Chapter 4
Rocco moved faster than men half his age.
By the time I pushed myself up in bed, Gary had already blocked the hallway.
Preston stood near the elevator, breathing hard, his phone in his hand.
Rocco faced him.
“Where were you going?”
Preston’s eyes darted toward me.
“I needed air.”
“With your passport app open?” Gary asked.
The hallway went silent.
My chest ached.
“Preston,” I said.
He looked ashamed.
But shame was not truth.
Rocco took the phone from him.
Preston did not fight.
That scared me.
Gary glanced at the screen.
“One-way ticket to Miami. Tonight.”
I gripped the doorframe.
“You were leaving me?”
“No,” Preston said quickly. “No, Audrey. I was going to find Celia.”
Rocco stared at him.
“You know where she is?”
Preston swallowed.
“She contacted me this morning.”
The hospital seemed to narrow around me.
“Before the shower?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“She said if I wanted to protect the family, I should keep you away from my mother today.”
A laugh escaped me.
It sounded broken.
“And you brought me anyway?”
“I thought she was trying to scare me.”
“You thought wrong.”
He flinched.
Rocco’s hand closed around the phone.
“What else did Celia say?”
Preston lowered his voice.
“She said Mom had proof the baby wasn’t mine.”
Everything inside me went still.
Not because it was true.
Because it was exactly the kind of poison Brenda knew would work.
I stepped closer.
“You believed that?”
Preston whispered, “I didn’t want to.”
“That is not an answer.”
He looked at my stomach.
“I saw the fake report. The one Mom gave you. I found a copy in her office.”
“You found it and said nothing?”
“I was scared.”
“Of me?”
“Of the truth.”
That cut deeper than Brenda’s attack.
I had loved him through his silence.
Through his mother’s insults.
Through every dinner where she called me temporary without saying the word.
But now I understood.
Preston had not only failed to protect me.
He had doubted me.
Rocco handed the phone to Gary.
“Track Celia.”
Gary nodded and walked away.
Preston reached for me.
“Audrey, please.”
I backed up.
“If you touch me right now, I will scream.”
His face collapsed.
Rocco stepped between us.
“You will stay away from her until she asks otherwise.”
Preston looked at his father.
“She’s my wife.”
Rocco’s voice was quiet.
“Then you should have remembered that before your mother put her hands on her.”
The police came an hour later.
They took my statement.
They took Gary’s video.
They asked if I wanted to press charges.
I looked at Preston through the glass wall.
He sat with his head in his hands.
Then I thought of my baby’s heartbeat.
Strong.
Alive.
Almost taken from me.
“Yes,” I said.
Rocco nodded once.
Proud.
Sad.
Both.
That night, after they moved me to a safer room, Gary returned.
He closed the door.
“We found Celia.”
“Where?”
He looked at Rocco.
Rocco’s face hardened.
“She is at our house.”
My breath caught.
“With Brenda.”
May you like
Gary held up another video.
“And they are opening your medical file.”
