“She’s nosy,” Mara said. “Already involved in adult business.”
The nurse laughed, and the tension eased enough for me to breathe again.
Later, after Mara went downstairs for coffee and the hallway dimmed into hospital quiet, Adrian remained in the chair. He had removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Without the polished armor, he looked less like the feared man Chicago whispered about and more like someone who had not slept well in months.
“Did you know?” I asked. “About the pregnancy at all?”
“No.”
“If you had known, would you have come?”
“Elena.” His voice broke around my name. “I would have torn the city apart looking for you.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
He nodded slowly. “Fair.”
Outside, snow began to fall, softening the skyline beyond the glass. Hospital lights turned every flake silver.
“I didn’t hide because I hated you,” I said. “At first, I told myself I did. It made everything easier. But the truth was… I was afraid if I saw you, I would forgive you before you understood what you had done.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know what forgiveness looks like when the damage may have been arranged by someone else.”
“Some of it was still mine.”
I looked at him.
He leaned forward, elbows on knees. “I made a life where enemies had access to our door. I let people speak for me. I let silence become a decision. Even if someone forged papers, they used the distance I created.”
That was the first apology that felt like a foundation rather than a key he expected to unlock me.
My eyes filled.
“I was so lonely,” I whispered.
His face crumpled before he mastered it. “So was I.”
The monitors continued their steady music.
At midnight, Mara returned and insisted Adrian leave long enough to eat. He refused until I told him to go. Even then, he asked whether I wanted Luca outside my door.
“No guards,” I said.
His brow furrowed.