“You motherfucking bitch!” I yell before punching her in the face.  My fist hits her jaw first.  Then I shift my weight when she tries to throw me off her and give her another hard slam into her ribs.  “I’ll kill you!  I will!”  I get three more slaps in before I’m being lifted off her.  I look down and spit on her. “You never deserved him.  I thank my lucky stars that you were too fucking STUPID to realize just what kind of man you had.  Take a good look, bitch, because you will never know what it feels like to be with a REAL man!”  I spit again and smile when it lands right between her eyes.

She moves to stand and Maddox isn’t quick enough to get me away from her.  I lift up my foot and kick her right in the ass, laughing when she falls forward and knocks into the bookshelf, sending a few dozen books from the shelves onto her prone form.

“You feel better?” Maddox asks with a huge smile on his handsome face.

“Yeah,” I reply, smoothing out my hair and clothes.  “I do.  How about you, baby?”

His eyes go soft and he gives me a kiss.  “Yeah, angel.  I’ve never felt better in my life.”

Looking into his eyes, I believe it.  Until I feel a sharp pain in my side and wetness against my panties.

What the hell?

I reach down, and when I bring my hands up, there is blood on my fingertips.

“Maddox?”

“Yeah, Em?” he asks, moving his eyes from where Mercedes still hasn’t moved.  When he meets mine, he goes still.  “Em?”

“I think it might be a good idea if we go to a hospital,” I whisper.

He looks from my eyes to my hand before his tan skin goes white and I’m in his arms.  He doesn’t respond when his mother snarls his name or when his brother starts stalking after him.

He doesn’t stop until he’s slamming the car in park and carrying me into the local emergency room doors.

Chapter 35—Maddox

She was right.  Letting go of that last tie gave me a sense of peace I hadn’t fathomed possible.  I didn’t feel pain from my mother’s or brother’s words.  I didn’t even flinch when Mercedes told me just how deep her deceit had been.  I even wanted to laugh when Emmy threw her body on top of her and fought her like a world-class boxer.

I felt whole for the first time in my life.  The weight of those monsters that had been eating away at me for so long—gone.  I didn’t think there was one thing I could feel wrong.

That is until I looked over at Emmy and saw fear in her eyes.  At first, I didn’t know what was happening.  Then I saw the blood on her hands.  My confusion turned into a fear as cold as ice filling my veins.

We were taken right back and she was immediately checked out.  My world was rocked an hour later.

Emmy.  Pregnant.

I look over at her as she rests peacefully in the hospital bed.  They gave her intravenous fluids to help rehydrate her and an antibiotic.  According to the doctor, she—and the baby—are fine for the moment.  He couldn’t see any sign of a miscarriage.  After we briefly explained that she had been in a physical altercation, he said that it was most likely a threatened miscarriage and that she would need to stay off her feet then follow up with her doctor when we get home.

“Hey,” she sighs, turning in the bed and curling on her side to look at me.  “You okay?”

I can’t help it.  I throw my head back and laugh.  The tension that was rolling off my body and all the stress of the day evaporates with just the sound of her voice.

“I should probably be concerned that you’re losing it.”  Her lips are curled in a beautiful smile, and even though she looks tired, I can see that she’s happy.

“You took years off my life earlier, Emmy.”

“I’m sorry,” she says honestly.

“You’re okay?”  I search her eyes for any signs that she might not be happy about this news.

“I’m perfect.”

As simple as that.

Perfect.

“This is a blessing, Maddox,” she sighs, her gorgeous, honey eyes hopeful that I’ll see it that way.

Blessing.

There’s that word again.  One that I never thought I could attach to my life.  But now, looking at her curled in front of me—carrying our child—our love wrapped around us like a tight embrace…  Yeah, it damn sure is a blessing.

“That it is, angel.  That. It. Is.”  I lean over and kiss her softly before I grab her hand, and try to figure out how to tell her how much this means to me.  “I love you.”  It really is just as simple as that.  Her love started it all, and she never gave up until I believed her.  “You made me whole again, Emmy.  You drove those monsters and nightmares from my soul and replaced them with something so unbelievable that I’m not even sure if I understand the enormity of its power.  I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that I continue to be worthy of that love, baby.”