Eddy slammed into the wall, pain searing through his skull. “Everything I’ve done. was for my wife!” he roared, though even he didn’t know whether he was trying to convince Fernando or himself.
The truth was, Eddy had never cared about anyone’s opinion but Blanche’s.
Fernando, still reeling from his own concussion, shoved Eddy off. He wasn’t in much better shape himself. Gasping for breath, he sneered, “For Laney? Really?”
He let out a bitter laugh. “Did Laney ask you to cheat on her half–sister? Did she beg you to father a child with her? Did she want to watch you two fool around right under her nose?”
“Eddy, you’re a complete bastard!” Fernando spat.
Eddy’s eyes went frigid, his fist flying toward Fernando’s face. Fernando jerked back, but not fast enough–a red welt bloomed across his cheek.
Fernando grabbed Eddy by the collar and drove a hard right hook into Eddy’s already injured abdomen. Eddy’s guttural growl sounded more animal than human.
He’d wanted to punch him for years..
Eddy’s face twisted in pain and fury, his fist clenching tighter, mind fixed on a single thought. “Where are you hiding my wife?”
All pretense, all civility, vanished. The two men tore into each other, pride and dignity lost to the brawl.
Eddy’s boot caught Fernando in the chest, knocking him to the floor. “Eddy, I’d die before I tell you where Laney is!”
“Do you have any idea how much pain Laney was in before she left? How hopeless she felt?”
“That night at your cozy housewarming party in the new villa-”
“Laney had just come out of heart surgery!”
“And you let her stand outside Jeannette’s window, forced her to watch your disgusting shadows, to hear your moans. She nearly went into cardiac arrest.”
Fernando’s voice cracked as he coughed, wracked with guilt. “God, I wish I’d confessed to Laney back then and kept her with me. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so broken now.”
21:53
Eddy barely heard him, Fernando’s words echoing in his mind.
So that night, his wife had been standing right outside the door.
“You don’t deserve Laney’s love. You don’t even deserve to see her again. She’ll never forgive you!” Fernando’s satisfaction was palpable as he watched Eddy’s composure crumble. “Laney’s accepted Terrell as her son. She’s his mother now, and I’m his father.”
“We’re going to be a family!”
“You’ll never see Laney again, Eddy. I’m not giving you another chance!” As Fernando shouted, sirens wailed outside.
Felipa and Hugo Black had tracked Fernando’s car and called the police.
Officers burst in to find two battered men, neither looking like the victim. “You’re both coming with us,” one announced.
Eddy’s gaze flickered, then fixed desperately on Fernando’s face, panic and
vulnerability he’d never shown before twisting his features. “She’s pregnant, isn’t she? How far along? Her heart can’t handle this–carrying a child could kill her! Tell me where she is!”
Fernando, pinned by the police, looked at Eddy with icy contempt. “Do you really think I’d fall for that pathetic lie?”
Blood oozed from the gash in Eddy’s abdomen, soaked through the bandage on his head, trickled from his lips. He clutched his chest, the pain stealing his breath as his mind conjured images of Laney risking her life to bring new life into the world. The fear he’d felt when she gave birth to Healy, to Clara, the terror of losing her–it threatened to consume him whole.
His eyes
blazed red as he lunged for Fernando, frantic
The medical center.
Outside the maternity ward.
Ablett arrived after wrapping up work, his tone casual. “Everything ready for the heart surgery?”
“Absolutely, Director–General,” the doctor replied.
“Good,” Ablett said, settling naturally into a seat in the waiting area. He watched as Caleb paced nervously back and forth in front of him.
21:53
The clock on the wall ticked away each anxious circle, mirroring Caleb’s endless steps.
Suddenly, a scream–raw and agonizing–tore through the quiet from inside the delivery room.
21
