Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire — Episode 27
Amelia froze beneath Sam’s arm. The syringe hovered inches above the child she had fought to protect from him before. She smelled alcohol and sweat as he dragged her away from Claire’s bed, using his own daughter as a shield against the security officers gathering beyond the doorway.
Leo stood in the corridor with both hands visible. Fury burned through him, but he kept his voice controlled. One reckless movement could drive the needle forward, so he forced himself to study Sam’s balance, grip, and distance from the door. “Let Amelia go. Whatever you want, you negotiate with me.” Sam tightened his hold and demanded two hundred thousand dollars in cash before midnight.
“Don’t pay him,” Amelia said. The needle touched the fabric of her gown, and fear made her voice shake. “He’ll gamble it away and come back for more.” Sam jerked her backward, accusing her of choosing a rich stranger over the father who raised her.
Claire tried to sit up despite the tubes attached to her arms. “You drugged me,” she said. “You told me Amelia would finally help us.” Her betrayal cut through Sam’s self-pity, exposing him before both daughters.
He claimed everything had been done for the family. The lenders would kill him, and Amelia possessed access to more money than he could earn in a lifetime. In his mind, her relationship with Leo made refusal an act of cruelty rather than a boundary.
Leo asked Derek to prepare the money. Amelia stared at him, but a subtle shake of his head told her to trust him. “You will have it,” Leo said. “First, move the syringe away from my child.”
Sam laughed at the word my. He said Amelia had always belonged to the Gates family and that pregnancy had merely raised her value. The confession, captured by hospital cameras and police body microphones, erased any story in which he was a desperate father making one mistake.
An officer placed a case on the floor outside the room. Sam demanded that Leo carry it in alone. Leo obeyed, stepping over the threshold with the same measured calm he used in boardrooms, though Amelia could see his pulse beating hard at his throat.
“Open it,” Sam ordered. Leo knelt and lifted the lid, revealing stacks of paper bound to resemble cash beneath a single layer of real bills. Sam leaned forward despite himself. Greed loosened the arm around Amelia for one crucial second.
Claire ripped the emergency-call cable from the wall and swung it at Sam’s wrist. The syringe flew from his hand. Amelia dropped away as Leo crossed the distance and drove Sam against the wall.
Police rushed in, securing Sam before rage could make Leo strike him again. The syringe broke beneath an officer’s boot, spilling clear liquid across the floor. A hazardous-material technician sealed the fragments while nurses checked Amelia for even the smallest puncture. Later testing would determine what the syringe contained. In that moment, Amelia cared only that it had never reached her body.
Leo gathered her against him, one hand spread protectively over the child between them. “Are you hurt?” he asked. Amelia shook her head, then turned toward Claire. Her sister had collapsed back against the pillows, exhausted but conscious.
Sam continued shouting as officers dragged him away. He blamed Amelia for his debts, Claire for betraying him, and Leo for stealing the family he believed he owned. For the first time, neither daughter apologized.
The hospital restored full power and transferred Claire to a more secure room. Investigators discovered that Sam had bribed a maintenance worker to interrupt electricity on the floor, planning the hostage attempt before Amelia ever arrived. The overdose had been bait from the beginning.
Toxicology confirmed Claire had received enough sedative to endanger her life. The syringe contained a medication capable of triggering severe complications in pregnancy. Sam now faced charges far beyond theft and extortion.
Amelia sat through another examination while Leo waited beside her. The baby remained stable, but the doctor warned that repeated extreme stress carried real risks. Rest could not be treated as a luxury between crises, and physical safety alone would not protect her from the accumulated strain. Amelia listened with a numbness born from hearing the same warning too many times.
“He keeps finding ways to reach us,” she said once the doctor left. Leo wanted to promise Sam would never come near her again, but their rule—ask, listen, never assume—made him choose something honest. “This time there are witnesses, recordings, and evidence. We will use all of them.”
Claire asked to speak with Amelia privately. Shame filled her face as she admitted resenting the sister who escaped while she stayed behind. Sam rewarded that resentment with gifts purchased from Amelia’s stolen wages and taught Claire to view exploitation as sisterly duty.
“I helped him hurt you,” Claire said. “I called you selfish every time you wouldn’t clean up his mess.” Amelia could not erase years of cruelty with one embrace, but she promised they could begin with truth. Forgiveness, like trust, would be earned rather than demanded by blood.
As dawn reached the windows, an investigator returned with troubling news. Sam’s phone contained messages to an unknown contact inside Preston Group, including Amelia’s medical appointments, the gala schedule, and the hospital room number. Someone close to Leo had been feeding her father information for weeks.
