Page 56 of Moon's Promise

“Oof.” Larissa found herself sitting in the back seat and the door slammed shut next to her before she could draw another breath. Immediately, she began examining Eryn as best as she could while being jostled when the truck started moving.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

“You’re not going to die,” Larissa assured Eryn, despite her doubts.

“I screwed up so bad. Dusty found out I was having an affair with Tanner, that the kids weren’t his, and he left me. He and Tanner were friends. He swore he’d never tell Dusty, but they got drunk, and Tanner let it slip. I don’t even know why it mattered to him. He didn’t care about them even when he thought they were his.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about any of that now. Just think about holding this precious baby.”

“Don’t. I’m not stupid. They won’t let me keep any of my kids when Knox tells them what Tanner was doing in my house. Once Dusty left, Tanner moved in with his buddies and turned my home into a lab. I didn’t try to stop him. I didn’t want him leaving me like Dusty.”

“Was that why Tanner wouldn’t let you come into your appointment yesterday?”

“No, he wouldn’t let me leave because he knew I would have called the sheriff on him for not letting that woman leave.”

“The woman in the house?” Shade asked from the front seat.

“Dusty quit making house rent payments. Tanner wouldn’t give me the money to pay it because he was waiting for a buyer to come today to buy his merchandise. He said we would clean the house out after the buyer left, and he would buy me my own house. The woman showed up yesterday, said she had bought the property and would give me time to pay the rent.” Eryn gave a sobbing cry, clutching her stomach. “I guess I felt that, huh?”

Larissa swallowed hard, seeing tears slip out of the corners of Eryn’s eyes.

“It won’t be much longer. We’re almost at the hospital.”

“Tanner was high and thought the buyer had sent her to scope out how many men he had. He was always paranoid about someone stealing his stash. He wouldn’t let her leave and locked her in one of the bedrooms upstairs. He promised me he’d let her go today after the buyer came.

“Last night, I was in bed when I woke up to hearing her screaming and went to the room where she was locked inside. Tanner was trying to rape her. I started hitting him, and she got loose and started running down the stairs. I got away from him and went to the kids’ room to get my baby. He caught up with me at the top of the stairs, and we started fighting. He didn’t mean to make me fall down. His buddies caught the woman and brought her back before she could get out of the house. Benie told her if she tried to escape again, he’d kill me and my babies. She stayed even when the shooting started, despite me not calling the police when Tanner wouldn’t let her leave.” Eryn started crying harder. “I hurt so bad …”

As she talked, Larissa took Eryn’s pajama bottoms off to examine how far dilated she was.

“I know you do.”

“How many children are in the house?” Shade asked, bringing the truck to a stop in front of the emergency entrance.

“Three.”

Shade put the truck in Park and slid out of the truck with his cell phone to his ear as he hurried inside the emergency room.

Larissa opened the truck door and was sliding herself out when the sliding door opened and Lana and two orderlies came rushing outside with a gurney.

Lana’s eyes flew to hers. “I’ve been worried sick,” she snapped as the orderlies maneuvered Eryn out of the truck.

“I’m fine,” Larissa assured her. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Lana’s anxious gaze switched to Eryn.

“She’s eight centimeters dilated. Her pulse is slow and thready,” Larissa started rattling off Eryn’s stats as they went through the sliding door. “She fell down a flight of stairs yesterday. We need to get an ultrasound—”

“I’ve got this,” Lana stopped her from entering the triage room. “You have to let me handle it from here.”

“I’m her midwife. I can be in there,” she argued with her sister.

“Not after holding you hostage. Anything goes wrong, you could lose everything you’ve worked for. Dr. Price is on his way down from the second floor. Once he’s here, he’ll take over for me. Go wait in the waiting room. Priscilla is on her way.”

Larissa stepped and had to watch as the door closed behind Lana.

She went to the restroom, where she washed off, her mind still on Eryn. Leaving her was hard to do, but knowing Lana wouldn’t handle over Eryn’s care until Dr. Price got there was assuring.

The waiting room was empty except for Shade, who was standing by the front door, talking on his cell phone. Taking a seat, she leaned the crutches against the wall.

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