Chapter 85 085
EMILY
I woke up with a scream stuck in my throat.
My body jerked against the bed, heart racing wildly, breath coming in sharp, uneven bursts.
For a second, everything blurred together. The light above me was too bright. The air smelled too clean. My head felt heavy.
Then it slammed into me.
Court.
Zara.
Her little hands reaching for me.
The way she screamed when they pulled her away.
“No—”
The word tore out of me before I could stop it.
I tried to sit up immediately, panic surging through my veins, but a firm hand pressed me back down.
“Emily, stop.”
Morgan.
Her voice cut through the chaos, steady but urgent.
“Zara—where’s Zara?” I demanded, my voice shaking. “They took her, Morgan. They took my baby—”
“She’s okay,” Morgan said quickly, gripping my shoulders tighter like she was afraid I’d bolt. “She’s fine. You need to calm down.”
“I’m not calm!” I snapped, my voice breaking as I tried to push her hands away. “How do you expect me to be calm? They took her from me… she was crying, Morgan, she was screaming…”
“I know,” she said quickly, her voice softening. “I was there. I saw everything.”
“Then let me go to her!” I cried. “Please—just let me go—”
“Emily.”
That tone.
Sharp. Serious.
It cut through the panic just enough to make me pause.
Just for a second.
Just long enough for everything else to settle into place.
The hospital room.
The IV in my arm.
The weakness in my body.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
My chest rose and fell too fast.
“I need to see her,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I need to see my daughter. I need to hold her. I need to tell her I didn’t leave her.”
“You will,” Morgan said softly, her grip loosening slightly. “But not like this. Not when you can barely sit up.”
I shut my eyes for a second, trying to breathe, trying to hold myself together, but it felt impossible.
Everything still hurt.
My head.
My chest.
My heart most of all.
“Good, you’re awake.”
I opened my eyes again.
Two doctors stood at the foot of the bed, watching me with calm, measured expressions. One of them gave me a small smile, the kind that was supposed to be reassuring.
It didn’t work.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice quieter now, drained.
“You fainted,” one of them said gently. “Your body was overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed?” I let out a soft, humorless laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”
Morgan shot me a look. “Emily…”
“What?” I muttered. “They’re acting like I just tripped or something.”
The doctor remained calm. “You’ve been under significant emotional stress.”
“That’s an understatement,” I said dryly.
“How are you feeling?” the other doctor asked.
I hesitated.
“Tired.”
“Any dizziness? Nausea?”
I frowned slightly. “A little… I guess. I thought it was just stress.”
“It’s more than that,” he said carefully. “But you need to understand something first.”
Something about his tone made my stomach tighten.
“You cannot keep putting your body under this level of stress.”
I scoffed weakly.
“That’s not really up to me right now.”
“Emily,” Morgan warned softly, squeezing my arm.
“What?” I whispered. “It’s true. My life is literally falling apart.”
The doctors exchanged a brief glance before looking back at me.
“There’s something else we need to tell you.”
My fingers curled into the sheet.
My heart started picking up again.
“What is it?”
One of them took in a deep breath and said, "You're pregnant.”
The world stopped.
Completely.
Even the beeping machine beside me felt like it faded into nothing.
I blinked at him, certain I had heard wrong.
“What?”
“You’re pregnant,” he repeated gently.
My head started shaking immediately.
“No.”
Morgan went still beside me.
“No, that’s not possible,” I said, my voice rising. “You’re wrong. You have to be wrong.”
“We ran the necessary tests—”
“No!” I snapped, turning to Morgan. “Tell them. Tell them they’re wrong.”
Morgan didn’t speak.
She didn’t even look at me right away.
That silence hit harder than anything.
My chest tightened painfully.
“No…” I whispered, shaking my head faster now. “No, I can’t… I can’t be pregnant.”
Another child.
Now?
When everything was already falling apart?
“I can’t,” I said, my voice cracking. “I can’t do this.”
The doctors softened.
“It’s still early,” one of them said gently. “You have time to process this.”
“I don’t want time,” I said, my voice shaking. “I want this to not be happening.”
“We’ll give you a moment,” the other doctor said.
They left quietly, closing the door behind them.
And the second they were gone, everything inside me broke.
I turned to Morgan, shaking my head over and over.
“I can’t,” I whispered. “Morgan, I can’t do this.”
She moved closer instantly, taking my hands.
“Hey—look at me—”
“I can’t,” I repeated, my voice rising. “Zara is gone half the time, Ryan doesn’t even remember me, his mother is trying to ruin my life, and now this?”
Tears spilled down my face.
“How am I supposed to bring another child into this mess?”
“Emily—”
“I’m not okay!” I cried. “I’m not mentally okay. I can barely hold myself together. I can’t raise another child like this.”
Morgan pulled me into her arms.
“You’re not alone,” she said softly, rubbing my back.
“It feels like I am,” I whispered against her shoulder. “It feels like I’m drowning and everyone is just watching.”
“You’re not drowning,” she said firmly. “You’re just tired.”
“That’s not enough,” I said before I could stop myself.
The moment the words left my mouth, I felt it.
The guilt.
Morgan didn’t pull away.
She just held me tighter.
“I know,” she said quietly. “I know it feels like that. But you’re not doing this by yourself. You have me. You always will.”
I shook my head weakly.
“I don’t want to be strong anymore.”
That was the truth.
I was tired.
So tired of fighting.
“I just want everything to stop,” I whispered.
Morgan rested her forehead against mine.
“It will,” she said gently. “But right now, you breathe. That’s it. One breath at a time.”
I nodded weakly, even though breathing still felt like a chore.
Then we heard it.
Voices.
Loud. Urgent.
Coming from outside the room.
Morgan frowned, pulling back slightly.
“What is going on?”
The noise grew louder.
Footsteps. Arguing. Someone raising their voice.
“I don’t like this,” Morgan muttered.
My chest tightened again.
Morgan stood up slowly.
“Stay here,” she said.
I almost laughed.
Where exactly was I supposed to go?
She took a step toward the door.
And then it burst open.
The sudden movement made me flinch.
A woman rushed in first, breathing hard like she had been running. Her eyes scanned the room quickly before locking onto me.
“Oh my—”
Right behind her, a man stepped in.
Tall. Quiet. Watching everything carefully like he was assessing a situation he didn’t trust.
And then—
My breath caught.
A girl walked in after them.
And the world tilted.
She looked like me.