“I …” Indignation coloured her cheeks. “He’s more than just your heir. He’s a boy. A beautiful, sweet little boy.”
“Yes, and he’s my boy.”
“As he is mine,” she snapped, rubbing her temples. “He’s not a pawn in your political landscape. All that matters now is that he gets this operation.”
“Don’t you dare act as though you have been prioritizing the child in this. Do you believe I would not have moved heaven and earth for this child if I’d known about him? Do you think I would have left him to suffer like this? You kept him from me out of your own selfish …”
“I did what I thought was best!” She retorted, but her words lacked conviction.
“Best for you.” His words were scathing and all the more so for they reinforced her own fears.
“Now, just wait a minute,” Annette stood from the chair and came to stand beside Abigail. Her voice was low and carefully calm. “You have no right to speak like that. You have no idea what this has been like for any of us.” She turned to Abi. “You can’t argue in front of Mikey. It’s not good for him.”
“No.” Abigail nodded, her cheeks flaming with mortification at the argument they’d unleashed in front of these spectators. She tilted her head to address Doctor Edrich. “When can surgery be scheduled?”
“Stop.” Kiral spoke and the three of them turned as one. “There is to be no surgery until I have been consulted.”
“Damn it,” Abi stomped her foot and her eyes stung with unshed tears.
“Doctor, I am this boy’s father. I will not give consent until you and I have spoken privately. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Doctor Edrich had never met anyone like him. Tall, dark and with a manner of natural authority that radiated shivers along his spine. He nodded instantly. “I would have been obliged to consult Mikey’s father sooner if I had been able,” he murmured to Abi. “It’s natural that he wants to know what’s going to happen.”
“No more delays,” she whispered, reaching for Michael’s hand.
“We cannot schedule the surgery tonight anyway,” the doctor reassured her. “The specialist needs to fly in, and that takes time to arrange.”
“Fly in from where?” Ki demanded, honing in on the practical details now.
“Lebanon. She’s the world leader in paediatric cardiology. She practically wrote the book on Mikey’s condition.”
Again, the doctor’s familiarity unnerved Ki. “We must speak.” He moved towards the door and it opened seamlessly. It was the first time Abi became aware of the two guards who had accompanied them. In her grief and anxiety, she had tuned them out.
“Not without me,” she said through gritted teeth. The desire to have someone else take control had completely disappeared. Now? She couldn’t imagine relinquishing her right to make decisions on Michael’s behalf to anyone. She turned to Annette, her expression determined. “Mum? Will you—,”
“I’ll stay with Mikey, of course,” Annette promised, nodding reassuringly at her daughter. “Go. Tell His Royal Bossy Britches to back off a bit.”
At any other time, Abi might have laughed at the description, but in that moment she had the sense that she was a passenger in a car that was about to spin wildly out of control.
The parents’ room was nothing special. A couple of threadbare chairs, a microwave, a fridge and peeling linoleum that covered the floor and ran halfway up the wall. The lighting was fluorescent and it cast an eerie glow over everything.
The two guards were standing sentinel at the door. It wasn’t their fault. Their job was, apparently, to shadow Kiral. But she hated them in that moment, and everything that stood as a physical reminder of Kiral’s power.
“Is he safe to fly?” Kiral was saying.
Abigail froze. Her heart was accelerating wildly.
Doctor Edrich’s frown was thoughtful. “When he’s stable, he’s fine. Like any other two year old. But his situation can deteriorate quickly. If you were to fly him any distance, he would need to travel with a medical team.”
“I have anticipated this,” Kiral was saying. “I have a jet on standby and a team is currently being assembled.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Despite the fact she was almost whispering, Abigail’s voice resonated through the small room. “Of course he’ll have the operation here. This hospital has been like a home away from home for him.”
Kiral didn’t look in her direction. “Tell me who I need and I will have them on standby to operate as soon as we land in Delani.”
“Delani,” Abigail reached for the wall for support. “No.”
He angled his head to face her. “Yes.” His eyes were brimming with silent fury.
“No,” she repeated, but it was futile. “You can’t take him. He’s an American citizen. He’s my son.”
“He is my son too, and like it or not, he is the heir to the throne of Delani.” He turned back to the doctor. “Leave us.”
Doctor Edrich nodded. Sparks were flying between the couple and he had no interest in being caught in the middle.
“And hand your list of recommended specialists to any of my security agents.”
The doctor nodded again.
Kiral’s voice stalled Doctor Edrich by the swing doors. “You will accompany us. Abigail is right. This hospital is familiar to my son, and you obviously are too. He will be comforted by your presence. Make yourself available for the next three days.”
Abigail rolled her eyes. “Would it kill you to use some manners?”
Ki stiffened. “I would be very grateful if you would arrange this,” he supplemented.
“What the hell has gotten into you?” Abigail spun around as soon as Edrich had left and shoved Kiral’s chest hard. It felt good. She did it again, enjoying the sense of butting against him. Of course, her touch did very little and he stood rock still. He shook his head at the security agent who had begun to move towards Abigail. He did not need assistance to contain this woman, though after the business with his sister it was understandable that his guards were hyper-vigilant.
“You have no right to be angry,” he said coldly. “You had no right to keep me from him.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I had every right,” she defended sharply. “You sanctimonious bastard, we were just a … a … meaningless fling. Neither of us ever thought we’d have a baby together! But we did. And you weren’t here. You were gone. So what was I meant to do? How dare you …”
He held a hand up in the air to silence her and then spoke to his guards. “Leave us.”
They did, instantly.
“You will not speak so freely in front of my servants.”
“You did! I was just repeating …!”
“I am their Sheikh. You are a woman whose place within the palace depends on my goodwill. Do not give me a reason to withhold that.”
His words sank like rocks in a pool.
Do not give me a reason to withhold that.
You are a woman whose place within the palace depends on my goodwill.
“And in Michael’s life? Is that what you really mean, Kiral?”
He narrowed his gaze without speaking.
Her heart turned over. “First you blackmail me and now you threaten me? What in God’s name have you become?”
A muscle clenched in his jaw. “In this moment, I have become what you created.”
She blinked at the accusation. Her thoughts were a knotted web of distractions. She had to clear her mind and focus on what was best for Michael.
“I’m never going to Delani again, and nor is Mikey. I went there for one reason and one reason only.”
“To get money.” His assessment rung with cruelty and condemnation.
“Yes! I needed money for this operation.”
“You still need money for this operation,” he pointed out with a chilling logic.
And Abigail did, indeed, freeze. “Even you could not be so barbaric …”
“Do you think not?”
He prompted silkily. “Your choice is an easy one. Do things my way or there is no money, and no operation.”
Nausea perforated her being. She clasped her hands together and rubbed her joints. She was tingling from head to toe. “What is it that you want?” The words rung with fear. She couldn’t help it. She was terrified.
“You and Michael will accompany me to Delani. He will have the operation he should have had two years ago — the operation I would have provided him with much, much sooner if I’d known of his existence — in the best medical facility in the world. His doctors will be the best. Everything he has will be the best from now on.”
“The facilities here are …”
“Don’t.” He stared at her angrily. “Do not claim that this hospital is sufficient. I have little confidence in it or your decisions.”
Abi could feel tears stinging in her eyes. She wouldn’t let him see them. She pressed her fingers against her eyelids and breathed deeply. “I have made the only decisions I could, the whole time. I have done what is best for Michael.”
“How is keeping me from him best? Even without his medical condition, I am his father. I should have been in his life.”
“You would have taken him from me,” she said numbly. For that was going to happen now anyway.
“Yes.” His word was unapologetic. “You should know by now how vital the royal lineage is to my people.”
“Damn it! I don’t care how significant he is for your people. He’s just a kid. He is not some device for your power-seeking.”
“I do not seek power; I have it unilaterally. And I am well aware that he is a child.” He reached for her hands and pulled them from her face. “You kept him from me, despite the help you knew I could provide, because you were selfish. You would have seen him die rather than share him.”
His words chilled her to the bone. “No,” she shook her head furiously from side to side. “I came to Delani to tell you the truth. I knew that it might mean … that you would …”
“Not once tonight did you try to explain this to me. It should have been the first thing you said.”
“You gave me a far better solution, remember?” She snapped caustically.
His face paled beneath his tan. That decision did him little credit; even at the time he had known it was a form of insanity that had provoked him to wager such an amoral deal. “And so you slept with me. Tell me, Abigail, if your mother had not happened to call right as we were together, would you have told me about Michael? Or would you have taken the money and fled from the country?”
She bit down on her lip and squeezed her eyes shut once more. “I don’t know.” It was a whispered lie, no less duplicitous for the hushed tone in which she uttered it.
He saw that. “I will not give you an opportunity to keep me from my son.”
And she knew, from the power of his words and the awesome strength within his person, that arguing was futile. Fear spiralled in her chest. “Please don’t take him away from me.”
There was the briefest flash of pity in his eyes but it was swallowed by judgement. “You do not deserve him,” he said coldly, turning away from her.
The words cut through her soul. “Don’t say that,” she implored desperately, reaching for his arm. He pulled away from her. “Please, you must understand, up until a month ago, no one had performed this surgery on a child as young as Michael. Telling you sooner wouldn’t have helped. He was too little. Please listen to me!” She shook her head but kept talking as numbness spread through her heart. “I thought I would have to wait until he was five to get anyone to agree to undertake the procedure. I moved closer to the hospital — we live a block away — so that I could get him here in only a few minutes. I have done everything to keep him healthy and safe. But as soon as I heard that there was a chance he could have the operation sooner I made plans to come to you. To tell you. To beg you to help.”
He whipped around. “None of this is good enough!” He hadn’t meant to yell but his voice was raised. “In my palace he would have had around-the-clock care from world-leaders in this field. I would have made a full time medical staff available to oversee his care and growth. He would have had a better life than you could ever offer him. You have failed him completely, Abigail.”
The words made her soul ache, for they spoke aloud her worst fear. “I have been trying my best,” she promised huskily.
“Your best has been so far from good enough.” He straightened his spine. “You say you live nearby?”
“Yes.”
“Go now and pack some things. You will not need much.”
Her chest squeezed. “Because you think I won’t be staying long? You’re wrong there.” She tilted her chin at a defiant angle and glared at him. “I’m not going to fight you. I know you’re going to take Michael and even I can see that right now that’s in his best interests.” She faltered slightly. The thought of Kiral’s looming marriage jolted her into a strange state of confusion. “But I’m his mother. And I’m going to be there as his mother. I will not let you put me away. You will not erase me out of his life as easily as you did yours.”
Kiral studied her face dispassionately. “As I have said, your role in his life depends entirely on how well you fit in with my plans.”
Her words were shrill; a sign of her tension. “What are your plans? What do you want from me?”
Kiral took a step away from her. “That is simple. All I care about now is that our son gets the care he needs. If he should survive - and you had better hope and prey he does - you will become my wife.”
Four
He spat the words as though they were abhorrent to him.
“Your wife?” She whispered, her body shaking. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten, your highness, but you are about to get married to someone else.”
“My marriage was arranged to secure an heir. I have just discovered that I already have one.” He tilted his head to the side. “Marriage to you will be far less acceptable to my people. You will be despised for having taken the place of a woman many have long-regarded as the rightful partner to my throne. The fact you kept the child from Delani will make you hated. Your life in these ways will be difficult. Then again, it is no worse than you deserve. You will be reminded by their disapproval, every day for the rest of your life, of your selfish, stupid behavior.”
She was shivering like a twig in a storm. “How can you speak to me like this?”
“How could you keep our child from me?” He countered angrily. “Think back to the man you knew, the man who adored you and worshipped you …”
“That man didn’t exist.”
“You had no right to punish me for leaving you.”
“I didn’t! That’s not what this was!”
“Wasn’t it?” He shook his head. “You were upset that I returned to Delani. You found out you were pregnant and decided to keep our child to yourself because you wanted to hurt me as I had you.”
“Oh my God. No! That’s not it.”
“It matters not. We will marry and Michael shall be raised in the palace, under my care.”
The nausea was a wave. It filled her body with putrid, aching sickness. “That’s not possible. You must see how foolish this is.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You will marry me, or you will stay here. I will not offend my country nor denigrate my sacred position as ruler by bringing you to the palace as anyone other than my bride.”
Determination rang clearly in his words but Abigail could not accept his suggestion. She couldn’t.
“I … can’t we work something else out? What if I stay here, with Michael? I’ll raise him. And when he’s older … a little bit bigger … he could come to you. To spend some time and see if he …”
“No.” His face was a mask of iron-like strength. “Absolutely not. The jet is almost ready. As soon as I have the word, Michael and I will be on it.”
The reality of her situation was untenable. Backed into a corner, like a mama-bear, she threw whatever dag
ger she could lay her hands on. “I … I won’t bring his passport.”
“My embassy has already arranged one for him. He has Delani papers now.”
“Oh my God. You are … you are … crazy.”
“Attempting to insult me is futile. You are wasting time. If you are not back in time I will leave without you.”
Where had the man she had known and loved gone? What had become of him? This person filled her with horror and terror.
“Please, Ki…”
His face slashed with rage. “Do not use this name. You,” he dragged his eyes over her figure as though she was a creature from the deepest pits of hell, “Do not have the right.”
Her teeth were chattering. Shock was a real, palpable condition and it had taken control of her. “What am I supposed to call you, then?”
He ground his teeth together. “If I had any choice, I would ask that you not address me at all. Go now, Abigail. You are wasting time our son does not have.”
Their apartment was, as she’d explained to Kiral, only a block away. She ran the whole way there, so that when she was throwing clothes into a bag her breath was burning in her lungs and tears were staining her cheeks.
She could barely concentrate on the task at hand. She simply stuffed underwear and shirts, a few pairs of jeans and a couple of dresses into a bag, with no idea of whether or not they were suitable or practical.
For Michael she found it easier. She had packed for him dozens of times, when he’d gone to stay in hospital. She knew how many diapers he’d require, how many changes of clothes. She pulled some bottles from above the fridge and a few of his favourite biscuits from the pantry and then lugged the bag over her shoulder. Somewhere on the brisk walk back to the hospital, as she dodged pedestrian traffic and tried not to think about the terrifying decisions that were ahead of her, she realised she hadn’t packed any shoes for either of them. They had only what was on their feet.
There was no time to go back. She didn’t dare risk it. Something in Kiral’s manner had convinced her that he would absolutely make good on his promise. She had never believed he could feel such a depth of fury. Then again, if their positions had been reversed and she’d missed out on the first two years of Michael’s life … a shiver ran down her spine. It didn’t serve any purpose to begin questioning her choices. She had done the right thing. She had done what she thought Kiral would have wanted.
Billionaire Baby Daddies: A five-book anthology Page 5