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EMMA

E verything is white.

Bright fluorescent lights shine down on me, making my eyes burn. I try to lift my hand to shield my eyes, but my hand feels weighed down.

My throat feels parched. There's also a dullpounding at the back of my skull.

I glance down at my hand. I instantly forget about every discomfort.

There's a large hand resting over mine. Klaus is asleep in an armchair next to my bed, holding my hand in his sleep. I don't know what this means.

I stare at him for a moment.

Everything comes rushing back—the words he said, the secrets he kept, our stolen moments. I thought I knew him, but I was wrong. He's a man who set up secret cameras in my bedroom. He's a man who didn't keep his word. He told me that he would protect me, but nothing ever hurt me quite like he did.

Also, I think he knows about the woman in the wedding dress.

I think she was one of his secrets.

I glance down at his hand over mine. It's a sweet, innocent gesture.

I'm not supposed to let my heart feel this way, but I feel it all anyway.I'm helpless against the rush of emotions that invade my body. If it's so wrong, I don't understand why it feels so right.

A familiar woman enters the room.

"You're awake," she says, smiling at me. It's Nurse Santos, the young nurse who was taking care of my grandmother before.

"Hi, Tessa," I whisper. My tongue feels like cotton in my mouth.

She glances over at Klaus, who's still asleep next to me.

"He's cute," she says. "He refused to leave your side the entire night. And he watched us like a hawk while we took blood samples to check for carbon monoxide poisoning."

My heart starts racing in my chest. It always does whenever I let myself hope that Klaus loves me the same way I love him.

But it's all tainted now.

It felt wholesome for a little while, but we're not meant to be together. We belong in different worlds.

"We're not together," I say.

"Oh?" Tessa says.

"He's my boss." I swallow. "Nothing else."

Tessa glances at his hand over mine. Even though he's asleep, he's still holding me possessively. He's holding me like I mean something to him even though I know that's not true.

"I saw your grandmother," Tessa says. "I'm so happy to see her doing well."

I smile. "Yeah, she made a quick recovery."

"So have you," Tessa says. "Your oxygen levels were critically low when you arrived.

We've been giving you oxygen and monitoring your vitals all night.

There are a few more tests that need to be done, but I went ahead and canceled the chest X-ray for obvious reasons.

We'll watch you for a few more hours and discharge you in the morning. "

I become fixated on one of the things she says.

"What obvious reasons?" I ask.

"Sorry?" she says, adjusting my IV.

"You said that the chest X-ray was canceled for obvious reasons," I say.

"Yes, because of the baby," she says.

I feel lightheaded as I stare up at her.

"You didn't know that you were pregnant?" she asks.

The hand over mine tightens. I glance over at Klaus to see that he's awake now. His eyes are on me, and he's heard every word Tessa just said.

Tessa glances between the two of us.

"I'll give you two some privacy," she says.

Klaus removes his hand from over mine. Suddenly, I feel cold in this thin hospital gown.

"Is it mine?" he asks.

There's a new intensity in his eyes as he watches me. When his words sink in, it feels like a slap to the face.

"Answer me, Emma," he says. "Is the baby mine?"

I can't believe he's even asking me this.

After everything that we've been through, he's asking me if I slept around while we were together.

"What does it matter to you?" I ask. "It's not like you ever cared about me. You don't need to pretend you care about my unborn child."

Saying it out loud feels surreal.

I'm going to be a mother. I'm going to be responsible for a life.

And despite Klaus's nasty allegations, he's the only man I ever shared my body with. He's the father of this child. But I don't want to tell him that. I don't want to give him the satisfaction.

"It's not yours," I say.

"Bullshit," he says. "It's mine."

He rests his palm over my lower belly.

"The child growing in your womb is mine," he says, looking into my eyes.

A deep hunger forms in my core. My body has never stopped yearning for this man. He's shown me a paradise that I never knew existed, and I've been craving to return there ever since.

"You look so pretty when you're turned on," he says.

It would be so easy.

It would be so easy to give in to this moment. To let him kiss me and take me. To let him make me come so hard that I see stars in the middle of the day.

But I can't.

There are too many unanswered questions. The distance that was formed between us can't be bridged by a kiss.

"Please take your hand off me," I say.

He hesitates for a moment but does as I ask him to.

"I saw something in the mansion," I say. "A woman. She was wearing a white wedding dress and had a lace veil covering her face. She was the one who warned me about the fire before it was too late."

Something shutters over his eyes. He's sitting right here, but he's pulling away from me.

"I don't know what to tell you," he says.

"How about the truth?" I ask. "You don't seem surprised, so I'm assuming you know about her existence. Who is she, and what was she doing in your house?"

He doesn't even meet my gaze.

My heart sinks.

Everything's changed, but at the same time, nothing has. He's still the cold, mysterious stranger I met back in September.

"Also, I saw some things on your laptop," I say. "Why do you have cameras inside my bedroom, Klaus?"

He looks at me now. "You went through my things?"

Something in me snaps.

"Really, Klaus?" I ask. " That's what you have to say to me?"

"I placed the cameras for security reasons," he says.

"In my fucking bedroom ?" I say, my voice rising.

"You were a stranger in my house," he says. "And I had trust issues because of what happened with the last nanny."

"Oh, you definitely have issues," I say, rolling my eyes.

His actions have gotten on my last nerve now. And like always, he never gives me a proper explanation for anything.

He stands abruptly and walks toward the window.

Dawn has kissed the sky, making it shift from velvet black to deep purple and red.

"I'll pay for all of the child's needs," he says. "Everything from diapers to college. You'll have a house and a car to your name, along with a generous monthly allowance. My only request is that I want to be a part of the child's life. We can discuss custody after the birth."

Another contract.

His words are so cold, like this baby is the result of a loveless one-night stand. It was silly of me to think we had something special. It was all in my head the whole time.

Tears prick my eyes, but I blink them away.

"How generous of you," I say. "Are you sure you don't want to have a paternity test done?"

Without another word, he leaves the room.

When he's out of sight, I let myself cry.

I don't know how I ended up here.

I fell for the very kind of man I told myself I would avoid. I know firsthand how wealth and power can go to a person's head. It changes the way they view the world. And if they lack integrity, they start seeing people as a commodity. As a means to an end.

Klaus's words were insulting because he couldn't be more far off.

I dreamed of this moment. Of telling him that we were going to have a baby. But I never imagined it would go like this.

I place my hands over my womb.

"It's going to be you and me against the world, little one," I say. "I'll be everything you need and more."