Chapter 53 Chapter Fifty-two
ARA
I stood frozen as Thayne’s men lifted Nadia from the floor. Her peach dress clung to her, dark with blood.
My heart hammered so hard I could barely breathe.
The kitchen staff glared at me like I was a murderer. Their eyes said everything: You pushed her.
I wanted to scream that I hadn’t touched her, not the way they thought.
But my legs wouldn’t move. My voice had died somewhere inside me.
It happened so fast. She’d lifted her foot to smash the last tray that had somehow survived her rampage.
I’d lunged forward, snatching the tray just before her heel came down. Her foot hit the slick tiles instead.
She slipped, arms flailing, and crashed sideways. That was it. That was all.
I never laid a hand on her body. Only the tray.
But nobody saw that part. She’d been behind the counter. From where they stood, it must have looked like I shoved her.
“Ambulance is here,” one of the escorts barked. “Easy with her head.”
Thayne’s scent reached me first, clean, cold, expensive, before he filled the doorway.
His gaze swept over Nadia’s limp form, then locked on me.
He didn’t speak. He just stared, long enough for ice to crawl up my spine. Then he turned and followed his men out.
I finally found the will to move my legs. I started cleaning like a mad woman. Fast and furious.
I was sweeping shards, wiping blood, mopping until the kitchen looked innocent again.
Like Nadia hadn't ruined everything I'd baked and cooked. Like she hadn't fallen and bled out on the floor.
The staff whispered behind me as I worked. I tried to put up a mental wall between my ears and their whispers.
I didn’t care. I had to find Thayne before Nadia woke up and told whatever story she wanted.
I didn’t even change my ruined dress. There was no time for that. It would be pointless if I showed up with a clean dress after Nadia had woken up.
I searched the penthouse until I ran into Munroe.
“He’s at the hospital,” he said before I could ask.
“Take me.”
He hesitated. “You know the rules. You don’t leave without his say-so.”
“He’s not here,” I snapped. “I need to see him. Now.”
Munroe sighed, already reaching for the keys. “You’re telling him this was your idea.”
The drive to Archway Hospital felt endless and too short at once. The second the car stopped, I bolted.
Munroe flashed his ID at security. They let us straight through without blinking twice.
Through the glass, Nadia lay still. Tubes were connected everywhere. Her face was swollen, almost unrecognizable.
A cold whisper slid into my mind: What if it really was my fault? What if panic has erased the real version of what had happened? What if I'd been the one to —
No. I remembered every second. Every single detail of it.
I hadn’t pushed her. She’d done this to herself, the way she’d done everything else to me.
“Ara.”
The sound of my name in his low voice made every hair on my body stand up.
I turned. Thayne stood right behind me, close enough that I felt the heat coming off him.
His face was a wall, beautiful, hard, impossible to read.
“She’s in a coma,” he said quietly. Too quietly.
The floor tilted under my feet. It was like the ground yawned its mouth wide open beneath me and sucked me whole.
His eyes never left mine. They were darker than I’d ever seen them, burning with something that looked like fury but hurt worse because I knew him.
I knew the way he looked when he was breaking inside.
“You could have walked away,” he said, his voice rough. “You could have let her ruin everything and just left the room. But you didn’t. They all saw you push her, Ara.”
“I didn’t—” My throat closed. “I grabbed the tray. She slipped. That’s all.”
He stepped closer. “She’s carrying my child, Ara.” His voice cracked on the last word, so small I almost missed it.
“She’s in there with my baby, and you’re telling me it was an accident?”
The pain in his eyes nearly killed me. Because it wasn’t just anger. It was fear. Real, raw fear.
I swallowed the scream clawing up my throat. “You think I’d hurt a baby? Yours? You think it was jealousy that made me push her? I didn't push her.”
My voice shook. “I’m tired, Thayne. Tired of being the villain every time she snaps her fingers. Tired of the games, the headlines, the setups. I’m done being your collateral damage.”
His jaw tightened. He looked like I’d slapped him.
I tried to move past him, but a doctor appeared at the end of the hall, walking toward us.
“Mr. Slade,” she said, glancing between us with careful eyes. “We’re ready for you both now.”
Ready for what?
I must have asked the question out aloud, because the doctor began explaining right away.
“Her fall was fatal, and right now, we've detected acute subdural hematoma, which is bleeding between the brain and the dura, and in Nadia's case, with raised intracranial pressure which caused her to slip into coma. She lost so much blood, and she needs a blood transfusion before the surgery.”
Oh my God.
“We need to check for a possible blood type match so that we can commence things right away. The baby is stable right now. Heart rate is 145 and strong. We’re monitoring constantly. Our priority is to save Nadia’s brain first; if the baby shows any sign of trouble during surgery, we deliver immediately. The fall did not hurt the baby directly. But still, delay will be deadly.” For some reason, the doctor was speaking to me directly now.
It felt more like she was trying to get me to do something, but I didn't know what that could be.
Thayne curled his fists, and I had the weird urge to comfort him.
Even though I didn't have to feel guilty for any of this, I felt concerned. The baby's life was at stake now, too.
It turned out we would have to be tested in the blood bank unit. Thayne and I sat side by side in the blood-draw chairs, our sleeves rolled up.
I silently watched our blood fill the bags while stealing glances at Thayne. Our relationship would likely shatter to pieces after this.
Perhaps it was for the better.
The needle slid into my vein. I didn’t even wince. Thayne sat one chair away, arm out, eyes locked on the ceiling like he could burn a hole through it.
A nurse slapped labels on our tubes and ran.
Ten seconds. Twenty. My heart slammed against my ribs.
The door flew open so hard it bounced off the wall.
The lab tech burst in, his face was beetle red, and his eyes were huge.
“AB-negative!” he yelled. “Mr. Slade, you’re O-positive. No good.”
Then he spun to me, almost tripping over his own feet.
“Miss Irvington, you’re AB-negative. Exact match. Perfect cross-match. We need four units NOW!”
Thayne’s head snapped toward me. His eyes went wide, wild, like someone had punched him in the soul.
My stomach dropped straight to the floor.
I was a perfect match?