Page 68 of Black Mark's Heart

I stared at him, bewildered. "Why?"

Jack looked at me like I was a young, naive child. "To discredit you, Mora. They are going to burn you publicly so you don't dare ask for a cent."

"But I haven't."

"Yes, but you are entitled to it. The prenup allowed for you to be paid a percentage of his profit for every year you are together," Jack reminded me. "As you said, they are going for the neck with this."

I felt ready to vomit. "I can't believe Dare would let this happen." My heart was beating in my chest so hard.

"He is protecting himself, Mora," Jack explained. "They're idiots. We could have settled this quietly and without issue."

Pain lanced through my abdomen. I cried out.

"Mora?" Jack jumped up, suddenly worried.

I was panting, my heart hammering so loud. I collapsed out of the chair, my abdomen cramping.

Jack cursed, throwing his office door open. "Call an ambulance now." Jack dropped down next to me. "Breathe, Mora, you need to breathe."

I sucked in a breath, but it just made the pain worse. I cried out again.

"Mora..."

The ambulance arrived. Jack explained I was seven months pregnant and suffered a fright. I was taken off to the hospital and put on a drip to stop the contractions. Rebecca arrived with Henry sleeping in his pram just after lunch.

"Bill called. What happened?"

I told Rebecca the story, how I applied for a peaceable divorce and what Darius had done, and what they were planning on doing.

Rebecca looked mortified. "What can I do?" Rebecca asked.

"Call Dare," I whispered. "Tell him what happened, then take me home before any journalists realize I'm here."

"Okay." Rebecca took out her phone and stepped to the window. "Warren, put Dare on," she demanded politely. "I don't care if he's meeting with the queen, put my scumbag brother on the phone!" she hissed. "Because I'm standing in Mora's hospital room after that little stunt this morning nearly cost her the baby. That's why!"

I knew the moment Darius took the line. "I can't believe you would do this, Dare," Rebecca scolded. She listened, looked at me, gave a small shake of her head and relaxed a little. "Yes, I'm with her. Yes, I've known where she's been all along. No. Because you coming here right now would only make it worse."

Rebecca wiped her brow as if she was sweating, but she wasn't. "You broke her heart too many times. No, I called to tell you to call your lawyers off. Mora found out what they are planning to say about her. She got upset and went into early labor, Dare. She nearly lost the baby because of this. So call it off, sign the papers, and let her go already. Stop torturing her." Rebecca hung up the phone and put it away.

Rebecca walked back to the bed and took my hand. "He wants to see you."

"I heard."

"He's threatened to cut me off if I don't tell him where you are," Rebecca confessed.

"You need his support, don't you?" I asked seeing her unhappiness.

"Tim and I would struggle without his support," Rebecca admitted.

I exhaled. "Do what you need to do, Bex. You're his sister, not mine."

"I'll delay as long as I can." Rebecca squeezed my hand. "I'll go see the nurse and see how long they think until you can leave."

***

Two hours later, Rebecca had me home in my own bed. I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't believe Darius's public relations people, and it would have been them, not his lawyer, had acted without speaking to him first. What possible good did they think would come from it? I knew them, had worked with them. There was no way they would have said boo without Darius first signing off on something, especially something like this.

It was past midnight when my phone started ringing. I picked it up and saw Jeremy's profile picture. "Jeremy, it's late," I grumbled.

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