ログインEVE'S POV I was still sitting on the couch when my phone buzzed. Jessica. Jessica: You home? I heard Sophia showed up. You okay? Me: Yeah. I’m home, Sophia came, tried to start shit with Damon, I kicked her out. I’m fine. She replied almost instantly. Jessica: I’m coming over, don’t argue. I’m already in the Uber. I didn’t argue. I needed someone to talk to who actually knew the full story. Damon was asleep in the master bedroom. The doctor had him on some new pain meds that knocked him out for a couple hours in the afternoon, which was good. He needed the rest. And I needed to breathe without him looking at me like I was the answer to everything. I got up, made myself a cup of ginger tea, and waited. Twenty minutes later the intercom buzzed. I let Jessica up. She walked in wearing jeans, a hoodie, and that worried best-friend face I’d seen too many times in the last year. She hugged me the second the door closed. “You look like hell,” she said. “Thanks. I feel like it too.
EVE'S POV I was in the kitchen making tea when the doorbell rang. Damon was on the couch, half-asleep with a book on his chest. The doctor said he still needed lots of rest, so I told him not to move. “I’ll get it,” I said. I wiped my hands on a towel and walked to the door. When I opened it, my stomach dropped. Sophia. My sister stood there in tight jeans and a leather jacket, looking like she owned the place. Her eyes flicked past me straight into the apartment like she was checking if Damon was home. “What are you doing here?” I asked, keeping my voice low. She smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. “I heard my favorite brother-in-law got out of the hospital. Thought I’d come check on him.” “You’re not welcome here, Sophia.” She laughed, short and sharp. “Come on, Eve. We’re family. And Damon and I have lots of history. He’d want to see me.” Before I could stop her, she pushed past me and walked straight into the living room. Damon sat up slowly when he saw her. “Sophia?” “He
EVE Saturday afternoon came too fast. I’d spent the morning trying to tidy the penthouse even though the doctor had ordered strict bed rest. Damon helped, moving slow, straightening pillows and clearing the pill bottles off the coffee table. We kept circling each other like polite strangers. “You should be resting,” he said when he caught me organizing the kitchen. “So should you.” “I’m fine.” “You had brain surgery a week ago. You’re not fine.” “Neither are you. The doctor said bed rest, Eve. That means in bed.” “I can’t just lie there while your parents are coming over. The place needs to look decent...” “My parents don’t care what the place looks like. They’re here to check on us, not do a home inspection.” He took the dish towel from my hands and steered me toward the couch. “Sit. I’ll finish.” “Damon...” “Please. Let me help. It’s one of the few things I can actually do right now.” I sat down. He was right. I was supposed to be resting, keeping stress low, taking ca
EVE'S POV I lay in the guest bedroom staring at the ceiling, listening to Damon moving around in the master bedroom. The penthouse was quiet except for the fridge humming and the faint city noise outside. Inside my head, though? Total chaos. I’d just told him we were separated. I watched his face as he tried to wrap his head around it...his pregnant wife sleeping in the guest room, us under the same roof but not really together. I’d lied. Not completely. We had been separated. That part was true. But I left out the divorce, Sophia, the stairs, everything that actually mattered. The doctor said big stress could mess up his recovery, and I was too scared to drop the whole truth on him right now anyway. My phone buzzed. Jessica. Jessica: How are you? Settled in? Me: Yeah. We’re both home. Both resting. Jessica: And? How’s it going? Me: Weird as hell. He knows we were separated but not about the divorce. Jessica: Did you tell him anything else? Me: No. Just that we had problems
DAMONThey discharged me on Friday afternoon.14 days after waking up from the coma.Days after finding out I was going to be a father.Dr. Patel went through the discharge instructions one more time while a nurse helped me get dressed in clothes Marcus had brought from the penthouse.“No strenuous activity for at least six weeks. No driving until I clear you. Someone needs to be with you at all times for the first two weeks in case of complications.”“Eve will be there,” I said.“Mrs. Sterling is also on strict bed rest. She’s not in a position to be your primary caregiver. You’ll need additional help.”“We’ll figure it out.”Dr. Patel looked like he wanted to argue but just sighed. “Fine. But I want you both back here next week for follow-up appointments. And if you experience any dizziness, confusion, severe headaches, or memory issues, you call immediately.”“Got it.”Marcus appeared in the doorway. “The car’s downstairs. Driver’s waiting.”“Is Eve...”“She’s already down there.
EVEI woke up alone in the hospital room with sunlight coming through the windows.For a second I forgot where I was. Then everything came back at once.Fainting in Damon’s room, the doctors talking about the baby, Damon finding out. The look on his face when they told him.Pure joy.Like the baby fixed every problem we had, like we were still the couple we used to be.I put my hand on my stomach. The bump was obvious now. Halfway. And Damon knew. He knew and he was thrilled. He thought we would raise this baby together. Thought we would be a family again.Because he didn’t remember any of the bad stuff.He didn’t remember the fights, the mistrust, the way everything between us had fallen apart before the accident. He only remembered the good times. The version of us when things were simple.The door opened. A nurse came in with a breakfast tray.“Good morning, Mrs. Sterling. How are you feeling?”“Tired. Confused. Scared.”She gave me a kind smile. “That’s normal after everything yo
Three days.It had been three days of this new arrangement and I was losing my mind.Not in a bad way. In a "I can't stop thinking about him" way. In a "every time he looks at me I remember exactly what he looks like naked" way.We'd fallen into this routine. Work during the day. Pretend to be norm
The words came out before I could stop them.Everyone stopped eating and looked at me."I just mean..." I could feel my face getting hot again. "She's not here. Maybe we could talk about something else."My mother's smile went tight and thin. "Of course, darling. We're just making conversation.""I
Saturday morning I woke up to the smell of bacon. Which was weird because I didn't cook bacon. Didn't really cook anything beyond cereal and toast, honestly. I stumbled out of bed in my pajamas—ratty t-shirt and shorts that had seen better days—and followed the smell to the kitchen. Damon was at
I woke up Friday morning and for about three seconds, everything was fine.Then I remembered dinner. The forks. Catherine Sterling's smile. My mother agreeing with everything. The bathroom.Damon defending me.I pulled the pillow over my face and groaned.My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I grabbe







