Chapter 4

I held Noah in my arms, his small body burning with fever, and cried for a long time.

Luckily, the fever medicine started working, and his temperature came down a little.

His flushed little face was streaked with tears.

"Mommy, Daddy really doesn't want us anymore, does he?"

I didn't answer. I just held him.

In the end, it was my parents who called in a favor, found a doctor, and got him transferred to another hospital.

The tests showed Noah had severe pneumonia, and he had to be admitted.

For a whole week, I didn't see Adrian once.

But then I saw an Instagram post from Chloe.

Adrian was fussing over her and her son, taking care of their every need.

They held hands and looked blissfully happy.

The caption read, "Our little family of three."

I stared at the photo, laughing until I cried and crying until I laughed.

"Adrian, I hate you so much!"

By the next day, Noah was well enough to go home.

Before we left, I asked his doctor not to tell anyone that Noah had ever been there.

Then I went up to the hospital roof, recorded a video, and scheduled it to send later.

Once that was done, I took Noah and boarded a flight across the country.

Meanwhile, after sleeping with Chloe, Adrian noticed the ring Mandy had left on the desk.

She'd given it to him after they married at City Hall.

It was one of a matching pair. Mandy hadn't had much money, so each ring held only a tiny diamond.

Adrian had looked a little embarrassed at the time. He'd promised that when they finally held a proper wedding ceremony, he would give Mandy a ring with a huge diamond.

But that future never came.

Adrian touched his ring finger.

Over the years, he'd worn one ring after another and completely forgotten the matching set Mandy had bought for them.

For some reason, he thought of those rings again that day.

Uneasy, he called the children's hospital.

"A few days ago, Mandy Jennings brought Noah in with a high fever that wouldn't come down. Find his records and tell me what happened."

A few minutes later, the hospital called back.

"Mr. Shaw, we have no record of Noah being seen here."

Adrian's heart sank.

"I knew it. Mandy used Noah's health to manipulate me. She never knows when to stop."

The words came out cold and bitter.

Then he went back to the bedroom and lay down.

Then his phone chimed with a new email.

He opened it. It was a video.

In the video, Mandy stood on a rooftop, holding Noah and sobbing.

"Adrian, you chose that woman and her son and left Noah and me to die. I hate you!

"Thanks to you, Noah had a fever for so long that he's already... Adrian, I want you to remember this. You killed us both. I hate you!"

Then Mandy jumped off the roof with Noah in her arms.

An editor my dad had hired digitally altered the footage to make it look like I'd jumped with Noah in my arms. We'd never gone anywhere near the edge.

Adrian gasped, suddenly drenched in sweat.

He bolted upright in bed, waking Chloe beside him.

"Where are you going this late?"

"I'm going to find Noah," Adrian said, his voice shaking.

Before Chloe could say anything, he was gone, racing out into the night.

"No... It's impossible. They were fine. How could..."

On the way to the hospital, Adrian tried to call Mandy. Only then did he remember that he'd blocked her number.

He unblocked Mandy and called over and over, but every call went straight to voicemail.

Adrian completely panicked.

He stormed into the hospital and ordered the staff to search until they found Noah's file from the facility that had accepted his transfer.

The words "acute pneumonia, fever of 104°F" hit him like a blow.

"So Mandy wasn't lying."

He turned to the nurse beside him.

"Where's my son? What happened to him?"

The nurse looked confused.

"I don't know. His mom took him.

"It was pouring outside, and the child was burning with fever. He looked like he'd already... already stopped breathing.

"His mother was crying her eyes out."

Then Adrian's phone rang again.

"Hello, is this Mr. Shaw? This is the funeral home. Your family's ashes have been here for days. Why haven't you come to pick them up?"