Chapter 3

I wandered the hospital corridor with my baby, hollow and shivering.

I should hate Ethan for his cowardice. I should hate Vivienne for her betrayal. But beneath all of it, the thing I hated most was simpler: they had taken two people from me at once. I only had room in my heart for a finite amount of love, and they had used all of it.

I sat down on a bench and opened my phone.

I went to my photos.

A thousand images. More.

Ethan and I on a mountain trail at four in the morning, waiting for the sunrise.

Kissing in a field of wildflowers somewhere I can't quite remember now.

The three of us on a beach trip — Ethan, me, and Vivienne — laughing in the ocean.

There had never been two of us. It had always been three. I just hadn't known which configuration was real.

I deleted every single photo. All fourteen thousand.

When I was done, I looked at the screen of my phone.

A new message had arrived from the unknown number.

*You ask what Ethan Hargrove did wrong. The answer is simple: he stopped loving you. That's all. No villain, no monster. Just a man who looked away.*

I pulled my daughter tighter and laughed — a broken, private sound.

*I know.*

*I'm sorry, baby girl,* I thought, pressing my lips to the top of her head. *I have to leave you in here. Forgive me.*

Let me stay a few more hours. Just a few.

Ethan's shoes appeared in my field of vision. I looked up.

He stood there watching me, his expression full of something that looked like remorse.

Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms.

The familiar warmth of it undid something in me. My tears came back without permission. Part of me — the stupid, stubborn part — whispered: *maybe he still loves you, just a little.*

"I'm sorry, Elara. I said a lot of things I shouldn't have. I wasn't thinking."

"You have to understand — I panicked. I was afraid Vivienne would actually take the baby and disappear. I needed you to hear the truth, even if it hurt."

"Come back inside. She hasn't stopped crying since you left—"

*Vivienne, Vivienne.*

In the end, that was all there was in his eyes. She was the entire world to him, and I was the atmosphere he'd forgotten he needed to breathe.

The last fragment of hope I'd been holding went out.

I cut him off quietly.

"Promise me something. Take care of the baby. Whatever else happens — take care of her."

Ethan blinked. He relaxed, just slightly — misreading the moment entirely. He cupped my face in his hands, his voice lifting.

"Of course. I'll take care of you both. You just had a baby — you need to rest, you need—"

His phone rang.

He answered it. His face went white in an instant.

"I'm coming. Don't move."

He hung up. The warmth evaporated. He looked at me with something close to accusation.

"Vivienne's baby has a congenital heart defect. They can't find a compatible donor. She's already emotionally unstable, and then you deleted your photos — she thinks you'll never forgive her. She's on the roof." His voice was tight. "She's going to jump."

"You're coming with me."

He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the stairwell, not waiting for an answer.

The jolt tore something in my incision. I felt warmth spreading between my legs. The corridor blurred at the edges. I bit through the inside of my cheek to stay upright.

---

The rooftop was cold and brutal with wind.

Vivienne stood on the other side of the railing.

Her hospital gown billowed around her like something already half-departed. She looked like she might blow away.

When she saw me, her eyes lit up — just briefly — then went dark again.

Her face was wrecked with crying.

"Elara. My baby is dying. And you'll never forgive me." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I have nothing left. I have nothing at all."

Before I could speak, Ethan's voice cut across the roof.

"Vivienne, listen to me. Elara knows she was wrong. She came up here to ask for your forgiveness."

I spun toward him, stunned. The absurdity of it was almost dizzying.

Vivienne didn't believe him either. Her eyes went glassy, unfocused.

"You can't forgive me." Her voice dropped lower. "You especially can't forgive me. Because if you ever found out — that the men who hurt you that night were men I hired—"

The ground fell out from under me.

I lunged forward.

A hand seized my arm and yanked me back hard. I turned to find Ethan, his grip like iron, his eyes like stone.

"She was young. She didn't know what she was doing. She's nearly destroyed herself with guilt over it — she almost took her own life twice. If I hadn't stayed with her through those months, you might never have seen her again."

I stood very still.

He knew.

He had known the truth the entire time. And he had chosen her.

I was the one bleeding in the dark, and he looked at me and chose her.

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