Chapter 5 0005

CAITLYN'S POV

The sound of beeping machines echoed in the background like a death toll.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Slow, steady as though damnation called me already.

Voices screamed in my head, telling me I had ruined my life and I jerked away, my body drenched in sweat as I groaned, holding my aching head between my hands.

This wasn't my house. It certainly wasn't Collin’s house either. It was white sterile walls and the stench of antiseptic clung to its very being. My gaze slid to the large heart monitor beside my bed then I looked at the white clothes that were now on me.

It hit me then. I was in the hospital. I tugged my hand, trying to reach my hair but I felt a sharp pain prickle through my nerves. Fuck.

I looked down at the IV needle lodged in my wrist and I forced back tears. Where was everyone?

As though on cue, the door was pushed open and a man walked in with a medical clipboard. He had auburn hair and kind eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. “Mrs Hayes, are you feeling better?” His voice was soft as he came to stand by my bed.

Mrs Hayesㅡ Not miss Vale. At least the marriage ceremony was completed. I raised my hand as far as I could gingerly. “Well, I think I've been better than this,” I said, trying to force a smile. “Where's Collin?” I asked.

The man ticked something off the clipboard. “Oh he stepped out just about an hour ago because he had a business emergency”

The smile wiped off my face instantly. Of course, he had an emergency. Right. “And my dad?”

The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled softly. “He stepped out to get you something”

A low noise sounded in my throat and I nodded. “Okay… okay”

The man stared at me for a moment longer than necessary. “We ran tests, Mrs Hayes”

I looked up at him, a confused look on my face. “So?”

Why was he telling me that? Was something wrong with me? Was I sick or…worse?

He dropped the clipboard on the table beside my bed, confusion swirling in his eyes. “Well… I thought I should break the news to you first so… congratulationsㅡ You're pregnant”

Silence.

My jaw dropped and I felt bile rush up my throat. Different memories ran through my mindㅡ The heavy groans that night, his name, the way he crashed my wedding and tilted my life with just his presence when he didn't even raise a finger. Now…this? No. No.

A low laugh without mirth escaped me. “You're joking” I chuckled, waving off his words even as my heart pounded in my chest.

His expression didn't waver. “No, I'm not. Now, of course, I'm supposed to inform your husband because this is such happy news for you bㅡ”

That was as far as he got before I burst into tears, my body wracking with sobs. Oh fuck. I didn't even want to think about it. I knew who the father was. I was carrying another man's baby. My father was going to kill me, and the whole town would persecute me.

Tears flowed down my cheeks freely as I cursed everything I was. I shouldn't have gone to that stupid club. I should have stayed home.

“Mrs Hayes?” The doctor sounded concerned by my sudden outburst. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, waving a hand dismissively. “Yeah,” I cried. “I'm just so elated by the news” I forced the lie between sobs.

Silence reigned in the room apart from my occasional broken sobs. “I think I'll leave you to get some rest.” The man turned on his heels to leave, but I stopped him.

“No, wait,” I suddenly called out, and he paused, looking over his shoulder. “Please don't tell anyone yet. I want to be the one to surprise them all”

A knowing look showed in his eyes. “Of course, I'll leave it to you” he assured before he walked out of the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

I threw my head against the sheets as I stared blankly at the ceiling. My life was ruined. What was I gonna do?

I don't know how much time passedㅡ Minutes. Hours. I didn't know. Time bled past, and all I could think about was how I just wanted to start the week again.

The door creaked open on its hinges, but this time, I didn't bother to look up. “You're here…” I just muttered, my gaze still fixed upward. Collin was finally done with his work and now, he was here and I would have to find a way to tell him eventually that I was pregnant with someone else's child aㅡ

“Were you expecting me?” A cool voice sounded from the door and I froze, scrambling up in the sheets.

Jaxon.

He stood at the door, his hands tucked into his pockets with that infuriatingly cold expression in his eyes.

The room seemed to close in and I tried to find my breath from being this close to him again. Oh fuck, what did he want again?

“What do you want from me?” I tried to sound brave but my voice cracked. “Stay away from me. How did you get in here?”

His brow raised in a familiar gesture that I hated that I remembered. “I don't know, Lyn” Lyn. Why was he shortening my name? Why did I like the way it rolled off his tongue like sin dripping in honey? “I simply walked in. There's a door, Lyn. That's how I got here” He sounded so can that it grated on my nerves.

“You have ruined my life” The words spilled out of my lips before I could stop them.

That made him take a step forward and for a minute, I was about to scream for help because I was sure that he was going to kill me.

“Ruin your life? Do you know how long you have plagued my thoughts? I don't know much about you, and I didn't intend to set foot close to you after learning that you are getting married to that serpent ㅡ” He paused and raked a hand through his hair.

Serpent? Collins? Was this man crazy? Collins was the very embodiment of everything good under the sun.

“ㅡ Unfortunately, you're carrying my child” He paused again as my breath hitched. “And I don't intend to let him raise it”

My words stuck in my throat and I clutched the sheets beside me. “Please… just leave us alone. I swear, I didn't mean to cross your path” My voice was now a shaky whisper that sounded weak.

Jaxon reached a hand out to gently tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear, the action making me shiver. “You and I… Caitlyn Vale… we are going to have so much fun for the next 9 months because in case you didn't get me the first time…I will not let Collin Hayes have my child”

His words hit me like a freight train.

Oh god.

I was stuck.

Caught in the web of the dangerous man who was the father of my child and my husband… the sweet, kind man I felt nothing for.

And I had nowhere to go.