Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire – Episode 38
Caleb’s monitor became the center of Amelia’s world. Every fluctuation pulled her attention from the other four steady rhythms. The specialist explained that abnormal flow could improve temporarily, remain stable, or deteriorate without warning.
Amelia asked whether anything she ate, thought, or did had caused it. The doctor answered firmly that placental circulation was not a punishment for stress or an error she could correct through willpower. Monitoring, not blame, was the useful response.
Leo memorized the safe ranges displayed above the bed until nurses asked him to stop reading isolated numbers without context. He apologized and began writing questions instead, saving them for rounds. Learning restraint was harder when five lives seemed to depend on vigilance.
The medical team increased scans to twice daily. Caleb remained smaller than his brothers but continued moving, and his heart tracing showed reassuring variability. The other babies shifted constantly, forcing technicians to remap their positions at every session. Each stable result purchased another stretch of development for all five, though nobody could say how many remained.
Outside the hospital, the cases against Ian and Regina advanced. Investigators recovered contracts proving the gossip site received bonuses tied to changes in Preston Group’s share price. What Regina called journalism had been structured as market manipulation.
Regina requested a meeting with Amelia in exchange for cooperation. Her attorney claimed she possessed evidence against Ian that prosecutors needed. Amelia declined direct contact and authorized investigators to receive any evidence without making forgiveness part of the bargain.
“Accountability is not revenge,” she told Leo. “But access to me is not a reward she can negotiate.” He supported the boundary, recognizing the same principle Amelia had applied to Sam.
Regina eventually surrendered messages showing Ian ordered the forged medical note and financed the automated release. The records included discussions of Amelia’s hospital location and deliberate plans to provoke stress before the board vote. In return, prosecutors considered Regina’s cooperation at sentencing, not immunity. The distinction mattered to Amelia because truth should reduce harm without erasing responsibility.
Preston Group recovered much of the market loss after regulators announced charges. Leo refused interviews praising his ethics, directing attention instead to stronger federal protections for medical data. His decisions no longer required public admiration to feel worthwhile.
Amelia completed the first full draft of her independent study. The article argued that privacy did not mean secrecy or shame; it meant the power to decide when personal truth became public. Professor Thomas called it her strongest work.
Success brought grief with it. She should have been finishing the semester on campus, complaining about deadlines with classmates rather than writing beside five monitors. Friends sent photographs from the courtyard where autumn had begun coloring the trees, and she studied them longer than she admitted. Gratitude for the babies did not erase mourning for the pregnancy and college life she expected.
Leo listened without trying to replace loss with luxury. He did not offer a private graduation, a purchased degree, or a building in compensation. He simply acknowledged that loving their children could coexist with resenting what the pregnancy demanded.
At twenty-seven weeks, Caleb’s blood flow improved slightly. The doctors cautioned against celebration, explaining that placental resistance could fluctuate from one scan to the next. Matilda arrived anyway with a cake bearing the number twenty-seven and enough servings for the entire floor. Amelia allowed herself one small piece, accepting joy as temporary nourishment rather than a guarantee.
The babies responded to familiar voices. Adam moved when Leo discussed company problems, while Ethan became active during Claire’s recorded stories. Benjamin and Daniel seemed to compete for space whenever Matilda promised extravagant toys.
Caleb remained quietest. Amelia spoke to him during scans, telling him he did not need to prove strength by matching his brothers. Surviving one careful day at a time was enough.
A hospital social worker introduced Amelia to parents of premature multiples. One family described months of oxygen support; another spoke about bringing siblings home on different dates and learning not to compare them. Their stories contained disability, grief, resilience, and joy without guaranteeing any particular ending. The honesty frightened Amelia but made the future feel survivable because uncertainty no longer meant isolation.
Leo attended the group without announcing his wealth. For an hour, he was simply an anxious father learning how to wash his hands for a neonatal unit and hold a baby connected to wires. Another father described freezing the first time an alarm sounded, then learning to look at his child before the machine. No executive authority could exempt Leo from helplessness, but preparation could keep fear from becoming paralysis.
That evening, Amelia received notice that her final project had been accepted for publication by a national journalism review. The achievement belonged to her work rather than her relationship, and Leo celebrated by bringing cafeteria pudding because outside food was temporarily restricted.
They ate from plastic cups while discussing the future wedding. Amelia wanted the student center courtyard after the babies came home, with no press and no corporate sponsors. Leo agreed before she finished describing it.
Near midnight, Caleb’s heart rate dropped. Nurses repositioned Amelia, but the rhythm recovered slowly. The specialist ordered fasting and alerted the operating teams. If another prolonged deceleration occurred, the five brothers would be born before morning.