Chapter 13 - The Child Comes Early
For one second, no one moved.
Then Claire reached Katelyn.
“We need a hospital.”
Damian was already at her side.
Katelyn raised one hand between them.
“Do not touch me without asking.”
His face tightened.
“May I help you?”
The question mattered.
Even now.
Especially now.
Katelyn nodded.
Damian placed one arm carefully behind her back and the other beneath her elbow.
No pressure on her belly.
No sudden movement.
The bodyguards opened a path.
Arthur Crane objected.
“She cannot leave before signing the acknowledgment.”
Damian turned.
“If you come within ten feet of her, you will regret surviving my father.”
Arthur went silent.
Katelyn gripped Damian’s forearm as another contraction tightened across her abdomen.
“Hospital,” she breathed.
The convoy reached California Pacific Medical Center within minutes.
Claire had called ahead.
Doctors met them at a private entrance.
Damian stopped outside the examination room.
Katelyn expected him to force his way in.
He did not.
He stood in the hallway with bloodless knuckles and waited for permission.
A nurse asked Katelyn who she wanted present.
She looked through the glass.
Three years of anger stood on one side.
Three years of lost trust stood on the other.
But beneath all of it was the man who had just asked before touching her.
“Damian,” she said.
He entered alone.
No bodyguards.
No Natalia.
No council.
Just him.
The doctor examined Katelyn.
Thirty-four weeks.
Early, but not hopeless.
The baby’s heartbeat was strong.
Labor had begun.
They would try to slow it, but delivery might happen that night.
Damian stood beside the bed.
“Katie, look at me.”
She did.
“I need to know one thing.”
His face tightened.
“Anything.”
“Did you ever send those men?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the first baby?”
“No.”
“Would you have come?”
His answer broke.
“I would have torn the world apart to find you.”
Katelyn looked away.
Part of her believed him.
That was the problem.
Belief had once nearly destroyed her.
A nurse entered carrying a tablet.
“There’s an issue with the admission authorization.”
Katelyn frowned.
“What issue?”
“Your insurance records show a legal medical proxy.”
Damian looked at the screen.
The proxy was not him.
It was Natalia Vale.
Katelyn’s blood went cold.
Natalia had filed documents claiming authority over emergency decisions related to Katelyn’s pregnancy.
The nurse continued.
“There is also a request on file to restrict access to the newborn after delivery.”
Damian’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Who submitted it?”
The nurse swallowed.
May you like
“Blackwood Family Council Legal Services.”
👉 Someone had planned for the baby’s birth long before Katelyn entered the hospital—and they intended to take control the moment the child arrived.
