Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Ex That Wasn’t

Blake stood in the doorway like an avenging angel gone wrong, his usually perfect appearance completely destroyed. His hair was wild, his clothes wrinkled like he'd slept in them, and his eyes... his eyes held the kind of madness that came from a man who'd lost everything and decided to take the world down with him.

"Where is she?" he demanded, his voice hoarse and desperate. "Where's my wife?"

"Ex-wife," Dominic corrected, his voice deadly calm as he stepped between Blake and my gurney. "And you have no right to be here."

"I have every right!" Blake's voice cracked on the words, and I could see the fine tremor in his hands that spoke of someone who was barely holding himself together. "That's my baby she's carrying. My child. My blood."

"Only family is allowed in here Mr Reynolds." Dr. Martinez said coldly, her professional demeanor cracking to reveal the fury underneath. "Security is already on their way. You need to leave. Now."

But Blake wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on me with the kind of intensity that made my skin crawl, like he was trying to memorize every detail of my face.

"I've been watching you," he said, and there was something in his voice that made every instinct I'd developed since his betrayal scream danger. "Every day. Every night. I know your schedule better than you do. I know when you eat, when you sleep, when you breathe."

“What??”

“Yes, you’re mine and going into this bastard's home doesn’t stop that. I have access to all the cameras in your home now.”

"You're insane," I whispered, but even as I said it, I could see the truth in his eyes. He wasn't just obsessed—he was completely, utterly unhinged.

"I've been taking things to stay awake," he continued, his voice getting more manic with each word. "Stimulants. Illegal ones. Had to watch you, had to make sure you were safe, had to make sure he wasn't hurting you."

"Blake—"

"I know you think you love him," he interrupted, gesturing wildly at Dominic. "But you don't. You can't. Because you're mine. You've always been mine. And if I can't have you..."

He trailed off, but the implication hung in the air like a noose.

"If you can't have me, what?" I asked, though I was afraid of the answer.

Blake's laugh was the sound of breaking glass and shattered dreams. "Then I'll make sure no one else can either. Even if it means you have to die with your baby."

The words hit the room like a bomb, and I felt something cold and calculating click into place in my mind even as another contraction tore through me.

“Not yours Blake, why can’t you understand that?! You and your mistress pushed me to my death, your mistress tried to give me acid!! You divorced me for another woman!! I’m not yours!”

“I don’t care, I’m the only one that can do whatever I want with you! I married you and you will remain by my side even if you have to lose everything you love before you realize that.”

"You poisoned me," I said, and it wasn't a question.

"Not you," Blake said, his voice getting weaker as the stimulants in his system began to crash. "Never you. I was trying to kill him. The drinks got switched. The petit four was meant for Dominic. I wanted him sick, wanted him weak, wanted you to see what he really was. But you..." He looked at me with something that might have been regret if it hadn't been buried under so much madness. "You always were too smart for your own good."

"So you've been planning this for weeks," I said, and it wasn't a question.

Blake's smile was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. "I've been planning this since the day you walked out of our house. Every move, every angle, every way to get you back where you belong. I even paid that little assistant of Jules—Dina. She's been feeding me information, security feeds, your schedule, everything."

"You had me followed," I whispered, the betrayal hitting me almost as hard as the physical pain.

"I had you protected," he corrected, his voice taking on the tone of someone who genuinely believed their own delusions. "And now, if the baby doesn't make it..." He shrugged, like he was discussing the weather. "Well, maybe that's for the best. Maybe then you can come home where you belong."

That's when Dominic moved.

I'd seen him angry before—the controlled fury of a man who'd built an empire on the bones of his enemies. But this was different. This was primal, visceral rage that came from somewhere deeper than business or strategy.

He hit Blake with the force of a freight train, driving him back against the wall hard enough to crack the drywall. Blake's head snapped back, and I heard the sickening sound of bone meeting brick.

"You poisoned her," Dominic snarled, his hands wrapped around Blake's throat. "You tried to kill you own fucking baby?!”

"Not the baby," Blake gasped, his voice barely audible past Dominic's grip. "Never the baby. I was trying to kill you. But if it dies anyway..." He smiled, even as Dominic's grip tightened. "Then at least I know she'll need someone to comfort her."

The monitors around me began beeping frantically as another contraction hit, this one so violent that I screamed. The sound echoed off the sterile walls, and I could see the panic in the nurses' faces as they rushed to check the readouts.

"We're losing the baby," Dr. Martinez said sharply. "Get her to the OR now. We need to try to save what we can."

"What does that mean?" I gasped, but I already knew the answer.

"It means we might be able to save the baby if we deliver now," she said, her voice heavy with the weight of impossible choices. "But at this stage of development, the chances are..." She trailed off, but the silence said everything.

"And if we don't?" Dominic asked, his voice deadly calm even as his hands remained wrapped around Blake's throat.

"Then we lose them both," Dr. Martinez said simply.

The words hit me like a physical blow. I was going to lose my baby. The one thing I'd fought for, the one thing that had given me purpose and strength and hope for the future, was being torn away from me by someone who claimed to love me.

That's when hospital security finally arrived, followed by what looked like half the NYPD. It took four officers to pull Dominic off Blake, and even then, he fought them like a man possessed.

"Let me finish this," he snarled, his eyes locked on Blake's bloodied face. "Let me end this once and for all."

But Blake was already being dragged away, his voice echoing through the hallway as he fought against the restraints.

"You can't keep her from me forever!" he screamed, the words bouncing off the sterile walls like accusations. "She's mine! She's always been mine! And if I can't have her, then no one can!"

The silence that followed his departure was deafening, broken only by the frantic beeping of the monitors and the sound of my own ragged breathing.

"He's going to make bail," I said quietly, my voice barely audible over the medical equipment. "His family has too much money, too much influence. He'll be out by morning."

"We need to get you to surgery," Dr. Martinez said, but her voice was gentle now, like she was talking to someone who was already grieving. "There's still a chance we can save the baby, but we need to move now."

I nodded, but as the nurses began preparing me for transport, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the beginning. Blake had crossed a line tonight that couldn't be uncrossed, and even if they arrested him, even if they locked him away, the damage was already done.

My body was rejecting the pregnancy. My baby was dying inside me. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

But as they wheeled me toward the operating room, a young nurse leaned close to my ear.

"Mrs. Blackwood," she whispered, her voice so quiet I almost missed it. "Someone called about twenty minutes ago. They knew exactly what poison was used. They asked about your condition, about the baby's condition. They knew details that weren't public."

My blood turned to ice in my veins, even as another contraction tore through me. "Who?"

"I don't know," she said, glancing around nervously. "But they knew everything. Too much. And they said..." She hesitated, like she was afraid to speak the words aloud.

"What did they say?"

"They said this was just the beginning. That if the baby survives, there are other ways to make sure you lose everything."

The room spun around me as the implications hit home. Blake hadn't been acting alone. Someone else was involved, someone who knew exactly what oleander would do to a pregnant woman, someone who had access to information that should have been confidential.

Someone who wanted both me and my baby dead.

As they wheeled me into the operating room, the bright lights overhead blurring together as the medication began to take effect, one thought echoed through my mind with crystal clarity.

The war wasn't over.

It was just beginning.

And this time, I wasn't sure either of us would survive it.