“Love it,” Annette agrees.
I don’t even know if they’re just saying so for my benefit, but I appreciate their enthusiasm. For a moment, it make me feel less alone.
Then the doctor walks in, a tall, mustached man with feather-white hair and hooded eyes. Annette and Maria move aside so that he can examine me.
“Good afternoon,” he says, nodding towards me without a smile. “You’re looking well.”
“You’re the doctor who performed my C-section?”
“Your emergency C section,” he clarifies. “You were unconscious when you arrived. You were brought in by an older African American man.”
Geoffrey.
“We asked him a few questions when we needed some of your personal information,” the doctor continues. “But he couldn’t give us any. He claimed that you two were not related.”
“That’s true,” I reply. “We’re not related. I met him a half hour before my water broke.”
“I see,” the doctor tuts. “Well, I’m going to need you to fill out some forms for us.”
“Forms?” I ask, panic rising inside me like bile.
“Yes, we need your name, age, nation ID number. Things of that nature,” he says. “We need to know who to contact.”
I can feel my breaths come in again, sharp and painful.
When will I be rid of this feeling, this weight on my chest?
“There’s no one to contact,” I say. “It’s just me.”
The doctor cocks his head to the side. “No husband, boyfriend? No mother or father?” he presses.
“No,” I repeat firmly. “No one.”
I stare down at my son and the weight of my words settles over both of us. The path I have chosen is going to be a lonely one.
Did I do the right thing by leaving Artem?
Or have I just deprived my son of a good father?
No. No second-guessing. I did this for Phoenix’s safety. For my own.
There was no other choice.
“Uh, doctor?” Maria says, but I don’t look up to watch the exchange. “She just woke up mere minutes ago. She’s still disoriented and very tired. Perhaps we should give her a few hours?”
“I can give her one,” the doctor says, looking at me with his leering, hooded eyes. “But I’m going to need you to fill out those forms.”
He gives me a curt nod and strides back out the door.
If I fill out those forms, someone will find me. Budimir, Artem, my father’s allies—someone. That much is guaranteed.
I’ve managed to stay under the radar this long. But now I’m trapped here, I’m physically incapacitated, and I have no one to ask for help.
I try to control the panic I feel, but my body hurts, my breasts hurt, and I’m so fucking scared that I can’t keep the sobs at bay.
They burst from me the moment the doctor has cleared the room.
“Oh, darling!” Maria cries out.