Chapter 6

I froze the instant I heard those words. "Emma and you let them inside my house without confirming from me?" I shouted into the phone, unable to keep the panic out of my voice.

I didn't wait for another second. I rushed into my office, grabbed my bag and everything I needed, then sprinted out of the hospital. Within moments, I was inside my car, starting the engine before I had even properly closed the door.

As I sped out of the hospital premises, only one thought kept repeating itself in my head. Tamara and her mother must not meet Jayden, I couldn't afford to lose him.

They had already tried to kill him when he was still growing inside my womb. If they found out he was alive, I had no doubt they would do something even worse this time.

My hands tightened around the steering wheel as I drove far above the speed limit, my heart pounding harder with every passing second.

I had hoped returning to New York would finally give me some peace. For the first time in a long while, it had felt like my life was beginning to settle down. Things had finally started going my way.

Now, everything felt like it was falling apart again. The distance between the hospital and my house suddenly felt endless. I grabbed my phone and tried calling Emma again, but this time the call wouldn't even connect. My jaw clenched in frustration.

I swear she is not going to have it easy if anything happens to Jayden. I hope I meet him in one piece, but she is about to kiss her job goodbye. I pressed harder on the accelerator, silently praying I wasn't already too late.

The moment I pulled into the driveway, I jumped out of the car without bothering to shut the door properly. I rushed into the house, breathing heavily from both fear and the frantic drive.

The moment I stepped into the living room, I saw Tamara and Elsa sitting comfortably with huge smiles on their faces, as though they belonged there.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. My eyes quickly swept across the living room, the nanny was nowhere to be seen. I didn't wait for either of them to answer. Without wasting another second, I turned and rushed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. I ran straight into Jayden's room.

The bed was empty, my heart dropped. A cold wave of fear washed over me as I stared at the neatly made bed, unable to see my son anywhere. I spun around and rushed back into the hallway, heading straight for his playroom.

Just then, Emma walked out of my bedroom.

"Where is Jayden?" I asked the moment I reached Emma.

"He is sleeping in your room. I just came upstairs to check on him," she replied. "He insisted on sleeping in your room, so I put him there."

The tightness in my chest eased slightly. I let out a long breath, trying to steady my racing heartbeat. My hands were still trembling as I slowly pushed open the bedroom door. For a split second, I was terrified the room would be empty.

Then I saw him, Jayden was curled up peacefully on my bed, hugging his favorite toy tightly against his little body. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm as he slept soundly, completely unaware of the panic that had nearly consumed me.

Relief flooded through me so suddenly that my knees almost gave out. I quietly walked over to the bed and brushed a few strands of hair away from his forehead before leaning down to place a gentle kiss on it.

He shifted slightly in his sleep, letting out a soft little sound, but he didn't wake up. I silently prayed he would stay asleep until I was finished dealing with the nuisance waiting downstairs.

After making sure he was comfortable, I quietly walked out of the room and closed the door behind me as gently as possible. Emma was still standing outside, waiting for me, I looked at her, my expression hardening again.

"Why would you let strangers into my house?" I asked sternly.

Her face immediately filled with guilt. "I'm so sorry, ma'am," she said quickly. "They knocked on the door, and I answered it. Before I could even ask who they were, they pushed me aside and walked into the house. I even threatened to call the security on them."

I wasn't surprised, that sounded exactly like something Tamara would do. She had never respected boundaries, and forcing her way into someone's home was completely in character for her.

"Did they see Jayden, or did they ask who you are and what you do here?" I asked.

"No, Jayden had already been asleep for about an hour before they arrived," Emma answered. "I didn't give them the chance to ask me any questions."

I gave a slow nod. "Next time, don't open the door unless I have told you someone is coming to visit," I said firmly. "I will be right back. I need to deal with them."

Without waiting for a response, I headed downstairs. By the time I reached the living room, Tamara and Elsa were casually wandering around my house as though they owned the place. Their eyes moved from one expensive piece of furniture to another, carefully taking in every detail of the house.

Thankfully, I had never displayed any framed photographs of Jayden and me anywhere in the living room. At least there was nothing there that could immediately expose the secret I had worked so hard to protect.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the moment I walked down the stairs.

Both women turned toward me, Elsa was the first to speak.

"Tamara said you performed Amy's surgery today, so we came to thank you," she said as her eyes wandered around my living room. She took in every corner of the house before her gaze settled back on me. "You have really done so much for yourself. It's unbelievable that you are Doctor Nicole. If the surgery hadn't been successful, I would have said you were an imposter trying to pose as Doctor Nicole." She finished with a suspicious look that lingered on my face.

I wasn't surprised, that was exactly who Elsa had always been. She had never believed in me—not once in my entire life. The irony was that she hadn't always treated me this way.

Before my mother died, Elsa had been her closest friend. They were practically inseparable, and I had grown up believing she genuinely cared about me.

Everything changed after my mother's death. Somewhere along the way, the kind and caring woman I remembered disappeared. In her place was a woman who saw me as nothing more than her daughter's competition. No matter what I achieved, she always found a way to dismiss it.

If I succeeded, she questioned how I had done it. If I failed, she made sure everyone knew about it. She was always looking for an opportunity to pull me down while using the same moment to push Tamara higher.

I could still remember standing beside my mother's hospital bed years ago. With tears in her eyes, Elsa had held my mother's hand and promised she would take care of me as though I were her own daughter.

Looking at the woman standing in my living room now, that promise felt like nothing more than a cruel lie.

I forced those memories aside and looked at both of them coldly. "I need you to leave my house right now," I said in a firm voice.

Tamara and Elsa exchanged amused glances, the next second, they both burst into laughter.

"Because you own this house now, you think you are something? You are still beneath me and will always be beneath me,"Tamara said.

For someone whose daughter had just come out of surgery, she certainly had far too much time on her hands to worry about her husband.

I pulled out my phone and held it up. "I am going to call security if you don't leave right now," I said.

There was so much I wanted to say. Years of resentment and anger sat at the tip of my tongue, begging to be unleashed. But this wasn't the time. The only thing that mattered was making sure they left before they discovered Jayden.

I walked to the front door and pulled it open. "Get the hell out of my house," I said coldly.

The two of them slowly walked toward me, Elsa stopped right in front of me, glaring as though I was the one being unreasonable.

"Your father is going to hear about this disrespect," she said.

I let out a mocking scoff. "And he is going to do what? Beat me?" I shot back. "He is not my father, just so you know. I dropped his useless surname five years ago."

A small smirk tugged at my lips as I gestured toward the open door, silently hoping they would finally get the hell out of my apartment.

"We will leave," Tamara said.

For a brief moment, I thought she was finally coming to her senses, then she took a step closer.

"We only came to warn you to quench whatever thought you have in your head about getting David back. David is mine, all mine, and I would rather die than watch another woman steal him from me."

She moved even closer until there was barely any space between us. "You better decline his invitation to his mother's birthday, or this time, you won't survive what's coming for you."

With that, she turned and walked out of my apartment with Elsa beside her. Just as they reached the doorway, Tamara suddenly stopped.

She slowly turned around, pretending she had only just remembered something.

"Oh!" she said with a fake look of sympathy. "Sorry about the loss of your baby."

My fingers curled into tight fists as I fought the urge to slam the door in her face. Before I could react, "Mummmy." Jayden's little voice drifted downstairs from the upper floor. The color drained from my face.