Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH IN THE BLOOD
The journey to the NICU felt like a pilgrimage. Ethan pushed Hannah's chair through the quiet corridors, the only sound the soft hum of medical machinery and the squeak of rubber wheels.
When they arrived at the viewing window, Hannah pushed herself forward, pressing her hands against the glass. The tears she had been fighting broke free. They were so small. So fragile. Wrapped in wires and tubes, fighting for every breath in a world that had already tried to discard them.
"The boy is Leo," Ethan murmured, standing close behind her chair. "The nurses needed a name for the charts. I remembered your father’s name. I hope that was alright."
Hannah sobbed, nodding frantically. "And the girl?"
"Maya. It means illusion," he said softly. "Because for five years, I thought the girl I loved was just a trick of my mind. A beautiful lie my mother exposed. But seeing you, seeing them... the lie was everything else."
Hannah reached back, her fingers blindly finding his hand where it rested on the handles of the wheelchair. He gripped her hand tightly, his thumb stroking her knuckles.
"I never took a dime, Ethan," she whispered, staring at their children. "Your mother came to my apartment the day after you proposed. She had bank statements. Emails. All perfectly forged, showing I was selling Caldwell Biotech research to Vangard. She said if I tried to defend myself to you, she would have my father's small business audited and destroyed by the IRS. She would bury my family in legal fees until we starved."
Ethan’s jaw tightened, a cold fury settling deep in his bones. "And when you got pregnant?"
May you like
"She found out. I don't know how. I went to a free clinic, and the next day, two men in suits were waiting by my bus stop. They told me I was going to have an abortion, or I was going to disappear. I packed a bag that night and ran to Chicago. I’ve been running ever since."
Ethan knelt beside her chair, forcing her to look at him. His eyes were dark, burning with a violent protective instinct. "The running ends today."
