30.

*Katelyn*

"Well, Mrs. Henshaw," Dr. Currie said with a smile. "Everything appears perfectly normal with your pregnancy. Do you have any complaints or questions for me?"

I shook my head. "No; thank you."

"Okay," he made a little note on his clipboard. "Well, I'll want to see you again in a few months."

"Okay."

"You can make an appointment with Cheryl at the front desk, and we'll get you in." He smiled at me. "See you then."

"Thank you, Dr. Currie." I said and then left the room, heading for the desk where the secretary, Cheryl, sat. She smiled at me and brushed a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "When do you want your next appointment to be?"

I made an appointment with her and then paid her for the current visit. After I left, I stopped by the McDonalds to grab something to eat and then headed back for the motel. It was getting late; the sun was setting and casting pink and orange hues across the sky.

I put the key into the lock and opened the door to my room, stepping inside and closing it behind me. And then I felt the arms crashing me to the wall. But they weren't Joe's arms. It wasn't Joe's cologne that I smelled. And the eyes that stared into mine were blue, not green.

"Rider," I choked out, gasping for breath.

He stepped away, letting me crumple to the floor, and turned on a lamp for better lighting. I could see his full profile then, down to the curly hair and the T-shirt that he was wearing. I saw the cold look in his eyes as they flashed to the rings on my left hand. "Katelyn."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still gasping for breath. Being pregnant had made me weaker than normal, and I was struggling to get my breath back.

"I thought you'd been kidnapped," he said, sitting on the bed as if it were his. "And then I went into your room and noticed that a lot of your stuff had been packed and taken with you. And what kind of kidnapper would let you take bags with you? And then I figured it out. Those missions… were they even real?"

I breathed in my nose and out my mouth.

"Joe Solomon," he spat the name. "I knew it was him. It had to be. He'd found you again even after we hid you away so carefully. He'd made you remember things that you weren't supposed to. He's made you his," he said as he looked at the rings.

"I love him, Rider," I said finally, supporting myself against the wall for support as I stood up. "I love him more than anything. And he loves me, too."

This only seemed to make him angrier. "I love you!" he roared. "Why couldn't you just be happy with me?"

"You don't love me!" I yelled back. "If you'd loved me, you would have let me be happy with Joe!"

"If you can't be happy with me," he said in a voice that sent shivers down my spine, "then you won't be happy with anyone."

He lunged for me and I moved just in time, sending him crashing into the wall. I jumped over the bed and tried to get to the door, but he was in front of it and blocking it before I could get there. He stood to his full height and glared at me with eyes full of hatred that shouldn't belong to someone so young. "Stop trying to run, Katelyn."

I backed away from him. "Don't do this, Rider."

He smiled, but it wasn't a kind smile. It was malicious. "Why not? You deserve this. You said you'd marry me, Katelyn. But you married him. What makes him better than me?"

"The fact that he genuinely loves me," I answered. "He wouldn't have cared if I had chosen you. He just wants me to be happy. That's real love, Rider. Not the kind of lust that you have."

"Lust," Rider scoffed. "I love you, Katelyn."

"No, you don't," I said coolly. "And even if you did, Rider, I don't love you."

"Then you won't love anyone," he growled and lunged for me. This time, I was too slow. He grabbed me around the middle and threw me onto the bed. I began to claw at him automatically, since I couldn't fight any other way because of the hold that he had me in. He slammed his body into mine, effectively knocking the breath out of me.

I couldn't do anything as his lips moved over my neck. Just as I began to get my breath back, he began to tear at my clothes.

Oh my God, he wants to rape and then kill me.

I began to squirm, but he managed to rip my shirt off anyway. And then he saw the slight bulge in my stomach. "You're pregnant," he muttered in shock. "With his baby."

I tried to push him away but finding out about my pregnancy had just made him angrier. He began to hit me, causing stars to dance before my eyes. "Rider, stop," I moaned. The only thing on my mind was the baby. I didn't want anything to happen to it.

Suddenly, the hotel room door burst open and Rider's weight left my body. I tried to blink away the stars, but more kept coming. I felt like I was floating above my body, like it wasn't real.

The baby. It has to be okay. It just has to be.

"Katelyn!"

"Joe?" I groaned.

Joe's face came into focus then. "Katelyn! Katelyn, can you hear me?"

"The baby," I whispered softly.

He nodded and covered me with a blanket before scooping me up into his arms. As he began to walk, I caught sight of Rider's lifeless body in a corner of the room.

Rider's dead.

The baby.

"Joe…"

"Shh, love," he whispered. "It's going to be okay."

And I fell out of consciousness.