Adrian’s eyes did not leave mine. “I signed a separation agreement after Luca convinced me we needed distance until we found the leak in my organization. I never filed for divorce.”
I gripped the blanket. “I have the decree.”
“Then someone filed it without me.”
The baby kicked, hard enough to make the monitor jump.
For a moment, none of us spoke.
Then Adrian took out his phone, called someone named Russo, and said in a voice so controlled it chilled me, “Pull every court record connected to my marriage. Now. Quietly.”
He ended the call and looked at me as if the floor had vanished between us.
“All this time,” I said, “you thought I left you.”
“I thought you chose safety.”
“And I thought you chose power.”
Mara whispered, “Somebody wanted both of you apart.”
The sentence settled into the room like a fourth heartbeat.
Adrian sat down slowly in the chair beside my bed. “The leak started shortly before the separation. Shipments intercepted. Accounts exposed. Men I trusted turning nervous. Then I received photographs of you leaving your office, grocery shopping, walking near the river.”
My throat tightened. “Someone was watching me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was arrogant enough to think fear was something I could carry alone.”
The honesty hurt worse than an excuse.
“I would have carried it with you.”
“I know that now.”
“No,” I said, tears burning. “You knew it then. You just didn’t trust love to survive the truth.”
He flinched.
Good, I thought. Then immediately felt exhausted by the cruelty of wanting him wounded.
A nurse came in to check the monitor, and we fell silent. She smiled at the screen. “Baby girl looks active.”