Chapter 90: I Love You, Leo

Chapter 90: I Love You, Leo

Ivy

Please be fine. Please be fine. Please be fine, Leo.

I said it under my breath the entire ride. I said it when the car door opened and the humid hospital air hit my face. I said it when Poppy grabbed my hand and we ran through the automatic doors like the building itself might swallow him if we were even one second late.

The tears never stopped. They just changed shape. In the car they had been silent and constant, sliding down my cheeks and dripping onto my chest.

Inside the hospital they turned loud. The kind that makes people look at you and then look away because they don’t know what to do with a girl who can’t stop breaking in public.

I wailed like Leo was my husband. And I'd just been informed of his untimely demise.

What had gone wrong?

We saw him today. Hours ago. He had been standing next to Maddie, laughing, talking about apartments and shopping for his baby. He looked happy. Healthy. Alive.

How does a person go from that to a cardiac arrest? And at that, a very healthy and fit young man like Leo.

My mind kept circling back to Maddie. Of course it did. She was the last person with him. Whatever she had said, whatever she had done, it had to be connected.

“Maddie, what did you do?” I whispered it to the tiled floor as we reached the reception desk. My voice didn’t sound like mine anymore.

Poppy did the talking. The moment I tried to open my mouth, only a broken sound came out. I had cried more today than I had in my entire life.

First Andy’s wandering hands. Then Leo’s secret baby with my sister. Now this. My body didn’t have anything left except tears.

“I’m looking for Leopold Teague’s room,” Poppy said. “We're here to see him.”

The nurse behind the desk didn’t even glance at the computer first. She looked us over the way people look at something they already decided is trash.

“And you are?”

I felt Poppy tense beside me. She had zero patience for this kind of girl. I squeezed her hand hard, a silent “please don’t explode, not here, not when Leo is somewhere in this building fighting to stay.”

“I’m Poppy Douglas. Leo’s my stepbrother.” She pointed at me without letting go of my fingers. “This is his girlfriend, Ivy. Now let us through.”

The nurse actually laughed like we had told her a joke. Like we didn't look broken enough.

“You’re Mr. Teague’s girlfriend?” She looked me up and down, slow and mean. “What a liar you are. His girlfriend is already in there. I’m certain you’re just another crazy fan. Get lost. Both of you.”

Something inside my chest cracked wider.

I stepped forward even though my legs felt like they belonged to someone else. “That’s a lie. I’m his girlfriend. Whoever is in there is lying.”

I pulled my phone out with shaking hands, already scrolling, ready to shove a picture of us in her face. Something cute. Something that proved I existed in his life.

There was nothing.

No photos. No screenshots. No proof. We had never taken a single picture together. Not one.

The realization hit harder than the nurse’s words. Leo and I had lived in the moment.

None of us thought there would be a day like this. We had never made it “reel-official” enough to have evidence. Or in this case, proof.

I looked like exactly what she thought I was. A girl with no claim standing in a hospital lobby crying over a man who was clearly out of her league.

“I’m not lying,” I said, and it came out pleading. “You can check his last match. He announced me. He said I was his girlfriend—”

She rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful.

“If you’re his girlfriend then I’m Margot Robbie.” She pointed at herself like that settled it. “No fans allowed. Get out before I call security. Mr. Teague made sure to give instructions not to let anyone into his son’s suite until he arrives. Trust me, girl. You do not want to be here when Mr. Teague arrives.”

Poppy pulled me back a step. “Don’t listen to her.” She was already scrolling, already calling. “I’m calling Julia. She’ll handle this.”

It rang. And rang. And rang.

No answer.

I shook my head, tears dripping onto the counter. “I know Solomon. He knows I’m Leo’s girlfriend. Please just let me speak to whoever is in there with him. They know me. I’m begging you.”

The nurse stared at me for a long, considering second. I could almost see her weighing whether it was worth the trouble. Then, surprisingly, she picked up the phone.

“Hello, Mr. Anthony? There are two girls here claiming to be the patient’s girlfriend and stepsister—”

Hope flared so bright it hurt. Anton knew me. He had seen me at the house this morning. He knew what Leo and I were. He would tell her to let me in. He would fix this mess.

She listened. Nodded. Said, “Yes, sir. Got it. Thank you. Sorry for the trouble.”

Then she hung up and looked at us with fresh disgust. “Only one of you may enter. The other isn’t allowed.”

Poppy and I stared at each other.

“Only one?” My voice jumped. “Why? Let me speak to Anton—”

Poppy cut me off gently. “Go ahead, Ivy. I know you need to see him. I’ll wait here and keep calling Julia.”

The nurse pointed at Poppy like she was selecting the correct item from a menu.

“Wrong. You’re the only one allowed entry. Mr. Anthony gave strict instructions not to let you anywhere near the patient.” Her eyes slid to me. “You’re a crazy girl claiming to be his girlfriend.”

The words landed like a slap.

“What? That’s a lie. You’re lying!” I didn’t care that people had started staring. “Anton would never say that. I just met him this morning at the house!”

I sounded unhinged. I knew I did. I sounded like the exact thing she had accused me of being.

Poppy touched my arm, glancing around at the faces watching us. “Ivy, that’s enough. Stop this.” She pulled me into a hug so tight I could feel her heartbeat. “I’ll go in and get Julia. Then she’ll come get you. Okay?”

I nodded against her shoulder, even though nothing felt okay.

She squeezed me once more and walked toward the VIP wing. Toward Leo. Toward the room I wasn’t allowed to enter.

The second she disappeared, my legs gave out.

I crumpled right there in the middle of the reception floor. My knees hit the tile. My hands hit the tile. I became a sobbing, shaking mess while strangers stepped around me like I was invisible.

No one asked if I was alright. No one offered water. No one told me it would be okay.

I didn’t care about the cheating anymore. I didn’t care about the pregnancy. I didn’t care what Leo’s relationship with Maddie actually was.

All I wanted was for him to be okay. To be awake. To be breathing. To open his eyes and see me standing there so I could tell him the one thing I had been too scared and too blind and too proud and too hurt to say.

I love you, Leo.

I would let everything else go if he just woke up long enough to hear it.

I was still on the floor when a pair of ballet flats stopped in front of me. I looked up.

Maddie.

She was standing there like she belonged. Like this was so natural and normal for her. Her face was pale but composed. The tip of her nose was red.

But her eyes were sharp. “What are you doing here, Ivy?” she asked. “Haven’t you done enough?”

I opened my mouth to speak. But the nurse beat me to it. She smiled at my sister the way people smile at someone they already decided is important.

“That,” she said, pointing at Maddie, “is Mr. Leo’s girlfriend.”

Then she looked at me like I was something she wanted scraped off the floor.

“Not you.”