Chapter 799

I trusted Lena completely. “Don’t worry. I’ve seen your ultrasound—the baby’s fine,” Lena said, her lips curving into the faintest smile. Even that small reassurance made me feel a little more grounded.

“You have to help me keep this baby,” I said, my voice cracking.

“I know,” she replied, her tone teasing as she added, “This is your love child with Hayden, after all.”

Jace turned away at that, but not fast enough to hide the flicker of loneliness on his face. Our tangled history had unraveled a long time ago—at least for me. Jace claimed he’d moved on, but moments like this made it clear he hadn’t completely.

Thanks to Lena, I got admitted to a hospital room—not her office, but a proper VIP suite. The pain in my abdomen eased up, and the bleeding wasn’t getting worse. With my nerves settling, I finally had space to think about something else. “What’s the deal with Dr. Cahn? How’d she score a job here?”

Lena hesitated for a second before answering. “She’s Retta’s aunt.”

Ah. That explained the attitude.

I watched Lena quietly. She looked calm as always, but there was something off—her face was slightly drawn, like she hadn’t been sleeping well. She and Nate had broken up recently, and while she’d been the one to call it off, I knew it hadn’t been easy. Nate had been her first love, her inspiration for becoming a doctor. Losing that connection… yeah, I understood how much that hurt.

But I didn’t say anything. Some wounds weren’t meant to be poked at.

“Jace will probably go straight to your boss and file a complaint against her,” I said lightly.

“Let him. She deserves it,” Lena replied, not even pretending to feel bad.

Her bluntness made me laugh. “You’re as sharp as ever. Tough as nails.”

“Being soft-hearted just gets you stabbed in the back. I’m not an idiot,” she said, peeling a tangerine and handing me half.

I popped a piece into my mouth. The tangy flavor snapped me awake in the best way. Lena, meanwhile, grimaced and shoved the rest of hers at me.

“It’s not even sour,” I said, grinning.

“You’re pregnant,” she replied flatly, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t even realize you were pregnant! Do you not keep track of your cycles? Craving sour foods, nausea—didn’t any of that clue you in?”

There it was—the Lena Lecture.

I shrugged, chewing on another slice. “You know what I’ve been dealing with. Where was I supposed to find the brainpower to think about that?”

Ever since Hayden went off-grid, my life’s been a complete mess. No sleep, no focus, no sense of time. Every ache and pain? I just blamed it on stress. Pregnancy? Yeah, that didn’t even make the list.

“Completely careless,” Lena muttered with a sigh. Then, she added, “So now that there’s a baby, when’s Hayden coming back? Or are we waiting until the kid can say ‘Dad’?”

“Wayne says it’ll be soon,” I said, my voice tinged with unease. “But who knows what kind of state Hayden will be in when he does?”

Wayne and Cole were cornered, desperate. Burning Cloudscape Monastery, abducting me in broad daylight—they’d already gone full scorched earth. If they treated me like this, Hayden was probably dealing with worse.

“Lena, I’m really worried about Hayden,” I said, my chest tightening just saying it out loud.

But Lena didn’t respond. I looked up and found her staring at her phone, completely zoned out.

“Lena, what’s wrong?” I asked, my own anxiety spiking.