Chapter 352

Chapter 352
Aurora

I had no idea how much time passed before it finally occurred to me that nobody was coming, and as I stood there with my head lowered and my breathing carefully controlled, I couldn’t decide whether the silence meant that my plan had failed completely or whether someone on the other side of that door had already figured out exactly what I was trying to do.

Maybe they were watching me.

The thought sent another wave of frustration through me.

Fuck.

I couldn’t keep waiting for someone to enter.

If this plan wasn’t going to work by itself, then I needed to force them to come.

I drew in as much air as my aching lungs would allow and prepared myself for what I was about to do, because screaming with my throat already dry and irritated was probably going to hurt like hell, but at this point, pain was hardly something I could afford to worry about.

“Help me!”

My voice echoed through the concrete room, bouncing off the walls and coming back to me so loudly that it almost sounded like someone else was shouting with me.

I took another breath and forced myself to sound terrified.

“Something is wrong with my babies! Please!”

I screamed again before the sound of my own voice had even finished fading, deliberately allowing panic to creep into it as I pulled against the restraints and let my body shake as though I were barely holding myself upright.

“Please, somebody help me! Something is wrong with my babies!”

The words tore at my throat, each one leaving behind a painful scrape that made swallowing even more uncomfortable, but I didn’t stop because I needed whoever was outside to believe that this was an emergency and that waiting another minute could mean something was seriously wrong with the babies.

“Please!”

I screamed until my voice cracked, until the muscles in my chest ached from the effort and every breath became rougher than the one before it, and when the pain became almost unbearable, I forced myself to scream one final time.

“Help me!”

Then I heard something.

Footsteps.

My heart immediately jumped.

They were coming.

For the first time since I’d been brought into that room, I felt something dangerously close to relief, although I forced myself to push it down almost immediately since I couldn’t afford to look relieved when the door opened.

I lowered my head, allowing my breathing to become uneven while I waited, and a few seconds later the footsteps grew louder until they stopped directly outside the room.

The lock turned.

The heavy door opened.

The same woman who had brought me food stepped inside, and for a moment she looked as expressionless as she always had, until her eyes dropped toward the blood covering my stomach and the front of my clothes.

She stopped so abruptly that I knew immediately that I’d succeeded.

“What—”

Her voice broke off as she stared at me.

The detached calmness disappeared from her face, replaced by something much closer to alarm as she hurried toward me and looked over the blood as though trying to determine where it had come from.

“What happened?”

I let my head fall slightly, making my breathing sound as strained as possible while I looked at her with wide, frightened eyes.

“My stomach…” I whispered, forcing my voice to tremble. “It just started bleeding.”

I sucked in a shaky breath and allowed my expression to twist with pain.

“Please… it hurts.”

Her eyes remained fixed on my stomach for another second before she looked sharply toward the doorway, and the urgency in her movement told me more than any answer could have.

Whoever had taken me had given these people very specific instructions.

Whatever happened to me, the babies had to survive.

That was enough.

I didn’t need to know why yet, and I certainly didn’t need to know what they intended to do with them; all I needed was for them to care enough about keeping the pregnancy intact that they would give me even the smallest opportunity to escape.

The woman didn’t ask me anything else, which almost made me nervous, and instead of staying to examine me or trying to determine whether I was actually injured, she simply turned and hurried out of the room.

The door remained open behind her.

I stared at the empty doorway, trying desperately not to let the relief show on my face.

It had worked.

At least for the moment, it had worked.

I still had no idea what she was going to bring back with her, whether it would be a doctor, more guards, or someone who would immediately realize that there wasn’t actually anything wrong with me, and the uncertainty made every second that passed feel unbearably long.

I kept my head lowered and continued breathing unevenly, forcing myself to maintain the illusion while I listened to the faint sounds beyond the room.

Then, a couple of minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching again.

This time there were several.

My heartbeat immediately picked up.

The woman appeared first, followed by two men I’d never seen before, both dressed entirely in dark clothing and carrying themselves with the kind of quiet confidence that made it obvious they weren’t ordinary guards.

Neither of them spoke when they entered.

Their attention went straight to me.

Then to the restraints.

One of them moved toward my right side while the other approached my left, and for one terrifying second I wondered whether they had already realized that I’d lied to get them here.

Instead, one of them reached for the restraint around my wrist.

The lock clicked.

The metal released.

The pressure that had been pulling relentlessly against my right shoulder disappeared so suddenly that my arm dropped before I could control it, and the moment the second man unlocked my other wrist, my left arm fell as well.

I barely had time to understand that I was finally free before the rest of my body reminded me exactly how long I’d been held in that position.

My knees buckled.

I pitched forward, completely unable to keep myself upright, and both men caught me before I could hit the floor.

“Easy,” one of them muttered as he caught my arm.

The other steadied me from the opposite side, pulling my arm over his shoulder while I struggled to find enough strength in my legs to stand.

I tried.

I genuinely tried.

But my legs had been numb for so long that they seemed to have forgotten how to carry my weight, and when I attempted to put one foot in front of the other, a sharp wave of pins and needles raced from my feet all the way up my legs, making them tremble violently beneath me.

“She can’t walk,” one of the men muttered.

“Then support her.”

I kept my head lowered, allowing them to believe that I was too weak and frightened to do anything except rely on them, while my mind raced through every possibility that had just opened up.

My wrists were free.

My arms were free.

I could move.

For the first time since I’d woken up in that room, I wasn’t completely helpless.

It wasn’t freedom yet, but it was an opening, and I knew better than to waste it.

I let the men take most of my weight as they began guiding me toward the doorway, forcing myself to move slowly because my legs could barely cooperate with me, while I quietly studied everything around us for anything I could use if the opportunity presented itself.

The woman walked ahead of us.

The two men stayed on either side of me.

The door was open.

And beyond it was a corridor I had never seen before.

I didn’t know where it led, how many guards were waiting outside, or whether there was even an exit anywhere nearby, but for the first time since I’d been taken, I was no longer staring at the same four walls.

I was moving.

That alone was enough to make my pulse race.

Every step was unsteady, my feet barely registering the cold stone beneath them as the men supported me between them, and although my body desperately wanted to collapse after being restrained for so long, I forced myself forward, keeping my expression weak and frightened while I silently counted every turn, every doorway, every person we passed, and every possible detail that might become useful later.

Because if they were willing to take me out of that room simply because they believed something was wrong with the babies, then they had just given me something I hadn’t had before.

An opportunity to see where they were keeping me.

And I wasn’t going to waste it.