Page 145 of Scarlet Thorns

Osip’s baby.

My knees threaten to buckle. The cold wind whips around me, but I can’t feel it anymore. Can’t feel anything except the crushing weight of this revelation.

“So… the cramps and the spotting?” I manage to ask.

“They’re consistent with the earlier loss and your endometriosis,” he reassures me. “But as I said, the remaining baby looks strong.” He pauses. “I’m truly sorry we didn’t catch it earlier, Ilona. The second fetus must have been smaller and hidden during the initial scan after your miscarriage. It’s rare, but it happens in about one in a hundred twin pregnancies. We just picked it up during your recent examination.”

I can’t believe it. I stand frozen on the sidewalk like a statue, the suitcase handle cutting into my palm. My mind feels like it’s shattered into a thousand pieces, each one screaming a different truth:

I’m going to be a mother.

I’m having my father’s murderer’s baby.

There’s a piece of Osip growing inside me, and I can never escape it.

I can never escape him.

I’m having a baby.

I’m going to be a mom!

The flight I’m supposed to catch, the new life I’m running toward— it all seems meaningless now. How can I start over when I’m carrying the ultimate reminder of everything I’m trying to leave behind?

“Ilona, are you there?” Dr. Varga’s voice cuts through the chaos in my head.

What am I supposed to tell him?

Sure, I’m here, Dr. Varga, I just need to process this because the baby’s father killed my father and I’m escaping him right now, I’m at the airport and—

Something, or someone, snaps me out of my thoughts, and it’s not Dr. Varga.

Cold metal presses against my spine. I jerk in shock, not immediately comprehending what’s going on.

“What the—?” I blurt. A hand clamps over my mouth before I can call out, fingers digging into my cheeks.

Oh God!

The metallic taste of fear floods my mouth as I recognize the shape pressed against my back— the unmistakable barrel of a gun.

This isn’t happening.

This can’t be happening!

My phone slips from my fingers, clattering to the pavement. Dr. Varga’s voice becomes a distant buzz as terror floods my system.

I try to scream, but the hand over my mouth muffles everything. The area around me is deserted— just empty concrete and shadows. I’d been so focused on the call, so lost in the devastating news, that I hadn’t noticed the car pulling up beside me.

Stupid!

So fucking stupid!

“Get in,” a muffled male voice growls in my ear. “If you want to live, get the fuck inside.”

The piece of metal digs deeper into my back, and I whimper against the hand covering my mouth. My mind races— is this Osip? Has he found me already? But the voice is wrong, unfamiliar.

No.

This isn’t him.