Hearing my voice completely defeated, Eric looked at me. “Hampton. Get her some water. I think he’s right.”
Hampton did as he asked, leaving Frank writhing on the floor. He was useless. Hampton handed her the water. “Take small sips. It’ll keep you from getting nauseous.”
When Hampton turned my way, he blinked his eyes consecutively five times, stopped, and then three more.
Our sign. Finally, our fucking sign. Hampton hadn’t flipped.
I said every prayer I could think of. If there were only three guys, including Frankie, as suspected, my odds improved dramatically.
All I could do was stare at Maren’s stomach. I always knew this time meant more than what I gave it credit for. Shit! The situation was spinning out of control—everything I had fought against. I needed to save her and our child if she was pregnant. If we made it through this, I was going to give it all I had. It was time to fight for something I wanted—for Maren. I should have told her this morning how I felt. Regret filled me.
“Maren, be a dear and go piss on this. Let’s see if I’m about to congratulate the two of you.” Maren’s eyes were closed for a brief second. What was going through her mind? I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I knew I wanted Maren and children, but not forced upon her. She’d never believe I wanted her for her. Damn it all to hell!
Maybe she wouldn’t be pregnant. Maren reopened her eyes, tears threatening to spill over. Eric mocked her. “It’s okay. If you’re not, we have some backup plans. Bane’s next steps will decide the outcome of this situation.”
He handed Maren a pregnancy test from the table behind him. A tear fell from Maren’s face.
“Motherfucker!”
Eric turned to me, truly satisfied that he’d gotten a reaction out of me. “I thought you’d be happy Bane. I’m giving you something back you lost.” I kept my gaze on Maren trying not to let his words affect me as Eric said, “Hampton, take Maren to the bathroom.”
On shaky feet, Maren stood and walked to the bedroom. She gave me a sad smile and my heart broke. This was all because of me and not being able to stay away from her. Hampton followed, which only left Eric, Frank and myself in the room. Eric paced victoriously in front of me. “I’m sure you’re wondering how we found you. I won’t make you try and figure it out. In Maren’s birth control pills we put a tracker. Did I mention that her pills had fertility enhancements added to them?”
He laughed like a hyena as he took in his victory. Eric had never been able to handle that I was faster, better, and more agile than him in the field. Overall, I had been a better agent.
I was going to take great pleasure in killing Eric when I had the chance. But for now, I sat still while Eric gloated more. “I didn’t mention the fertility part, did I? Shame on me. Well, we made her as fertile as possible.” He cocked his head. “I digress. At first, we were going to come after you more aggressively. Then, when I searched the hotel room, I realized the condoms and pills had been taken. Frankie said Maren had an extra pack in her purse. We knew there was a two month supply. There was still a chance that Maren could get pregnant. If you had a baby to lose from the get go, I knew you’d be more willing to cooperate, considering you know what that already feels like.”
Eric brushed some imaginary lent off his jacket, truly enjoying this sick mind fuck of a game he played. “About a week ago we turned on the tracker to get your location. It had been turned off up until that point. It wouldn’t have registered on any of your equipment. In case you were monitoring, we turned it back off. Each day we checked and you hadn’t moved locations. It was brilliant actually. With Maren on her second pack of pills, we were running out of time and hoped you’d fucked her enough to impregnate her.”
“What do you want from me?” My voice came out tight and barely contained. I was losing patience with this dog and pony show. This asshole was gambling with the life of the girl I wanted and potentially my child. The end game had not been revealed yet.
Maren appeared back in the door, clearly shaken. Hampton was behind her. Without warning she ran to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Take the knife from the front of my pants.”
Without hesitation, I took the small sharp knife from her. It had to be Hampton’s. “I swear I’ll get you two out of this. I’ll keep you guys safe. I swear it.”
Hampton wrenched her back but not with enough force to hurt her. It was for show. “Hampton. Bring her back over here.”
Another gun shot went off and Frank cried out. “Fuck, man. Not my other leg. Maren, make it stop!”
A sob erupted from Maren. “Please stop. Don’t hurt him.”
I positioned the knife to where all it would take was a bit of pressure and I’d be free. Frank continued to wail in the background. “His fate rests on you not misbehaving, Maren. Be a good girl and I won’t hurt him.”
She nodded and looked back at me. My heart broke. Unfortunately, in this game there were calculated risks and injuries happened. The sooner I got us out of this mess the better.
Eric’s left eye had a twitch. Same tell-tale sign from when we worked together. He was lying, of course. Maren stood next to Hampton.
“I think it’s about time to check.” Eric took the pregnan
cy test from Hampton and looked directly at me.
“Congratulations, Daddy. We won’t have to artificially-inseminate Maren now.”
Holy shit! Maren was pregnant with our baby. Our baby. I was going to be a dad. I watched Maren’s hands go to her stomach.
I will protect you little one. I swear I won’t fail my family this time.
Whatever was about to come out of Eric’s mouth would be a lie. By the gleam in his eye, I knew he planned to take Maren and the baby away from me again. He was going to use them as leverage. All the cards weren’t on the table yet … not by a long shot.