Pregnant and Spoiled by the Billionaire – Episode 41
The operating-room doors did not open. Leo stood beneath the red emergency light while five incubators disappeared toward intensive care, each surrounded by a different team. He wanted to follow his sons, but Amelia remained behind the wall, bleeding despite every treatment the surgeons had prepared.
A nurse guided him to a consultation room and explained that the obstetric team was performing an emergency procedure to stop the hemorrhage. Medication and compression had failed. The surgeons would attempt to preserve Amelia’s uterus, but saving her life took priority over future fertility.
Leo signed the authorization only after the nurse confirmed Amelia had already given the same consent while conscious. He read the form rather than treating urgency as permission to ignore it, asking which interventions the surgeons would attempt first and what circumstances required the next step. His signature did not grant permission over her body; it documented the decision they had made together. The distinction mattered even while fear made the pen shake.
Matilda arrived with Amelia’s engagement ring hanging from a chain at her throat. She asked about the babies, then stopped herself and asked about Amelia first. Leo could offer no answer beyond the fact that surgery continued.
Derek took responsibility for notifying the neonatal team that Leo would come as soon as possible. No public announcement would be released, and the hospital used aliases on electronic boards to prevent another privacy breach. For once, security functioned quietly around the family instead of turning crisis into spectacle.
Claire reached the hospital with her counselor. She sat beside Matilda and admitted she was terrified Amelia would die before hearing that her sister had finally learned how to love her properly. Matilda held her hand without trying to correct the fear.
Two hours after the babies’ birth, the lead surgeon entered. Leo stood so quickly that the chair struck the wall. The bleeding had been controlled through arterial embolization and surgical repair. Amelia had received multiple transfusions but had not required a hysterectomy.
Relief came with conditions. Amelia remained critically ill, sedated, and under intensive observation. Severe preeclampsia could continue affecting her organs after delivery, and the next twenty-four hours would determine whether complications developed.
Leo asked to see her. In the recovery unit, machines surrounded a woman almost colorless against the sheets. He sat where staff directed and touched only the back of her hand, careful of lines and monitors.
“All five are alive,” he told her, though she could not answer. “Adam cried. Benjamin needed help breathing. Caleb moved his hand. Daniel objected to everything, and Ethan has a strong heart.” Repeating the details made them a family rather than six separate emergencies.
The anesthesiologist warned that Amelia might not remember his words. Leo continued anyway. He described each colored hat and promised he would not let the babies become strangers while she recovered. He would return with photographs only when doctors believed the images would comfort rather than overwhelm her.
In the neonatal unit, Leo washed his hands for the required three minutes and removed his watch. The five incubators stood in a row, yet curtains and equipment gave each child a separate space. Their bodies were smaller than his hands, and the machines supporting them made the nursery he had prepared seem impossibly distant. He moved from one son to the next, introducing himself without using the word billionaire, because no title mattered here except father.
Adam remained on respiratory support but responded to Leo’s voice. Benjamin required a ventilator and medication to stabilize his blood pressure. Caleb was the smallest. Daniel breathed with less assistance, while Ethan gripped Leo’s gloved fingertip through an opening in the incubator.
The neonatologist cautioned against comparing them. Five brothers born minutes apart could have entirely different courses. Progress would be measured in tiny changes, and setbacks would not mean anyone had failed.
Leo took one photograph of each child after obtaining permission. He refused a group image because moving them for sentiment would create unnecessary risk. The restraint would once have felt impossible to Matilda; now she recognized it as love.
Back in intensive care, a nurse placed the photographs beside Amelia’s bed. Her eyelids moved when Leo said the boys’ names. He leaned closer, unsure whether the response came from recognition or medication.
Amelia opened her eyes briefly. Confusion clouded them before memory returned. “Five?” she whispered. Leo told her all five were receiving care and that none of them was alone.
She tried to ask more, but the effort disturbed her breathing and alarms rose. The nurse asked Leo to step back while medication eased the strain. Amelia’s eyes closed again before he could tell whether she understood.
Hours later, her blood pressure climbed despite treatment. Laboratory results showed worsening liver function, and the intensive-care physician ordered additional imaging. Leo watched another team wheel Amelia away, unable to follow.
Before the elevator doors closed, Amelia convulsed. A doctor called for emergency medication while nurses protected her airway. Leo heard the word eclampsia as the doors shut between them, leaving him with five premature sons and no certainty their mother would wake again.