Chapter 5

The Hospital 

Adrian and Sophia outside New York Memorial Hospital. His hand on her back. Her face tilted up toward his, expression soft and intimate. The timestamp showed today. Less than two hours ago.

I stared at the photograph for a long time. Then I looked up the hospital's address. 

And I knew exactly where I was going tomorrow.

I told myself I was going to the hospital for a routine appointment. The lie lasted twenty seconds.

I parked in the visitor lot at New York Memorial and sat in my car with my hands gripping the steering wheel. The maternity wing entrance was visible from where I sat. I told myself I could leave. I could drive away and pretend I'd never seen that photograph. I could go back to not knowing.

But I'd already spent five years not knowing.

I got out of the car and walked toward the entrance.

The maternity wing was aggressively cheerful. Soft blues and greens. Photographs of happy families on the walls. A receptionist smiled at me as I passed, and I felt like a ghost moving through someone else's life.

I didn't have to search long.

Adrian stood near the examination rooms, his back to me, speaking quietly to someone I couldn't yet see. He wore his charcoal suit, the expensive one with the subtle tailoring that made him look like he owned the building. But his posture was different here. Softer. His shoulders weren't quite as rigid.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I still couldn't see who he was talking to.

"Nervous," a woman's voice replied. Sophia. "But you're here, so I feel better."

"I'm always going to be here," Adrian said quietly.

The words hit me like a physical blow.

I'd never heard him say anything like that to me. Not in five years. Not once.

I moved closer, staying behind a corner, and finally saw them.

Sophia emerged from one of the examination rooms in a hospital gown, her hand pressed against her lower abdomen. She looked vulnerable in a way I'd never seen her at Harrison Group. Younger, softer and real in a way that made my chest crack open.

Adrian immediately moved to steady her, his hand going to her elbow.

"Careful," he said. "Let me help you."

She leaned into him like she was leaning on a man that belonged to her or more, like her husband. 

"Dr. Patterson says everything looks great," Sophia said, her voice trembling slightly. "The baby's development is right on schedule."

Baby.

The word echoed through my skull.

Adrian's expression shifted into something I'd never seen directed at me. Tenderness, protection, wonder, maybe. Like she'd just told him something precious.

"That's good," he said softly. "That's really good, Sophia."

"I was so worried," she continued, moving toward a chair. Adrian helped her sit down with careful, deliberate movements. "When I first found out, I didn't know how I was going to manage it alone. But then you stepped in, and I—"

"You're not alone," Adrian interrupted. His voice was steady. Certain. "You're not going to be alone through any of this. I promised."

I watched him kneel in front of her, his expensive suit pressing against the hospital floor, and I realized I was watching a man I'd never actually met.

A nurse approached them, carrying a folder.

"Congratulations again," she said warmly, handing the papers to Sophia. "Your due date is marked right here. You're going to have a beautiful spring baby."

Sophia smiled, tears streaming down her face. Adrian reached over and squeezed her hand.

The nurse walked away.

I didn't stay long enough to hear anything else.

I turned and walked back through the maternity wing with mechanical movements, past the cheerful photographs and the smiling receptionist. My vision had tunneled down to a single point, the exit sign at the end of the hallway. Everything else was white noise and distance.

The afternoon sunlight nearly blinded me when I stepped outside.

I sat in my car for three hours.

I didn't drive. I didn't turn on the radio. I just sat with my hands shaking and my chest heaving like I couldn't quite remember how to breathe properly. My lips trembling, my eyes already blurry with tears. 

A part of me kept waiting for logical explanations. Maybe it was a surrogate situation. Maybe Sophia was a relative or maybe there was something innocent happening that would make sense of all of this.

But there was no innocent explanation for the way Adrian looked at her.

There was no innocent explanation for the way he'd promised to be there.

There was no innocent explanation for a man who'd never once held my hand in public guiding another woman through her pregnancy with absolute tenderness.

By the time I drove back to the Harrison Estate, it was nearly eight o'clock.

The house was empty and cold.

I didn't turn on the lights. I just moved through the darkness to the living room and sat on the sofa, still wearing my coat. The city lights filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting everything in shades of gray.

My phone lit up at 8:47 PM.

A message from Adrian.

I didn't want to look at it, I didn't want to know what the message was about because I was so angry at him.

How could he do such a thing to me? Why would he hide such a big secret from me? 

For five years, I'd accepted being second to Harrison Group. I'd made peace with the idea that my husband was too consumed by business to notice me, to choose me, to love me the way I loved him.

I'd never been Adrian Harrison's first choice. And I never would be.

But curiosity

didn't let me. I picked up the phone and checked the message.

Adrian: "Running late. Don't wait up."