Chapter 33 Percy
Percy’s POV
The waiting room is a personal hell of fluorescent lights and the smell of stale coffee.
It has been three hours. I know it has been three hours because I've been tracking each minute I've been in this waiting room. It has been three hours since I signed the consent forms. Three hours since I watched them wheel her through those double doors. I look around to see that I am the only one here, which makes this my personal hell.
I didn't call Melissa. I couldn't. She was already drunk and hysterical when Adeline left her apartment. If I called her now and told her that her daughter might be dying, she would shatter completely, and right now, consoling her is the last thing I need, plus I don't have the bandwidth to hold her together. If I'm being honest, hearing that news from the son of the man that broke her heart would do more harm than good since I'm barely holding myself together, Melissa is the last thing I want to add to the mix.
I stare at the double doors, willing them to open, but I'm not a magician, and my will is not enough.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I scramble to read it as if it would give me an update about Adeline. Instead, it’s a text from Tiny. Tiny is the guy that does things a lawyer like myself can't be caught doing.
"We found paint transfer on the guardrail. Black Honda Accord. Registered to Mason Bernard. We’re tracking him now." His text said
but I don't feel the rage I expected. I can't feel it right now when my emotions are still largely fear that the love of my life won't make it. The fear is so deep that I can't feel anything else.
Mason is a dead man, I tell myself calmly. But first, she has to live. Finally, the doors swing open just as I tuck my phone away.
A surgeon in blue scrubs steps out. He looks tired, pulling his mask down around his neck. He scans the empty room and locks eyes with me.
"Family of Adeline Volkov?"
I’m on my feet instantly. "I’m here."
The doctor walks over, his expression blank and unreadable. "Mr. Akilov? "
"Yes. How is she?"
"She's out of surgery," the doctor says, and I feel the air rush back into the room. "We were able to stop the internal bleeding. Her collapsed lung has been reinflated, and we’ve set the fractures in her leg with a titanium rod. She’s battered, but she’s stable."
I lean back against the wall, closing my eyes for a second. "She’s going to make it."
"She is," he confirms. "However..."
He hesitates, checking the clipboard in his hand. "Can we speak privately? There is... a complication."
I straighten up as the fear returns tenfold. "What complication? Is it her brain?"
"No," the doctor assures me. "She is fine, but during the pre-op screening and blood work, we discovered something that makes her recovery... complex."
He looks at me, his voice lowering. "Mr. Akilov, are you aware if Miss Volkov was trying to conceive?"
The question throws me off balance. "Conceive? No."
"Because Miss Volkov is pregnant." He says it plainly, and my world stops. I stare at him and try to process the words.
"Pregnant?" I whisper.
"About four weeks along. It’s very early."
Four weeks. I do the math instantly before I drop it. Even if it were six weeks ago, it would still add up. We've never been able to keep our hands off each other. Our sexual chemistry has always been off the charts, even on the first day we met each other. And now that we've confessed our love, we do it as much as we can.
Still, she's carrying my child. That's huge. "Is the baby..." I can't even finish the sentence, but the doctor grasps my meaning.
"Remarkably, the fetal heartbeat is still there," the doctor says, though his face remains grave. "But I have to be honest with you, Mr. Akilov. The trauma to her body was severe. The stress of the accident, the surgery, and the medication all put the pregnancy in extreme danger. "He sighs. "We’re monitoring her closely, but the next forty-eight hours are critical. If she stresses, or if her body decides it can't support the pregnancy while healing her injuries... she could lose it."
I run a hand over my face, unsure of which emotions to feel. Should I be happy or sad? We created a life, and Mason tried to kill it before we even knew it existed.
"Can I see her?" I ask.
"She’s just waking up in the recovery room. You can go in."
"Thank you." I walk down the hall to the recovery room with legs that feel like lead.
Adeline is lying in a bed, hooked up to a dozen wires. Her leg is casted and elevated. Her face is pale against the white sheets, and her eyes flutter open as I approach.
"Percy," she croaks, her voice scratchy from dehydration.
"I’m here, baby." I take her cold hand, bringing it to my lips. "I'm right here."
She blinks, focusing on me. "The bike... the car..."
"It’s handled," I promise. "You’re safe. The surgery went well. They fixed your leg."
She nods weakly, then winces as the pain flares. "It hurts."
"I know, baby. I know." I stroke her hair, terrified to touch her anywhere else. "Adeline... there's something else. The doctor told me something."
Her eyes widen in fear. "What is it?"
"No," I say quickly. "It’s... it’s unexpected."
I look down at her stomach and place my hand there, gently. "You’re pregnant, Adeline."
She freezes, and her mouth drops open. "What?"
"We’re having a baby." I watch as several emotions go through her face before she settles on terror. "Oh my God, the accident. Is the baby..."
"It’s okay," I soothe her, gently pushing her shoulders back down. "The heartbeat is there. The baby is fighting, just like you."
Tears well up in her eyes. "Oh god, Percy. A baby?"
"A baby," I confirm, a small smile touching my lips despite the fear. "Our baby."
She looks at me, searching my face. "You want it?"
"More than anything," I say honestly. "But Adeline, it’s high risk. The doctor said the crash put everything in danger. You have to rest and do everything the doctor says."
She nods, tears spilling over, and places her hand over mine on her stomach.
"We’re keeping it," she whispers fiercely. "We’re not losing this. Not after everything."
"We’re keeping it," I agree.
Suddenly, her eyes dart to the door. "Mom," she says. "Does she know?"
"I haven't called her yet," I admit. "I didn't want to alarm her until I knew something for sure."
Adeline grips my hand. "Don't tell her."
"Adeline..."
"No, Percy. You can't tell her," she insists, her voice rising in panic. "She just found out Richard cheated. She hates you right now. She hates all men. If she finds out I’m pregnant with an Akilov baby while I’m lying in a hospital bed, she’ll lose it. And the doctor said no stress for me, right?" The little manipulator—she knows just how to get to me.
"Fine, we won't tell her." Yet.