A soft splash.
A small, heart-shattering sound that changed everything.
The world went silent.
My body became weightless, my breath frozen in my lungs. I couldn’t process it. I couldn’t even blink.
My baby…
My babies.
Darkness swallowed me whole just as the bungee cord recoiled, jerking me upward once more.
---
I must’ve blacked out.
Because when I came to, it wasn’t from sleep—it was from the impact of a boot slamming into my ribs.
“Wake up.”
The pain barely registered. I was beyond pain now. Beyond everything.
Another kick landed, harder than the first.
“Stop faking it. You think I’m that gullible?” Lucien’s voice was sharp, filled with irritation. “Get. Up.”
But I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t even lift my head.
A shuffle of feet. The butler stepped forward, voice tight with concern.
“Sir… Miss Mara fainted. Her condition’s deteriorated. Her body’s failing.”
Lucien scoffed. “She’s just weak.”
He turned, annoyed, ready to storm off—when he stopped dead in his tracks.
“The hell is that?”
There was a strange edge in his voice—confusion, almost disbelief.
He approached the pool.
I didn’t follow. I couldn’t. But I heard every word.
“What’s wrong with the pool?” he demanded. “Why is there… something red floating in there?”
Silence stretched uncomfortably long.
Then—
“Are those… toys? Two of them?”
Another pause.
“Are they… shaped like infants?”
The air went still, colder than before.
Lucien turned back toward me, disbelief plastered across his face.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
The butler's breath caught. Then slowly, cautiously, he answered.
“Sir…”
He took a deep breath, as though forcing the words out.
“Miss Mara’s… her stomach. It’s flat.”
Lucien froze.
“What?”
The butler lifted a shaking hand and pointed toward the pool.
“Those… those aren’t toys. I think those are… your twins.”
