Page 94 of Lust
I closed my eyes. “Why is nothing working?”
“The pregnancy might be complicating things,” she replied easily.
Guilt imprinted on my soul. I impregnated Sara to trap her. If that pregnancy now caused her demise, I’d find a way to take myself out of this earth alongside her.
“But they said the baby was fine,” I weakly argued.
I wasn’t conscious when the doctors mentioned Sara’s pregnancy to our parents. Whatever their initial reaction might have been, they seemed to be coping. They were much too distracted with Sara’s recovery to focus on the father of the baby.
Although, the suspicious way Mom had been staring at me was a dead giveaway that she knew it was me. Due to the dire circumstances, she hadn’t approached the topic… until now. “You meanyourbaby is fine.”
I nodded without looking at her. “Does Ragu know?” I managed to whisper, not bothering to deny the truth.
“We both had our suspicions by the way they found you.”
They found us entangled, with me embracing Sara against my chest, so the impact landed on my shoulders.
“I don’t see a gun in Ragu’s hands.” If he was livid, he had been doing a great job of hiding it. He hadn’t shown an inkling of resentment toward me.
Mom shook her head with a sad smile. “You almost gave your life to save Sara’s. Ragu is grateful. In fact, he can’t think of a better man for Sara than you. He told me so himself.”
My eyes flipped to my mom’s in shock. The last time this topic came up, Ragu had pointed a gun in my face.
Mom saw the conflict in my eyes. “You’ll understand the first time you hold your baby. Everything else pales in comparison to the possibility of losing your child. If we survive this, do you think for a second that we’d risk losing either of you again?”
Her eyes shone like diamonds with unshed tears. When she stepped forward to take me in a warm embrace, I let her for the first time in my life.
“I love her,” I whispered in her arms.
“I know, sweetheart,” she whispered back. “We’ll find a way.”
We had to because there was no life without Sara. I was desperate for a way, and where science had failed, all that remained was divinity.
Stepping out of the hospital room, I retrieved my phone and dialed the last number on it. “Steve, I need you to pull the car around.”
It was time to pay Michael a visit.
* * *
Islammed open the door to Michael’s office. “Give her back to me!” I shouted, cutting right to the chase.
Michael stood from his desk. He didn’t ask what this was about and seemed unfazed by the bandages covering one side of my marred face.
“She’s lying in a hospital bed, fighting for her life. If you have the ability to help her, then Give. Her. Back. To. Me.” I repeated with grit.
No longer did I care if Michael’s stories were real or if he thought me to be a crazy person for my allegations. If Sara was a pawn in this game of Hell versus Heaven, then he was the key to saving her.
Even now, the asshole refused to admit how much of his stories were real or if he had a hand to play.
“When you first told me of your dreams, didn’t you bargain your soul in exchange for your desires? Now, you have everything you wished for,” he said with sorrow in his voice, “and it’s because of what happened to Sara.”
It turned out that sympathy votes outweighed the influence of big corporations. According to the news, I was the current front runner for the upcoming elections, courtesy of the heroic tales of saving my sister when she ‘accidentally’ fell off the balcony.
A narrative had been spun, and though news of Sara’s pregnancy had gone public, no one would reprimand a girl fighting for her life at the hospital. Our families’ reputation remained intact, with only sympathy flowing in every which way. I was leading in the poles and would win this election in a landslide. Hundreds of fan mail and gifts were sent to me daily from women worldwide. Our stocks had gone up in the market, too.
The Devil had delivered on every one of his promises… and I wanted no part of it.
“I don’t want any of it. I don’t want to give my soul away.” I clutched at my heart, which was breaking at the image of Sara on a hospital bed. “Tell me how to stop this. Tell me how to save her.”
