Chapter 30
LUCIAN
I crossed the room toward Tessa, fighting the urge to pull her into my arms.
Three days without sleep, without food, without hope, and here stood the one person who could make the sterile hospital walls feel less suffocating.
But I maintained careful distance, acutely aware that Viktoria would return soon and any appearance of intimacy would fuel her rage.
"Thank you for coming," I said quietly, studying her face. My hand hovered near my mouth as emotion welled up. I scraped my hand over my beard and shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
"How is she?" Tessa moved closer to Elena's bedside, her voice soft with genuine concern.
"Stable, but…" I ran my hand through my hair and let my shoulders sink as we both turned to look down at her. Our shoulders touched, but Tessa didn’t pull away.
"The doctors say her brain activity is good, but she hasn't woken up since the accident.
A drunk driver ran a red light downtown. Her car flipped twice."
Tessa's sharp intake of breath made me look at her more closely.
Tears were gathering in her eyes as she watched Elena's motionless form, and the compassion on her face reminded me why I'd fallen in love with her in the first place.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I know I don't have any right to be here, but—"
"You have every right." I took her hand and squeezed it but didn’t look at her. I didn't want to scare her away. Somehow, she had shown up and was an answer to a prayer. "And I want you here."
A shadow crossed Tessa's face and her chin tucked downward toward her chest. "Luci…"
"Thank you for coming," I said, and I turned to face her, hoping she would do the same, but she remained facing Elena, watching the monitors as they hummed and clicked.
"Daniel told me about the MBA grant," she said, changing the subject with obvious effort. "I wanted to thank you." She had come because of personal reasons, but she was still pretending to be professional.
But none of my other employees had stopped by, only Daniel, and he didn't come into the room once.
I had to respect that Tessa was trying to mend whatever had been broken by coming, but the professional stuff made my heart ache. I shook my head. "You don't need to thank me. You earned it."
"We both know that's not entirely true."
"It is true." I stepped closer, close enough to catch her familiar scent beneath the hospital's antiseptic smell. "You're brilliant, Tessa. You deserve the world, not just some grant from Cross Capital."
That broke her composure completely. Tears spilled over, and she covered her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
Without thinking, I closed the distance between us and pulled her against my chest, feeling her warmth seep through my wrinkled shirt.
"I'm so sorry," I murmured into her hair. "I'm sorry things got so messed up. I never meant for you to carry all this weight alone. The pressure from the board, from Viktoria, from me—you shouldn't have had to handle any of it."
She clung to me, her tears soaking through the fabric, and for a moment the hospital room faded away.
This was what I'd been missing—not just her body, but her presence, her trust, the way she fit perfectly against me when the world felt too heavy.
"Luci," she said against my chest, her voice muffled and shaky.
"What?"
She pulled back to look at me, and the expression on her face made my heart stop. Fear, hope, desperation—all warring in her hazel eyes that danced around my face with eyebrows high, seeking recognition.
"It worked," she whispered.
I didn't understand immediately. "What worked?"
"Our arrangement. What we were trying to do." Her hands gripped my shirt, holding on as if I might disappear. "I'm pregnant."
"What?" I mumbled as her words sank in. Of course she was pregnant.
We'd been purposefully having as much sex as possible to make that dream of hers a reality, and she was here to tell me.
Something pinched in my chest, twisting and writhing against the relief I'd felt only moments before.
Tessa was here to tell me she was having my baby, and I was an idiot to think she'd come for me.
I almost let her go, but I couldn't.
The pain screaming in my chest made me hold her more tightly.
Tears welled up as I buried my face in her hair and clamped my eyes shut. "That's so amazing. I'm so happy for you," I told her, but the words were broken, choked out and mumbled.
My heart shattered because I didn't want to let her go, but I knew I had to. She had what she wanted now, and she'd come to say goodbye.
"But I don't want just your baby," she continued in a rush, as if afraid I'd interrupt.
"I want you. I know how wrong it is, I know everyone's against us, I know your career and your family and everything else should come first, but I can't help it.
I fell in love with you, and now my entire future feels empty without you in it. "
She was rambling now, the words pouring out with months of suppressed emotion.
She pushed away from me, but my hands found her shoulders and I refused to let go.
"I see how exhausted you are, how this situation is destroying you, and I don't know if that's because of what it might cost your job or if you felt something real too.
I keep thinking maybe I imagined the connection between us, maybe it was all physical for you, but I can't stop hoping that—"
I silenced her with a kiss so hard and desperate, she had to cling to me or fall over, pouring every emotion I'd been holding back into the contact.
Her mouth opened under mine, and I tasted salt from her tears mixed with the sweetness that was uniquely hers.
My heart felt a zillion emotions all at once and I couldn't snag a single one to hold on to, so I held on to her.
"I love you." The words felt rusty from disuse, but they rang with absolute certainty.
"I love you so much it terrifies me. I've been in love with you for months, maybe since that first night in my penthouse, and I've been too much of a coward to say it, Tess.
" I kissed her again, harder and more ragged.
I couldn't stop. She was the water in the desert I'd been starved of for weeks.
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, but these were different—bright with joy instead of despair.
"Even if it seems messed up to other people, what we have is real," I continued, my hands framing her face. "I've never been happier than when I was with you. You made me remember what it felt like to be alive instead of just existing."
I'd spent long enough letting other people and their expectations dictate what I wanted.
I pushed through building my business and missing my children's lives growing up. I lost a marriage and drained myself of all passion and energy in exchange for duty, and this time, I refused to let life toss me aside again.
"I don't care who knows it," I growled. "I don't care what the board thinks or what Viktoria threatens or what it costs me. I love you, and I'm going to love our baby, and nothing else has ever mattered as much as this moment."
I kissed her again more softly, and she responded with the passion I'd missed so desperately, her arms wrapping around my neck as if she'd never let go.
It was everything I needed it to be and nothing I could've expected.
Until the door swooshed open again and Viktoria stood in the doorway, a coffee cup in her hand and pure venom on her face.
"Well, isn't this touching," she snarled, slicing through our intimate moment in such a hateful way. "Your daughter is fighting for her life, and you're pawing your little assistant in her hospital room like the cradle-robbing fool you are."
Tessa jerked away from me as if she'd been burned, her face flushing with shame and panic.
I reached for her, but she was already backing toward the door.
"Tessa, wait—"
"How dare you," Viktoria continued, her voice rising. "How dare you come into my daughter's room while she's fighting for her life and throw yourself at my husband. You little hussy—"
Tessa clutched her stomach and rushed toward the door.
"Stop," I said, but Tessa was already running, pushing past Viktoria and disappearing into the hallway. I moved to follow her, but a soft voice from the bed stopped me cold.
"Dad?" Elena's eyes were open, unfocused but aware, searching the room until they found my face.
My daughter was awake, alive, calling for me with the voice I'd thought I might never hear again.
I looked toward the doorway where Tessa had vanished, then back at Elena's confused but conscious face.
My heart felt torn down the middle, but I couldn’t go after Tessa right now. She would be there when I could, but right now, Elena needed me.
"I'm here, sweetheart," I said, moving to Elena's bedside and taking her hand. "I'm right here."
My eyes that had already cried so many tears welled up again as I brought Elena's hand to my lips and pressed a kiss there. "Daddy's here, baby, and I'm not leaving again."
Viktoria hovered on the other side of the bed and I heard a flurry of activity outside in the hallway, but my focus was my little girl.
I'd deal with Viktoria later, and when I did, she would be rudely awakened to her place in my life.
Because now that I knew Tessa wanted me as much as I wanted her, there wasn't an army on earth that could stop me from having her.