ALEX’S POV
I don’t remember leaving my grandmother’s room. One moment, I’m standing there, the weight of her words pressing against my ribs, and the next I’m in the hallway, walking too fast, breath shallow, pulse roaring in my ears like I’m back in the middle of a hostile takeover, with one crucial difference.
This time, the stakes aren’t numbers, they’re flesh and bone, they’re Lavender. They’re a child I didn’t know existed until a few minutes ago, pregnant. The word repeats itself in my head, each time tearing something open. It doesn’t settle. It doesn’t soften. It just is heavy, undeniable, reshaping everything it touches. She was here, next door.
Close enough, that I could have walked three steps in the wrong direction and found her. And I didn’t, again. I stop at the nurses’ sta
