Knocked Up by the CEO

by Lilian Monroe

He’s going to take care of her?! What does that even mean?? He seems to think that she’s the one who stopped us being together, not the fact that he’s a stalker that I had no interest in being with. I need to get out of here. I need to protect Rosie! I need to protect myself!!

  I struggle against my bonds once again. It’s no use. He has them tied up in multiple knots, spreading me out so I can’t get any leverage. I can’t even move, let alone try to free myself. I relax and then yank at my arms, as if to surprise the ropes into letting me go.

  Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work. Tears of frustration start welling up in my eyes. I don’t have much time. I need to warn Rosie! I don’t even know what he’s planning on doing, but judging by the bloodstain on his jacket and the unhinged look in his eye, I can guess it’s nothing good. He’s dangerous, and I’m stuck here with no way of even moving more than a couple inches.

  I’m starting to lose hope. I can’t move these ropes at all. I’m stuck in my own home, unable to call for help and unable to set myself free. The tears are streaming down my face now. Rosie. My best friend, the voice of reason, the one who can make me laugh.

  I can’t take it. The pain grows like a ball of flame in my stomach until I have to let it out somehow.

  “Help!” I scream into the void. “Help me! Someone! Please!” I scream and scream until my voice goes hoarse, and then I scream some more. I watch as the minutes tick by on my alarm clock, taunting me as my imagination runs wild with what Greg might be doing.

  It takes half an hour to get to Rosie’s house from here, assuming Greg is driving. That means he’ll be getting there in just a few minutes. She’s probably making dinner, she always eats at home. My heart starts thumping as the clocks marches on and on.

  “Help!”

  My voice is getting weaker and I sob. It’s no use.

  Just then, I hear a thump at the front door, and some muffled voices. My heart leaps.

  “Help! In here!” I scream as loud as I can. My vocal cords are raw, and each sound they make sends pain through my throat. I don’t care, it doesn’t matter. “Help!”

  The door burst open and I hear heavy footsteps.

  “Police!”

  “In here!” I yell. A flood of officers comes through my bedroom door and in an instant my arms and legs are free. A thousand and one questions are flying at me.

  “He’s gone, he’s gone to Rosie’s,” I pant. “I know where he is! He’s gone to Rosie’s. I’m fine!” I shout as someone tries to tell me I need to go to the hospital. “I need to go to Rosie’s!”

  “You can show us the way,” a large officer with a mop of curly brown hair says to me. “Green, get her in the car. We’re going.”

  On the way out the door I grab my phone and rush down the stairways. Before I know what’s happening I’m loaded into a police car and the sirens are blaring. We’re flying down the roads as cars pull over left and right to let us through. I’ve never been in a police car and the feeling would be exhilarating if I wasn’t terrified for Rosie.

  There’s no answer as I call Rosie over and over and over again.

  “Come on, answer,” I whisper to myself. “Answer!” I call her one more time and then mash the keyboard as I send her a text.

  Get out of your apartment. Go somewhere safe. Call me NOW!

  Rosie’s silence is deafening and the dread is quickly overwhelming me. I rub at my wrists where the ropes left red raw marks. I know my eyes are wide and my body is completely tense as I watch us speed through red lights, green lights, around corners, through stop signs. We fly down the roads towards Rosie, but it still seems too slow.

  I can’t stop glancing at the clock. Time is still laughing at me, barreling on way too quickly. Surely Greg has made it to Rosie’s house now. We’re too late. He’s already there. My mind starts to run away with thoughts of what we’ll find - more dark reddish brown blood stains, Rosie, Greg, maybe he’ll be gone and we’ll just find Rosie.

  My phone rings and I almost jump out of my seat. I look at the screen and sigh. It’s not Rosie.

  Zach’s name flashes on the screen and my thumb hesitates over the buttons. Finally I let it press down over the one on the left: Ignore. I don’t have time for this right now, and I definitely don’t have the energy. My hand hovers over my stomach and I close my eyes. It’s ok, little buddy. We’re going to be OK. I love you.

  I’m not sure if it’s normal for women to talk to their foetuses like this but it gives me an ounce of comfort to know I’m not alone.

  I focus on the sound of the sirens to drown out my spiralling thoughts. As the cars split on the road in front of us I shift my thinking. We’re going to make it. We’re nearly there. He couldn’t have gotten here that fast. He’ll want to draw out his punishment of Rosie, surely. We’ll have time. We can make it.

  We have to make it.

  Chapter 42 - Zach

  “She hung up,” I say with a sigh, tossing my phone to the side. Mitch purses his lips.

  “I’m sure it’s fine, the police were on their way over there. Did it go straight to voicemail?”

  “Nah, it rang a couple times and then she hung up.” I glance at Mitch and see him nod. He tries to keep his face straight but I know he’s thinking exactly the same thing as me: That’s not a good sign.

  Either she can’t talk, or Greg has her phone. If he saw my name flash on the screen it might have made him angry.

  “What if he has her phone,” I say slowly. “It might set him off to see me calling. If he has he, and he’s mad…” I stare at the dark screen of my phone. My chest suddenly feels hollow at the thought that I’m endangering Harper just by calling her.

  “Don’t think like that. The police have been gone an hour. They’re with her, they have to be. Maybe one of them hung up the phone. Maybe she can’t talk because they’re interviewing her. There could be a thousand things going on. Don’t panic.”

  I nod, but I can’t look at him. He could give me a thousand logical explanations but I can’t stop thinking of Greg’s face when it was inches from mine. His eyes were two black circles with white showing all around. There was no life in them, no emotion except rage. Rage directed at me. If that rage were to be aimed at Harper…

  “He told me to stay away. If he sees my name on her phone he knows I’m not listening.”

  “Zach, stop. This isn’t you. You’re not like this. Don’t panic. Are you in pain? Do you need more meds? Is it time for more morphine?”

  I grin and finally meet Mitch’s eye. “Always trying to get me fucked up, hey?”

  “What else are friends for? Give me some of that IV if you’re not enjoying it.”

  I chuckle and the movement sends pain radiating through my chest. I wince, bringing a hand up to my bandage.

  “At least you’ll end up with a gnarly scar,” Mitch says, motioning to my chest. “The ladies love scars.”

  “I’m not interested in what the ladies love,” I reply. I close my eyes and can almost feel Harper’s fingers trail over and back across my chest. I love the way she brushes her fingertips ever so gently on my skin. It makes me feel like there’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than right beside her.

  Right now, there isn’t. I try to shift my weight and groan. Even lifting my torso up away from the bed is exhausting.

  “Will you stop fucking moving?! Zach, you’ve been stabbed! You just had major surgery.” Mitch puts his hand on my shoulder. I look over at him and see the concern in his eyes. “Jesus Christ, Zach. Come on.”

  I nod and lay back, resigning myself to the fact that I’m going to have to let the police do their job.

  Mitch sees me settle down and sits back in his chair. I sigh and close my eyes, trying to imagine Harper’s eyes when she’s laughing. They sparkle like two emeralds.

  “So how did this all happen, you and Harper?”

  I open my eyes and see Mitch staring at me curiously. His voice is casual but his eyes betray
his intense curiosity. I shrug, and then wince as the pain shoots through my arm.

  “It just kind of… happened. I don’t know. I’d never really spoken to her and then we started spending time together at work on the Latif file and Mitch,” I pause and glance at him. “She’s fucking amazing. She’s so smart and driven and people love her! She has the most amazing eyes and she’s funny, you know? Like really funny. The things she says are just constantly surprising me.”

  Mitch grins. “You’ve got it bad. It’s over. You’re done.”

  I blow the air out of my nostrils. “I know.”

  “And the kid… was that planned?”

  “No.” I grimace. “I reacted badly. I didn’t mean to.”

  “You said that.” Mitch leans forward. “Listen, it’ll work out. She’ll understand. Right now you just need to focus on resting. At the end of the day you got stabbed on your way to her place. That’s got to count for something, right? Like, sure, you acted like a dick when you found out but then you almost died! She can’t hate you forever!”

  I can’t help but laugh even though I know it’ll send flames of pain through my side. Mitch grins.

  “Yeah, it’s got to count for something.”

  “Let’s get you some more painkillers,” Mitch says as he grabs the call button next to the bed. “You deserve it.”

  “You’re an idiot,” I laugh as a nurse pops her head in the door. I lay back in bed and close my eyes. I’m glad Mitch is here, if only to distract me from the gnawing fear that I was too late, that I’ve put Harper in more danger, that I’ve ruined everything. I should have been with her.

  At the end of the day he’s right, I can’t even move out of this bed, let alone go after a deranged stalker. I need to trust the police. If Harper and I make it out of this then I can explain myself. I can be a dad and I can be with Harper. I glance at my phone and feel another kind of pain in my chest when the blank screen stares back at me. I resist the urge to dial her number again.

  Chapter 43 - Harper

  The second the car stops it’s a flurry of frantic activity.

  “Stay here,” Officer Benson commands.

  “But!”

  “Stay. Here.” He tells me. He motions for me to put my foot back inside the car and then closes the door. He jogs up the few steps to the apartment block and I watch in frustration from my seat in the police cruiser.

  I crack the door open to see if I can hear anything, and then step out of the car. There’s a few police officers at the door and they motion at me to stop. I hold up my arms and motion to the car, leaning against it. I’m not moving, I’m just going to go crazy if I have to sit in the car! They seem to understand and turn back towards the door. I can hear the static of their radios buzzing with unintelligible voices. I wish I could hear.

  I scan the building. Rosie lives in an old brick building, kind of like mine. The alleyways that surround it are narrow and dark, and I know she has a fire escape just like mine. I frown. Greg never used my front door, always choosing the fire escape. Suddenly I’m standing up like a bolt and jogging towards the officers.

  “He’ll use the fire escape.”

  “Ma’am, please go back to the car. Back up. Ma’am”

  “He’ll use the fire escape! We need to cover the back!”

  They’re not listening. One of them is grabbing my arm and guiding me towards Benson’s cruiser. I yank my arm away and take off running towards the alley. Their shouts are drowned out by the pounding of my heart in my ears.

  I can only hear my breath, my heartbeat, and the sound of my footsteps on the pavement. I think someone is following me and shouting but I can’t be sure. I dive down the alley and sprint to the end. The fire escapes are all on the far side.

  In a few steps I’ve reached the corner of the building. I skid around the corner, almost losing my balance as my eyes scan up the building.

  I hear him before I see him. The steel staircases are clanging as he sprints down them. I glance up further and see two police officers who are at least three storeys higher than him. They’ll never catch him. I scan the alleyway and see a dumpster a few feet away from me. I crouch down behind it, praying Greg won’t look down and see me before he’s on the ground.

  If he goes the other direction I’ll never get to him. The last staircase is facing me, so I’m hoping he just takes off running straight ahead.

  Time seems to slow down. All day today each second seemed to rush by but now it seems like an eternity since I’ve been crouched behind this smelly dumpster.

  I can hear Greg’s footsteps. Clang, clang, clang. He’s practically sprinting down the stairs. I can hear his breath now, ragged and laboured as he moves closer and closer. Finally I hear the crunch of gravel under his feet.

  My body is like a coiled spring. I can feel every atom in my body vibrating with anticipation as each footstep brings Greg Chesney closer to my hiding spot.

  One,

  Two,

  Three!

  I didn’t know it was possible for me to spring forward that quickly. The instant Greg’s sprinting form passes by me I’m on his heels, rushing at him. I realise when he turns his head towards me that I’m screaming like a deranged banshee. The wordless scream rips through my raw vocal chords as I hurl myself towards him.

  Our bodies crash together and I wrap my arms around him. We fall to the ground and my arm stays pinned underneath him. We land with a thud and the air gets knocked out of me. He’s kicking, I’m kicking, we’re flailing on the ground. My arms are around him like a vice. There’s no thought, no intention, just pure animal instinct. I hear myself screaming and screaming and screaming.

  Arms and legs appear around us. I’m torn off him and he’s tackled to the ground again. He’s handcuffed, I’m being sat down, there’s screaming, movement, questions, noise.

  My chest is heaving and finally I can focus my eyes. Officer Benson is leaning down, nose to nose with me.

  “What the fuck were you thinking! Didn’t I tell you to stay put?!”

  “Rosie.”

  I’m panting, I can’t speak. The anger in his eyes softens ever so slightly.

  “Paramedics are on the way. We need to get her to hospital.”

  I spring up to my feet and feel his strong arms hold me back.

  “Calm down, fuck!” He shouts. “Guys!” Two more sets of arms wrap themselves around me and I stop moving. “The paramedics are on the way, I said! There’s nothing you can do. Come on.”

  He nods his head and the two men lead me out front. We turn the corner just as the ambulance skids to a stop. I resist the urge to rush forward, instead waiting in tortuously long wait until I see the stretcher come down the stairs. I push my way into the ambulance behind her. The paramedics look at me curiously but nod to the officers, who let me go.

  “Rosie!”

  “Harps,” she pants. There’s red blood seeping through the bandages the paramedics have wrapped around her stomach. “Hey.”

  “Shh,” I say as the tears well up. I find her hand and give it a squeeze. She squeezes back weakly, and her eyes flutter closed.

  “Ok, Rosie, I need you to stay with us. Stay with us, ok?” The paramedic keeps talking, keeps Rosie awake as the ambulance starts speeding down the road. I hold her hand and ignore the tears as they keep streaming down my cheeks.

  “Come on, Rosie,” I whisper. She squeezes my hand ever so gently and I let the tears flow down. “Come on, Rosie.”

  Chapter 44 - Zach

  My body is screaming as I lift myself off the bed. Pain is radiating from my chest through my side and down my arm. Mitch holds me steady and guides me to the wheelchair.

  “This is stupid, Zach. I can go get her! You should be in bed.”

  “I need to see her.”

  There’s no hesitation in my voice, and it leaves no room for argument. Mitch sighs audibly but helps me up. I blow the air out of my nostrils as soon as I’m settled in the
chair. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath as the pain in my chest dulls slightly.

  “You alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I respond with a grimace. I’m not fine, but I have to see her. The police told me that Harper was ok, she was here with Rosie. I didn’t understand anything they said after that, something about surgery, critical condition, arrests. All I know is that Harper is in this hospital, waiting on Rosie to get out of surgery and I need to be with her.

  I already messed up once by not being with her when she needed me, I’m not going to let that happen again. Mitch throws a blanket over my legs and tucks it in beside me.

  “You’re going to make a great mother someday, you know that Mitch?”

  “Shut up, Zach,” he replies with a grin. “You ready?”

  “Let’s go.”

  Mitch moves behind me and starts pushing the wheelchair. A second later, the front wheel crashes into the corner of he bed and my body lunches forward. I grunt as the impact sends another wave of nauseating pain through my chest.

  “Fuck!”

  “Oops! Sorry buddy!”

  “Be careful! I just got stabbed for fuck’s sake.” I glance behind me and Mitch is looking at the doorway. I hear her before I see her.

  “You two are like the Stooges,” she says. I can hear the smile in her voice. “Where are you going in your state anyways?”

  She’s gorgeous. Harper is standing in the doorway looking radiant. Her hair is pulled back in a low bun and her eyes look tired and drawn but they’re shining bright, just like I’ve been imagining this whole time.

  “Harper,” I breathe. The seconds tick by until Mitch clears his throat.

  “I’ll be just outside if you need me.” He squeezes my shoulder as he walks by and we exchange a glance. I dip my chin down and he does the same. Thanks, I tell him with my eyes. The door closes softly behind him and then Harper and I are alone.

  “I was just coming to find you,” I say to fill the silence.