Chapter 5: Discovery

DISCOVERY

QUINN

Outside the Finn estate, I felt nothing. Not the cold, not even the ground beneath me. Just emptiness and absence, like something inside me had shut down completely.

“Get rid of it.”

The words echoed, again and again. The life growing inside me meant nothing to him.  

I stopped in the middle of the road, my fingers twitched slightly at my side. I tried to steady myself, but it wasn’t working. Too much had happened too quickly, and my body simply gave in.

Suddenly, I felt myself losing control. Darkness slowly crept in at the edges of my vision.

“The Queen.”

A voice called.

That name, no one had called me that in years.

 His strong arms caught me before I could fall completely.

“…still as reckless as ever.”

I forced my eyes open. Though blurred,  I could still see him.

“Morrison…”

His name slipped out like a memory I never truly lost. He tightened his grip on me, just slightly.

“So you still remember,” he said.

For a moment, something in his tone softened, then everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, the world had changed; a white ceiling and soft beeping machines. I shifted my gaze around. It was a hospital. I didn’t move immediately nor speak.

I simply adjusted, not sure of which reality I had woken up into. The one where everything had fallen apart, or one where nothing had happened.

“You are awake.”

That voice didn’t belong here.

I turned my head slowly. Jasper stood by the window, his back half-turned, as if he didn’t quite belong in the room either. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked calmly.

“You collapsed,” he replied.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He exhaled, slightly irritated. “The doctor said you have a high fever.”

I watched him for a moment, then looked away.

“Leave.”

There was no anger in my voice. Just certainty. And that seemed to unsettle him more than anything else.

He paused, looking at me with much shock. Unanswered questions written all over his face. His hands were scratching his hair irritably.

“Quinn—”

“I said leave.” My tone didn’t rise.

“Remember, the thirty-day cooling period has not elapsed,” he said, “my movement around you isn’t restricted yet. Same way you pulled up at my house moments ago.”

Silence stretched between us, and just then, the door opened, and the doctor walked in.

“You’re awake. Good.”

I sat up slightly, ignoring the dizziness. “How is the baby?” I asked.

The doctor looked up, then nodded. “Stable. But you need rest. No stress.”

The moment she said that, something inside me steadied. Amid the chaos, this was real.

I gave a small nod. “Thank you.”

Jasper went completely still. “…baby?” he asked slowly.

I didn’t look at him. I didn’t owe him a response. Now he noticed, and it mattered; I almost laughed.

The doctor gave a few more instructions and left. 

The door clicked shut; only then did I turn.

“Yes,” I said quietly. “I’m pregnant.”

Jasper stared at me silently for a moment, as if trying to process something impossible.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I looked him in the eye. “What would you have done?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to, because we both knew.

“Quinn… this is different,” he said finally. “This is our child.”

A small smile touched my lips, cold and snappy.  “No,” I corrected softly. “This is my child.”

My child, not his or theirs.

His jaw tightened. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

He stepped closer. “And the man?” he asked. “The one who was with you?”

Oh.  So he saw enough to make him uncomfortable. Good.

“Does it matter?”

His expression darkened. “It does.”

“What sort of man tells his wife to get rid of a pregnancy after 3 years of childlessness?”

Before he could speak again, the door opened. This time, the atmosphere changed completely, and the air shifted before the door could even open.

A man stepped in, tall, composed, and dressed in black. His presence didn’t ask for attention; it took it.

His gaze swept across the room before settling on me, then slowly to Jasper. A faint smile curved his lips.

Some people walk into a room and nothing changes. Others walk in and charge it. Morrison was the latter.

“Morrison,” I said quietly.

He walked closer, unhurried.

“Morrison Drax?” Jasper’s voice tightened.

It was getting interesting. They recognized each other, so that explained the tension. It was a meeting for unfinished business.

Morrison’s smile deepened slightly. “Mr. Finn. Surprised to see me?”

The way he said it, the tone was not a greeting. It sounded like a challenge. Like two men who had once rivalled and managed to escape each other's wrath, only to meet again.

“What are you doing here?” Jasper asked.

Morrison didn’t answer immediately; his eyes shifted briefly to me, as if he were checking and assessing, then back to Jasper.

“I could ask you the same.”

Jasper let out a short, humourless laugh. “You’re in the wrong place.”

“Am I?”

Morrison’s tone remained calm, his gaze flicked once more toward me, then he said, “From what I can see, you’re not particularly good at taking care of what belongs to you.”

Jasper’s expression hardened. “She’s no longer my concern.”

There it was, said so easily. Whatever remained between us ended right there.

But that was the wrong thing to say. I saw it the moment the words left his mouth, because Morrison’s smile disappeared completely.

“Is that so?” he said quietly.

A pause.

“Then I suppose you won’t mind…” His eyes settled on me. “…if I take over.”

My breath caught, not from surprise but from the shift. Something had just changed. Not just between them but around me.

And for the first time since everything began, I felt in control.