Too Late For Regret, Mr. Booth

ht months of pregnancy in her belly. Her breath hitched as the weight shifted, her lower back screaming from the p

e," she whispere

Three perfect heartbeats had filled that darkened room with sound. Three. The technician had laughed, said it was the most active set o

'd left three messages. She'd said it

le doors swung op

, her heart leaping int

died on

d Louboutin clicked against the marble floor, each step a calculated assault. Her platinum Bir

offee table with a crac

e's hand moved instinctively to shield

ity functions, always from across crowded rooms where Callum stood too close to t

olored, heavy stock, the kind that carried legal weight. "Nothing's private

ded across the glass surface and

words were already visible, embossed in black

er own breathing, too loud, too fast, rasping

pensive-filling the space between them. "Sign it. Or don't. It doesn

d her hand harder against her belly, feeling the frantic flutter of

e. That's exactly why. Callum doesn't need you anymore. He needs the babies. And once they're born, he'll have them. Trust funds, cu

d into the leather so

toying with a delicate chain that disappeared benea

seen it once before, in a photograph from Callum's childhood-his mother's necklace. The Booth m

ed. The edges of

gave it to me last night. After." She leaned close enough that Elise could see the perfect line of her lip gloss, could

er body had turned to

e gave Callum a kidney. Saved his life. Anonymous donor, they said. No name, n

stopped, one missed beat, then an

th vicious delight. "You pathetic little thing. You thought he'd

's arm, her nails digging through lea

sked how he could ever repay me-" She gestured to the necklace, to the room, to the life she'd stolen. "I told him

ise's voice brok

st part is? You lost a kidney for him. You gave him life. And all you got

ysical sensation, like ribs separating, like muscle tearing, lik

lu

he smile that had destroyed everything. But Jaida was faster. Her ha

avity shifted, eight months of pregnancy pullin

le edge caught

and exploded in her pelvis, and she heard herself make a sound she'd ne

ess was already spreading, warm and wrong against her thighs. She looked down and saw

oice came from somewhere abov

a single point of light, and through that light she saw Jaida step carefully around the spreadi

clinical. "Get your team to the OR on my private floor, now. No records." A pause. "And prepare for a

e held it against her belly as the darkness swallowed her, as the last thing she saw was Jaida Pow