Chapter 29 Chapter 29
The moment Marissa walked out of that hospital room, the air shifted—like someone had cracked open a window in the middle of a storm. Silence settled, heavy and trembling.
Daniel looked shaken. Mandy stood stiff as glass.
Elena…
She wasn’t afraid.
She was furious, steady, alive.
And that—more than anything—made something restless move inside me.
I stepped closer to her bed. “Are you alright?”
Her eyes lifted to mine, defiant. “I’m fine.”
She wasn’t fine. Her breathing was uneven, her hands trembling under the blanket. But she was trying, for once, not to fall apart in front of him.
Daniel cut in before I could speak again. “Elena, whatever this is—whoever that woman was—you need to tell me. I don’t want strangers near you.”
I turned to him slowly. “You lost the right to decide who gets near her the moment you humiliated her.”
His nostrils flared. “Stay out of our marriage.”
“There is no marriage,” Elena said, voice rough but strong.
That silenced him.
Good.
Because if he said one more word, I wasn’t sure I trusted myself to stay calm.
Mandy grabbed Daniel’s arm. “Let’s go. This is pointless.”
He hesitated—actually hesitated—before looking back at Elena.
“We’re not finished,” he said quietly.
Elena didn’t answer.
And that, again, was enough to make him walk out, Mandy trailing behind him like a shadow.
The door shut.
Only the sound of the heart monitor filled the room.
I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through my hair. “I shouldn’t have let them in.”
Elena shook her head. “No. I needed to see them. I needed… to be sure of what I felt.”
I took the chair beside her bed and sat, leaning forward, elbows on my knees. She watched me carefully—like she was seeing something she hadn’t noticed before.
Something about the way she looked at me made my chest tighten unexpectedly.
“You shouldn’t have fainted alone,” I said quietly.
“I wasn’t alone,” she murmured, eyes softening. “You carried me.”
Her words hit harder than I expected.
“I told you,” I said, trying to keep my voice even, “I don’t let things I care about fall apart in my hands.”
The moment the word slipped out—care—I regretted it. Not because I didn’t mean it, but because it was too close to something I shouldn’t be feeling.
She flushed—not shy, not flattered—just surprised.
“Adrian,” she whispered, “what isn’t Marissa telling me?”
Exactly the question I feared she’d ask.
I leaned back. “A lot. And none of it is something you should worry about while you’re pregnant.”
“Adrian.” She said my name again, firmer this time.
I met her eyes. Calm. Controlled. But something inside me twisted.
“She’s someone who wants something she can’t have anymore,” I said. “Power she lost. Influence she wants back.”
“And she sees me as… what? A threat?”
“A piece,” I corrected. “You’re a piece on the board she wants to use.”
She swallowed. The monitor beeped a little faster.
I lowered my voice. “But she won’t touch you. Not while I’m here.”
Something flickered across her face—relief, disbelief, maybe both.
“I didn’t ask you to protect me,” she said softly.
“I know.”
And still, the urge was there—unwanted but merciless. “But I will.”
Her breath caught.
I stood, suddenly too restless to sit any longer, and walked to the window. Rain streaked the glass, muted city lights blurring into silver smudges. Behind me, I heard Elena shift on the bed, the fabric rustling softly.
“You keep doing that,” she said.
“Doing what?”
“Looking at me like I’m something you need to guard.”
I turned slowly. “Maybe you are.”
Her lips parted slightly, eyes reflecting the soft glow of the monitor.
“And why,” she whispered, “would a man like you care about someone like me?”
My pulse tightened.
You don’t want the answer to that, I wanted to say.
Instead, I stepped closer—slow, measured, each step echoing on the floor.
“When you stood up to Daniel… when you told him there was no marriage…” My voice dropped. “That was the first time I’ve seen you choose yourself.”
She blinked, startled.
“And it made something very clear,” I continued.
“What?” she breathed.
“You’re stronger than you think.”
A pause.
“And more dangerous than he realizes.”
A slow, involuntary warmth spread across her face—confusion mixing with something fragile and new.
“Adrian…” she started.
But before she could finish, her hand moved—small, hesitant—toward mine on the bed rail.
Not touching.
Just close.
Close enough that I felt her warmth.
I didn’t move.
I couldn’t move.
For a long moment, she held my gaze, and the world outside—the rain, the hospital, the betrayals—fell quiet.
Then the door burst open.
A nurse rushed in, breathless. “Mr. Blake, I’m sorry—there’s an emergency downstairs. You’re needed immediately.”
I pulled back slightly, the spell snapping.
Elena frowned. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” the nurse said. “It’s… it’s about Marissa.”
I stiffened.
Of course it was.
I looked at Elena one last time.
“I’ll come back,” I said.
She nodded, her fingers curling into the blanket where mine had been.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
I turned, walking toward the door, heart beating too hard for reasons I refused to examine.
As I stepped into the hallway, one thought followed me like a shadow:
Marissa made her move too fast.
And Elena was now in the center of a game she didn’t even know the rules to.