After they arrived at the hotel-
Stella swiped the keycard and pushed the door open. Briony’s face twisted in discomfort, she clapped a hand over her mouth and rushed straight into the bathroom.
Retching echoed from inside.
“Bryn–Stella called, hurrying after her.
Outside the bathroom, Stewart and Cedric Clarke waited in the hallway, listening to Briony’s painful vomiting. Both men wore grim expressions,
It was a while before the sounds finally subsided.
Stella emerged, supporting a pale and exhausted Briony as they left the bathroom together.
The room had two beds. Stella guided Briony to one and helped her lie down.
Briony was clearly feeling awful–she barely managed to close her eyes before slipping into a restless sleep. Stella pressed her palm to Briony’s forehead.
A slight fever.
She tucked the blanket around Briony, then got up and stepped outside the room. Looking straight at Cedric Clarke, she said, “Leave your first aid kit with me.”
Cedric handed it over, concern etched on his face. “Is she all right?”
Stella shot a cold look at Stewart. “Thanks to someone, she was throwing up nonstop on the flight and now, just landed, she’s running a fever. What do you think?”
Cedric had no answer.
With a sharp motion, Stella snatched the kit from Cedric’s hands and shut the door in their faces.
Outside, Cedric scratched his nose and shook his head. “Man, look at the mess you’ve made… what a disaster.” Stewart’s lips pressed into a thin line, his expression stormy and cold.
After a moment, he turned and strode toward the elevators.
Cedric called after him, “Hey, where are you going?”
Inside the room, Stella took Briony’s temperature.
99.9 degrees.
At least her fever wasn’t dangerously high.
She opened the first aid kit, rummaged through it, but found nothing suitable for pregnant women.
With no other option, she soaked a cloth in rubbing alcohol and gently wiped Briony’s forehead and neck, hoping to bring her fever down physically.
Briony tossed in her sleep, brow furrowed in distress. Even unconscious, she looked miserable.
Stella’s heart ached for her friend, and she silently cursed Stewart all over again.
Briony’s sleep was fitful–her body alternated between chills and feverish heat. She had a vague sense of someone tending to her, but her eyelids felt impossibly heavy, she just couldn’t wake up.
Her dreams blurred and shifted. Somewhere in that fog, she heard a familiar voice calling to her.
1/2
Chapter 180
“Bryn… Bryn
She followed the sound and found herself in a dark, winding tunnel.
The tunnel stretched on and on, so long she began to feel a swell of despair.
Then another voice echoed from behind-
“Bryn, don’t go any further! Come back, come back…”
She stopped and turned.
The tunnel had transformed into a sun–dappled path lined with trees.
When she was little, her grandfather taught her to ride a bike along a path just like this. She’d been so afraid of falling, always struggling to learn, but her grandfather never scolded her. He was always there with a steady hand and gentle encouragement.
He used to say. The hardest part is always the beginning. It’s not talent that matters most, Bryn–it’s the courage to keep going, even when it’s tough.”
She practiced for months before she finally learned to ride.
“Bryn… Bryn….
The voice came again, this time her mother’s.
Briony turned and suddenly the tunnel gave way to a vast, mist–covered river.
Far off in the fog, her mother’s figure appeared,
Her mother waved, shaking her head. “Bryn, you don’t belong here. Go back.”
Briony shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “Mom, I’m so tired. Can’t I just come with you?”
“Silly Bryn, you’re a mother yourself now. How could you say something like that? Your child needs you, Bryn. You have to protect your baby, and your baby will protect you, too..
A child?
Briony looked down–and to her shock, her belly was already swollen and round.
She stared in disbelief.
Suddenly, the world around her twisted and bled into a sea of red.
She looked down again–her stomach was flat, and beneath her, blood pooled across the ground. “No-
Briony jolted awake with a cry.
“Bryn!” Stella rushed to her side, seeing the sweat and tears streaking Briony’s face. She understood immediately–Briony had just woken from a nightmare.
Briony was breathing hard, her hands clutching the blanket in a desperate grip.
