The heavy silence of the kitchen was shattered by a sound that chilled Dominic to the bone—a wet, violent retch.
Elena didn't even have time to reach the sink. She collapsed to her knees, clutching her stomach as her body convulsed. Her face, already pale, turned a sickly, translucent grey. She tried to speak, to order Dominic out one last time, but instead, she slumped forward, her forehead hitting the linoleum with a sickening thud as she lost consciousness.
"Elena!" Dominic's roar shook the house. He was at her side in a heartbeat, his large hands trembling as he scooped her limp, fragile body into his arms.
Outside, the door burst open. Marcus and Sarah rushed in, Sarah's scream piercing the air when she saw Elena's head lolling against Dominic's shoulder.
"What did you do to her?!" Sarah shrieked, but Marcus was already in professional mode.
"Car. Now!" Marcus commanded, clearing the path.
The drive to the Creston Community Hospital was a blur of gravel dust and Dominic's low, frantic swearing. He sat in the back of the truck, Elena's head cradled in his lap. He didn't care about his reputation or the blood-stained jeans; he only cared about the shallow rise and fall of her chest. He kept rubbing her cold hands, whispering things he would never admit to in a boardroom.
The facility was small, smelling of floor wax and old radiator heat. The wait felt like an eternity, a localized purgatory where Dominic paced the tiny waiting room like a caged panther, and Sarah sat sobbing in a plastic chair.
Finally, a middle-aged doctor in a faded lab coat stepped out, flipping through a clipboard. "Family of Elena Vance?"
Dominic was in front of him before the man could finish the sentence. "How is she? Why did she collapse?"
The doctor looked at the three of them—the frantic farm girl, the stoic man in the suit, and the terrifyingly intense stranger in the hoodie. He cleared his throat. "She's severely dehydrated and her blood sugar is dangerously low. But that's secondary. The blood tests came back positive. She's pregnant."
The word hit the room like a physical explosion.
Sarah's jaw dropped. Marcus went perfectly still. But Dominic... Dominic felt the world tilt. His mind raced back to last week—the primal, raw night where he had lost himself inside her again and again. He hadn't used protection. He hadn't even thought of it. He had wanted every inch of her, with no barriers. He looked at the floor, his heart drumming a frantic rhythm. It has to be mine. It's been exactly a week. It's too soon for a test to be this clear, yet... nature works in strange ways when the passion is that fierce.
Elena, now awake and propped up on a thin hospital cot, stared at the doctor in sheer, paralyzed horror. "Pregnant?" she whispered. "No. That's... that's impossible."
"The hormones don't lie, Elena," the doctor said gently.
Dominic stepped into the room, his eyes burning with a mixture of hope and possessive terror. He looked at her stomach, then back at her face. "Elena," he started, his voice thick.
But Elena saw the look in his eyes—the "Claimed" look—and it terrified her more than the pregnancy itself. If he knew it was his, she would never be free. He would turn her life into a gilded prison. She had to kill his hope.
"Who is the father, Elena?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling. "You haven't been with anyone since... well, since you went to the city. Unless..." Sarah looked at Dominic, her eyes widening.
Elena's knuckles turned white as she gripped the hospital sheets. She avoided Dominic's gaze, staring instead at a crack in the ceiling. She remembered the heat of him, the way he had filled her, and the fact that in her grief and exhaustion, she had completely forgotten to seek out any emergency contraception.
"It's not his," Elena blurted out, her voice high and brittle.
Dominic froze. "What did you say?"
"It's Linus's," Elena lied, her heart hammering so hard she thought it might break a rib. "Sarah's neighbor. We... we had a moment before I left for the city. It's his."
The silence that followed was suffocating. Sarah narrowed her eyes, looking at her friend with deep suspicion. "Linus? Elena, Linus has been away at the logging camp for three weeks. You haven't seen him since the summer festival."
Elena's face flushed a deep, guilty crimson. "It happened then! It... it just took time to show!"
"A week ago, you were a virgin, Elena," Dominic's voice was a low, dangerous growl that made the doctor step back. He moved to the side of her bed, looming over her, his presence devouring the small room. "I know what I felt. I know the resistance of your body. I know the blood I saw on those sheets. Don't you dare lie to me about this."
"I'm not lying!" Elena shouted, tears finally spilling over. "I don't want your child! I don't want anything from you! It's Linus's! Just go away!"
Dominic's jaw set into a hard, jagged line. He didn't believe a word of it. He could smell the lie on her skin, see it in the way her pulse jumped in her neck.
"Marcus," Dominic said, not taking his eyes off Elena.
"Sir?"
"Call the private clinic in Ottawa. I want the best prenatal specialists and a forensic DNA team on a helicopter within the hour. We are doing a prenatal paternity test. Now."
Elena's eyes went wide with a fresh wave of panic. "No!" she screamed, trying to sit up, but the IV line tugged at her arm. "You can't do that! You have no right! I said NO!"
"I have every right to know if my blood is running through your veins, Elena," Dominic countered, his voice dropping into that terrifying, territorial range. "If that child is mine, you aren't staying in this shack. You aren't staying in this village. You are coming back to New York, and I will be the last man you ever look at."
"I won't do it!" Elena sobbed, shielding her stomach with her hands as if he could snatch the baby away right then. "You can't force me!"
"Watch me," Dominic whispered, his gray eyes turning to ice.
In the corner, Marcus looked at the scene—the billionaire who had finally found his match and the girl who was willing to burn the world to stay free. He knew this was no longer a business trip. This was a war.