Chapter 5 - His Daughter
Luke read Vanessa's message four times.
She's pregnant.
Two words in the sentence mattered more than every number on every financial statement spread across the table before him.
“Cancel everything.”
His executives stared.
Luke was already moving.
His driver barely had the SUV stopped outside Northwestern before Luke opened the door.
He reached obstetric triage and found Maya Collins waiting outside.
She stood immediately.
“No.”
“Is she alive?”
Maya's expression changed.
“Yes.”
“The baby?”
“She is being evaluated.”
She.
Luke stopped breathing.
“A girl?”
Maya realized what she had revealed.
Luke pressed one hand against the wall.
His daughter.
Somewhere beyond those doors, Sophia was carrying his daughter.
“How far?”
“I shouldn't be telling you any of this.”
Luke calculated backward anyway.
His face changed.
“Almost five months.”
Maya remained silent.
Luke understood.
Sophia had known before leaving.
Possibly before the dinner with Vanessa.
Possibly while he had been sitting beside her, failing to see anything.
He sank into a waiting-room chair.
Maya had never imagined Luke Morgan looking small.
But grief could reduce anyone.
“Was she going to tell me?”
“I don't know.”
Luke stared at the floor.
“Did she think I'd hurt her?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“Then why?”
“You should ask Sophia when she's ready.”
Luke nodded.
For forty minutes, he didn't move.
Elena finally emerged.
Her brother stood instantly.
“She and the baby are stable.”
Luke closed his eyes.
Elena had seen men pray in hospital corridors.
Luke didn't pray.
But whatever passed across his face looked close.
“Can I see her?”
“That's Sophia's decision.”
“Ask.”
Elena returned several minutes later.
“She said five minutes.”
Luke entered alone.
Sophia lay against white pillows with monitors around her.
She looked exhausted.
And now that he knew, he could see the gentle curve beneath the blanket.
His eyes fixed on it.
Sophia instinctively covered her stomach with one hand.
Luke stopped several feet away.
“She's okay?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
“Our daughter?”
Sophia's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Luke looked toward the ceiling for a second.
When he looked back, his eyes were wet.
Sophia had seen Luke bleeding without flinching.
She had seen him bury his father without crying.
She had seen him receive threats that would have terrified most people.
She had never seen him cry.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know what I was going to do.”
He absorbed that.
“You went to the hospital because you were considering—”
“Yes.”
Luke's face went pale.
Sophia immediately hardened.
“Don't judge me.”
“I'm not.”
“You don't get to.”
“I know.”
He pulled a chair closer but waited.
“Can I sit?”
She nodded.
Luke sat.
“Why were you alone?”
The question broke something.
Sophia looked away.
“Because I had spent three years feeling alone.”
Luke's eyes closed.
There it was.
Not Vanessa.
Not Isabella.
Not some conspiracy.
Him.
“I was terrified,” Sophia whispered. “I thought about raising a child inside your world. Security everywhere. Enemies. Your mother deciding what was appropriate. You disappearing without explanations.”
Luke listened.
“And I thought about our daughter growing up believing marriage was supposed to look like ours.”
His jaw tightened.
“That frightened me most.”
He nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“No, you don't.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“But I want to.”
A nurse entered.
“Mrs. Morgan needs rest.”
Luke stood immediately.
At the door, Sophia spoke.
“Luke.”
He turned.
“I haven't changed my mind about the divorce.”
Pain flashed across his face.
“I know.”
Then he left.
Outside, Elena followed him.
Luke walked until they reached an empty corridor.
Then stopped.
“You knew.”
“I knew she was pregnant.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“I couldn't.”
“I'm your brother.”
“She was my patient.”
Luke looked furious.
Then the anger disappeared.
“You did the right thing.”
Elena stared.
Luke leaned against the wall.
“She thought about ending the pregnancy because she felt alone.”
“Luke—”
“My wife was terrified and I didn't know.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You can't rewrite the last three years tonight.”
“No.”
Luke straightened.
“But I can stop pretending I was a good husband because I never hit her or cheated on her.”
That sentence would become the beginning of Luke Morgan changing.
Not because Sophia demanded it.
Because finally he saw himself clearly.
The next morning, Sophia woke to discover Luke had gone.
She felt both relieved and disappointed.
Then a nurse entered carrying flowers.
Sophia sighed.
“From my husband?”
“No.”
The card was from her employees.
She smiled.
There were no flowers from Luke.
Instead, Maya arrived carrying a folder.
“Your husband sent this.”
Sophia opened it.
Inside were signed amendments to their temporary agreement.
Luke had voluntarily increased Sophia's control over every privacy and security issue concerning herself and the unborn child.
He had also included a handwritten note.
I won't use money, security, or my name to take choices away from you. Tell me what you need. —Luke
Sophia read it twice.
Then noticed another page.
A deed.
Her grandmother's townhouse.
Luke had apparently discovered years earlier that an old lien complicated the title.
He had quietly cleared it.
Now he had executed documents relinquishing any marital interest he might claim.
Sophia stared.
“He's giving me everything I asked for.”
Maya sat opposite her.
“Actually, he's giving you more.”
“Why?”
“You'll have to ask him.”
Two days later, Sophia was discharged.
Outside the hospital, photographers waited.
Someone had leaked the story.
Questions exploded.
“Mrs. Morgan, are you divorcing Luke?”
“Is the baby his?”
“Did Vanessa Russell cause the separation?”
Sophia froze.
Then a wall of men appeared.
Luke's security.
But Luke himself remained across the street.
He didn't approach.
He had promised.
His men created a safe path to Maya's car.
Sophia climbed inside.
Before the door closed, she looked back.
Luke stood in the rain.
No umbrella.
Watching only long enough to know she was safe.
Then he turned away.
Sophia's hand settled over her stomach.
For the first time, she wondered whether the man she was divorcing might finally be learning how to love her.
Unfortunately, someone else was watching too.
Inside a parked sedan fifty yards away, a man photographed Sophia's departure.
Then he sent the image to an unknown number.
Confirmed. Morgan's wife is pregnant.
May you like
The reply arrived seconds later.
Then we finally know where to hurt him.
