Her Body, The Tycoon's Shield

The moment I finished speaking, the darkness consumed me completely.

After what felt like an eternity, a sharp pain jolted me back to consciousness. The Hawthorne family's private physician, Marcus Thorne, quickly administered a shot of adrenaline.

Marcus wiped the sweat from his brow. "Mrs. Caldwell, you have to stay awake. Your vital signs are unstable. If you fall asleep now, you might not wake up."

"Think of your husband, your child. They need you. You have to fight."

Caspian's tall frame entered my blurry field of vision. His suit was ruined and his hair disheveled, but it did nothing to diminish the commanding aura forged by a lifetime of power.

"You saved my life. I won't forget it," he said, his voice a deep, powerful rumble. "When you recover, you will have anything you desire. The child you carry will be my godchild."

"Just hang on. I've already sent someone for Bowen."

Hearing Caspian's promise, a faint, ironic smile touched my lips.

Caspian was so naive.

The steady, warm flow of blood down my thighs told me everything. My child was already gone.

And Bowen? The sky could be falling, but if Savannah shed a single tear, he would never turn back for me.

As if on cue, the assistant Caspian had sent returned, alone. He bowed his head, unable to meet Caspian's gaze.

"Where is he?" Caspian demanded, his brow furrowed with suppressed anger.

The assistant’s voice trembled. "Mr. Hawthorne, Bowen… he refuses to come back." He hesitated. "He said… his words were, 'Tell that drama queen to stop pulling these stunts for attention. I'm not falling for it.'"

The assistant bowed his head even lower, sweat beading on his forehead.

I knew Bowen’s actual words must have been far uglier. Savannah had been poisoning his mind for months, convincing him that my every pain was a performance staged to win him back.

If Savannah was his only concern, why had he pursued me so desperately in the first place?

A toxic mix of grief and rage coiled in my gut. I turned my head and coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Marcus's expression turned grave.

"Sir, Mrs. Caldwell is crashing! If we can't get her to fight, medicine alone won't be enough!"

Caspian's gaze fell on my ashen face. He could no longer contain the fury in his chest.

He pulled out an encrypted phone, one only top executives could use, and thrust it at his assistant. His voice was like ice. "Call Bowen with this."

"No one in this company dares to ignore a call from my private line. Tell him if he's not here in five minutes, he'll be facing an FBI prosecution for leaking corporate secrets!"

This time, Caspian was truly furious.

He was the king of Wall Street. He had just survived a deadly attack without a single guard at his side.

A pregnant woman had nearly died saving him, and his own chief advisor was ignoring the summons for personal reasons.

This was more than dereliction of duty. It was a flagrant challenge to the Hawthorne family's authority.