MAKSIM

She must be nervous.

Her eyes were flickering through the crowd, and her speech slurred. There were even beads of sweat gathering on her forehead. He doubted it was from the heat. If she was hot, she would've just taken off some layers of clothing.

It was when her blinking became lazy that he suspected this was something else. Maybe she was hot after all.

He got up, not really sure what he was going to do when he reached her. When she toppled over, he jumped and barely caught her. She landed in his arms awkwardly, with her side pressing against his chest.

As employees scattered in search of help, he placed a hand at her waist to adjust her. His eyebrows furrowed when he touched something that he didn't understand. Instead of having a soft, fleshy belly, Raelynn was stiff.

Was she wearing a waist trainer?

He pulled a scarf off her, and then the second one. As he unraveled her, his chest became as stiff as her stomach, because her realized something was wrong. When the scarves were out of the way and he saw the truth, he forgot how to breathe. Raelynn's belly was huge, solid, and perked, but not from a waist trainer.

Needing to see her, he untucked her shirt from her pants. Her tanned skin felt tight under his fingertips. There was a long, dark line on her belly that ran along her abdomen, and repetitive flutters as she was kicked.

Fuck.

The pink bottle of pills, her insistence of avoiding his touch, talking to herself, the ridiculous clothes, and the cryptic messages now made sense.

This was no waist trainer or weight gain. This was a pregnancy.

"What did you do, Raelynn? What did you do?"

Based on the size of her abdomen, the correct question was, what did they do.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, his shock caught fire and became panic. Thinking someone was trying to take Raelynn away, he flicked out a switchblade and pressed it against the intruder's gut.

The intruder was actually an employee who scrambled backward and fell.

Maksim scowled. Even prey knew not to approach a seething lion.

He stabbed the switchblade on the wooden podium– a warning for others to stay away, and then he secured Raeylnn's lolling head against his chest.

"Call HR," he barked at the scrambling employee. "None of you saw this. I don't want this news leaving this fucking room."

The few employees looked nervous. He didn't care if holding them hostage was potentially illegal.

He pulled out his phone number and called his medical contacts. He couldn't bring Raelynn to the hospital, so he would bring the hospital to her.

Human resources showed up and began handing out NDA contracts. They either offered a promotion or lump sums of money in exchange for their silence. Maksim didn't care. He'd pay what had to be paid to keep Raelynn's pregnancy a secret.

If the streets found out he had a child on the way, Raelynn would be in danger. He had too many enemies, and they all knew that the easiest way to bring down a king was by going for his true treasure– his heirs.

The employees were relocated to another room. When it was just them two, he stripped Raelynn down to her top and undid the top button of her pants.

Maksim couldn't rip his eyes from her midsection. He felt heavy; the realization crushing him.

Although he owned piles of cash and a skyscraper with an eagle view of the city, the little ball of woman still went unnoticed for months. She was in plain sight, hiding the precious secret under rags.

черт возьми (fucking hell)

The baby kicked, as if angry at him. Maksim flinched. He could stare down the barrel of a gun fearlessly, but this unborn fetus had him shaking in his Armani shoes.

"I..."

He had no idea what to say to the son or daughter than he neglected for months.

He palmed the warm flesh. His enormous hand nearly covered the bump, making it look more innocent, more fragile. The diamonds on his watch twinkled under the lights, and his own skin crawled when he realized it was the same watch he threw at Raelynn months ago. He hadn't stopped at humiliating her, though. He had man-handled her, beat his cock as he cursed her name, made sure she was paid the bare minimum.

Did she go hungry? Did she have a good doctor? Did she take public transportation to get to work, where any mobster could snatch her?

The door opened, and he reached for the switchblade that was still within reach. When he recognized his medical crew, he relaxed and returned his hand to her belly.

"Maksim," the doctor greeted. His eyes moved to the unconscious woman.

"Did she hit her head?"

"No."

"Good. You may lift her, then."

Maksim picked up Raelynn, feeling the warmth of her belly against his flat one. While hers was full of life, his was full of dread.

He gently placed her on a stretcher, but he didn't step away. The damn medics would have to work around him.

"She was giving a presentation, and then she just..."

The doctor nodded and checked her blood pressure. "It was probably the stress that made her faint. Does she have any conditions you know of, metal or physical?"

Did pregnancy count?

Maksim was utterly useless. His mind flew back to the files his private investigator sent. He would have to read through them.

"Her blood pressure is a bit high, but not too bad."

"I don't pay you for 'not too bad," Maksim snarled. "Fix this."

"There's only so much I can do in this office where I barely have equipment. She needs rest and absolutely no more stress. You will need to bring her into a proper setting. I'm not an OB-GYN. I've been stitching up bullet wounds for the past twenty years."

"Useless," Maksim snarled.

He let them finalize a few more checks before blurting, "What about the pregnancy?"

It felt odd to use the word "baby." The reality was like menthol straight to the senses– bright, pure, and so strong that he couldn't help but cringe.

"Well, it's best to listen to a fetus' heartbeat through an ultrasound, but let's see what we can capture here..." The doctor lowered the stethoscope to Raelynn's belly and closed his eyes. "Oh, what do we have here?"

"What?" Maksim demanded. "Is it okay?"

"The pregnancy sounds just fine. Let's–"

Raelynn's eyes creaked open. She saw the doctor first, and then the many hands that were on her.

"Get off me. Let me go!"

"Maksim, we can sedate–"

"No. No!"

She was hysterical, crying and pushing at Maksim while trying to pull her shirt down her bump. In her feral attack, she scratched his neck and drew blood.

"No sedation!" he offered her, desperate to calm her. "No sedation."

Instantly, she calmed her fight.

"Get out," he told the crew. For some reason, their presence made her freak out. Did she think he'd make them hurt the fetus? Did she think he was that evil?

Raelynn rolled onto her side. He knew better than to touch her. He didn't want her to feel caged, although there was no way in Russia he was going to let her go.

He stood and stared at her back until she sagged with sleep.

He pulled his phone out. He'd have to talk to her before bringing her to the next doctor's appointment. The last thing he wanted was to stress her out more.

He had the lobby emptied and called his driver. He covered Raelynn with his suit jacket and carefully swept her into his arms.

He took the private elevator down and made a few turns to exit through the back of the building. His driver held the door open. He wasn't phased by Maksim carrying an unconscious woman. He had worked for the family for too long and had seen worse enter the car.

With Raelynn settled on his lap, Maksim fired out texts to organize a dozen suits to surround his penthouse. No one would get to the priceless Kuznetsov package.

Raelynn was asleep for the short trip. Even when he picked her up and took her upstairs, she didn't stir.

He laid her on the bed and freed her from her pants. He pulled the sheets to cover her legs and saw a tuff of hair poking out of her white panties. It was the only confirmation he needed that she hadn't been fucking another cock.

He didn't cover her belly, because he wasn't done staring at it. He wasn't sure if he ever would be. He already missed so much of its growth.

When he felt a faint sting on his neck, he realized that he was still bleeding from where Raelynn clawed him. There was no way he was leaving her alone, so he tossed his shirt off, sat on the sofa, and watched her sleep.

– • –

RAELYNN

She felt groggy, and her breasts hurt as if they got too jostled.

But hey, at least it's no longer hot in here.

That thought made her jerk. Her memories connected, and she scurried off the bed.

"Sit down."

She was on her hands and knees, crawling off the bed like a drunk toddler, when Maksim made himself known. She instinctively reached for her scarves, but they were no longer there.

Maksim stood up, a shadow manifesting from the shadows, and walked around the bed. He was shirtless, showing the muscles that gripped her as he fucked these twins into her.

"We have a lot to talk about, Rae."

He kneeled on the bed, making it dip and slightly pull her forward. The tug of gravity was nothing compared to their magnetism, though. It never had been.

His hands reached for her, one settling on her hip and the other on her belly. She gripped his wrist and swallowed back a sob.

She could cry later. Now, she had to escape this den.

"Don't touch me."

"It's my baby."

Her face twisted with confusion. Baby? Why wasn't he speaking plurally?

He doesn't know. He doesn't know there's two.

Desperate to change the conversation, she blurted, "you don't know that."

Maksim didn't present any anger. The hand he had at her hip reached down, swept beneath her belly, and slipped into the waistband of her panties. With two fingers, he gently tugged at the hair covering her pussy. "It's mine."

Was he speaking of the twins, or her pussy? Both?

The heat she felt in the workplace felt like a warm summer breeze compared to the heat in the penthouse.

"Let me go," she rasped.

He pulled his hand out, brushing her clit with a knuckle, although she couldn't tell if it that touch was accidental.

She collected the sheet around her body and padded around the cold tiles. She needed a shower. Her skin was sweaty, her cunt wet, and her thoughts foggy.

She was weak with defeat and needed a moment with her bump.

The bathroom was open, so she found it easily enough. She shut the door, dropped the sheets, and entered the bathtub. Her tears were running long before the water.

Her hormones made sadness become anger at the flip of a switch. She put so much effort into this plan, only for it to fail. Now, she was at Maksim's mercy.

Spotting a bag of razors, she ripped one out and began shaving. It was her way of rebelling against Maksim. She belonged to no man. The twins were the only males that owned her. Maksim would get hell if he tried to take them.

She yelped when the razor cut her. The sound had barely left her mouth when the locked door was kicked in. Maksim appeared, a silver gun aimed low, his eyes crazed.

She shrunk away, and he placed the gun on the counter when he realized she was alone.

Silence bled along with the small scrape between her legs. He scanned the razor in her hand, then her bump, and then lower.

She didn't dare to rip her eyes away from him.

He took the razor, sat on the edge of the tub, and pulled her to his lap. She was confused and tired, so she offered no fight. She watched the material on his dark pants become darker as water fell on them.

There was a gentle swipe between her thighs as Maksim dragged the razor. He supported her belly with one hand, not once staring at her bared breasts as he shaved her.

Pubic hair fell, getting caught at their feet before flowing into the drain. Invisible wetness gushed out of her pussy, camouflaging into the water.

The moment was far past awkward. It was raw.

As Maksim lathered her with more cream and continued to shave her, Raelynn's eyes remained locked on the gun.

He'll find out soon! Next update coming soon! Don't want to wait? This story is COMPLETE AND FREE on Lutionary.com. It's also on Patreon.com/ancientt