Stolen Beauty (Jackson Family 1)

I had to fix this.

“How do you know?” I demanded as I jerked up from my chair.

He swallowed thickly. “I caught her looking up abortion clinics on her phone,” he quietly informed me. My blood froze in my veins. Fuck, this couldn’t be happening.

Sure, I hadn’t wanted kids, but now that there was a possibility of me being a dad, something was keeping me from not wanting this baby.

I wanted this with her. I wanted everything with Emmaline. And I knew that with her – for her – I could learn to love this baby, too.

“Where is she?” I asked him as I strode around my desk. Fuck, I had to go talk to her. I had to get this shit out of her head.

I wouldn’t let her do this to herself. Emmaline wouldn’t be able to handle it if she aborted this baby, even if she felt that it was her only option at this point.

And honestly, it scared the fuck out of me, but I knew. I couldn’t let her do this.

“She left with Jaxon,” he told me.

“Fuck!” I roared. I grabbed my phone off of my desk and sprinted out of the room, quickly pulling up the tracking app on my phone. They were parked at an abortion clinic about fifteen minutes from our home.

I had to stop her. I couldn’t fucking let her do this to herself.

Jumping into my SUV, I quickly pressed the button to open the garage doors and threw the vehicle into reverse, calling Jaxon as I did so. “James?” he asked when he answered.

“Why the fuck did you leave the house with her?!” I roared.

“I wasn’t informed that she wasn’t allowed out, Sir,” he instantly answered. I growled because he was right. A couple of weeks ago, I had given Emmaline permission to leave the house as she pleased so long as either Jaxon or myself were with her.

“Do you have any fucking idea what she’s about to do?!” I shouted at him. “Fucking stop her, Jaxon! I don’t give a fuck what you have to do, but she will not be aborting that baby!”

“Understood, Sir.”

I hung up the phone, speeding through traffic, weaving in and out of lanes as I sped towards the abortion clinic she was at. When I pulled up, I didn’t even bother parking. I stopped right in front of the car, blocking it in. She was yelling at Jaxon with tears running down her cheeks, screaming at him to give her the keys to the car.

“Emmaline,” I gently called. She swung her bloodshot, teary eyes to me. My heart shattered in my chest. My soul roared at the pain and torment in her eyes. “Little one, let’s go home and talk,” I softly spoke.

“Why?!” she yelled at me. “Isn’t this what you wanted, James?” she asked me. I swallowed thickly, fully regretting ever telling her that I never wanted kids. I hadn’t been in love with her then – or at least, I hadn’t pinpointed my feelings as love yet. “Why are you stopping me?!” she finally screamed.

I held my hand out to her, leaving this decision completely up to her. I never wanted to make her feel trapped and right now, I knew that was exactly how she felt.

“Little one,” her bottom lip trembled, breaking my heart, “let me take you home, and then, we can talk,” I coaxed. “You don’t have to get rid of our baby.”

She sobbed when I called the baby ours. More tears slid down her pretty face, breaking my fucking heart into smaller pieces. “You don’t want kids,” she whimpered.

“Little one, I love you,” I reminded her. “Anything that comes out of that love? I can’t ever push it away.” I drew in a deep breath. “Just let me fix this, baby,” I begged her.

I needed her to let me fix this – fix us.

Slowly, she stepped towards me and placed her hand in mine. It shook in my grasp, but I curled in my fingers around hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

I’d fucked up. I made her feel trapped – as if she had no other choice but to destroy her own soul to save my own feelings, and I didn’t like that shit. And I hated that she would go that far just because of her love for me.

But we would get through this. I would fix this shit between us, and I knew that I would eventually come to love this baby as much as I loved her.

I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Come on,” I softly coaxed. “Let’s get you home.”