Chapter 6 The Hospital Lie
597 Words
The ultrasound room was a battlefield.
Vanessa on one side, hand on her huge bump, smirking. The Kane Group board of directors on the other, tablets ready to record.
And me in the middle. Ten weeks pregnant. Flat stomach. Shaking.
“Proceed,” Adrian said. His voice was ice again. The man from last night who knelt for our baby was gone.
The doctor squeezed cold gel on my stomach. “Mrs. Kane, this will be—”
“Don’t call her that,” Vanessa cut in. “The real Mrs. Kane is right here.” She rubbed her bump. “Carrying the true heir.”
The screen flickered to life.
Static. Then a flutter.
“There.” The doctor pointed. “One heartbeat. Strong. Approximately 10 weeks.”
The board murmured. Vanessa’s smirk slipped.
“Wait.” The doctor frowned. He moved the wand. “There’s… another.”
The room went dead silent.
“What?” Adrian stepped forward, lethal.
“Twins,” the doctor whispered. “Identical twins. Two heartbeats. Mrs. Kane is carrying twins.”
Vanessa shot to her feet. “That’s impossible! He was with me in London! There’s no way—”
“Unless you’re lying about how far along you are, Miss Okoro.” Adrian’s voice could cut glass. He turned to the board. “Or unless the child isn’t mine.”
Vanessa went white.
“Security.” Adrian didn’t raise his voice. He never needed to. “Take Miss Okoro for a DNA test. Now.”
“No! Adrian, please, I can explain—”
She was dragged out screaming.
The board filed out, suddenly very interested in their shoes.
Then it was just me, Adrian, and two heartbeats on a screen.
“Twins,” he said. Like the word was foreign.
“You said you wanted an heir.” I couldn’t stop staring at the screen. Two babies. “Now you have two.”
He was quiet for so long I thought he’d left.
Then his hand covered mine on the bed rail. Warm. Real.
“My father chose my brother as heir,” he said roughly. “Gave him everything. Left me with scraps and rage. I swore my children would never fight for my love.”
He looked at me. Really looked at me. “No more south wing. No more locks. You move into my room. Tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because,” he brushed his thumb over my knuckles, “anyone who carries two Kane heirs sleeps in the master suite. With their husband.”
Husband. He’d never called himself that.
“Adrian… my mother. You said you bought the hospital—”
He went still. “Lily. I didn’t buy the hospital.”
The world tilted. “What?”
“Your mother’s doctor called me. Week one. She’s been in remission for 3 months. She never needed N8 million. She never needed surgery.” He let go of my hand. “She was in on it. With my assistant. They set you up to trap me into marriage.”
The machine beeped. Two heartbeats. Strong. Steady.
And I realized: I’d sold my freedom for a lie.
But Adrian Kane was staring at our twins like they were the first real thing he’d ever owned.
“Stay,” he said. Not an order. A request. “Not for the contract. Not for the money.”
His hand touched my stomach. Over our sons.
“Stay for them. Stay for me.”
The door was unlocked.
For the first time, I didn’t want to run.
- Writer
