Chapter 25

“What?! What is it?! Is my baby okay?!” Panic swept through my body as I sat up on the examining table and clutched my stomach.

“It’s nothing. Lie back.” The lab technician pushed me down forcefully by the shoulder. I caught a subtle unspoken exchange between the two men as they looked seriously at one another.

Nothing my ass!

Anger and fear enveloped me as tears began flowing from my eyes.

How dare they keep anything wrong from me!

Shaking, worry for my baby’s well-being overwhelmed me. What if something was wrong? What if this deformed DNA of mine was a genetic death sentence for my baby?

I didn’t know if my mind could handle this. I was already on the verge of a breakdown from all the other atrocities I’d experienced over the last few months of my life. I couldn’t deal with the loss or malformation of my baby as well. She was the only person I could trust in this new and unstable world.

I could hear a lot of mumbled exchanges between the two men. Quieting myself, I strained my ears to decipher anything I could.

“Eighteen weeks?” Agent Evans asked with a hushed voice and the lab technician nodded in reply.

Eighteen weeks!

I was further along than I thought. That still didn’t confirm who the father was though; I’d been raped by Meyers only about a week after I had sex with Keanu.

Depressed that I couldn’t see the image of my baby and that I didn’t have confirmation of who her daddy was, I closed my eyes and blocked out the world.

Besides, I had a lot more important things to think about—like how I was going to get us out of here.

***

The white door to my cell sealed with an audible click. Moving quickly, I lunged to the cot and immediately stuck my hand underneath. Feeling around for the note, I panicked for a second when I couldn’t find it. Lowering myself further, I turned my head and scanned the underside of the bed.

I blew out a breath of relief when I saw it tucked neatly in the place where I’d left it.

Endeavoring to shove my fingers between the coils, I realized that retrieving it was going to be harder than I thought. Lying on my back, I positioned myself just under the location of the note.

Squeezing my hand between the bed frame and metalwork; I then tried to grab the note with my pointer and middle fingers pressed together. Slowly and carefully, I attempted again and again to pull the note to freedom. Painstakingly, I managed to maneuver it a couple of inches.

Hearing a tear as I moved the delicate paper note through the labyrinth of metal lattice, I paused and tried moving it more slowly. Only a few more inches and it would reach the edge of the bed frame. Shimmying the note back and forth for another minute, the end finally poked its nose out the side of the bed.

God! And I was worried someone would steal it!

As I unfolded the letter once again, a wave of nervousness washed through my stomach. Straightening out the wrinkled paper, I started reading.

Cassia, flush this as soon as you’re done reading it!

Follow this note to the letter…I can’t leave you and the baby to suffer any longer. Besides, they have plans for you after the baby is born…and it’s not good.

Tears welled and dripped softly through my lashes as I continued.

Tomorrow, when they take you for your shower, use the stall farthest from the door and look up at the showerhead, I’ll have left you something there. Use it to disable the guard. Drag the guard into the shower stall and close the door. Make sure to take the item with you, then hide in the janitorial closet that we used before. Stay there and be quiet. I’ll come get you when it’s safe.

Be careful.

And Cassia, I love you.

Gripping the note with both hands, I re-read it over and over in disbelief. I didn’t know which part I was happiest about, the fact that I was getting out of here or that Keanu loved me. Tears of joy ran down my face as I clutched the note, readying myself to rip it up and flush it down the toilet. Standing over the bowl, I held the note at the top, preparing to tear into two pieces, then four…

Frozen in mid-air, I tried to pull the letter apart. My eyes lingered on the last phrase and I realized how much it meant to me—and how much I wanted to keep that letter.