Present

“I regret that night,” I whisper, holding her hand. “Will you ever forgive me?”

“Leave!” A loud male voice orders.

I turn around to find Andrew Bell, all five feet ten inches of him marching toward me. His face is crimson, and his eyes flare with hate.

“Good evening, Andrew,” I greet him.

“Leave this room, or I’ll call security,” he threatens me.

“Call security, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You have no business in this room. You and my daughter don’t have a relationship.”

“We have a son together,” I respond, keeping my tone down. “And I’d appreciate if you could control yourself because Kieran is sleeping.”

“You’re a disgusting, selfish prick,” he accuses me. “My daughter is better off without you.”

“Is she? Because I’ve been by her side since the accident happened, and this is the first time I’ve seen you. Where have you and Catherine been?”

“I don’t give a fuck about Catherine.”

Of course, he doesn’t. His ex-wife could be lying on the sidewalk injured, and he’d ignore her. In fact, he might kick Catherine while she was down.

“You don’t give a fuck about anyone.”

“I don’t need to defend myself to you. Now that I’m here, you can leave. I’ll take care of my daughter.”

“You want me to believe that you give a shit about your daughter?”

“I don’t care what you believe. I only care about her and my grandson. Now leave, before I call security. They only allow family in this room.” He pulls his ID from his pocket. “I had to show them that I am family. There’s some list where I wasn’t included.”

“Stop threatening me, Andrew. If you’d like to call security, I won’t stop you. You can try to kick me out of here, but you won’t be able to do it. My son is in this room, and I have every right to be with him.”

“He’s not your son,” he says with authority.

“You’re telling me that Sadie cheated on me?”

“Well, no.”

“Save your stupidities for later. I already got a paternity test, just in case you tried to separate me from him.”

“I see.” He looks at the incubator and then at Sadie. “We can ask for separate rooms.”

“You’d take away his mother just to fuck with me?” I step forward and glare at him. “Stop making everything about yourself and think about your daughter for once. They need each other to heal.”

“That’s rich, Hades,” he chuckles. “Now you’re worried about the woman you abandoned, pregnant.”

“Good afternoon, gentleman,” Brynn enters the room and glares at Andrew. “To be in the room, you must follow protocol, sir.”

“I want you to remove this man from my daughter’s room,” he orders.

“And you are?” She narrows her gaze.

“Andrew Bell,” he roars.

“Mr. Bell?” Brynn arches an eyebrow.

“Sadie’s father,” I clarify.

“Where is your supervisor?” He demands.

“This is a hospital, sir. Not a boardroom. I’d appreciate it if you kept your voice down.”

“I need answers,” he demands. “My daughter has been here for few weeks, and no one called me. I had to find out through the internet. Those gossip sites know more than I do.”

“You didn’t notice she wasn’t home?” I crook a brow, tilting my head.

“Our hospital must have contacted you when the patient arrived. I’m one of her doctors. You’ll have to contact the administrative offices or the hospital’s social worker to find out.”

“Your hospital left a vague voicemail. You can’t expect me to drop everything just because they need to talk to me.”

“Well, there you have the answer to your question. We followed protocol, Mr. Bell, and you didn’t call back or come to the hospital,” Brynn responds professionally while walking toward Sadie.

“If you don’t mind, I need you to put on some scrubs and wash your hands properly if you plan on staying here.”

“I need you to update me on her condition. Why don’t we go outside, so we can talk, Dr. Ward?”

“You can do it here,” I suggest.

“This is a family matter. From now on you can’t be included in any updates on her health.” Andrew gives me a sharp nod and turns around.

They step out of the room and leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. This fucker is going to give me hell, but I’m ready to go to war if necessary.

“That was something,” Brynn steps back in the room. “Pretentious asshole. If he thinks he’s going to scare me, he has another thing coming.”

“What happened?”

“He threatened to get me fired, blah, blah …” She moves her hands like a puppet.

I laugh. “He said blah, blah?”

“No. He spewed a bunch of nonsense like every other arrogant man who thinks they’re more powerful than God. My brain shuts down at the sight of them.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s going to find out who’s in charge because I’m an incompetent woman.” She rolls her eyes. “The hospital knows how to handle people like him. He’s not the first idiot who thinks he owns the place.”

“You contacted them?”

“The hospital did when she arrived, but that’s the only call we made. Though, you knew we were going to call him soon. We need someone who can legally make decisions for her.”

“You’re telling me that asshole gets to decide everything.”

“From this point forward, that’s how it is. I’m sorry.”

“Is he taking her out of this room?”

“He’s going to try, but I already explained to him that this isolated area helps keep the reporters away.”

“I take it the paparazzi haven’t left the building.”

“Yes, the story is still fresh.”

“How can we stop him from moving her?”

“He won’t. I explained to him that if we move Sadie, it’d be harder to keep her safe from the press.”

“What else did you talk about?”

“Sadie’s condition. He doesn’t understand the point of using hospital resources on someone who might be brain dead.”

“You’re kidding?”

She shakes her head. “I’d keep your lawyer on standby.”

While she takes Sadie’s vitals, I pace around the room. Andrew’s already giving up on his daughter. I knew it would happen, but how do I stop him? As I am about to text my lawyer, Alicia’s message appears on my screen.

Alicia: I told you to stay away from her. Do you know what you’re doing to Tess?

Kaden: You lied to me.

Alicia: You knocked up that woman.

Kaden: She’s my fiancée.

Alicia: Tess is devastated.

Kaden: How would you know? Tess and Hannah have been living with your parents while you’re in Europe.

Alicia: That’s my problem.

Kaden: No, we have a legally binding agreement. I’ll figure things out with my lawyer. As for my daughter, I plan on taking her back to her old therapist.

Alicia: I won’t allow you to take her to a stupid shrink who has no idea what’s going on with her. She already has her own therapist.

Kaden: Does she? Or am I giving away eight hundred dollars a month while you pretend to send her to a counselor?

Alicia: I’ll sue for full custody if you go against my wishes.

Kaden: There’s nothing you can do, Alicia. You’re not even here to prevent it.

Tess and I have a long conversation ahead of us.