Chapter 282 Grand Finale

Chapter 282 Grand Finale

Lily stared at Olivia for a full minute.

Olivia knew that look all too well. The last time Lily had looked at her like that was junior year, when Olivia had snuck into Lily's cake she'd hidden in the fridge. Lily had stared at her calmly for thirty seconds, then pinpointed exactly which corner had been scooped first.

No questions, no accusations. Olivia had confessed everything herself.

But this time, Lily's expression was far more complicated.

"Whose baby is it?" Lily said. "I don't think I'm wrong."

Olivia's fingers traced absent circles on her knee. Her eyes stayed fixed on the glass of water on the coffee table, as if plain water held some kind of answer. "I'm not sure, actually. And I haven't decided whether I want to..." She paused, her voice dropping. "Whether I want to keep it."

Lily took a slow, deep breath, trying to look calm. She sat cross-legged on Olivia's living room carpet, still wearing that neon green hoodie Olivia had always hated. But none of that mattered right now.

"I asked whose baby it is."

The air in the room went thick. Olivia stopped tracing circles and started picking at her fingers instead. She kept her head down, her bangs covering most of her face, just the tip of her nose showing, faintly red. Lily could see her lashes trembling, like a tiny bug caught in the rain.

"Olivia." Lily leaned forward. "Tell me. Is it William's?"

Olivia's body went rigid for just a split second. The reaction was too fast, almost like a reflex. But she didn't shake her head. Didn't nod either. She just pressed her lips into a thin line, the way she used to in school when a test question stumped her and she'd stubbornly choose silence over guessing.

Her shoulders caved in, and she buried her face in both hands. Her voice came out muffled, heavy with a kind of exhaustion that made Lily's chest tighten. "I don't want him to know."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Maybe. But a month ago, when he was at my place and took a phone call, I heard a woman's voice."

Lily stood up, paced back and forth across the carpet twice, then crouched back down and pulled Olivia's hands away from her face. Olivia's eyes were red, but she wasn't crying.

"Come on." Lily grabbed her arm.

"Where?"

"The hospital. Blood test first to confirm, then we get you registered, do an ultrasound, find out how far along you are." Lily's voice was steady, almost unnervingly so, but her hands were shaking slightly. Olivia felt it. "Whatever you decide, we need to know what we're dealing with first."

"Lily—"

"Don't argue with me. I don't want to hear it right now." Lily had already picked up Olivia's jacket from the couch and was holding it out. No room for debate. "Shoes. Now."

Olivia looked into Lily's eyes. There was fire in them, and something like tears too, the two of them blending into something impossible to say no to. She let out a breath and bent down to tie her shoes.

Lily glanced at her phone and typed out a quick message, then hit send. The contact name read: William.

The hospital was quieter than expected. Lily got them registered and added a blood draw to the paperwork. Olivia sat in the row of chairs outside the blood draw window, watching the pregnant women lined up ahead of her. Some had come alone. Some had their husbands or mothers beside them, their faces carrying that soft, particular glow that came with expecting.

Olivia looked down at her own flat stomach. No sign of anything at all.

"Olivia."

Her turn. She rolled up her sleeve and held out her pale arm. The nurse patted the inside of her elbow, searching for a vein. Lily stood right beside her the whole time, one hand resting on Olivia's shoulder. Not heavy, just steady.

When the needle went in, Olivia's brow creased slightly. Not from the pain.

She said something, barely above a whisper, so quiet Lily almost missed it.

"I wasn't lying to you. He already had a girlfriend back then."

Olivia looked at Lily, helpless. "Who told you that?"

A voice came from the end of the hallway. William came rushing toward them in his pajamas.

Before either of them could say anything else, a middle-aged woman in a white coat stepped out of one of the doctors' offices, a stack of files in her hand. When she spotted Lily, she stopped short.

Lily frowned. She didn't recognize her.

But the doctor's face broke into a smile. She walked over quickly, keeping her voice low but her tone warm and eager. "You're Lily, right? I saw your post online, the one about Cordelia."

"Everyone at our hospital has been following that case," she said, her eyes carrying a weight that was almost solemn. "That poor child, so small, going through surgery like that. I believe there was internal bleeding that was left untreated. We've compiled all our hospital's records and surgical footage and submitted everything to the court. We're hoping for the harshest possible sentence."

Lily pressed her lips together, like she was about to say something, then didn't. "Thank you," she said finally.

"We should be thanking you," the doctor said sincerely. "If you hadn't kept speaking up online, this case might never have even been filed. Our doctors all agree, there aren't many people in your position with that kind of conscience anymore."

"Thank you," Lily said again, quieter this time.

The hallway fell still. William and Olivia seemed to be talking. Lily didn't step in.

She thought about the doctor's face just now, open and genuine, and felt something she couldn't quite name rise up in her chest.

Cordelia. Gone before she ever really had a chance to live. And her own mother, who had slipped away just as quietly, just as senselessly.

If she had paid attention sooner. If she had looked into Sunrise Hospital earlier, instead of only starting to dig after everything had already blown up, maybe Cordelia would still be alive. Maybe her mother would be too.

Her father's face drifted into her mind, and with it came a fear she couldn't shake. Fear of the invisible web behind him, fear of the moment it might suddenly pull tight and drag her and everyone she loved into it.

But she knew she couldn't let herself stop. If she did, Waverly and Cordelia would have died for nothing.

Her jacket pocket buzzed. She pulled out her phone.

A message from David.

His words were warm, full of the kind of care that didn't need to try too hard. And there were photos.

In them, David was wearing a dark blue knit sweater, sleeves pushed up to his elbows, his forearms relaxed and unhurried. He was sitting on the couch with Chase in his lap. Chase was laughing, eyes curved into little crescents.

Lily looked at the photo and smiled before she even realized it.

Maybe someday she could tell Chase that he had a dad too.

She lifted her head and looked down the long stretch of hallway ahead of her.

She had David now. She had Chase. She had her best friend. She had the kind of home she used to think she'd never get to have.

They were like an invisible thread tied around her, keeping her from ever falling all the way down.

Lily glanced back at the two of them, wrapped up in each other, then typed a quick reply to David.

Two words and a period.

"I miss you."

She tucked her phone back into her pocket and picked up her pace.

The road ahead was still long. But as long as there was a light on at home waiting for her, she knew she could face whatever came next.