While My Husband Cheated I Married His Powerful Brother novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Chapter 10 A Body That Survived

The pain hit her in the elevator.

One moment she was standing, leaning against Dorian’s chest, his arm around her waist holding her upright. The next moment her knees buckled and a sharp, twisting cramp ripped through her lower belly.

She gasped. Her hand flew to her stomach. The baby. Oh God, the baby.

Dorian caught her before she hit the floor. His arm tightened around her. His other hand came up to her face, tilting her chin so she had to look at him.

"What is it?" His voice was sharp and not cold. Sharp with something that might have been fear.

"My stomach," she managed. "It hurts. The baby—"

She did not finish the sentence. She could not. The pain came again, harder this time, and she doubled over. Her vision went gray at the edges.

Dorian did not hesitate. He scooped her up like she weighed nothing. One arm under her knees, the other around her back. She curled into him instinctively, her face pressed against his chest, her hands still clutching her belly.

"Call the hospital," he said. He was not speaking to her. He was speaking to one of the bodyguards who had followed them out of the apartment. "Tell them we’re coming in hot. And get my car. Now."

The bodyguard was already on his phone.

Dorian carried her down the stairs. Not the elevator. The stairs were faster, even with her in his arms. He moved like a man who had done this before, like his body knew exactly what to do even if his brain was still catching up.

Behind them, Veyra heard Xiomara’s voice, high and hysterical. "I didn’t touch her stomach! I didn’t! You can’t prove anything!"

Dorian did not look back. But he spoke, loud enough for everyone in the stairwell to hear.

"If anything happens to her," he said, "if anything happens to that child, I will execute every single person in that apartment. Starting with you, Xiomara."

The stairwell went silent.

Then the door slammed, and they were outside, and the cold air hit Veyra’s face, and she closed her eyes and held on.

*

The hospital was a blur.

White lights. White coats. Voices that floated in and out of her consciousness like boats on a foggy river. Someone put a needle in her arm. Someone else pressed something cold and round against her belly. A machine beeped in a rhythm that she tried to match with her breathing.

Beep. Breathe. Beep. Breathe.

Dorian was there. She could feel him. He did not hold her hand or stroke her hair or any of the things Caspian would have done to make himself look like the concerned husband. He just stood by the wall, his arms crossed, his jaw tight, watching the doctors work.

Every few minutes, he would ask a question. "What’s her blood pressure?" "Is the fetus in distress?" "What is the prognosis?" The doctors answered in medical terms she did not understand. He seemed to understand them perfectly.

After what felt like hours, a doctor in blue scrubs turned to Dorian and smiled.

"The baby is fine," she said. "The cramping was caused by dehydration and stress. We’re giving her fluids and monitoring her overnight, but there’s no sign of fetal distress."

Veyra felt something loosen in her chest. A knot she had been holding for three days. Three days without food. Three days without water. Three days of thinking she was going to lose this baby the same way she had lost the first one.

She started crying.

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