WARNING SIGNS

ALEXA POV*

"I don't want to see you with that guy named Travis."

I stopped halfway through taking off my shoes, my hand frozen on the strap. For a moment I thought I had heard him wrong.

"What did you say?"

Victor was standing in the middle of our living room with his arms crossed over his chest. The room smelled faintly of beer and something sour. Thankfully, he wasn't stumbling drunk like at the hospital, but his eyes were bloodshot and his jaw was tight.

"You heard me, Alexa," he said coldly. "I don't want him having any contact with my family. Not with Lily. Not with you."

My fingers tightened around my bag strap. "Why? Give me one real reason."

"Because I said so. That's reason enough. I'm your husband."

"You're my husband, not my owner, Victor. Where do you know Travis Cole from and why is this even an issue?"

"It doesn't matter where I know him from."

"It matters to me! You're telling me to keep my daughter away from the man who paid her hospital bill and sat with her for hours when you weren't even there."

"He has no business being around Lily, absolutely none."

"He didn't do anything wrong! He hit her by accident and he stayed!"

"Because he felt guilty!" Victor snapped. "Rich men feel guilty for five minutes and then they buy you off!"

"Because he cared! He could have left, Victor. He could have handed someone money and walked away. But he stayed and you weren't there when I was sitting in that hospital terrified, wondering if my daughter was going to make it!"

"So this is about me not being there?" he said, his voice rising.

"This is about you NEVER being there! You come home drunk, you break things, you scare Lily. I do everything in this house. Everything! And you still think you get to stand here and tell me who I'm allowed to talk to?"

He took a step toward me. "Don't talk to me like that, Alexa."

I stepped back instinctively. My heart was pounding, that old fear returning, the one I'd spent years pretending wasn't there. But this time I didn't lower my voice.

"You keep promising you'll change and nothing changes. I've heard it all before. I'm done letting you control me."

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm done." I grabbed my bag from the chair. "I need space."

"Where are you going? Answer me!"

I didn't answer. I pulled the door open and slammed it as hard as I could behind me. My hands were shaking all the way to the car.

---

The moment I stepped into the office I was swallowed by work. My boss appeared before I could even sit down.

"Alexa,you need to be at Henderson conference room two. I need this perfect. We can't lose this account. I don't care what happened yesterday with your kid, you understand me?"

"I've got it," I said, swallowing everything else.

For once, I forced Victor, Travis, and even Lily out of my mind and ran the presentation. When I walked out of the conference room, my palms were sweating but my boss was waiting outside with a surprised look.

"I didn't think you'd pull that off after everything you have going on at home," he said.

"Neither did I," I whispered.

My phone buzzed, it was a call from the hospital.

"Mrs. Bennett? Lily is ready for discharge. You can pick her up in an hour. She's asking for you."

Relief flooded me so fast my knees went weak. "Thank God. Yes, I'll be there."

I packed my things fast and texted Maya.

Me: She's being discharged! Finally.

Maya: Thank God! Dinner tonight? You need wine after this week.

Me: Can't. Picking Lily in an hour. But can you meet me for 30 mins? Near the hospital? I need to talk.

Maya: Alright, be there soon.

Twenty minutes later I was sitting across from Maya at a small cafe tucked away on a quiet street near the hospital. She poured wine and leaned forward immediately.

"Okay, start from the beginning. What does he look like? Is he hot?"

"There is no mysterious man, Maya," I groaned.

"Really? So the man who hit your daughter, bought her a $200 unicorn from the VIP gift shop, paid for your private room upgrade without asking, and brought you your exact coffee order is not mysterious?"

My head snapped up so fast my neck hurt. 

"How do you know about the private room? I never told you she was in a private room. I only told you she was admitted."

Maya froze for half a second. Her smile faltered. "You told me yesterday on the phone, Alexa. You were crying. You were out of it."

"Did I?"

"Yes! God, you were hysterical," she said quickly, then waved her hand. "So come on. Tell me about him."

I was too tired to argue, but something cold settled in my stomach. I hadn't told anyone about the private room. The hospital had upgraded us after Travis spoke to the front desk. I only told Maya that Lily was admitted.

"He remembered the exact unicorn she wanted," I said slowly, watching her face. "The exact one she's been asking for for months at Target. The one I told you I couldn't afford last week. How would the VIP gift shop even know to stock that?"

Maya raised an eyebrow. "Maybe he asked you?"

"I never told him. I never told anyone at the hospital what she wanted. He just... had it."

"Okay, that's creepy but also kind of sweet?" Maya said, but her eyes flicked to her phone and back.

I leaned closer. "Maya, he also brought me my exact coffee, The nurse said he asked what I usually order when I come here with Lily a lot, even though we hadn't been there before “

Maya choked slightly on her wine. "Come here a lot?"

"Yeah. But Lily has never been hospitalized before. I've never been here before yesterday. So who told him we come here a lot?"

Maya set her glass down carefully. Her playful tone was gone. "Alexa, what's his full name? You said Travis...?"

"Travis Cole. Why?"

She stared at me. "Say that again."

"Travis Cole."

"Oh my God." She pulled out her phone typing fast, then turned the screen to me. A Forbes article. A photo of the man from the accident in a suit, standing in front of a glass skyscraper. *Travis Cole, 22, CEO of Cole Industries. Net worth $3.1 billion.*

My mouth fell open. "That's him?"

"Girl, that's not just some guy," Maya whispered. "Cole Industries owns half this city. They own this hospital. Thev private gift shop and That private room? He didn't have to ask anyone to open it. He owns it."

The coffee in my stomach turned to ice. He owns this hospital. That's how he knew about the private room. That's how he got the gift shop opened.

"Wait," I said, my voice shaking. "If he owns the hospital... he has access to patient records. He could have looked up….”"

"Alexa, don't spiral," Maya said, but she looked unsettled too. "Maybe he was just being nice. Billionaire guilt is a real thing."

"Then why would he tell me the nurse said we come here a lot?" I asked. "Lily has no file here. So where did he get that idea from?"

Maya didn't have an answer. She checked her phone. "I have to go, my date's at eight. But Alexa, please be careful. A man like that doesn't buy a kid a $200 unicorn unless he wants something."

"What would he want from me?"

"I don't know," she said, grabbing her bag. "But find out before Victor does. Take care, my love."

She left, and I sat alone as it got dark. I needed to get to the hospital, but on the way I stopped at a small flower shop across the street. After everything, Lily deserved flowers for being so brave. I wanted white lilies. She says they look like Sparkle.

The sweet smell of fresh flowers filled the air. I wandered between displays and picked up the white ones.

I carried them toward the counter. The florist, an older woman, smiled warmly.

"Oh, you can take those, dear."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The flowers. You can take them. No need to pay."

"I haven't paid yet."

"The gentleman already did," she said. 

My heart stopped dead. My hands went numb and the lilies nearly fell.

The unicorn's name was Sparkle. Lily had only named yesterday. 

"What gentleman?"