Chapter 2: Ambulance Lights and Rumors

The video had eight million views by the time my taxi hit Fifth Avenue.

Eight million people watching my fiancé carry another woman out of our engagement party. Eight million witnesses to the exact moment my life split in half.

My phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It felt like holding a live wire.

“OMG is this real???”

“I KNEW something was going on between them…”

“That poor girl in the background... is that the fiancée???”

“Seraphina and Aiden have ALWAYS had chemistry. Everyone knows it.”

“Gold digger got what she deserved lol”

I wanted to throw the phone out the window. Watch it shatter on the pavement like Seraphina's champagne glass. Instead, I gripped it harder, my knuckles white against the screen's glow.

"Lady, you okay back there?" The taxi driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"Mount Sinai," I said. My voice sounded like gravel. "Fast."

He hit the gas.

The city blurred past... neon signs and street lamps and people laughing on corners who had no idea the world could end in the middle of a party. My heels dug into the taxi floor. Click, click, click with every pothole we hit. Little accusations hammering into my skull.

You weren't enough.

You were never enough.

She was always there, waiting.

"Can't you go faster?" I leaned forward, my breath fogging the partition.

"Traffic, lady. Saturday night."

Every red light felt like torture. Every brake tap was another second Aiden spent with her instead of me. I checked my phone again. New comments flooded in faster than I could read them.

Just in: they're already married

That's not a medical emergency that's a CHOICE

Someone check if the ring is real because this relationship sure isn't…

My hands shook. I shoved the phone into my purse before I could read more.

The hospital entrance blazed with fluorescent light. I threw cash at the driver... too much, I didn't care... and ran. My heels clicked against concrete like rapid gunfire. The automatic doors hissed open and I burst into the ER.

Chaos. Controlled chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

A woman clutching a bloody towel to her arm. A kid screaming about his broken finger. The chemical smell of antiseptic mixing with sweat and fear. Monitors beeped. Gurneys rattled. Somewhere, someone was crying.

I pushed toward the reception desk.

"I'm looking for Seraphina Vaughn. She was brought in about twenty minutes ago..."

The nurse didn't look up from her computer. "Are you family?"

"I'm..." What was I? "I'm with the man who brought her in. Aiden Cross."

That got her attention. Her eyes flicked up, scanning my face, my dress, the engagement ring that suddenly felt like a prop in a play I hadn't auditioned for.

"He's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here? I saw them leave together..."

"He left with the patient. Private car." She turned back to her screen, dismissing me.

"Where did they go?"

"I can't give out that information."

"I'm his fiancée." The word tasted like ash.

The nurse's expression softened just slightly. Pity. I saw it flash across her face before she could hide it. That look that said: Oh honey, are you sure about that?

"Look," she said quietly, glancing around like she was breaking protocol. "They came in through the private entrance. VIP wing. Third floor. But you'll need clearance..."

I was already moving.

The elevator took forever. I watched the numbers climb... one, two, three... while my reflection stared back at me from the polished doors. Mascara smudged. Lipstick faded. The girl in the champagne gown looked like a ghost.

The third floor was different. Quieter. Carpet instead of linoleum. Soft lighting instead of harsh fluorescents. This was where people with money came to have their emergencies in private.

A security guard stepped in front of me.

"I need to see your ID and visitor clearance."

"I don't have clearance. My fiancé is here with..."

"No clearance, no entry."

"Please." I hated how my voice cracked. "Please, I just need to find him."

The guard's face stayed stone. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to..."

"Elara?"

I spun around.

Aiden stood in the hallway, still in his tux but disheveled now. Jacket gone. Tie loose. Hair falling across his forehead. He looked like he'd aged five years in thirty minutes.

"Let her through," he said to the guard.

The man stepped aside.

I walked toward Aiden slowly, each step feeling like crossing a minefield. When I got close enough to see his face clearly, something in my chest twisted.

He looked wrecked. Eyes red rimmed. Hands trembling slightly at his sides.

"Elara, I..."

"Where is she?"

He flinched. "Room 304. She's stable. The doctors are running tests..."

"Tests for what? She fainted, Aiden. People faint. They don't need private wings and security guards."

"It wasn't just fainting." He ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up in dark spikes. "She... God, Elara, she collapsed. Right there in front of everyone. I thought... I thought she was dying."

"So you left me." My voice came out flat. Dead.

"I reacted. It was instinct. I didn't think..."

"No. You didn't."

"I'm sorry." He reached for my hand. I pulled away. "I'm so sorry. I know how it looked but it was an emergency. She needed help. What was I supposed to do, just let her die on the floor?"

"You could have looked back." The words came out sharper than I meant them to. "You could have said my name. You could have..."

"I panicked, okay?" His voice rose, echoing off the pristine walls. "I panicked and I reacted and I know I screwed up but she was..." He stopped. Swallowed hard. "She was turning blue, Elara. Her lips were blue."

Something cold settled in my stomach.

"Show me."

"What?"

"Show me. I want to see her."

He hesitated. Just for a second. But I saw it.

"She's resting..."

"I don't care."

I pushed past him, following the room numbers. 302... 303... 304.

The door was cracked open. Soft light spilled into the hallway. I could hear the steady beep of monitors, the whisper of voices.

I pushed it wider.

Seraphina lay on the hospital bed like Sleeping Beauty. Blonde hair fanned across the pillow. IV in her arm. Monitor leads attached to her chest. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and even.

And Aiden's jacket was draped across her shoulders like a blanket.

My feet moved on their own. I crossed the threshold, my heels silent on the carpet now.

Aiden followed. "Elara, please..."

"How long have you been here with her?" I didn't take my eyes off Seraphina's face.

"Since we arrived. Twenty minutes, maybe..."

"Did you call me?"

Silence.

"Did you text me? Did you think, even once, about the woman you left standing in front of two hundred people?"

"I was going to..." His voice broke. "I was going to call but then the doctors came and they started asking questions and..."

"And she needed you more than I did."

"That's not fair."

I whirled on him. "Fair? You want to talk about fair? There are eight million people watching a video of you carrying her out of our engagement party. Eight million people who think..."

"What?" He stepped closer. "What do they think?"

"That you're in love with her."

The words hung between us like smoke.

"That's insane," he said, but something flickered in his eyes. Something he couldn't quite hide.

"Is it?"

"Elara..." He reached for me again. This time I let him take my hand. His palm was warm, familiar. I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt. "Seraphina and I are friends. That's all. We've known each other for years. When I saw her fall... I just... I couldn't..."

"You couldn't let her go."

"I couldn't let her die."

A phone rang. Aiden's phone. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and his face went white.

"Who is it?"

"Marcus. My publicist."

"Answer it."

He shook his head. "Not now."

"Answer it, Aiden."

He hit decline. The phone went dark in his hand.

"He's probably calling about the video," Aiden said quietly. "About damage control. How to spin this so it doesn't..."

"Doesn't what? Ruin your reputation? Your company's stock price? What about us?"

"There is no us to ruin if you don't trust me."

The words hit like a slap.

Before I could respond, a doctor appeared in the doorway. Young, harried, clipboard in hand.

"Mr. Cross? Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Aiden glanced between me and the doctor. "Can it wait..."

"It's about Ms. Vaughn's test results."

He went. Of course he went.

I stood alone in the room with Seraphina's sleeping form, listening to the muffled conversation in the hallway. I caught fragments. Words that didn't make sense.

"... not a seizure..."

"... need to check for toxins..."

"... something in her system..."

I moved closer to the bed. Seraphina looked peaceful. Angelic, even. Not like someone who'd just had a medical emergency.

I studied her face, looking for... what? Signs of deception? Proof that this was all an elaborate setup?

Her eyelids fluttered.

I froze.

"Elara..." Aiden's voice came from the doorway. He sounded strangled.

I turned. He stood there with the doctor, his face ashen.

"What? What is it?"

"They found..." He couldn't finish.

The doctor stepped forward. "We found traces of a substance in her bloodwork. Something that could induce fainting, weakness, respiratory depression. We're running more tests but it looks like..."

"Like someone drugged her?" The words came out before I could stop them.

Aiden's phone rang again. This time he answered.

"Marcus, I can't... what? No, I'm not making a statement... I don't care what they're saying..." He turned away, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Just... figure it out. Make it go away."

He hung up. When he turned back to me, I saw the calculation in his eyes. The wheels turning. The man I knew... the brilliant strategist, the CEO who built an empire from nothing... he was choosing his next move.

And he stepped toward Seraphina's bed instead of mine.

That small movement. That tiny shift in direction. It cut deeper than any words could.

"Why would you choose her over me?" The question tore out of me, raw and desperate and everything I'd promised myself I wouldn't be.

Silence.

Then... a sound.

Soft. Almost inaudible.

Seraphina's eyes opened. Slow. Deliberate. Her gaze found mine across the room, sharp and clear and completely aware.

She smiled.

It was a secret kind of smile. The type that said: I know something you don't.

Her hand found Aiden's where it rested on the bed rail. Her fingers closed around his, holding tight.

And she whispered, so quietly I almost didn't hear it...

"You were never the only one I planned for.”