📋 PART 8
Hunter dropped to his knees right there in the shattered glass and plaster, hands clutching his head like the world had just ended. “She’s not… my mother? And my real father helped her escape… with a gun pointed at my wife and unborn child?”
Walter looked away, guilt carved deep into every line on his face. “I tried to protect you from the truth. Your real father is Victor Kane — the man who owns half the judges in this state. He and Brenda have been working together for years to control the family fortune. I… I knew. I’ve known since you were ten.”
I felt another sharp pain rip through my stomach. Warmth spread between my legs. Blood. Just a little, but enough to make me gasp and grab Hunter’s shoulder.
“Hunter… hospital. Now.”
Everything became a blur. Security carried me to the car while Hunter held me in his lap, whispering “Stay with me, stay with me” over and over. Sirens screamed as we raced through the city. Reporters followed like vultures. My phone kept buzzing — Brenda was already live-streaming from an unknown location, crying beautiful tears and telling the world I tried to kill her and stole her son.
At the private hospital, doctors swarmed me. Monitors beeped wildly. “Possible placental abruption… we need to stabilize the baby…”
Hunter refused to leave my side, even when nurses tried to push him out. He held my hand so tight our knuckles turned white. “I don’t care who my real parents are. You are my family. You and this baby. We’re fighting this together.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks as another contraction hit. “I was scared to tell you about the pregnancy… I thought if Brenda found out she’d use it against us. I’m so sorry.”
He kissed my forehead, voice fierce. “No more secrets. Ever.”
The door burst open. A tall, silver-haired man in a custom suit walked in — Victor Kane himself — flanked by bodyguards and lawyers. He looked straight at Hunter with cold pride.
“Son. It’s time you came home to your real family. Leave this lying girl and the mess she created. I can make all the charges disappear… if you sign over everything to me tonight.”
Hunter stood up slowly, positioning himself between me and his biological father. His voice was ice.
“I already have a father. And I already have a wife. Get out.”
Victor smiled like a shark. “Wrong answer.”
He snapped his fingers. Two detectives entered behind him with handcuffs.
“Jillian Vale — you’re under arrest for attempted murder, fraud, and conspiracy. We have new evidence that just came in… a video of you pushing Brenda toward the window right before the gunshot.”
I tried to sit up but the pain made me cry out. Hunter roared and shoved the detectives back.
Then the heart monitor for the baby started beeping irregularly — fast, then terrifyingly slow.
The doctor’s face went pale. “We’re losing the baby’s heartbeat. We need to operate NOW.”
Victor crossed his arms, calm and terrifying. “Sign the papers, son. Or you lose them both tonight.”
Hunter looked at me, then at his biological father, then at Walter who had just arrived, face ashen.
The entire room waited for his choice.
May you like
My vision started to blur from the pain and fear.
To be continued...
