All Chapters of The Bet That Ruined Us : Chapter 211 - Chapter 220

Nurses came running. The sound of their shoes hitting the floor echoed through the corridor like a stampede. Two of them reached Shayla first, a younger one with wide eyes and an older one with the calm efficiency of someone who had done this a thousand times before. The older nurse took one look at the puddle on the floor, at Shayla's white face, at the way she was gripping Grayson's arm with both hands, and immediately started giving orders to anyone within earshot. "Get a wheelchair right now and call ahead to labor and delivery. Tell them we have a full-term mother with water broken in the corridor. She is moving fast." The younger nurse sprinted away without a word. The older one put a steadying hand on Shayla's back and spoke directly to her in a voice that was meant to be calming but carried an edge of urgency underneath it. "Mrs. Cross, can you walk on your own or do you need to sit down?" Shayla opened her mouth to answer but another wave of pain hit her before any words

[SHAYLA'S RECOVERY ROOM] They made their way slowly down the hallway. Grayson on one side of Ayven. Angel on the other. Ready to catch him if he stumbled. If his legs gave out. But Ayven kept walking. Determined. Refusing to show weakness. They got to Shayla's room. The door was closed. Grayson opened it. Let Ayven walk in first. Ayven's eyes immediately went to the bed. To Shayla lying there. Tired but smiling. "Momma!" He did not walk. He ran. Forgot about his weak legs. Forgot about being careful. He just ran to her. "Do not jump on her, Ayven!" Grayson called out. Worried about Shayla. But Ayven did not jump. He was not that reckless. Just hugged her. Carefully. Gently. Shayla wrapped her arms around him immediately. Held her son. Her baby boy. Her firstborn. Tears were pouring down her face. Happy tears. Overwhelmed tears. Everything all at once. "My baby. My sweet baby boy. You are awake. You are really awake." She was kissing his face. His forehead. His cheeks. Anywh

Ayven and Angel both yelled her name at exactly the same time. Their voices overlapping. Creating a stereo effect.They both jumped off their respective beds. Moved fast. Ran toward Ruby with their arms outstretched."Careful! Gentle!" Ricardo called out immediately. His voice sharp with worry. "She is very pregnant! Do not knock her over! Be gentle!"But the kids were already crashing into Ruby. Wrapping their arms around her. Hugging her as gently as excited children could manage. Which honestly was not very gentle at all.Ruby's arms came around both of them. Pulled them close.And immediately burst into tears. Just started sobbing. Her whole face crumpled up. Tears streamed down her cheeks rapidly. Creating wet tracks through her makeup."My dynamic duo is awake!" she said through her sobs. Her voice was thick and choked. "Oh my God! I cannot believe it! This is the best day ever!"She was crying and laughing simultaneously. Making those weird hiccupping sounds that come from tryi

[WENDY'S APARTMENT - 10:52 AM]The pancake was the last one.Wendy tilted the pan and watched it slide onto the plate and she reached for the honey and drizzled it in slow deliberate circles across the top, the amber of it catching the morning light coming through the kitchen window. The apartment smelled like butter and coffee and the particular warmth of a kitchen that had been doing something good in it for the past forty minutes.She set the pan in the sink and picked up her plate and her coffee and carried both to the small table by the window and sat down.Her phone was beside the plate. Shayla's name was still on the screen from the call that had ended twenty minutes ago, the contact sitting there with the timestamp under it. Wendy looked at it for a moment before she turned the phone face down and picked up her fork.A girl.Baby Madonna Cross. Born the previous night, healthy and loud and looking exactly like her mother according to Shayla who had said this three times during

Luke pulled away from the café and the city moved past the windows. Grayson sat in the back seat and said nothing.Vincent's words were still sitting in his head. Not the words themselves exactly but the delivery of them, the way Vincent had leaned forward on the table and said it like he was dropping something heavy and was relieved to have it out of his hands.Don Volkov might be alive.Grayson almost laughed again now, sitting alone in the back of the car. The same almost-laugh that had come up in the café, the one that had nothing to do with anything being funny.He'd found out this morning.LFrom Trevor, through the secure line, a message that had come through at seven forty-two AM while Grayson was standing in Shayla's hospital room holding his newborn daughter and watching his wife sleep. He'd read it once and put his phone in his pocket and stood there looking at Madonna's face for several minutes before he trusted himself to think clearly.The DNA results from the body recove