LOGINScarlet's Pov I sighed heavily. "Look... all I'm saying his harassment caused stress that contributed to my pregnancy complications, yes.""Harassment,"he scoffed. "That's a strong word. Isn't it possible that my client was simply a desperate father trying to protect his son from what he genuinely believed was an unstable household?"Katherine was on her feet."Objection. Calls for speculation.""Sustained. Move on, Mr. Hastings."He shifted tactics."Ms. Cole, you married Damian Cole very quickly after divorcing Lucas, didn't you?""We'd known each other for years through family connections. But yes, our relationship developed quickly.""Some might say suspiciously quickly. Almost like the relationship existed before your divorce was finalized.""Objection! Relevance?""Your Honor, I'm establishing that Ms. Cole's actions may have contributed to my client's emotional state.""I'll allow it but make your point quickly, counselor."Hastings turned back to me."Did you have a romantic
Scarlet's POVI'd been awake since three in the morning trying to decide what to wear to testify against the father of my child, which felt absurd because what did clothing matter when you were about to sit in a courtroom and describe how someone you'd once loved had hired a man to kill you and your unborn babies.Damian found me standing in our closet at five AM holding two different blouses like the choice between navy and gray was the most important decision I'd ever make."Scarlet, you need to sleep. The trial doesn't start until nine.""I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see that man with the knife standing over me."He took the blouses from my hands and hung them back up, then pulled me against his chest in a way that made me realize I was shaking."You don't have to do this. The prosecutor said your testimony would help but they have enough evidence without it. You can stay home with the babies and let them handle it.""And then what? Lucas gets convicted without me ha
Damian's Pov Lucas's trial was scheduled for three weeks from now, a fact that hung over us like a storm cloud we couldn't quite ignore. Scarlet would have to testify about the attack, about the man with the knife and the fear and the premature delivery that had resulted. The prosecutor had warned us it would be difficult, that Lucas's lawyer would try to minimize his role and paint him as someone who'd been driven to desperate measures by losing his family."I don't know if I can face him," Scarlet admitted one night after the babies were finally asleep. "I don't know if I can sit in a courtroom and look at him and talk about what he did.""You don't have to if you don't want to. The prosecutor has enough evidence even without your testimony.""But they said it would be stronger with me. That seeing the victim testify carries weight with juries.""You're not just a victim. You're a survivor. And whatever you decide, I'll support it."Michael and Victoria were already in prison, thei
Damian's POVEthan's car seat looked like it could swallow him whole.I stood in the NICU holding this piece of equipment that was supposedly designed for infants but which seemed absurdly oversized for my four-pound son, trying to figure out how to secure him in a way that wouldn't let him slip through the straps or crush his still-fragile ribcage."Like this," the nurse said, demonstrating with practiced efficiency how to thread the straps between his legs and over his shoulders, how to roll up receiving blankets to pad the sides so his head didn't flop around. "See? He fits. He's small but he's safe."Safe felt like a relative term when you were talking about a baby who nine weeks ago had been born so premature that his skin was translucent and his lungs couldn't breathe on their own. But the discharge paperwork was signed, the medical equipment was loaded in my car, and apparently we were actually doing this—taking our twins home after two months of living in this hospital.Scarle
Scarlet's Pov Weeks. Months. An eternity of living in this NICU watching my babies struggle for every breath while the world outside continued spinning without me.I developed a routine because routines were the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely. Mornings I spent with Ethan, sitting beside his isolette with my hand through the port touching his back while he slept, talking to him about nothing important just so he'd hear my voice and know I was there. Afternoons were Elena's time, the same ritual of touch and voice but with more anxiety because she was less stable, more likely to have alarms go off or need sudden interventions.In between I pumped milk and tried to eat food Damian brought me and occasionally slept for a few hours when my body simply couldn't stay conscious anymore.Damian brought Jace to visit when he could, though the NICU had strict rules about children under twelve visiting so Jace could only come during specific hours and only if he wasn't showi
Scarlet's POVThe NICU became my entire world in a way that nothing else had ever been, not even the hospital room where I'd spent weeks on bedrest, because at least then I'd been the patient with some illusion of control over my own body. Here I was just a visitor watching machines keep my babies alive while I stood helpless behind plastic walls.Every day was a battle measured in ounces and oxygen levels and the terrifying silence that came when alarms stopped beeping because that meant either the crisis had passed or gotten worse and you couldn't know which until a nurse came running.Ethan was doing better than Elena from the start, his two pounds three ounces giving him just enough advantage that his lungs could handle breathing with less support, his digestive system could process the minuscule amounts of breast milk they fed him through tubes without rejecting it. He still had wires and monitors covering his tiny body but there was something in the way he moved, these small pur
Scarlet's pov I rubbed my head looking at the three people who were currently stating up at me with hope in their eyes. I didn't know what my parents were trying trying to achieve by suddenly wanting to create peace and bringing— Iooked down at the bunch of you gifts in their hands—these gifts fir
Morrison's face went pale. He looked at the other board members, then back at me. "We... we have to decline." The words landed heavy in the room. I'd expected it. But hearing it still stung. "I see." I reached for my bag. "However," Morrison continued quickly, "we'd like to make a count
Scarlet's Pov"You can ask," I told him"What do you do to decompress? When the carrying gets too heavy?"I thought about it, genuinely."I cook sometimes. Badly." I wrapped both hands tighter around my cup. "I run. I sit in Jace's room after he falls asleep and just... watch him breathe. Which pro
SCARLET'S POV Two PM came too quickly and not fast enough. I sat in the same conference room where they had suspended me three weeks ago. The same long mahogany table. The same too-cold air conditioning. But this time, I'm not alone. Dr. Kim sat beside me, her folder of evidence in front of







