ログインChapter 59Ashton didn't answer right away. He closed the short distance between them, his hands reaching out to grip her shoulders gently. His palms were warm, but his face was drawn pale, his jaw locked in a hard, tight line."Ashton..." Riley’s voice cracked, her fingers digging into his forearms. "Please. What is it?""The flush they administered hours ago should have completely cleared her system by now," Ashton said softly, his voice gravelly with a restraint he was clearly struggling to maintain. "The attending doctor said we have a thirty-minute window left for her reflexes to kick in naturally." Riley felt the floor sway under her feet. "Thirty minutes? What does that mean? What happens after thirty minutes?""If she doesn't start responding or stirring in the next half hour, it means the compound isn't just sitting in her bloodstream...it's affecting her central nervous system," Ashton met her eyes, holding nothing back. "We need to see some movement before that clock ru
Chapter 58Frederick’s smile didn't fade. He adjusted his stance, leaning slightly on his cane, completely unfazed by her outburst."Get out of here, Frederick," Riley spat, her voice shaking with raw disgust as she took a firm step forward to block the entrance. "You are not needed here. Leave!""I'm not going anywhere, Riley. Not until I see my daughter and get a clear answer about what happened to her.""Your daughter?" Riley let out a short, hollow laugh, her fists clenching at her sides. "She wasn't your daughter three weeks ago when I begged you for help with her surgery and you told me to let her die. She wasn't your daughter last week when you went on television and swore I cheated in you and gave you a child that isn't yours. Get out of here, Frederick." Frederick lowered his head slightly, his eyes cold and dark. "What I say to reporters is business, Riley. What matters right now is that my ten-year-old daughter is lying in an ICU because of you. You're reckless and inco
Chapter 57Riley pulled her chair closer to the edge of the mattress, resting her chin on her arms near Iris’s elbow. Her eyes burned, dry and heavy with exhaustion, but she refused to let her eyelids close. Not even for a second.If someone could send a laced bottle to her front door using Ashton’s name, they could walk into this room. In the middle of the night, with the floor quiet and the hallway empty, anyone in a lab coat could step behind that curtain. She stayed wide awake, watching the slow rise and fall of the blanket over Iris’s chest, her pulse jumping at every soft squeak of rubber soles in the corridor.Around four in the morning, two light, hesitating knocks rattled against the ICU glass.Riley snapped her head up, her body going instantly rigid. She stood up, smoothing her palms against her jeans, and moved toward the door. She grasped the heavy handle, pulling it open just a few inches to keep her body blocking the frame.When her eyes met the woman standing in th
Chapter 56Ashton pulled her off the floor, his hand firm on her waist until her legs stopped shaking. He retrieved her phone, slipped it into his coat pocket, and guided her straight down the corridor toward the intensive care unit.The heavy doors opened into a quiet room lit only by the soft, blue glow of medical screens. The air inside was cold, carrying the sharp scent of antiseptic.On the bed in the center of the room, Iris looked impossibly small under the thin hospital sheet, but her frame stretched out across the mattress in a way that made Riley's heart break all over again. Her cheeks were drained of color, her skin an unnatural, pale gray under the lights. A soft plastic oxygen mask covered half her face, misting with every shallow breath. Thin wires stretched from her gown, tracing back to the monitors above her head.Riley’s steps slowed. The sight hit her like a blow, knocking the remaining air right out of her lungs. Her chest tightened so hard she couldn't catch
Chapter 55The sirens cut out right outside the building, followed by the screech of tires against the pavement.A second later, three heavy thumps rattled the apartment door."Riley! Open the door!"Riley pulled it open. Ashton stood in the hallway, out of breath, his tie loosened and his jacket half-off."In the back," she said, stepping aside and pointing down the hall. "She’s on the floor by the bed."Ashton didn't answer. He hurried past her, dropping to his knees beside Iris. He checked her neck for a pulse, then put his ear near her mouth to listen to her chest. Downstairs, the heavy front entrance doors banged open, and boots pounded up the concrete stairs."Paramedics," Ashton said, looking up at her. "Go out to the landing and yell down so they don't check every flat on this floor. I’ll carry her."Riley ran out into the corridor just as two paramedics crested the top of the stairs carrying heavy med kits. "In here! Third door!" she called out.By the time the paramedics re
Chapter 54"You called the exact person you were supposed to call," Ashton said, and his voice cracked with a raw, heavy emotion that made Riley’s chest ache because she had never heard him sound so genuinely frightened before. "Stay on the line with me, and do not hang up unless the emergency operators need the line clear to call you back, so just keep talking to me and tell me if she is still breathing the same way right now."Riley shifted her weight on the hard floorboards, balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder so she could free both of her hands, and she gently pressed her trembling fingers against her daughter's chest to monitor the steady rise and fall of her tiny ribs."Yes, she is still breathing exactly the same," she confirmed, her voice catching as she smoothed back a damp strand of hair from Iris's pale forehead and tried to steady her own breathing so she wouldn't miss a single sound from the phone."Good girl," Ashton murmured softly, and Riley did not e
Chapter 5Riley didn't hesitate. The woman who had fiercely slapped him the night before disappeared under the crushing weight of a mother’s desperation. Slowly, agonizingly, she lowered her battered, aching body onto the gravel driveway, her knees digging into the sharp stones right beside his dr
Chapter 4The heavy smell of cheap disinfectant, sweat, and old plastic chairs filled the crowded emergency room waiting area. It was completely different from the freezing, rainy night Riley had just escaped.The nurses had rushed Iris through a set of double doors into a separate treatment room t
Chapter 3The moment they stepped out the front door, a sudden, loud crack of thunder shook the whole sky.The clouds burst, and a massive downpour slammed into the ground. The rain fell in heavy, blinding sheets, completely soaking the perfect, neat driveway.Iris gasped, shivering from the biting
Chapter 2The silence that followed his words wasn’t just quiet; it was deafening. It felt as though the air had been entirely sucked out of the room, leaving Riley gasping. Her mind spun violently as she tried to process the horrible words that had just left Fredrick’s mouth.Bastard child.“Say







