Chapter five
1161 Words
Kendrick’s POV
The car pulled up in front of the condo, the headlights shining brightly across the road. I came down,opening the rear door as I cradled Khloe in my arms.
She was weightless.
Soft.
Unconscious.
I stepped inside and headed straight to the master suite, ignoring the questioning looks from the night staff. Let them wonder. Let them whisper. Tonight was not about them.
It was about her.
The woman I hadn't planned on meeting. The woman whose laugh had loosened something inside me I thought long dead. The woman who might,finally,carry my legacy.
I laid her gently on the bed, pushing a stray curl away from her flushed cheek. Her lips, slightly parted, still carried the taste of us. Her nightdress had shifted, revealing a glimpse of thigh.
I looked away, jaw clenched.
No. This wasn’t about lust.
This was about bloodlines. About redemption. About seizing the miracle life had so cruelly denied me for years.
I reached for my phone and dialed the only man who’d understand.
“Doctor Morales,” I said when he answered groggily. “I need you at my house. Now.”
“Is this about—”
“Yes,” I cut him off. “Tonight was the first time since treatment. I want to run full tests. Hormonal levels. DNA markers. Everything. She’s unconscious right now, but when she wakes—”
“Unconscious?” His tone sharpened. “Kendrick, what did you do?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I wasn’t sure how to explain it myself.
A sharp knock sounded on the door.
I turned as Ethan walked in, loosened tie around his neck, expression unreadable. He scanned the room, his gaze halting on Khloe’s still body sprawled across the bed.
“You really did it,” he muttered.
I didn’t look at him. “Yes.”
“She’s passed out.”
“I had to sedate her.”
“You drugged her,” he corrected, stepping inside fully. “You drugged a woman you barely know and brought her to your condo like some medieval warlord.”
“She told me she'd regret it in the morning,” I said, voice hardening. “And I believe her. I gave her an out. At least this way, I could talk to her without her running.”
Ethan gave a low whistle. “You’ve finally lost your mind.”
“No,” I said sharply. “I’ve finally gained clarity.”
He folded his arms. “Let me guess. You think she’s pregnant?”
I turned to him fully now. “The doctor said my sperm count spiked last week. I’m not infertile anymore. For the first time in my life, I can create something. I’m not letting the woman who might carry my child walk away without knowing what she’s carrying.”
Ethan laughed bitterly. “You don’t know she’s pregnant. You just hope she is. There’s a difference.”
“I’ll pay her if I have to.”
“That’s not how this works, Kendrick.”
“It’s how I work.”
We stared at each other for a beat,two men on opposite sides of a moral battlefield. Ethan shook his head first, turning to leave.
“When she wakes up,” he said at the door, “I hope to hell you have a good explanation.”
She stirred around dawn.
I was sitting in the armchair across the room, fingers steepled under my chin, eyes never leaving her form.
Her lashes fluttered. Her brows creased.
Then her eyes snapped open.
The first thing I saw was confusion.
Then recognition.
Then pure, white-hot rage.
“You,” she gasped, scrambling upright,only to groan and collapse back into the pillows, holding her head. “What… the hell did you do?”
I stood slowly, calm despite the storm brewing in her eyes. “You're awake.”
“No s**t, Sherlock,” she snapped, eyes darting around the unfamiliar room. “Where am I?”
“My condo.”
She blinked. “You brought me here? After… after that? You drugged me?!”
I sighed. “You said last night that you’d probably regret it in the morning. Well, it is morning. And look,you were right.”
Her jaw dropped. “So instead of letting me walk away, you decided to inject me like some psychotic lunatic and kidnap me?!”
“You weren’t kidn*pped,” I replied smoothly. “You were... preserved.”
“Preserved?” Her voice climbed an octave. “What am I? some kind of specimen to you?”
I walked over to the bed slowly. “I didn’t want you to disappear. I had to be sure.”
“Sure of what?” she spat.
I hesitated.
Then, the words came out low. Measured. “That you might be pregnant.”
Silence.
She stared at me, blinking like she hadn't heard me right. “Excuse me?”
I met her gaze, steady. “I won't let my child suffer,he or she is the heir and sole owner of my properties and I intend to keep it so.”
She gaped at me. “You did all this… because you think I might be carrying your child?”
“No. Because I know the universe doesn’t give second chances lightly. And I’m not letting mine slip away.”
She pushed herself up again, slower this time, swaying slightly. “You think I’d actually stay here after this?”
“You’re free to leave once the doctor checks you over,” I said evenly. “I just needed a window. A moment to explain.”
She was shaking now,not from fear, but fury. Her voice broke as she said, “You don’t get to decide how my body is handled, Kendrick. You don’t get to control my future.”
I sat back on the edge of the bed. “You’re right. I don’t. But if there’s even a chance that you’re pregnant, I won’t walk away from it. I won’t.”
Her face crumpled. “You could’ve asked.”
“You would’ve run.”
She didn't deny it.
Instead, she turned away, curling her knees to her chest like a girl shielding herself from the world.
“I don’t trust you,” she whispered.
I nodded. “I can live with that. For now.”
Silence stretched between us again, thick and choking.
Finally, I stood. “Doctor Morales will be here in twenty minutes. After that, if you still want to leave,I'll let you.”
She didn’t respond.
But as I walked to the door, I caught the faintest whisper behind me.
“What’s your name?”
I paused, my back to her.
“Kendrick,” I said. “Kendrick Mackey.”
Another beat passed.
Then, softly—
“Did you say Mackey?” She asked and I nodded.
“Yeah,why?” I asked and she just maintained a neutral expression.
“Nothing,I was just curious.”
- Writer
