The doctor scrambles to her feet and gives Waylen a copy of the test results. Waylen glances at the paper, crumples it into a ball and tosses it toward Leilani. Leonie raises a manicured hand and catches it. She unfolds the paper and scans the results, her face getting paler by the second.
“It’s all your fault!” Leonie shouts, pointing a long finger at Leilani. “You must have done something to tamper with the results. I thought it was weird that you wanted to be in the same room as me, and now I understand why. What did you do?”
Waylen waves his hand for silence, and Leonie shuts her mouth, silently fuming. Leilani turns nervously, worried about what he might do. He’s stopped laughing, but his face is even more terrifying than before.
“Give me the key,” Waylen says.
Robert passes Waylen a key, and Waylen throws it at Leilani. It lands with a clink at her feet. Leilani bends over to pick it up—it’s small and silver with a black top, like a car key. She wonders why Waylen is giving it to her.
“Congratulations,” Waylen says. “You must be very pleased with yourself. You’ve succeeded at last.”
Leilani closes her hand around the key, and the rough metal edges dig into the fleshy part of her palm. She wants to ask Waylen what the key means, but then it hits her. This must be his way of telling me to leave, she thinks. The test result says that the baby isn’t his, and he swore to abandon me if I lied to him.
She sighs and asks, “Are you sure you don’t want to force me to take another test?”
“Show her,” Waylen says.
Robert rushes over and holds up the screen of his tablet. He double taps the screen, and a video begins to play: a camera in the examination room shows Leilani grabbing the test tube and trying to peel the label off. On the screen, Leilani’s face is tense with concentration. Suddenly a white blur appears, blocking Leilani and the test tubes from sight. The doctor has moved her arm—blocking the camera’s view of Leilani.
“Do you deny tampering with the results?” Waylen asks. “You know what—save your excuses. The video makes everything clear. You must really hate me, Leilani. I know you want to leave me, but I never imagined you’d risk your baby’s future just to get away from me. If you’re so desperate to leave—fine, just go.”
Leilani grips the key tighter, wondering if it’s cutting the skin on her palm. This is what I wanted, she thinks. I can go live with Andrew, and save both Charles and Waylen now. This is the best-case scenario. But why doesn’t it feel that way?
She looks up at Waylen, but she can’t handle the expression on his face. Guiltily, she looks down at her shoes. I’ve seen him fall on shards of glass and get bitten by a deadly snake, but I’ve never seen him look so tortured before. Her stomach twists, and she wonders if she’s going to be sick.
She hears footsteps approaching, and then a familiar, warm body pressed against hers. Waylen backs her into a wall, and she shivers. She closes her eyes and breathes in his distinct smell, trying to imprint it in her memory permanently. Cool air rushes past her face, and then there’s a cracking sound next to her left ear.
She opens her eyes in shock and sees Waylen pulling his fist away from the wall. The skin on the knuckles is split and bloody, and flakes of white plaster cling to the wounds. He doesn’t seem to notice the injury.
“Go,” he hisses. “I don’t want to see you.”
She nods and starts to walk toward the door. She can hear Leonie and Florence whispering, but she doesn’t care what they’re saying. She can’t stop thinking about Waylen’s terrible expression. As she crosses the threshold, a voice stops her.
“Can you fly a helicopter?” Waylen asks. “The key I gave you is for my helicopter—not a car.”
Leilani bites her lip. She can’t fly a helicopter, but she doesn’t want to admit that to Waylen. She glances over her shoulder and locks eyes with him.
“Yes, I can,” she says.
Waylen laughs and says, “Are you really willing to risk death just to leave me? I saw you try to fly the helicopter at Misty Mansion—you’re terrible at it.”
“I’ll be fine,” Leilani says.
“Leilani Peters, you’re the coldest woman I’ve ever met,” Waylen says, his voice low and thick with emotion. “You once told me you loved me, but now I know you’re not capable of love. I’d understand if you were willing to kill yourself to run away from me—but your baby? What kind of woman doesn’t love her own child?”
Leilani feels the familiar stinging in her eyes, and she quickly blinks the tears away. She can’t cry now—it could ruin everything. She takes a deep breath and shrugs her shoulders with feigned casualness.
“As I said, I’ll be fine,” she says.
“F.u.c.k off,” Waylen says.
Leilani nods and walks toward the elevator. As soon as she’s out of earshot, she breaks into a sprint, desperate to get away before she changes her mind. She jams her finger into the elevator buttons and runs wildly onto the roof.
A tall figure waits next to the black helicopter, and her heart skips a beat. I can’t believe he actually chased after me, she thinks. Maybe there’s still some way to salvage this. But then the man turns around, and her heart sinks—he’s just a bodyguard.
“Hello, Miss Peters,” the man says. “I’m your pilot.”
Leilani nods and lets the man help her climb into the helicopter. She sits down, buckles her seatbelt, and gives in to the tears. The pilot flicks some switches, and the blades begin to spin. A dull roar fills her ears as the helicopter lifts off from the rooftop.
She leans over and looks out the window, watching the hospital get smaller and smaller. Hot tears fall down her cheeks and blur her view of the building below. For a moment, she wonders if Waylen is watching her leave, but then she shakes her head.
I can’t think like that anymore, she thinks. He’s done with me—we’re really and truly done this time. There’s no going back now.
Waylen rubs his bloody knuckles and looks out the window at the black helicopter in the air. He watches until it becomes a speck on the horizon, then he turns to glare at Leonie. She’s huddled over in a waiting room chair. Her shoulders shake violently, and Florence stands behind her, stroking her long blonde hair.
Slowly, Leonie looks up. Black streaks of mascara drip down her cheeks, and her eyes are red from crying. She looks at Waylen with a miserable expression, but she doesn’t dare to speak. Waylen turns to leave, gesturing for Robert to follow.
“Wait, Waylen, it’s not what it looks like,” Leonie shouts.
Waylen pauses in the doorway and says, “Robert, arrange another test. I’m tired of having this conversation with her.”
Leonie’s entire face lights up. She wipes her tears away and jumps to her feet. For a moment, Waylen almost feels bad for her, but his sympathy quickly becomes a relief. She really thinks I’m the father of her baby, he thinks. But the test will prove once and for all it’s my bodyguard. Maybe then she’ll finally leave me alone.
Leonie runs down the hall to the examination room. Her high heels click loudly on the hard floor. Waylen follows her into the examination room. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Leonie taking off her dress. He turns his back to her and stares at the uterus diagram on the wall. I won’t give her the satisfaction of looking at her body, he thinks.
There’s a loud knock at the door, and the president of the hospital enters the room. Robert walks behind him, pressing his pistol into the man’s upper back. The president’s round face is pale and sweaty as he sits down next to the examination table.
“Make sure it’s done properly this time,” Robert says.
“I really d-don’t think I should,” the president stammers. “It’s been a long time since I p-practiced medicine. I just do the administrative stuff here now.”
“Shut up and start testing,” Robert says, raising his gun to the man’s temple.
Waylen sighs and watches the fat man prepare the needle. His hands are shaking too bad to put it in Leonie’s stomach, and a nurse has to help. Throughout the process, Waylen can see Leonie trying to make eye contact with him, but he refuses to look at her face.
The president finally takes the sample and injects the yellow fluid into a small glass tube. Robert gestures with his gun, and the president and nurses leave the examination room and head toward the labs. Leonie remains lying on the bed, playing with her hair. He turns his back so she can get dressed, but when he turns back around, she’s still lying on the bed.
Her paper hospital gown is up around her creamy white thighs. She kicks her legs and stretches, arching her back and thrusting her small b.r.e.a.s.ts into the air. Waylen scowls and turns back around. I know most men find her beautiful, he thinks. But she disgusts me.
After more than half an hour, there’s a knock at the door. The president enters the room, clutching a piece of paper. Robert follows him, but his pistol is back in its holster. Leonie sits upon the table, and the paper covering crinkles loudly.
“Well?” Waylen asks.
“Her child has no genetic relation to you,” the president says.
“No, no, that’s impossible,” Leonie says, sitting up. “I don’t understand Waylen. This is your child—I know it, and a mother always knows.”
“Arrange an abortion,” Waylen says.
Leonie launches herself off the table and collapses at Waylen’s feet, clawing at his trousers with desperate hands. She whimpers, and he wonders if she’ll kiss his shoes. The thought makes him smirk.
“No! Waylen, it’s your child!” she says. “It’s yours. You can’t make me!”
Waylen snaps his fingers, and bodyguards march into the room. They roughly pull Leonie off the floor, restraining her arms behind her back. She squirms and kicks her little feet, but she’s no match for the burly guards.
“What don’t you understand?” Waylen asks coldly. “I told you at the fashion show that I never slept with you, and now the doctors have confirmed it. Your baby is not mine. I’m sick of you acting like a spoiled princess just because you think you’re pregnant with my child. This ends now.”
Waylen shoves his fists into his pockets and stomps out of the examination room. Though the bodyguards close the door behind him, he can hear Leonie’s desperate screams all the way down the hall. He badly wants a drink and wonders where he can find a bottle of whiskey. He’s about to ask a nurse to bring him one when he hears rapid footsteps behind him.
“Sir, our security team talked to the doctor, but she won’t admit that she tampered with the results,” Robert says.
“Well, tell them to apply more pressure,” Waylen says. “They always get people to talk to in the end. And don’t forget to have the lab computers tested for hacking and malware.”
Robert nods and barks some orders into his phone. Waylen continues down the hallway, with Robert jogging along behind. The bright white light of the hospital makes Waylen’s head hurt. His knuckles sting terribly, and he half-wonders if they’re infected. He vaguely hears Robert talking to someone on the phone, but he doesn’t care enough to listen to the conversation.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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