Chapter 283\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena\u00a0<\/p>\n
1462\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to Kiara, Leah, Cara, and Maya, who were all standing together near the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how to thank you,\u201d I said, my voice breaking slightly. \u201cYou saved our lives last\u00a0<\/p>\n
night, you came when we needed you most and I\u2019ll never forget that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve spoken about this countless times Ath, we\u2019re glad we could help,\u201d Leah said, coming over\u00a0<\/p>\n
to hug me. \u201cYou\u2019re important to me, to all of us, we weren\u2019t going to let anything happen to you if\u00a0<\/p>\n
we could prevent it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStill,\u201d I said. \u201cIf there\u2019s ever anything I can do for any of you, anything at all, please let me\u00a0<\/p>\n
know.\u201d I said even though I don\u2019t know how to really repay them but I knew I was going to one day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will,\u201d Kiara said with a warm smile. \u201cBut right now, what you need to do is go take care of\u00a0<\/p>\n
yourself and that baby.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan took my hand and we headed out to his car, the three guards who\u2019d stayed through the\u00a0<\/p>\n
night were still there, standing watch, and they nodded to us as we passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The drive to Mara\u2019s house was quiet and I spent most of it staring out the window, watching the\u00a0<\/p>\n
sun rise higher in the sky, thinking about everything that had happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you thinking about?\u201d Tristan asked eventually.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow different today is from yesterday,\u201d I said. \u201cYesterday morning we woke up and everything\u00a0<\/p>\n
was normal, we were excited about telling everyone about the baby, we had no idea what was\u00a0<\/p>\n
coming.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d he said, his hand finding mine and squeezing gently. \u201cBut we got through it, we\u00a0<\/p>\n
survived.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBarely,\u201d I said. \u201cIf Leah and the others hadn\u2019t come when they did.\u201d I knew I was repeating the\u00a0<\/p>\n
same thing over and over again but I just couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t stop thinking how I\u2019d have lost this child the same way I\u2019d lost the first one. My hands\u00a0<\/p>\n
shook at the thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
=\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
19.59 Tue, Jan 20 W\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 283\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine losing two children from getting hit continuously, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to live on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they did come,\u201d he said firmly. \u201cAnd you and Sarah held those men off until help arrived,\u00a0<\/p>\n
you were incredible, Athena, you protected yourself and Sarah and the kids, you protected our baby.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so scared,\u201d I admitted. \u201cThe whole time I was fighting, all I could think about was the\u00a0<\/p>\n
baby, about making sure nothing hit my stomach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did exactly what you needed to do,\u201d he said. \u201cYou kept yourself and the baby safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what if something happened anyway?\u201d I asked, voicing the fear that had been eating at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if there\u2019s something wrong that we can\u2019t see yet?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing, doctor Chen would have noticed. But if there is, we\u2019ll deal with it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, but I don\u2019t think there is, I think our baby is strong, just like you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe him but the fear was still there, sitting heavy in my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We pulled up to Mara\u2019s house and I felt my anxiety spike even higher, in a few minutes I\u2019d know\u00a0<\/p>\n
for sure whether the baby was okay or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan helped me out of the car and kept his arm around my waist as we walked to the door,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mara opened it before we could knock, her expression serious as she took in my appearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCome in,\u201d she said, stepping aside. \u201cLet me see you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We followed her to the same examination room we\u2019d been in before and I sat on the table while\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan stood beside me, holding my hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s eyes went immediately to the bruises on my neck and I saw her expression tighten.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me everything,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I did, I told her about the attack, about the fight, about every hit I\u2019d taken and where, I told\u00a0<\/p>\n
her about protecting my stomach, about fighting the urge to shift, about how scared I\u2019d been that\u00a0<\/p>\n
something had happened to the baby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She listened without interrupting and when I finished, she was quiet for a long moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me examine you,\u201d she said finally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
=\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:59 Tue, Jan 20 GO\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 283\u00a0<\/p>\n
14%2\u00a0<\/p>\n
She started with my neck, her fingers gentle as she probed the bruising, then she moved to my ribs, having me lift my shirt so she could see the extensive bruising there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 283 Chapter 283\u00a0 Athena\u00a0 1462\u00a0 I turned to Kiara, Leah, Cara, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}