Chapter 5

The surgery was set for Friday morning.

That day the sky hung low and gray, a fine drizzle falling.

Layla had changed into the blue-and-white striped hospital gown and sat in the waiting area outside the operating room.

It was quiet around her, broken now and then by a nurse's hurried footsteps and the squeak of a cart's wheels. The smell of disinfectant hung in the air. It made her feel like she was suffocating, and at the same time it brought a strange, freeing relief.

"Layla, it's your turn."

A nurse came out holding a chart and called her name.

Layla stood. Her legs felt weak.

She drew a deep breath and followed the nurse through that cold, heavy door.

The operating room was cold.

The surgical light was blinding, leaving nowhere to hide.

"Lie down, legs apart, up on the stirrups." The nurse directed her, expressionless.

Layla obeyed mechanically.

The cold metal instruments touched her skin and sent a shiver through her.

The anesthesiologist came over with a mask. "Relax, breathe in. Just a little sleep and it'll be over soon."

Layla closed her eyes.

A single clear tear slid from the corner of her eye.

Goodbye, babies. In your next life, be born into a good family, and find a father who loves your mother.

And at that very moment, as the anesthesiologist was about to push the drug and the doctor picked up the surgical forceps—

"Bang! "

The heavy airtight door of the operating room was slammed open by a tremendous force.

The crash startled the surgeon so badly her hand jerked, and the forceps nearly hit the floor.

Every nurse and doctor turned in alarm toward the door.

A tall man had come charging in.

He was soaked through, his expensive suit crumpled from the rain, his hair plastered messily to his forehead.

The most chilling thing was his eyes.

Red, shot through with blood, as though he hadn't slept for days, or had just been crying.

It was Hubert.

The Delgado CEO who never changed expression even if a mountain collapsed in front of him looked, in this moment, like a beast that had lost all control.

He was gasping in great ragged breaths, his chest heaving, his eyes sweeping wildly across the operating room until they locked, hard, on Layla on the table.

Layla opened her eyes, stunned, staring at this man who was supposed to be at Letitia's side, caring for her pregnancy.

Hubert crossed the room in two strides and shoved aside the anesthesiologist reaching for the drug, hard enough to nearly knock him over.

"Hubert, are you insane? This is an operating room!" Layla came to herself and struggled to sit up. "Get out!"

Hubert paid no attention to her struggling.

Both hands gripped the edge of the operating table, his knuckles white with the force of it, veins standing out.

He stared at Layla's face, then at her flat belly, and in a hoarse, broken voice, he said the one thing that dropped every jaw in the room.