Chapter 6

Cora

I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was the super bright white light from the ceiling. It felt like something heavy was pushing down on my face.

I couldn't move even if I wanted to.

My chest felt so heavy, like concrete was poured right into my lungs while I was passed out.

For a second, I just stared at the blank ceiling tiles, wishing I could stay numb and half-asleep forever.

But reality didn't let me. The moment I fully woke up, the voices came back fast.

Chloe and Annie's words from earlier were playing in my head non-stop.

Pregnant. Leon. Candice. Fuck.

The click of the hospital door handle made me jump. I didn't turn my head, but I heard the soft squeak of rubber-soled shoes coming toward the bed.

Chloe came in first, looking pale and stressed, followed closely by a middle-aged man in a white lab coat. The doctor held a clipboard, looking completely neutral.

"Ah, you are awake, Miss Woods," the doctor said, dropping into that calm, doctor-like voice.

He stepped closer, checking the monitors next to my bed before looking down at his charts.

"You fainted because of a lot of stress and a sudden drop in blood pressure. However, the blood work confirms what we suspected."

I closed my eyes. Please don't say it out loud.

"You are about six weeks pregnant," he continued, completely unaware that his words were literally breaking my whole life apart.

"The baby is stable, but given the circumstances, I have to be clear: you must avoid all stress. You need total rest. No heavy lifting, no high-anxiety situations. Your body is under a lot of pressure right now."

Avoid stress. I wanted to laugh, but it just came out as a choked, dry cough.

He was giving me medical advice as if my life hadn't just smashed into a million pieces right here on this sterile floor.

Leon was gone. He was with Candice.

And I was pregnant with his baby in New York, totally alone and broke.

How was I supposed to avoid stress when breathing felt like swallowing glass?

"Thank you, Doctor," Chloe said. "We will make sure she gets the proper rest."

The doctor nodded, murmured a few more standard pleasantries, and slipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

As soon as the door clicked shut, the silence was too much.

Annie, who had been sitting quietly in the corner armchair the entire time, immediately moved to the side of my bed.

She didn't say a word. She just reached out and slid her hand into mine, gripping my fingers tightly.

Her warm hand made me lose it, and the dam finally broke.

A loud sob ripped out of me in the quiet room. I pulled my knees up to my chest, burying my face in the scratchy hospital blanket as the tears came flooding out.

I cried so hard my ribs ached. I wasn't just crying because I was scared. I was mourning.

I was sad about the future I'd lost, the silly, hopeful dream I had spent months building in my head.

I had really thought Leon and I were going to make it. I thought we were a team.

I had imagined a life with him, a quiet, happy apartment, a real future. It had all been a lie.

A beautiful lie, and now I was left with the mess.

Annie squeezed my hand tighter, her own eyes tearing up.

"I've got you, Coco. I'm right here. Just breathe."

Across the bed, Chloe stood tall, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, watching me with a very protective, almost scary look.

Her eyes were staring at the wall, probably imagining all the ways she could ruin Leon's life.

"This is exactly why you need to listen to me, Cora," Chloe said, her voice dropping to a low, intense whisper.

She stepped closer, leaning over the guardrail of the bed.

"Look at what this city has done to you. Look at what he did to you. You cannot stay here. You have to come back home to Mom and Dad. We need to go back to the estate. With the family's backing, nobody can touch you. Leon won't be able to get within a mile of you. We will start your life over from a place of real strength. You won't be the victim here."

Go back home. To our parents.

The very people I had packed my bags and ran away from two years ago because their world felt like a prison to me.

A long, heavy silence stretched over the room.

The only sound was my ragged breathing slowing down, the tears finally drying up on my cheeks.

I stared at the white sheet, my mind racing through a million scenarios.

If I stayed in New York, Leon would find out eventually. Candice would find out.

They would try to take this baby, or worse, they would completely ruin me to protect their own names. I have no protection here.

Slowly, I wiped my face with the back of my hand.

The sadness in my chest didn't go away, but it got cold. The heartbreak was turning into something hard and solid: determination.

I looked up at Chloe, meeting her sharp gaze.

"Okay."

Chloe blinked, slightly surprised by how fast I had given in.

"Okay?"

"I'll go back," I said, with no feeling in my voice.

"I will face Mom and Dad. You're right. I need to disappear from New York entirely. I have to protect this child, and I can't do it here. I can't let Leon or Candice ever find out about this."

Annie looked at me with a mix of worry and relief, but she didn't disagree. She just held my hand, letting me know she was sticking with me through this, no matter what.

..★..

By the next afternoon, I was released. The sun was way too bright as we left the hospital. Chloe had her sleek, dark SUV parked right at the curb.

The drive out of the city was mostly silent.

Chloe drove with a tense, aggressive focus, while Annie sat in the back seat, occasionally reaching forward to squeeze my shoulder.

I just stared out the passenger window, watching the New York skyline shrink in the rearview mirror. I was leaving the only place where I had felt free.

A few hours later, the city concrete faded into rolling green hills and massive, towering trees.

Chloe slowed the car down as we approached a set of huge, detailed iron gates.

The security guard recognized the car immediately, bowing his head slightly as the gates swung open to let us through.

We drove up the winding, private driveway, and there it was. The Woods family estate.

It was a huge, impressive mansion that looked more like a historic European museum than a home.

The stone front was perfect, the lawns perfectly cut, and the sheer size of it was suffocating.

Walking up to those grand front doors, a familiar wave of nausea hit me.

The overly fancy, controlling feel of this house was the exact reason I had run away in the first place.

Every single corner of this estate screamed wealth, control, and impossible expectations.

Chloe pushed the heavy oak front doors open, leading the way into the grand entrance room. The floors were polished marble, reflecting the massive crystal chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceiling.

And there they were. My parents were standing at the bottom of the grand staircase.

They didn't move toward us. They just stood there, looking cold, upper-class, and perfectly calm, as if their youngest daughter hadn't been missing from their lives for two years.

My mother had her hands clasped in front of her perfect designer dress, her expression unreadable.

My father stood tall, his jaw set, looking like a judge presiding over a courtroom.

I froze a few feet into the room, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I opened my mouth to speak, to say hello, to apologize, to say anything to break the ice.

Before a single word could leave my lips, my father's eyes shifted.

He didn't look at my face. His cold, piercing gaze dropped straight down to my stomach, staring at it with total disgust.

"We know why you are here, Cora," my father said, his voice was completely devoid of any fatherly warmth.

"And let me make one thing entirely clear. We will only take you back into this house, and we will only give you the family's full backing and protection, under one condition."

I swallowed hard, a sudden chill running down my spine.

"What condition?"

He looked back up, his eyes locking onto mine with devastating finality.

"You will terminate the pregnancy immediately. We will not have a bastard child ruining the reputation of this family."