Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 235: It's All Gone

*Kelly*

I can’t really tell how much time I’ve been here in this mostly dark cave, but I can tell that it’s been quite a while now. That can only mean one of two things. Either Eli has been captured himself and can’t come to rescue us, or something terrible has happened to Rose or the babies that has caused a delay.

It is very possible that he was captured. After all, if they got to our car, whoever is behind this may have ambushed Eli’s car first. If that’s the case, they’re keeping him in a completely different facility, because I can’t sense him here, and I can’t reach him by mind-link.

But I really don’t see that happening, so I’m terrified that there’s something wrong with my niece or nephew—at this point, I don’t even know which—that’s preventing Eli from finding us. I can’t imagine what that could be, but I do know that there are plenty of people out there who might want to harm the heirs to the throne.

I slide myself down to the ground as I think about the babies. I wish I could have been there when they were born. Eli had been so excited, and nervous, about being a new father. I wonder if the little pup has his or her father’s red hair. If they do, I know that Eli is just loving it. He’s so proud of our family heritage.

I hope and pray to the Moon Goddess that I’ll get out of here and will finally get to meet the babies. I’m working hard to stay positive, but the more time passes, the harder it is to keep my chin up. The only thing that’s helping is knowing that I need to stay strong for Heather and Kara. Well, that and the glimmer of hope that I’ll meet my brother’s little pup one day.

My first step, though, is getting Randolph on my side, and that’s what I’m going to do as soon as he walks through that door.

It’s not a long wait before Randolph finally arrives with our food and water. I’m always grateful because I don’t know exactly how strong these girls are, so I’m just not sure how long they will last. Luckily, he’s brought a lot of bread this time, and while it’s not ideal, at least it’s getting some calories into us.

“Thank you, Randolph,” I say with a smile, and I let my eyes linger on him just a few seconds more.

“It’s my pleasure, miss,” he says.

“Now, you know you can call me Kelly,” I say.

“Right,” he says. “I forgot. Kelly, it’s my pleasure.”

I smile back at him for a bit and get some more food in me before I say, “It sure would be nice to get out of here once and for all.”

I let that float in the air for a bit because I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was mulling it over.

Then I lower my voice for the next suggestion. “There are three of us, plus you, and you’re the biggest of all the guards. If we all teamed up, we could overpower them all and get out of here.”

His eyes went wide. “But they’re just little girls,” he says in a whisper.

I have him now. He’s considering it.

“Yes, but they’re strong girls,” I say. I don’t know Kara well, but I’ve spent enough time with Heather to know that she can hold her own in just about any situation. “And we’ve been getting stronger with you bringing us food.”

I go back to eating my big piece of bread and drinking my water while Randolph glances back to the door, then looks back at me.

We are both quiet for several minutes as the idea settles into his mind.

Then he looks at me and nods. “Okay, I’ll help you get out of here.”

* * *

*Retta*

Ugh! I’m so sick of this baby crying all the time. I know babies cry, but this is getting to be ridiculous. The motel manager has been here three times already today, and I know that if he has to come back, I’ll be right back out on the street.

I carry Astrid back and forth across the ugly, dirty carpet, willing her to be quiet.

When she finally settles down, I lay her on the king-size bed and put some pillows around her. Stepping back and looking at her, I admire how adorable she is with these little curls.

But cute curls don’t pay the bills.

My stash of gold coins is quickly disappearing between paying rent on the motel, buying food for me, and buying formula, diapers, and new clothes for Astrid. At this rate, I’ll be drained of funds before the end of the week, so there’s only one thing to do.

It’s time to go sell her.

Lucky for me, I’m already in the sleaziest part of town, where there will most definitely be someone willing to buy a baby—with no questions asked. A cute little girl like her could get a fortune on the open market, probably way more than the 300 coins per baby that jerk gave me for the other three pups.

The first step is finding a better spot for my gold coins, because I don’t want them gone when I get back. I know I can get a lot for Astrid, but I don’t want to get it at the expense of losing all the rest of my money.

Moving the carpet, I feel along the floorboards—which is a disgusting task in this filthy place—until I find a loose one that I can pry up easily enough that when I put it back down, it’ll look undisturbed. There’s a perfect little spot for the bag of coins, almost as if it were made for them, so I tuck them in, replace the board, put the carpet back down, then pack up Astrid for our little trip.

I try not to look her in the eye. As a mother—at least as a temporary one—I’ve become too attached to the little girl, so I don’t want to do anything that’ll make it harder for me to get rid of her. Once ready, I head out the door and carefully lock up my motel room. No one will get to my money, that’s for sure!

I walk in the opposite direction from the way I went to get to the library, since I know the city gets nicer that way, and head deep into the worst part of town.

There are some working girls on the corner; I can tell by their clothes. They don’t look happy to see me at first, but they warm up a bit when they notice Astrid. I guess at first, they are worried I’m some new competition until they see her.

“Anyone know where I might find someone… interested in getting a baby?” I ask. It’s a bold question, but I don’t have time to play games, and it’s not like these women are sticking to the law themselves.

They look at me funny, but the one with an obvious blonde wig points to a bar across the street. “You can probably find Max in there. He handles… lots of things,” she says.

“Thanks,” I say, heading across the street. The bar is quiet inside except for a couple of guys downing beers at the bar. “Is Max here?” I ask the bartender.

He looks at me hard, as if he’s studying me, then he visibly relaxes and nods toward a dark corner. I now notice that someone is sitting there in the shadows. I nod back to the bartender and head over to see Max.

“Hi,” I say, and he looks at me just about the same way everyone else is doing. The man has a long, scraggly beard and looks like he hasn’t showered in a while. He doesn’t say anything, so I continue, “I… I need to get… to find someone who can take this little girl.”

“Girl, huh?” he says, then a terrifying smile creeps up on his face, and his eyes start to sparkle.

I instantly feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“I think I can help you with that,” he says. He scratches his nose, looks down at the table, then looks back up to me. “I can get you 400 for her.”

I try to keep my face calm since this is more than I got for the other babies, but I have a feeling she’s really worth a lot more. “Do you think you can ‘get’ 600?” It’s risky, being twice as much as before, but I’m sure couples are willing to pay more than that.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he says. “But sold. I’ll get a girl over here to take her. And I’ll go get your money.”

“Thanks,” I say.

I stand here for a while, bouncing Astrid around to keep her quiet, until one of the working girls from across the street walks in.

“I’ll take her,” she says.

I’m about to hand her over when Astrid looks at me with those pretty little eyes. “Do… do the couples usually come in here to pick up the babies?” I ask the woman.

She laughs. “Couples?” she says. “Ain’t no couples involved. Max buys ‘em for his own stock.”

My eyes open wide and, instead of handing Astrid over to the woman, I pull her back closer to me. “What?”

“You heard me,” she says. “He keeps ‘em for himself.”

I shake my head almost involuntarily and back all the way out the bar’s door. At that point, I turn around and break into a run. I get several blocks away before I slow down, and thankfully no one is following me.

Back at the hotel, I lay Astrid down on the bed and heat up a bottle for her. What a horrible man! I guess I’m going to have to be picky about who I sell her to.

After feeding her and getting her to drift off from our adventure, I loosen the floorboard to get to my coins. I need to count them one more time to see how many days I have left since it seems it’ll take longer to sell Astrid.

My sack of coins is gone.