Chapter 1282 Feeling the Sense of Loss

Chapter 1282 Feeling the Sense of Loss

"Mrs. Harrington."

"He can't see me anyway. He'll forget I was even there — just take me to him."

Victoria gripped Eve's arm as she spoke. She was running on empty, her body hollowed out, but she refused to let herself fall. She had to hold it together. For herself. For the baby. They would both wait for him to wake up.

If he dared to leave her...

"Yes, ma'am."

Eve didn't argue. She steadied Victoria and guided her to stand watch by the door.

But it wasn't long before the ICU doors burst open. Medical staff came rushing out, pushing a gurney at a dead sprint.

"Coming through — move, move!"

"Alexander — is that Alexander? Alexander?"

Victoria's heart slammed against her ribs. The urgency was unbearable, and she couldn't see a thing.

All she could do was call out. Call out and hope.

She needed him to hear her voice.

"Alexander... you promised me. You swore you'd stay by my side. You said you'd be my eyes. Don't you dare forget that."

She hated herself for being blind in this moment. She hated herself even more for not being able to go after him.

"Mrs. Harrington."

Eve's tears spilled over, streaming down her face without stopping.

She had never seen anyone so heartbreaking in her life. She used to think her own story was the saddest one she knew — but now...

Across the hall, Brett sat rigid in his chair, blood pressure spiking. The moment a nurse passed within reach, he shot to his feet and grabbed her arm. "You will save my grandson. Do you hear me? If he doesn't make it, every single person in this hospital will answer for it."

The words hit Victoria like a physical blow. Her knees buckled, and she crumpled straight toward the floor.

"Mrs. Harrington!"

Eve and Frank caught her just in time.

Arabella and Maximus arrived at the surgical ward first, with Adrian and Ava close behind. Victoria took her place outside the OR doors and waited. Still. Silent.

She couldn't see, so she listened.

But there was nothing to hear — or maybe there was too much. The faint clash of metal instruments. The low mechanical hum of equipment. Gradually, a cold sweat broke out across her forehead.

By the time the OR doors swung open again, she could no longer push herself to her feet on her own.

"How is my son?"

Arabella forced the words out.

"The patient is out of immediate danger. We'll need to continue monitoring him closely."

The doctor's voice was measured, clinical.

Arabella's shoulders sagged.

Ava steadied her, then looked up at the doctor. "Please — take good care of him."

"That's what we're here for."

The doctor was gone quickly. Alexander was wheeled out, lying still on the bed, his face pale and cold as marble.

"Is that Alexander? Is he out?"

Victoria's voice was barely there.

"Yes, Mrs. Harrington."

"Wait — tell them to wait. Just a moment."

She let Eve pull her to her feet, the effort enormous. Eve understood without being told and guided her forward.

No one spoke.

Victoria reached out and found the cold metal railing of the bed. She followed it slowly, hand over hand, until —

"Mrs. Harrington. Right here."

Eve gently lifted Victoria's hand and placed it over Alexander's.

Victoria closed her fingers around his. Then, slowly, she sank to her knees beside the bed, cradling his hand against her chest, her face turned toward where she knew he lay.

"Alexander. You have to wake up. Please."

He didn't move. Not even a breath that she could feel. The color had drained completely from his face.

She tightened her grip. His hand was so cold. Colder than she'd ever felt — colder, somehow, even than the worst moments she herself had survived.

The fear was total. The fear of losing him.

She wanted to warm his hand between hers, to press life back into him through sheer will. But before she could, he was being wheeled away.

"Alexander. Please. Please don't leave me."

She stayed on her knees where she was, like she'd forgotten how to move, tears falling without end, the same words spilling out of her over and over.

Her voice had long since gone raw, scraped down to almost nothing. But she couldn't stop.

She was terrified of being left behind in this world. Alone.

She hated being alone.

She couldn't leave him. Couldn't survive losing him.

She wasn't who she used to be. That solitary, untethered woman who believed she needed no one — who thought she could live free and unbothered — that person was gone. She had let him in, and now she couldn't take it back.

Time passed. Ava came and gently urged her to go rest. Victoria didn't move.

Adrian tried too, in his quiet way. Eventually he gave up and focused on getting Brett home instead.

Victoria couldn't leave. Neither could Arabella or Maximus.

Diana had been traveling for work when it happened. The moment she got back, she came straight to the hospital and settled in beside Victoria outside the ICU, keeping vigil.

She still couldn't believe her brother was lying in there.

One day passed. Then two. Then three.

On the third night, Victoria suddenly bent forward with a sharp sound — a low moan she couldn't hold back — one hand pressing hard against her stomach.

"Mrs. Harrington — what's wrong?"

"It hurts." Victoria's voice came out strained. "My stomach — it really hurts."

"Victoria. Victoria, listen to me." Arabella's voice cracked at the edges. "You cannot keep doing this. Alex is still fighting for his life, and if something happens to you or that baby — how are we supposed to live with that? Please. I'm begging you. Go downstairs to the maternity ward, just to be checked. You can come right back up if anything changes. Please."

Victoria couldn't refuse this time. The pain was too sharp, too deep — a terrible, dragging sensation, like something was slipping away from her. She could barely stand.

"Mom. Okay. I promise."

She let the words out, then reached for Eve's arm to help her rise.

"Careful, Mrs. Harrington."

Eve wasn't sure Victoria could even walk on her own. She was already scanning the hallway for a wheelchair when Victoria went completely still — a sudden heat flooding through her head like a breaking fever — and then all the strength left her body at once.

She went down.

"Mrs. Harrington — Mrs. Harrington!"

"Victoria? Victoria!"

Both Arabella and Eve lunged forward, voices pitching high with panic.

Frank didn't hesitate for a second. He swept Victoria into his arms and ran.

Arabella followed, lightheaded herself, her mind splitting between fear for Victoria and fear for the baby.

The baby.

Would they lose the baby too?

"What happened to Mrs. Harrington? Her baby — is the baby —"

"Mrs. Harrington is showing signs of a threatened miscarriage. Everyone needs to step outside."

The staff pushed them back through the door.

Victoria lay on the bed. She had passed out, and yet somehow she could still hear everything around her, each voice reaching her through the dark with terrible clarity.

'Threatened miscarriage.'

This baby. The one she had waited and hoped for with everything she had.

Diana had stepped out briefly and returned just in time to hear the doctor's words. She felt the floor shift under her.

"Easy." Curtis caught her arm, watching her face carefully.

"What are we going to do?" Diana's voice dropped to almost nothing. "If Victoria loses the baby — what then?"

The darkness crept in at the edges of her vision.

Her brother, lying upstairs, between life and death. And now this.

They had barely found their way back to each other. How long had they even had — before everything fell apart again?

Was even that too much to be allowed?

If the baby was gone — would Victoria even want to keep going?

"They're going to be okay." Curtis kept his voice even, steady. "They're going to get their happy ending. I have to believe that."

Victoria was taken through a full examination, then moved to a room and put on an IV drip.

The needle in her hand burned. A sharp, deep, bone-level ache.

She wanted to go to him. That was the only thought left in her. Just him.

"Alexander." Her lips barely moved. "You have to wake up. I'm so tired. I just want to be in your arms. Please — come back to me."

She tried to hold on. Tried to pull herself back to the surface.

But the voices faded out.

And he still wasn't there beside her.

That bone-deep cold crept back in, settling over her like a second skin. In the last dim moment before she went under, a thought surfaced — slow and unbearable.

Was she going to lose everything?

Him.

Their child.

Was she going to lose them both?