Chapter 6

Drip... drip...

I felt something warm trickling down my leg onto the floor...

My stomach tightened, a dull pain spreading.

I clasped my hands over my belly. “The baby…”

“Breathe. Relax your body as much as you can.”

Lucas’s voice was soothing, like he was guiding me through a crisis. I followed his rhythm, slowly calming down.

Thump, thump, thump.

Was that my heartbeat or his?

I looked up, only able to make out his strong jaw, the tight set of his lips, and the muscles straining along his neck...

“Don’t be afraid, Chloe.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Through the haze, I stared up at him. “Lucas, did you only want this baby because Madeline can’t have one?”

“This is our child. It has nothing to do with her.”

And just like that, I started crying uncontrollably.

All the tension, the fear—it melted away like falling into warm water, soothing and comforting me.

The hospital was chaos—flashes of light, shadows of blue and green. Then, the world went dark.

I had a long, long dream.

In the dream, I went back two years to when Madeline had first gone abroad. Just as I was about to celebrate, I got another bombshell of news: Lucas was leaving the country, too!

His family business was in biotechnology, but he was going to France—wine, steak, luxury—just to chase after Madeline.

If that wasn’t love, I didn’t know what was.

Two years ago, I was full of youthful energy, determined not to give up. I wasn’t going to sit by and let him get away.

I secretly followed him and booked the same flight. I didn’t dare fly first class, though, so I slummed it in economy, hoping not to get caught.

But as soon as we landed, I realized just how stupid I’d been. I was terrible at languages—I barely spoke English, let alone French—and I’d lost track of him at the airport.

What if I got kidnapped by some human traffickers? I was young and pretty—what if they sold me into a brothel or, worse, harvested my organs?

I was about to cry when a deep, familiar voice spoke from behind me.

“What are you doing here?”

It was Lucas. If I listened closely, I could hear a faint tremor in his voice.

“Lucas!” I whirled around and threw myself at him. “I was so scared! I thought I’d never see you again...”

His body went rigid. “Let go.”

It was like a bucket of cold water had doused my excitement, and the joy of seeing him vanished instantly.