Chapter 8 - THE MAN WHO THOUGHT HE HAD WON
We reached St. Catherine’s before sunrise.
Lucia had deteriorated rapidly.
The new surgeon, Dr. Rebecca Chen, met us outside intensive care.
“We’re operating now.”
I stared at her.
“You said tomorrow.”
“We no longer have tomorrow.”
Those six words destroyed me.
My legs weakened.
Adrian caught my elbow.
I pulled away instinctively, then immediately hated myself for it.
Not because I owed him comfort.
Because at that moment I needed something solid.
He understood.
He stepped back.
Dr. Chen continued.
“Lucia’s heart is under significant strain. The procedure carries more risk than it did twenty-four hours ago.”
“Because of what Rhodes did?”
“We can’t establish that yet.”
“Can you save her?”
Dr. Chen looked directly at me.
“We’re going to do everything medically possible.”
I signed papers with a shaking hand.
Lucia was awake when they rolled her toward surgery.
“Isa.”
I bent over her.
“I’m here.”
“I look terrible.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“You always look terrible.”
“Liar.”
She glanced at Adrian.
“You still don’t like him?”
“I’m considering moving him from unbearable to mildly irritating.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Lucia pointed at him.
“If I die, I’m haunting you.”
“Lucia!”
“What? I need leverage.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You’re not dying.”
Lucia narrowed her eyes.
“People keep telling me that like I signed something.”
Then she looked at me.
The humor disappeared.
“Isa.”
“No.”
“You know what I’m going to say.”
“No.”
“You gave up five years for me.”
“I did not.”
“You worked every holiday.”
“So?”
“You stopped dating.”
“Men are annoying.”
Adrian coughed.
Lucia looked at him.
“See?”
Despite everything, we laughed.
Then the orderly began moving the bed.
Lucia reached for my hand.
“Live your life too.”
The doors closed.
I stood there for several seconds.
Then I broke.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
Five years of fear came out at once.
The diagnosis.
The bills.
The night shifts.
The prison cell.
The dumpster.
Emma.
Victor.
Everything.
Adrian sat beside me on the floor against the hospital wall.
He didn’t touch me.
He didn’t tell me everything would be fine.
He simply stayed.
Hours passed.
Around noon, Santos arrived.
Victor had been charged with conspiracy, attempted murder, kidnapping, witness intimidation, financial crimes, and several additional offenses discovered overnight.
Rhodes was cooperating.
Mercer was cooperating.
Karen had entered protective custody and provided a full statement.
My charges had not only been dismissed.
The district attorney issued a public statement declaring that I had saved Emma’s life.
Every headline that had called me a monster now wanted an interview.
I didn’t care.
Lucia was still in surgery.
Santos sat beside me.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“We found evidence Victor manipulated the employee-benefit system at the estate.”
I frowned.
“He rejected your request intentionally.”
My hands curled.
“He knew Lucia needed surgery and deliberately kept the benefit from reaching you.”
“Why?”
“To keep you financially desperate enough to control.”
Adrian looked away.
I stared at him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Your company.”
“Yes.”
“Your employees.”
“Yes.”
“You never checked.”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
Anger came back.
Not because Adrian had conspired against me.
Because men like Victor survived in systems powerful men never bothered examining.
Adrian seemed to understand exactly what I was thinking.
“I failed people I never learned to see.”
I looked at him.
He didn’t defend himself.
No excuse.
Again.
“That ends now,” he said.
“Don’t say it.”
“What?”
“Prove it.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
At three fourteen in the afternoon, Dr. Chen came through the surgical doors.
I stood so fast the chair tipped backward.
Her mask was down.
She looked exhausted.
“Well?”
“The repair was successful.”
My knees almost gave out.
“But?”
“There were complications.”
Of course.
My heart tightened.
“She had a dangerous rhythm during the procedure, but we stabilized her.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
The word shattered something inside me.
I covered my face.
“She’s alive.”
“She is.”
I hugged Dr. Chen before realizing what I was doing.
She laughed softly.
“I’ll take that as approval.”
Lucia remained sedated overnight.
I sat beside her.
Adrian left only after Emma’s security team confirmed she was safe.
At midnight, I woke to voices outside the room.
Victor’s attorney.
Santos.
Adrian.
I stepped into the hallway.
“What happened?”
Santos looked annoyed.
“Victor wants a deal.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“He claims he has information about Elena’s death.”
The hallway became silent.
“What?”
Adrian’s face had gone gray.
Victor claimed Elena had discovered financial crimes within the foundation shortly before she died.
Her postpartum medical complications had been genuine.
But Victor now implied Rhodes might have intentionally worsened her treatment.
Adrian looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
For years, he had believed Elena’s death was unavoidable.
Now the same doctor who supplied drugs used against Emma might have been involved.
Victor wanted reduced charges in exchange for evidence.
I hated him more in that moment than before.
Even handcuffed, he was still trying to turn grief into currency.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
Adrian’s eyes were cold.
“Nothing.”
Santos stared at him.
“He may be telling the truth.”
“Then investigate it without giving him what he wants.”
“Adrian—”
“He doesn’t get to sell Elena back to me.”
The words broke at the end.
Barely.
But I heard it.
He walked toward the elevator.
I followed.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
For the first time, I touched him voluntarily.
Just his hand.
His fingers closed around mine.
Neither of us said anything.
The elevator opened.
Then Dante came running down the hallway.
“Boss.”
Adrian released my hand.
“What?”
Dante looked at both of us.
“It’s Emma.”
My entire body went cold.
“What happened?”
“Nothing. She’s safe.”
“Then what?”
Dante held out a tablet.
Security footage showed Emma’s nursery at the protected location.
Someone had placed an envelope inside her crib.
Impossible.
The FBI had controlled the building for twenty-four hours.
Adrian opened the digital photograph.
Inside the envelope was a single sheet of paper.
Elena’s handwriting.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
Three words had been written across the top.
ADRIAN, TRUST ISABELLA.
I stopped breathing.
Elena had been dead for seven months before I ever started working at the estate.
There was no possible way she could have known my name.
May you like
Unless someone else had.
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