Her pulse thudded a sick tattoo in her ears and she fumbled for the business card atop the desk with numb fingers. The ivory rectangle tumbled to the floor, fluttered under the desk. A curse on her lips, she slid from the chair, her distended belly an awkward hindrance as she reached for the card.The baby punched at her ribs and stole her breath. Hatred washed through her. Why had she ever agreed to the stupid pregnancy idea in the first place? No money was worth this. She should have gotten away early on. Now she’d ruined everything.He would kill her.“Stop it.” She leaned back on her haunches, the card clutched in her hand, and pressed her fingers to her burning eyes. “Just stop it and get it together. He’s not going to kill you because you aren’t going to be here.”She pulled the cordless phone from its charger and turned the card to read the number scrawled on the back. With shaking fingers, she punched in the numbers and listened to one, two, three rings.“Come on, Tom, answer the fucking phone,”
