying too? The panic rising to my chest made the ache between my ribs increase.

"He's not kicking." The words that slipped out of my mouth terrified me. When was the last time I felt him kick?

"What?" James' hand slid down to my stomach.

"He always kicks me when I'm upset. Why isn't he kicking me?"Please let my baby be okay.

The Light to My Darkness - Chapter 12

Sunday

I tightened my grip on James' hand.

The wand swept across my stomach once again. Dr. Nelson shifted in his seat and leaned closer to the monitor.

I looked up at James.

He gave me a tight smile. No fake optimism. No promise that everything was okay.

The silence was unnerving. Where were my son's heartbeats? Where was that tiny thudding noise that put a smile on my face? If I gripped James' hand any tighter my nails would surely have drawn blood. Would he notice? Would either of us notice a pain greater than this silence ever again?