Aloe's POV
The airplane seat felt like the first space I'd occupied in years that truly belonged to me. Not Wakes's carefully curated luxury, not Blake's protective custody, just a standard economy seat on United Flight 847 to Denver..
I pressed my hand to the small bump of my belly, barely visible under my loose sweater but undeniably real. Fifteen weeks now, according to the last medical exam.
The baby was growing steadily, oblivious to the chaos surrounding its conception and the uncertainty of its future.
"First time flying while pregnant?" The woman next to me was middle-aged, kind-faced, the type who probably had grown children and grandchildren she worried about.
"Yes," I said, though it wasn't true. I'd flown pregnant before, early in the first trimester, when Wakes had insis
