Chapter 160
Elara’s POV
The recovery room was too bright and too quiet. Elara kept her eyes closed against the fluorescent lights overhead, trying to pretend she was anywhere else but here in this sterile space that smelled like disinfectant
and fear.
Her body felt wrong. Empty in a way that went beyond physical. For months she’d carried two lives inside her, felt them moving and growing, and now there was just this hollow ache where they used to be.
She could hear Marcus breathing beside her bed, the rhythm uneven like he kept forgetting and then remembering. His hand held hers with a grip that bordered on pain but Elara didn’t ask him to let go.
“You should sleep,” Marcus said quietly.
“Can’t. Every time I close my eyes I see them taking the babies away. I keep hearing that silence when Baby B came out.”
“He cried eventually. You heard him cry.”
“Barely.” Elara’s voice cracked. “He could barely make a sound, Marcus. Our son is fighting for his life right now and I can’t even be with him.”
“The NICU nurses said we can visit in a few hours once you’re more stable. Dr. Harrison wants to make sure you’re not bleeding anymore before you try to move around.”
Elara finally opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Marcus. He looked like he’d aged ten years in the past few hours. His face was gray with exhaustion and stress, his eyes bloodshot, his hair standing up in every direction from running his hands through it.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Almost nine.”
“The shareholder meeting is at two.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened. “I know.”
“You need to go.”
“I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving our children while they’re in the NICU fighting for their lives just to go play corporate games with Penelope.”
“It’s not a game, Marcus. It’s everything we’ve been working toward. All of this, everything we’ve survived, it was leading to today. You can’t just not show up.”
“Watch me.” Marcus leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. “I don’t care about the company right now. I don’t care about Penelope or the board or any of it. Our son might die, Elara. Do you understand that? The doctors said the next few hours are critical. What kind of father would I be if I left to go to a meeting?”
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“The kind who’s fighting for his children’s future and for their legacy. For everything their grandfather built that should belong to them someday.”
“They won’t have a legacy if they don’t survive.”
Elara felt tears burning in her eyes but blinked them back. “Baby A is stable. The doctors said she’s doing well for twenty-eight weeks. And Baby B has an entire team of specialists working on him right now. There’s nothing you can do here that they can’t do better.”
“I can be here. I can be present for my family instead of abandoning them when they need me most.”
“You’re not abandoning us. You’re fighting for us.”
Marcus looked up at her and the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable. “How can you ask me to leave right now? How can you possibly think I should walk out of this hospital and go sit in a boardroom while our babies are in intensive care?”
“Because I know you. You’re going to sit here and torture yourself with guilt about things you can’t control. You’re going to replay every decision you made that led to this moment and convince yourself it’s all your fault. But Marcus, this isn’t your fault. The twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, the early delivery, none of that is on you.”
“I stressed you out. The situation with Aurora, the fights we had, all the chaos with Penelope. Your body went into labor because you were under too much strain.”
“My body went into labor because our son needed surgery and waiting would have killed him. That’s what Dr. Harrison said. If we’d waited even another day he might not have made it at all.”
The door opened and a nurse came in to check Elara’s vitals. She worked quietly and efficiently, making notes on a tablet before looking up with a kind smile.
“How are you feeling, Mrs. Thorne?”
“Like someone cut me open and took my babies.”
The nurse’s expression softened. “I know it’s hard. But you did an incredibly brave thing today. You gave your children a fighting chance.”
“Can I see them? Please, I need to see them.”
“Dr. Harrison wants you to rest for another hour or so, then we can get you into a wheelchair and take you to the NICU. Your babies are both stable for now. Baby A is breathing well on her own and Baby B is on a ventilator but holding steady.”
After the nurse left, Elara and Marcus sat in silence. She could feel him struggling with the decision, could practically see the war happening inside his head.
“Dante can handle the meeting,” Marcus said finally. “I gave him all the evidence about Penelope this morning. He knows what to present and when. He can do this without me.”
“But it won’t have the same impact. The board needs to see you standing up to her. They need to see you
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refuse to back down even when she’s thrown everything she has at you. If you don’t show up, Penelope wins by default.”
“I don’t care if she wins.”
“Yes you do. And more importantly, I care. Marcus, your mother died because of Penelope. She murdered her and then married your father and has been systematically trying to destroy everything your family built. You have proof of all of that. You have evidence that could put her in prison for the rest of her life. And you’re going to let her keep the company because our babies came early?”
Marcus stood up and walked to the window, his back to Elara. “Our son might die today. How am I supposed to focus on anything else?”
“By trusting that the doctors know what they’re doing. By having faith that our children are fighters just like we are. And by going to that meeting and making sure Penelope pays for every crime she’s committed.”
There was a soft knock on the door and Mimi stuck her head in, her eyes red and swollen from crying. “Can I come in?”
“Please,” Elara said gratefully.
Mimi rushed over and hugged Elara carefully, mindful of the incision and the IV lines. “I got here as fast as I could. Dante called me. How are you? How are the babies?”
“Alive. For now. Baby B is having trouble.”
“He’s going to make it. He has to make it.” Mimi looked over at Marcus still standing at the window. “You look like hell, Marcus.”
“Feel like it too.”
“The shareholder meeting is in five hours. Please tell me you’re still planning to go.”
“He’s not,” Elara said. “He wants to stay here.”
Mimi looked between them and seemed to understand the situation immediately. “Marcus, I love you like a brother but you’re being an idiot. Elara’s right. You need to go to that meeting.”
“Not you too.”
“Yes, me too. And you know what? I’m calling Elara’s mum. She’s been feeling so much better lately and she’s been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks now. She’ll want to be here.”
Elara felt a surge of emotion at the mention of her mother. The woman whose medical bills had started this entire journey. Who’d been so sick Elara had been willing to sign a contract marriage with a stranger just to
save her life.
“She’s really doing better?” Elara asked.
“So much better. The treatment worked, El. She’s in remission and getting stronger every day. She’s been asking about you constantly.” Mimi pulled out her phone. “I’m calling her right now and telling her to get
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down here. And Marcus, while we’re at it, I’m also calling Dante and telling him you’ll be at that meeting.
“Mimi….”
“No. Listen to me. Elara is going to be fine. I’ll stay with her every second. When they let us into the NICU to see the babies, I’ll go with her. She won’t be alone. But you need to do what only you can do. You need to go face Penelope and end this once and for all.”
Marcus turned around and looked at Elara. “You really want me to go?”
“I really want you to go. I’ll be here with our babies. You go save our future.”
He crossed the room and leaned down to kiss her forehead, then her lips, soft and lingering. “If anything changes, if the doctors say anything about Baby B getting worse….”
“I’ll call you immediately and you’ll come straight back. But Marcus, you need to trust me on this. You need to trust that I can handle a few hours without you while you go destroy the woman who’s tried to destroy us.”
Marcus pulled back and looked at her with an expression that was part love, part fear, part determination. “Okay. I’ll go. But the second that meeting is over I’m coming straight back here.”
“Good.”
He kissed her again, this time with more urgency. “I’m ending this today. All of it.”
E
AD
