Chapter 11 - The Room Without Windows
I woke strapped to a delivery bed.
Not a hospital bed.
A delivery bed.
My wrists were restrained with padded cuffs. My ankles too. Panic hit before memory did.
“No.”
I pulled hard. Nothing moved.
The room was white and windowless. Machines beeped beside me. A fetal monitor traced Noah’s heartbeat in quick, steady waves.
Strong.
Alive.
“Help!”
The door opened.
My father entered.
I screamed. “Get away from me!”
He stopped several feet away.
“You’re safe.”
“Untie me!”
“I can’t.”
“Where is Ethan?”
“Alive.”
“Daniel?”
“Alive.”
“Victoria?”
“Alive.”
“Claire?”
He hesitated.
“Alive.”
That hesitation terrified me more than if he had said no.
“Where are we?”
“Connecticut.”
“Why?”
“Because Sinclair’s people will come for the child.”
“Richard is dead.”
“Richard was one man.”
I pulled against the cuffs. “My contractions.”
His face changed. “What?”
“I’m having contractions.”
He moved closer. “How far apart?”
“Untie me.”
“Isabella—”
“Untie me or deliver the baby yourself.”
That worked.
He pressed a button. A nurse entered and checked the monitor.
“Seven minutes apart.”
Thomas looked alarmed. “It’s too early.”
“I’m thirty-five weeks. It happens.”
The nurse examined me. “Not active labor yet.”
I wanted to cry—not because I wanted Noah born, but because labor would have given me leverage.
Thomas dismissed the nurse.
I stared at him. “Why did you fake your death?”
He sat beside the bed. “Because Gianni Romano tried to kill me.”
“Ethan’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted Providence destroyed.”
“And then you restarted it.”
“I didn’t.”
“You recorded Phase Two.”
“Under coercion.”
“From whom?”
“Richard Sinclair.”
“Why would he have power over you?”
Thomas looked away. “Because he had you.”
I froze. “What?”
“When you were ten, Richard discovered your identity. He threatened to take you from Catherine.”
“So you complied.”
“Yes.”
“For eighteen years?”
“I tried to sabotage him from inside.”
I laughed bitterly. “You bombed my house.”
“To force you into Romano protection.”
“You shot at me in the boutique?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Sinclair contractors.”
“Richard?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He hesitated. “I don’t know.”
I stared. “You expect me to believe the mastermind doesn’t know?”
“I’m not a mastermind.”
“No. You’re my father.”
He flinched.
“Which is worse.”
He looked suddenly old. “I made unforgivable choices.”
“Yes.”
“But I loved you.”
“You studied me.”
“I watched you.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“You arranged my meeting with Ethan.”
“I arranged a table.”
“You manipulated my marriage.”
“I tried to keep Providence predictable.”
I felt sick. “You still talk about my life like a laboratory.”
He closed his eyes. “You’re right.”
A contraction tightened across my abdomen.
I breathed through it.
Thomas stood. “I’ll get the nurse.”
“No.”
He paused.
“Answer one question.”
“What?”
“Why does the baby need to disappear?”
His face changed. “Because Providence still has buyers.”
“Buyers?”
“Not for the child himself. For data.”
“That is not better.”
“I know.”
“And if I keep him?”
“They will never stop.”
“Then destroy them.”
“I’m trying.”
“You spent twenty-eight years trying.”
“I failed.”
“Then let us try.”
He looked at me. “Ethan?”
“Ethan and me.”
A sad smile crossed his face. “You still love him.”
“That is not the point.”
“It is always the point.”
The door opened.
A guard entered. “Sir. Problem.”
Thomas stepped into the hallway.
I heard muffled voices.
Then a gunshot.
The guard fell backward through the doorway.
I screamed.
Ethan appeared.
Blood on his shirt. Gun in his hand.
“Bella.”
Relief hit so hard I sobbed.
He crossed the room, cut the restraints, and pulled me into his arms.
“You’re alive.”
“So are you.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
Classic Ethan.
Daniel appeared behind him. “Car. Now.”
“Where’s my father?”
“Escaped.”
“Claire?”
“With Cole.”
“Victoria?”
“Alive.”
Another contraction hit.
I grabbed Ethan’s arm.
His face went white. “What?”
“Contraction.”
“No.”
I laughed despite everything. “That isn’t how biology works.”
“How close?”
“Seven minutes.”
Daniel checked his watch. “That was four.”
Ethan looked genuinely horrified.
“We need a hospital.”
“No Providence hospitals.”
“All hospitals are not Providence.”
“How do we know?”
“We don’t.”
I remembered Alessandra. “Your mother.”
“What?”
“She said not to deliver in a Providence hospital. Where did she trust?”
He thought. Then his eyes widened.
“Saint Catherine’s. She funded a maternity wing anonymously.”
Daniel checked the route. “Thirty minutes.”
Another gunshot sounded outside.
“Too far,” I said.
Ethan grabbed my face gently. “We’ll make it.”
We ran—or everyone ran while I moved as fast as a heavily pregnant woman can without losing all dignity.
Rain hammered the driveway.
An SUV waited.
We climbed in.
Ethan sat beside me. Daniel drove.
A contraction came three minutes later.
I crushed Ethan’s hand.
“Your rings are cutting me.”
“You deserve it.”
“I probably do.”
He smiled.
Then I felt a warm rush.
I stared downward.
“No.”
Ethan followed my gaze. “What?”
“My water broke.”
His face turned gray.
Daniel looked in the mirror. “Oh, hell.”
“I hate both of you.”
Ethan grabbed the phone. “Call the hospital.”
Daniel did.
I breathed through another contraction.
Faster now.
Too fast.
“Noah,” I whispered. “Not yet.”
Ethan placed his hand on my stomach. “Listen to your mother.”
Another contraction.
I cried out.
He looked at me. “Bella.”
“What?”
“When this is over—”
“If you propose while I’m in labor, I will kill you.”
“I was going to say I’m sorry.”
“Oh.”
He squeezed my hand. “For everything.”
My eyes burned. “I’m sorry too.”
Daniel suddenly slammed the brakes.
The SUV stopped.
“What happened?”
A black truck blocked the road.
Men stepped out.
Armed.
Ethan drew his gun.
Behind us, another vehicle appeared.
Trapped.
My contraction peaked.
I screamed.
Ethan looked between me and the men outside.
Then the rear doors opened.
Thomas stood in the rain.
“Get her out,” he ordered.
Ethan aimed at him. “I will shoot you.”
Thomas didn’t flinch. “If you stay here, the baby dies.”
“Why?”
“Because those men aren’t mine.”
Gunfire erupted.
Thomas’s guards fired toward the trucks.
He opened our door.
“Choose later. Move now.”
For one impossible second, Ethan and my father looked at each other.
May you like
Then Ethan lifted me into his arms.
Together, the two men who had spent years trying to control my life carried me into the storm.
