Chapter 28
NATALIE
The first thing I feel is pain. A deep, aching throb on every inch of my body that pulls me out of the dark. The second thing I feel is warmth. A hand wrapped around mine, strong, steady, tethering me to the world.
I blink against the harsh hospital lights, my vision swimming. It takes a second to focus—to breathe—but when I do, I find Ethan. He’s sitting beside me, his hair a disheveled mess, dark circles carved beneath his eyes. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days.
His hand tightens around mine when he sees me stirring, and the sound of his broken, relieved breath slices right through me.
“Ethan,” I croak, my voice barely there.
He leans in immediately, brushing my hair back from my forehead with a trembling hand.
“I’m here,” he whispers. His voice is hoarse, raw. “I’ve got you. ”
My chest tightens painfully. The memories slam back into me all at once—the car, Rose’s manic smile, my mother’s cruel words, Lucas dragging me by my hair… The straps. The scalpel.
I flinch before I can stop myself, and Ethan’s face crumples.
“No, no, it’s okay,” he says quickly, both hands cupping my face now. “You’re safe. You’re safe, Natalie. I swear.”
I try to breathe through the panic clawing at me. There’s only one thing I need to know—only one thing that matters. I grip his wrist with desperate strength.
“The baby,” I gasp out. “Our baby—is?—?”
“The baby’s fine,” he assures me. “Perfect. Strong. You—you protected it, even when…”
He can’t finish. His forehead presses to the back of my hand like he’s praying.
I start crying then, silent sobs that rock through my battered body. Relief floods every vein like lightning, so intense it’s almost unbearable. I’m still here. My baby is still here.
When I finally find my voice again, it’s a whisper. “What happened?”
His whole body tenses.
“They’re all under arrest,” he says, voice like steel. “Your mother, Lucas, Rose... even the clinic staff. They’re being charged with kidnapping, attempted murder—” His arms tighten around me. “They’ll never come near you again. I swear to you, Natalie.”
I nod against him, too drained to speak. Everything feels unreal, like a nightmare I’m still half-trapped in. But Ethan’s real. His heartbeat is real. Our baby is real.
After a long moment, he pulls back just enough to look at me. His eyes are stormy, his jaw tight. There’s something else he needs to say; it’s obvious from the look in his eyes.
“Why did you get in the car?” he asks finally, his voice rough. “You know better. You’re smarter than that. ”
I close my eyes, swallowing against the lump in my throat. “It wasn’t—She had a gun, Ethan.”
Ethan goes still.
“She was pointing it at me, but I knew that if I didn’t go with her, she would have hurt your mother. I couldn’t let anything happen to your mom. Not because of me.”
Ethan exhales sharply, like I’ve punched him in the gut. His hands cradle my face again, gentler than anything I’ve ever known.
“You’re safe now,” he says fiercely. “You’re here with me, and I’m going to take care of everything else.”
Tears spill down my cheeks again, and he kisses them away, one by one, his lips warm against my skin.
I lean into his hand, trying to sort out my thoughts. “How long have I been?—?”
“Two days. The mental strain of everything was too much, according to the doctor. I’ve been right here by your side. And when I had to step away, Roland or my mother took over.”
“Roland,” I breathe, meeting Ethan’s gaze. “Is he really my father? Is it true?”
“It’s true,” he says quietly. “He’s your biological father, Natalie.”
I close my eyes for a second, letting the truth settle over me. It feels like the axis of my reality just moved.
I open my eyes, staring up at the ceiling, the fluorescent light casting harsh shadows across the sterile white tiles.
“Can I meet him?” I ask, my voice uneven. “I want to see him. I need to know why he left, why he wasn’t there.”
Ethan stiffens. For a moment, he doesn’t say anything. His jaw clenches like he’s fighting himself. I can see it in the way his hand tightens around mine, the way his eyes darken.
There’s something he wants to tell me, something burning on the tip of his tongue .
But he swallows it down. Instead, he leans in, brushing his lips across my forehead instead.
“I’ll go get him,” he says gently. I nod, even though my heart thunders painfully in my chest. As he stands and heads toward the door, a million thoughts swirl in my mind.
Ethan pauses at the door, glancing back at me like he hates to leave even for a second.
I give him a smile, the only one I can manage, just enough to tell him it’s okay.
He disappears into the hallway, and I’m left alone with my racing heart and the ache of all the unanswered years pressing down on me.
After a few minutes, the door creaks open, and I suck in a shaky breath as Roland steps inside, closing it softly behind him.
For a moment, he just stands there, almost like he’s afraid to move too fast and scare me.
I take him in—the broad set of his shoulders, the gray threaded through his dark hair, the deep lines around his mouth and eyes, the cane he never goes without.
He looks tired, worn down in a way that feels carved into his bones. But his gaze, when it finds mine, is steady.
And heartbreakingly full of regret.
“Hi, Natalie,” he says, his voice rough with emotion.
I sit up a little straighter, wincing as the motion tugs at my sore muscles. “Hey,” I whisper back, my throat tightening.
He hesitates, then slowly crosses the room to sit in the chair Ethan vacated. Silence stretches between us, heavy and brittle.
I don’t know who speaks first. Maybe it’s both of us at once.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“I have questions,” I breathe out.
He nods like he expected that. Like he’s been carrying the weight of those unasked questions for years. I twist the blanket in my hands, gathering my courage.
“My mother said you abandoned me.”
Something dark flickers across his face.
Pain .
Rage.
Grief.
“She lied to you,” he says softly. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop her.”
I blink hard, willing the sting in my eyes to go away. “Why?” my voice cracks. “Why weren’t you there? Why did you leave me with her?”
Roland exhales, running a hand down his face like he’s trying to find the right place to start. And then he looks at me with such brutal honesty that it knocks the breath out of me.
“You were very young,” he says. “You barely understood what was happening, but... one night, you told me something. Something that changed everything.”
I frown, confused. “What did I say?”
“You told me about your mother’s ‘friend,’” he says, voice hollow. “The man who would visit when I was away on business. I thought you were imagining things at first. But you were so sure. You even described him.”
He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “I came home early from a trip and caught them together. Your mother and him.”
My stomach churns. I already know where this is going. I can feel the sickening weight of it before he even says the words.
“Turns out,” Roland says bitterly, “he wasn’t just some fling. He was her first love. They’d been together since before we married. She married me because I could give her a comfortable life. He couldn’t.”
His mouth twists.
“And Lucas... Lucas is his son. Not mine.”
I stare at him, my heart hammering so hard I can barely hear anything else.
“She admitted it?” I whisper.
“She admitted it,” he says. “And she laughed in my face when she did. ”
A hollow silence falls between us. I feel like I’m sinking into it, drowning.
“She never wanted to have my children,” Roland continues, voice raw. “She had three abortions over the years. Every time she found out she was pregnant with my child, she got rid of it.”
I feel sick, pressing a hand to my stomach protectively.
“She tried with you, too,” he says hoarsely. “But I caught her. She was already at the clinic when I followed her, dragged her out, fought for you. She was shocked to see me. She tried to say that she wasn’t ready for another child, that her doctor was against the pregnancy, but —”
His eyes are wet, filled with devastation.
“We had been actively trying for a child back then. After each visit to the clinic, she would tell me she miscarried. I grieved for every child I lost. I got her the best doctors to see if the pregnancy was dangerous to her. If it had been, if I had thought for even a second that it would hurt her, I would never have asked her to go through with it. When she got tired of all the doctor visits, she finally said she didn’t want to carry my child. The thought disgusted her.”
Tears spill down his cheeks, his voice shaking.
“I couldn't control her decision, and she knew it. I couldn't stop her from walking back inside that clinic. So I bought your life. I asked her to name any amount of money she wanted. I just wanted you. She took half my property, and in return, I got you. I would have taken you away from her if I could, but you needed a mother and she didn’t want a divorce.”
Tears prick my eyes. All my life, I thought she hated me because I was the one lacking, because I drove her husband away.
But the truth is so much darker.
“She hated you because you lived,” Roland says quietly, seeing the horror dawning on my face. “You were proof she broke her promise to that man, that she would only carry his children. You were the crack in her perfect lie.”
I shake my head, trying to breathe past the rising tide of nausea and heartbreak.
“I confronted her. Threatened to take you and leave. She fought back with everything she had.” He straightens, his eyes flashing. “I got a paternity test. It proved Lucas wasn’t mine. I filed for divorce. I applied for full custody of you.”
Hope flickers in my chest, even now.
“You tried to get me away from her,” I say, my voice cracking.