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“You can’t leave, Ms Hahness has forbidden it,” she rushed over her words as if afraid that Lauren would lose it again, “given your condition, you’re very weak I recommend that you spend at least a week in bed and wait teeks before you fly long-distance”

“My condition?” Lauren said, her heart beginning a strange thu with me except the effects of dehydration” Which was really His Highness’s fault But she ed to keep the words to herself this time

“Your pregnancy,” Dr Hasan said with a frown “You’re not aware of it?”

Lauren felt as if she’d been physically slapped She shook her head, huffed a laugh at the ridiculousness of the suggestion The doctor’s eyes remained serious

She couldn’t be “But that’s not”

She collapsed against the bed, shaking uncontrollably from head to toe Her breaths becanant? Hoas that possible? She took her pill without le day She clutched the sheets with her hands, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes

Fear and shock vied with each other, a heaviness gathering in her belly

She couldn’t be pregnant A child needed unconditional love, stability, two parents who loved it, ould put it before anything else, before their own ambitions and duties

Zafir and she couldn’t even bear to look at each other without distrust

Panic unfurled its fangs, and she felt woozy again

“Just breathe, Ms Hamby,” the doctor said, and Lauren let that crisp tone wash over her, glad to have someone tell her what to do

As her breathing beca else crept in She shoved her top away under the cotton sheets and splayed her fingers on her sto inside her, and it felt as though it breathed courage into her

A baby

Her job as an ER nurse at an inner-city hospital in Brooklyn consuy, both physical and emotional Christ, she had never even had a normal boyfriend