Page 16 of Quadruplets for the Vipers

Leah

They’re dead. Zeus and Donna are dead.

I can’t believe it. I didn’t want to think it before, had hoped there’d be some last-minute reprieve, and they’d escape. But they didn’t, and it’s all my fault.

Knox is right, if we hadn’t run to protect me, they could still be here. His words hit me like a blow. His anger and derision toward me transported me back to memories I’d sooner forget. When you hear you’re not special or important enough times you start to believe it.

Now I’m pregnant and the people who so desperately wanted this baby, its real family, the people who were meant to love and raise it, are gone. How the hell am I meant to go through this without them? I can’t look after a child. How am I meant to provide it with a home, stability, and safety when I have none of these myself?

I zone out as the men reassure me that the original deal I made still stands and that I’ll get the money and security I desire. They’re keen to assure me that I don’t have to be a part of the baby’s life, just as before.

But what if I don’t want that?

The guys are declaring they’ll be the child’s family, but are four single guys really going to want a screaming baby when it arrives? Are they going to do what it takes? And what happens to me then? Sure, I’ll be looked after while I’m pregnant, but the moment the baby arrives, what then?

The thought of giving up this child to their loving grandparents, who desperately wanted them, was one thing, but this? I don’t know if I can do it.

How can I expect this to work as a family unit to co-parent and raise a child? We barely know each other, and for the most part, it seems like the guys don’t even like me. Axel mostly ignores me, Knox has made it perfectly clear he blames me for the death of his adoptive parents—a fact I didn’t even know until now—Rider barely speaks at all, and Jace is… well, Jace is Jace, it’s hard to tell if he likes anyone, other than himself that is.

“I need a minute,” I say, getting up and leaving to find a bathroom.

I feel sick.

Knox opens his mouth to say something, but Axel silences him with a firm hand against his chest as if holding him back from following me.

Within the privacy of the bathroom, I sob.

I cry for Zeus and Donna, for the baby inside of me that will never get to meet them, and I cry for myself. Perhaps I was naive to think that this was the answer to my prayers, that this crazy plan would keep me safe from my ex while giving me a home and some money to start a new life. All I’ve done is make things even more complicated and drag an innocent soul into this mess.

The baby inside my womb has barely even formed. If this were a natural birth, I probably wouldn’t even know of the baby’s existence yet. Yet already I feel connected to it, responsible for the life forming inside me.

There’s a knock at the door, and Axel’s voice floats through. “Can I come in?”

I’m tempted to shout and tell him to go away like a pissy teenager, but instead, I get up and unlock the door.

Axel stands there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to say. He clears his throat. “Sorry… for what Knox said. He was just upset, he didn’t mean it.”

“If that were true, wouldn’t he be the one here apologizing right now?” I point out.

“Give him time. He’s just lost his parents, he needs someone to blame. He’ll come around eventually. Then, you’ll be desperate to get rid of him, this baby… well, it means a lot to him, to all of us,” Axel says with a soft smile. It’s strange but not unwelcome to have this gentler side of him directed at me.

“I didn’t know that Donna and Zeus were his parents. When did they adopt him?”

“That’s for Knox to share. But suffice it to say, his biological parents were pretty bad, and he spent a lot of time around Levi’s house. When he was older, Donna and Zeus officially adopted him.” Axel replies evasively.

“Poor Knox. For a child to grow up like that without a loving home…” My voice trails off as I think about the future of the unborn child inside me. “I’m not sure what’s worse, having terrible parents or never knowing the great ones you should have had… This poor baby will never know the grandparents who fought so hard for them,” I say sadly.

“Knox had loving parents, they just weren’t his biological ones. This baby will, too,” Axel insists.

When I don’t respond immediately, Axel looks stricken by a thought that just occurs to him. “You’re not gonna back out of the contract, are you? As we said, the terms can still stay the same… You have to have the baby, please,” he pleads.

I’m thrown off by his passion and concern for this unborn child.

“Of course.Of course,I’ll still have the baby. I just… I guess I’m just worried about the future, what happens after the birth. How can we make this work?”

“We’ve got plenty of time to worry about that. What matters now is that you and the baby are safe, just as Zeus wanted,” he replies firmly.

“Do you wish he hadn’t ordered you to save me? That you could have stayed and fought?” I ask quietly, hoping he doesn’t, but knowing I wouldn’t blame him if he did. After all, part of me wishes it.

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