All Chapters of The Scandal In Room 214: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

CandaceMy phone rang before I could even argue with Jake. I pulled it from my bag, and my mother’s name appeared on the screen.I answered immediately. “Mom?”“Candy, can you and Jake get over here?”The wedding planner had spread fabric samples across the dining table. There was ivory, champagne, and a softer shade of white that apparently had a name I couldn’t remember. My mother picked up one of the cards and held it out.“This one.”Jake leaned forward to look. “I like that one.”The planner smiled. “Good. Then we’re narrowing it down.”I reached for the card, but the room shifted slightly. My hand landed flat against the table.“Candace? You haven’t eaten.” I looked up. My mother was watching me.The plate in front of me. “I’m fine…I had breakfast.”“That was hours ago.”I picked up my fork and pushed a piece of fruit around the plate. “I’ll eat later.”The planner continued talking about flowers. Something about the arrangements needing to match the venue. She showed us another

CandaceHarper closed the folder in front of her without reaching for another one. She simply looked across the desk at me.“Are you ready to stop staring at the same spot? You haven’t even touched the water.”I looked down at my hands, still wrapped around the paper cup of water she’d given me when I arrived.“I know.”I looked at the cup, then took a small sip.Harper waited. The office was quiet except for the soft hum of the air conditioner.“I think I’m pregnant.”She smiled from ear to ear. “Oh my goodness, Candace, that’s wonderful news.” The look on my face must have said otherwise because she tilted her head. “Or maybe not? Have you taken a test, just to confirm?”I nodded.“How many?”“Two.”“And?”I looked at the floor. “Both were positive.”Harper gave me a moment before asking, “When did you take them?”“Last night.”“And you’ve been sitting with that since then? You should have called me or spoken to someone.”She reached across the desk and pushed the tissue box closer

JakeThe bathroom door was open.I hadn’t meant to go upstairs. I’d gone looking for my charger, then noticed Candace’s phone wasn’t on the nightstand. She’d been checking it constantly lately.I walked past the bathroom and stopped when I saw something sitting on the counter.A small white stick.I picked it up.Two lines.For a moment, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. Then I did.My eyes went back to the result.Pregnant.Candace was pregnant.The first thought came easily. No one else used this house often, and it wasn’t the room she shared with Bridgette. I’d bought the house to plan the wedding, and it wasn’t too far from Candace’s school. It also gave her mother an excuse to leave Arizona a few times a week.The baby was mine.I stood there holding the test, staring at those two lines while a smile almost reached my face.Then another thought came.When was the last time we’d had sex?I lowered the test and tried to remember.The answer didn’t come. Not clearly.There

CandaceThe tea was still warm when Jake placed it in front of me.“Here. Drink this slowly. You haven’t eaten much today, and you need something in your stomach.”I wrapped both hands around the cup, letting the heat sink into my fingers. My stomach had been unsettled since morning, but I had managed to keep most of it under control. The nausea came and went, and every time it returned, I reminded myself that this was normal. At least, that was what Harper had told me. My body was changing, and I was still trying to understand what that meant.Jake sat across from me and watched while I took a small sip.The tea tasted normal.I took another sip, then set the cup down and pressed my palm against my stomach. My mind immediately went back to Elias. I still hadn’t been able to reach him, and the thought of telling him about the baby had been sitting heavily in my chest all day. I didn’t know what he would say. I didn’t know what he would do. I only knew that I needed him to know before

The next few hours passed without any real sense of time. Every time I started to drift off, someone came into the room. A nurse checked my blood pressure, another took blood samples, and someone else adjusted the machines beside my bed. They kept asking about the vomiting, the dizziness, the pain, and whether I was having any trouble breathing.I answered every question they asked.Except anything about Jake.That stayed in my head.By mid-afternoon, a doctor came in and pulled the curtain around my bed. He checked the chart in his hands before looking at me.“We’ve received some of the results.”I pushed myself a little higher against the pillows. “What did you find?”“The poisoning was serious enough that we’re concerned about the pregnancy.”My hand went straight to my stomach.“What does that mean?”“It means we need to monitor you and the pregnancy closely. Your body went through a lot, and the substance you ingested could have affected the pregnancy even if you’re starting to r