Chapter 3 - Bound by Blood and Law
The private executive wing of Chicago Memorial Hospital was dimly lit when Luke stormed through the security doors. Two security guards stepped back the moment they recognized the lethal, rigid posture of the city’s most dangerous titan.
Elena was waiting inside her private office, the blinds pulled completely shut. When Luke slammed the heavy mahogany door behind him, she flinched.
"Explain," Luke said, leaning over her desk, towering over her. "She left without taking a dime. She looked at my mother like she was a stranger. Why did she call you this morning?"
Elena took off her wire-rimmed glasses, rubbing her eyes. Her white coat bore the embroidered insignia of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.
"I didn't call her, Luke. She came to my clinic."
Luke's breath hitched. "She was sick? Is she hurt?"
"She wasn't sick." Elena stared at her brother, torn between the Hippocratic oath and the sheer agony in his gray eyes. "Luke, you know how medical privacy works. If I breach HIPAA, I lose my license, my practice, everything."
"I don't give a damn about your license!" Luke roared, slamming his fist onto the solid wood, rattling the medical charts. "That is my wife! What was she doing in an OB-GYN clinic?"
Elena didn't blink. She held her ground, tears glistening in her lashes. "She didn't come to an OB-GYN clinic to check on a cold, Luke. She came for a confidential consultation. And when I pulled down my mask, she looked at me like a ghost."
The world seemed to spin beneath Luke’s polished leather shoes. The oxygen evaporated from the room.
"A consultation..." Luke whispered, the truth slamming into his ribs like a sledgehammer. "Sophia is..."
"She was scheduled for a termination, Luke," Elena choked out, breaking under the weight of his despair. "An abortion."
Luke stumbled back, his shoulder hitting the wall. The color drained entirely from his face. "A... what?"
"She was sitting there alone in the waiting room," Elena wept, her voice trembling. "No husband. No driver. Holding her purse like a shield. She didn't even know it was my rotation. When she saw my face, she stood up, grabbed her file, and walked out."
"Why?" Luke rasped, tears finally breaking past his impenetrable armor. "Why wouldn't she tell me?"
"Because of who you are, Luke!" Elena snapped, standing up to confront him. "Because for three years, Mother has treated her like a trophy maid! Because Vanessa moves in and out of your family’s life like an uncrowned queen! Sophia spent three years walking on eggshells, believing that you still loved Vanessa, that she was just a convenient contract! You never gave her safety, Luke! How could she bring a child into a house where she felt like an unwanted guest?"
Luke stood frozen, the realization slicing him open to the bone. Every late night at the office, every dinner he let his mother orchestrate, every time he ignored Vanessa’s passive-aggressive digs thinking Sophia was too polite to care—he had poisoned his own sanctuary.
May you like
He pulled out his phone, his fingers shaking so hard he nearly dropped it. He dialed Sophia’s personal number.
*The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service.*
