CHAPTER 23

Amanda’s POV

Ryan’s letter was still echoing in my ears long after the gavel struck to recess the hearing.

He had sat there, reading it with his voice dipped in just enough tremor to seem human, fragile. A doting father shut out of his son’s life. And the worst part? The judge had looked moved. The jurors had shifted, some nodding like they understood his pain.

I wanted to scream.

Not because I didn’t believe Ryan loved Levi in his own way but because I knew that love wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough when he denied my pregnancy, when he vanished during those endless months of doctor visits, when he called me a liar until the DNA test shut him up. Back then, Levi was an inconvenience. And now? Now Ryan was parading him as a prize.

The hypocrisy made me sick.

By the time I left the courthouse, my chest was tight with both fury and exhaustion. I needed to get back to Levi, needed his little arms wrapped around me to remind myself what all this was for.

The hospital corridors smelled of disinfectant and lemon polish, comfortingly familiar. I pushed through the doors to my office, forcing my composure back into place.

But the sight that greeted me made my stomach drop.

Levi wasn’t curled up with his game console like usual. He was pacing, his face flushed, his little hands twitching with restless energy. His eyes were too wide, darting from one corner of the room to the next. He was muttering fragments of songs under his breath, stopping only to giggle in a way that made my skin crawl.

“Levi?” My voice cracked as I crossed the room. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

He looked up at me, pupils blown, his smile unnervingly sharp. “Mommy, I feel funny. But it’s okay I drank your tea! I drank all of it!”

The words were like ice water dumped down my spine.

“What tea?” I asked sharply, dropping to my knees in front of him.

Camille, the nanny, stepped forward quickly, her face pale. “He insisted, Dr. James. The nurse brought a cup in earlier, said it was for you. When you left for court, Levi begged to have it. I didn’t think—he was so insistent—and she said it was fine—”

I froze.

The tea. The one I’d asked Lena to fetch before rushing out. I hadn’t even touched it.

My pulse thundered.

Levi swayed on his feet, a burst of laughter spilling from him before he clutched his stomach. My panic sharpened into rage.

“Where is she?” My voice was steel.

Camille flinched. “Still on shift, I think. Should I—”

But I was already moving.

I stormed through the corridors, each step fueled by terror and fury until I spotted her: Lena, scribbling something onto a chart outside a patient’s room, her hands shaking the second she saw me.

“You,” I hissed, striding up to her. “What the hell did you put in that tea?”

Her eyes widened. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

The denial was automatic, rehearsed.

My hand moved before I thought, the sharp crack of my palm across her cheek echoing down the hall. Gasps rose from the nurses nearby, but I didn’t care.

“You poisoned my son,” I spat, grabbing the front of her scrubs and dragging her closer. “Don’t you dare lie to me. Tell me what you did before I rip your career apart piece by piece.”

Her lip trembled. She tried to hold firm, but then my glare locked onto hers and something in her broke.

“It wasn’t poison!” she blurted, voice cracking. “It was—it was just a sedative. Mild. She said it wouldn’t hurt him—”

My grip tightened. “Who?”

Her throat bobbed. “Selene. She—she gave me the vial. Said it would… calm you. Said you were too tense. I swear I didn’t think he’d drink it—”

Selene.

The name roared in my skull, drowning out everything else.

Selene’s smirk at the courthouse. Her whispered threats. When Levi’s with us, I’ll make sure you never work in this city again.

It hadn’t been a bluff. She had made her move. And she’d gone through my son to do it.

My marrow turned cold.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I snarled, shoving Lena back. “If anything happens to Levi anything i'll bury you so deep in malpractice suits you’ll wish you were dead. And as for Selene—” My voice dropped into a whisper, lethal. “She doesn’t know the war she just started.”

Lena whimpered, tears streaking her cheeks, but I was already gone, my steps carrying me back to Levi.

When I returned, he was lying on the cot in my office, Camille hovering anxiously while another nurse one I trusted checked his vitals.

“He’ll be okay,” the nurse assured me. “He’s hyper, but his system will burn it off in a few hours. You’ll want to monitor him closely. Plenty of fluids.”

Relief punched through me so hard I swayed. My knees almost buckled, but I forced myself upright, stroking Levi’s damp hair back from his forehead.

“I’m fine, Mommy,” he said faintly, still smiling too wide. “Just… funny.”

I kissed his temple, my lips trembling against his skin. “You’re more than fine, baby. You’re perfect. And I won’t let anyone touch you again.”

As he dozed, my mind replayed the confession, the look on Lena’s face, the echo of Selene’s smug threat.

She thought she could outmaneuver me. She thought she could drug me, make me slip up, make me look unfit. And now she’d dared to involve Levi—my son, my reason for breathing.

No.

This wasn’t just custody anymore. This wasn’t just a courtroom battle.

This was war.

I straightened slowly, brushing my hands over Levi’s blanket. My fear hardened into resolve, sharp and unshakable.

Selene thought she was clever. She thought she had money, influence, and Ryan at her side. But she underestimated me.

I’d fought too hard, bled too much, to let anyone take Levi.

Now it was my turn to strike.

And I would make her regret ever laying her claws on my child.