📋 PART 9

The beeping of the baby’s heart monitor became the only sound in the room — irregular, slowing, terrifying. Doctors were shouting for the OR to be prepped. Nurses tried to wheel my bed away but Hunter wouldn’t let go of my hand.
Victor stepped closer, voice smooth and deadly. “Last chance, son. Sign and I’ll make sure the best doctors in the world save that child. Refuse… and you’ll lose everything tonight.”
Hunter looked at me — really looked. My face wet with tears and sweat, my hand protectively over my stomach, our baby fighting for life inside me.
Then he did something no one expected.
He turned to Victor, took the papers, and ripped them slowly in half right in front of everyone.
“I choose them,” he said, voice clear and strong. “I choose my wife. I choose my child. I choose the family I built — not the blood that tried to destroy me.”
Victor’s face twisted with rage. “You just made the biggest mistake of your life.”
Security rushed in to remove him, but as they dragged Victor out he shouted over his shoulder, “Brenda has the original will! The one that says everything goes to her if you ever disown her! You’ve just handed her everything!”
They wheeled me toward the operating room. Hunter ran beside the bed, still holding my hand. “I’m right here. I’m not leaving you. Marry me again right now in my heart — forever.”
I was fading in and out from the pain. “Hunter… if I don’t make it… name her Rosa. Promise me.”
“You’re both going to make it,” he choked out, kissing my knuckles. “We still have a ruined cake to finish and a future to live.”
The double doors of the OR closed. The last thing I saw was Hunter being held back by nurses, tears streaming down his face as he screamed my name.
Inside, everything became cold and bright. Masks, lights, voices counting down. I felt the anesthesia pulling me under.
Then, just before darkness took me completely, one of the nurses leaned close and whispered something I never expected:
“Mrs. Jillian… your real father is in the waiting room. He says he has proof that Walter and Victor have been working together this whole time. And he wants to talk to you… alone.”
My eyes flew open for one last second.
May you like
The monitor flatlined.
To be continued...