جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

Elijah's POV Four hours later, the meeting room was a complete disaster area. The table looked like a war zone, littered with empty paper coffee cups, crumpled napkins, some takeout packs and scattered papers. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city had long gone dark, leaving only the reflection of the ceiling lights against the windows.  I had been staring at my laptop screen for the past hour or so, the bright white glow burning into my eyes until the numbers started blurring together. My neck was stiff, and my shoulders were sore. When I finally looked up from the screen, my eyes landed on Kassidy. She was sitting across from me, looking disheveled. Her straight ponytail from earlier was now messy, loose strands of hair framing her face, and her eyes were unfocused as she stared blankly at a page of notes.

Elijah's POV Celeste had just left after I had convinced her to go home and get some rest. She had been shaking like a leaf in that wet silk nightdress, beside herself with panic, and having her pacing the floor wasn't helping anyone. I practically had to push her out the double doors and call her an Uber myself. But I couldn't convince Kassidy to do the same. She flat-out refused to move an inch from the waiting room. So I stayed with her throughout the night. Right now, she was sleeping on one of the plastic chairs in the waiting room, her knees pulled up toward her chest and her cheek pressed awkwardly against the armrest. I leaned my back against the cold wall, staring down at her. I couldn't believe that some hours ago, we had been kissing passionately in a meeting room

Kassidy's POVThe secret I had guarded with everything in me for four long years was shattered. Now, Elijah knew. I could no longer just pack my bags and disappear back to Texas without accounting for him. Every choice regarding my daughter would now have to involve him, and I had no idea how to navigate that reality.I sat in the chair beside Summer's hospital bed, staring at her tiny, still face. The doctor had assured me three whole times this morning that her vitals were stable and that her body was just sleeping off the heavy dosage of antihistamines and sedatives. But seeing her so still for days on end made my throat dry up with fear.I was reaching for her hand when my phone began to beep against my thigh. I looked at the caller ID, seeing Caleb's name, and quickly answered the phone."Hey, Caleb," I whispered, keeping my voice low so as not to disturb the sleeping Summer."Hey, Kas," Caleb greeted. "How are things holding up over there? Has the little rascal stirred yet?""No

Kassidy's POVWhen I woke up later that night, it was to a blinding headache. My eyelids felt like lead, and my skull pounded with every beat of my heart. I rolled over on the mattress, squinting against the dim light, and checked the time on my alarm clock.It was 9:17 in the night."Ugh!" I muttered and sat up slowly, resting my face in my hands as my eyes throbbed from the wine I had chugged earlier.I shuffled over to the living room, seeing that Marcus and Celeste had left. The apartment was quiet. The empty wine bottles, pizza boxes and paper plates were all gone. The trash had been taken out, and even the counter was wiped down. Only half of the cake was remaining, which they had left on the kitchen counter under a layer of plastic wrap.Standing in the middle of the dark room, a torrent of guilt filled me. Celeste and Marcus had gone through so much trouble to organize a sweet surprise for Summer and I. And I had snapped at them, ruined the mood and stormed off like a child.Q

Kassidy's POVWhen I opened my eyes the next morning, the space beside me was empty. I sat up in bed, looking around the quiet room, wondering how I had ended up under the covers. The last thing I clearly remembered was having sex with Eli on the floor of the living room, surrounded by all the emotion and anger we had been carrying for four long years. He must have carried me into the bedroom after I slept off.I pulled myself out of bed, grabbing a blue shirt from my suitcase, and pulled it over my head. My throat felt dry, so I decided to head to the kitchen to make some coffee.As I walked out into the hallway, I heard the steady sound of running water coming from inside the bathroom. It seemed that Eli was still there. An involuntary smile touched my lips as memories of the previous night flooded my head. Eli was the only person who had ever been able to actually work my body like that. There had been a couple of lovers over the past four years in Texas, but none of them ever came