Chapter 6 - The Unforgiven
Nora woke up to the smell of antiseptic and the pale blue light of dawn filtering through the blinds.
Her body felt hollow, sore, stripped of all energy. She shifted slightly, feeling the thin hospital gown against her skin and the IV line taped to the back of her left hand.
Memory returned in a rush—the suitcases by the door, the champagne glass, the dark elevator shaft, the agonizing pressure, and the sound of a baby crying in the dark.
She gasped, her hand flying to her flat, soft stomach.
“He’s okay,” a quiet voice spoke from the corner of the room.
Rowan was sitting in a low armchair beside the window. He looked terrible—his eyes were red, his jaw covered in a dark stubble, his shirt torn and stained with dark oil and dried blood.
“He’s in the NICU,” Rowan said softly, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “His lungs were slightly underdeveloped because he was four weeks early, but the doctor said he’s breathing on his own now. He’s going to be fine, Nora. He’s strong.”
Nora stared at him, her face completely expressionless.
Rowan stood up slowly, walking to the side of her bed. He reached out, his hand trembling as he tried to take her hand.
Nora pulled her arm back, hiding her hand beneath the white sheet.
Rowan’s hand lingered in the empty air for a second before he pulled it back, swallowing hard.
“I know what Elise did,” Rowan said, his voice cracking. “I checked the medical records myself. She bribed the laboratory in Chicago. She forged the hotel receipts. She manipulated the private investigator’s reports because she wanted to push you out before the corporate audit next month.”
Nora didn't look at him. She looked at the blue sky outside the window.
“And you believed her,” Nora said quietly.
The sentence wasn't shouted. It carried no anger, no theatrical accusation. It was simply a statement of fact.
“Nora, I was stressed... the merger was taking everything I had...” Rowan began, his voice desperate.
“You lived with me for five years, Rowan,” Nora said, turning her head slowly to look him in the eye. “You slept beside me every night. You knew my heart. You knew how much I wanted this baby. And yet, when a woman you hired eight months ago offered you a lie that made your life convenient, you took it.”
“I was an idiot!” Rowan cried out, dropping to his knees beside her bed, burying his face in the white mattress. “I was blind! I let my pride... my paranoia... ruin everything! Please, Nora... give me a chance to make this right. I’ll give you everything. The apartment, the company... I’ll spend every day of my life earning your forgiveness.”
Nora looked down at the dark head of the man who had once been her entire world.
She remembered the way he had stood in their hallway, watching her struggle with a heavy suitcase, letting another woman touch his arm to stop him from helping his pregnant wife.
“You can’t buy back what you destroyed in ten minutes, Rowan,” Nora said, her voice clear, firm, and completely cold. “You didn't just doubt me. You discarded me. You threw me out into the street at night like garbage.”
“Nora...”
“Get up,” she said.
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Rowan looked up, tears streaming down his face, searching her eyes for a single spark of the warmth, the devotion, or the unconditional love she had given him for five years.
He found nothing. Only an iron door that had been locked from the inside.
