The doors hissed open, admitting Dr. Aris and a team of orderlies.

They didn’t come with a simple tray; they came with a rolling gurney equipped with heavy, padded restraints. The sterile, metallic scent of the medical wing rushed in, cutting through the steam and the salt.

"No... Cilian, stop," Ren breathed, his fingers digging into Cilian’s unbuttoned shirt, gripping the fabric so hard his knuckles turned white.

It was a desperate, instinctive clutch at the only person nearby, even if that person was his tormentor. "Please, don’t do this."

Cilian’s expression didn’t shift. He looked down at Ren’s hands, then back into his eyes with a terrifyingly calm resolve.

"Like I said, you didn’t stop when I asked you to, Ren. You were going to kill our child."

"But you don’t even know if I’m pregnant yet!" Ren said, his voice cracking. "It’s just... it’s just been four days. There’s no way to know." His face was filled with horror and a little bit of relief. "Even if you do a scan, a test, you won’t know until it’s at least 10 to 15 days."

Cilian merely looked at him, and for the first time, a look of disappointment crossed his face as he stared at Ren.

"Even if it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the fact remains, Ren." He lowered his body, gripping Ren’s arm bruisingly. "You were going to make sure there was no baby." His tone snapped into place and his lips curved bitterly. "I know you hate me but that’s a little too far, even for me."

Ren stared at that smile in horror.

"Besides, Dr. Aris isn’t going to use the normal methods they use in hospitals. He’s going to confirm if there’s a baby through his own test methods. Even if it’s only been four days, there will still be a sign of life."

Cilian didn’t wait for another plea. He lifted Ren, ignoring his weak, frantic struggles.

The exhaustion of the journey and the trauma of the last few days had left Ren with nothing but a shaky defiance. Cilian dropped him onto the cold, padded gurney, and before Ren could even attempt to roll off, the orderlies moved in.

Click. Click.

The heavy leather straps snapped shut over his wrists and ankles. Ren’s head thrashed against the pillow, his eyes wide as he stared up at the blinding fluorescent lights of the exam room.

"Stop, stop, please stop it." He pleaded, hot, heavy tears finally spilling over and soaking into the padded headrest.

"Dr. Aris," Cilian called, stepping to the side but keeping his eyes fixed on Ren in his despair. "Run the full panel. Use the rapid-analyzer. I want confirmation now."

"Of course, Mr. Vane," the doctor replied, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Ren felt the cold swipe of alcohol on the crook of his arm, then the sharp, stinging bite of a needle.

He squeezed his eyes shut, his eyes stinging with his own tears. He felt like a specimen under a microscope, his autonomy stripped away in a room full of people who only saw him as Cilian’s property.

The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence, save for the mechanical whirring of the blood analyzer. Cilian stood at the foot of the gurney, his arms crossed, watching the machine with intense focus as if it were the most important thing in the world.

Finally, the machine gave a sharp, clinical beep.

Dr. Aris picked up the tablet, his eyes scanning the data. He looked up at Cilian and gave a small, respectful nod. "The results are positive, sir. He is definitely pregnant."

The world seemed to stop for Ren. The air in the room felt too thin to breathe. Positive. It was a reality he couldn’t run from anymore.

Cilian’s face broke into a slow, triumphant smile—the fox was back, and he had won.

He stepped closer, leaning over Ren until his shadow completely covered him. He reached down, his thumb brushing a tear from Ren’s cheek with a tenderness that felt like a threat.

"Do you hear that, darling?" Cilian whispered, his voice sweet as poison. "You’re carrying my child. I told you I’d fill you with my marks so deep you’d never scrub them out. It seems I’ve succeeded."

Ren looked at him, his grey eyes dull and glazed with defeat. He had no more words, no more yells. He just lay there, strapped to a table in a mansion he couldn’t leave, carrying the child of the man he was supposed to hate.

What use... was his life now?

"Don’t look so tragic," Cilian purred, leaning down to press a soft, lingering kiss to Ren’s forehead. "I’m going to take such good care of you. We’re going to be a very happy family, Ren. Whether you like it or not."

Ren felt numb. The sterile white ceiling seemed to descend on him, a crushing weight that mirrored the news he had just received.

Four days. Only four days on that cursed island, and this happened.

"You’re staying here tonight," Cilian whispered, his thumb continuing to stroke Ren’s cheek, ignoring the way Ren flinched at the contact. "Dr. Aris needs to monitor the initial hormonal stabilization. We wouldn’t want any... complications... after your little stunt with the medicine cabinet."

Ren’s gaze shifted slowly toward the doctor, who was already busy preparing a secondary IV drip.

"You’re all monsters," Ren rasped, his voice sounding thin and hollow. "Every one of you."

Dr. Aris didn’t even blink at Ren’s comment. He simply stepped forward with a clear bag of fluids.

"This is just a vitamin and mineral supplement, Mr. Pierce. To counteract the exhaustion."

"And a mild sedative," Cilian added, his golden-brown eyes glinting with a dark, satisfied light. "You need to sleep, Ren. A real sleep. No more trying to run away, okay? Just rest and let your body do what it was designed to do."

Ren tried to pull his arm away as the doctor approached the IV port, but the restraints held him in place.

He looked at Cilian, searching for a flicker of the man who had supposedly ’loved’ him on the island, but all he saw was the predator who had finally cornered his prey.

"I will never love this," Ren whispered, his grey eyes filling with a final, bitter spark of defiance before the exhaustion and the coming sedative began to cloud them. "I will never love it, and I will never love you."

Cilian’s smile didn’t waver. He leaned down, his lips ghosting over Ren’s ear one last time. "You don’t have to love me, Ren. I’ll do the loving. So you just have to belong to me. And now, you’ve given me a reason to make sure you never leave my sight again."

As the sedative began to take hold, the world started to dissolve into a hazy grey.

The last thing Ren felt was Cilian’s hand resting heavily and possessively over his stomach, claiming the life inside before it even had a heartbeat.