A Wedding Night Gone Terribly Wrong novel Chapter 13

For the first time in her life, she lost her resolve. Her first broken promise was handed over to a quadruplet ultrasound report.

With trembling fingers, Winifred tapped the keypad of her phone, entering the number she knew by heart.

She hit call.

And waited.

Three seconds passed.

Ten seconds...

The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later.

Was Holden really insisting that she 'vanish from the earth' so completely that he wouldn't even pick up a single phone call? This was a matter of life and death! Five lives, actually.

In her current physical condition, she couldn't possibly undergo the procedure to terminate four babies right away. But if she took the time to rest and regain enough strength for the surgery, it would take at least half a month. The embryos were already nearly seven weeks along. In another two weeks, they would be too large for a standard outpatient procedure, requiring her to carry them to four months and induce labor. That meant she would have to give birth to them. Giving birth to four babies at once would mean walking through the gates of hell four times. Not to mention the sheer cruelty of it—they would be fully formed little humans, sent straight to the crematorium without ever seeing the light of day.

Her only option right now was to keep them. But carrying quadruplets meant she'd be massive within four months. She wouldn't be able to function normally; she'd need help just to lie down or stand up. And even if she hired a few nannies and gritted her teeth through the pregnancy, how could she possibly raise four infants to adulthood on her own? From infancy to eighteen years old—that was nearly two decades. Seasons would change, years would pass; it was a grueling, monumental task. She was just a normal girl with no parents of her own. She had just graduated college. She was only twenty-one. Her maternal love was just one portion—split four ways, it wouldn't be nearly enough to sustain them for the next eighteen years.

Thinking it over, she realized the children couldn't grow up without a father. She had to tell Holden. They needed to shoulder this together.

Since he wasn't answering her calls, she would go find him.

Clutching the ultrasound report, Winifred grabbed her canvas suitcase and walked out of the hospital. She hailed a cab and headed straight for the Lockwood Mansion.

The autumn rain continued to fall, the cold wind lashing the rain against the car windows as the trees blurred past.

Miles opened the door and stepped out, looking incredibly impatient. "Ms. Morgan just got out of the hospital. Holden is keeping her company. He doesn't have time."

Winifred clenched her hands into fists. "I have something extremely important to tell him. Please ask him to step out for just a moment. It'll only take five minutes."

Miles glanced back at the passenger seat of the car. "I have to drive the designer back." He clearly had no intention of doing her any favors to notify Holden.

Winifred followed his gaze.

Miles smirked. "An Austrian diamond jewelry designer. Flown in specifically today to custom-design Ms. Morgan's wedding ring."

It felt as if a massive bolt of lightning had struck her right in the skull, blasting away every ounce of hope she had carefully gathered. All the things she had planned to say on the way here vanished into thin air.