The Baby Between my Ex and My Best friend

Chapter Four

Sofia leaned back against her pillows, forcing a weak smile to pretend everything was normal, even though her swollen eyes gave her away instantly.

"Thanks for coming all the way over here, Noah," she said, her voice raspy from hours of crying. "But really, you shouldn't have bothered. I’m totally fine."

Noah didn't move from his spot near the bed. He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing. He knew her too well to fall for a lie that obvious.

"This isn't how someone who is fine looks, Sofie," Noah countered, sitting down heavily on the edge of her mattress. "Seriously, look at yourself. You look like a total mess right now."

Sofia turned her gaze away, nervously picking at a loose thread on the duvet. "I just didn't sleep well," she muttered, trying to shrug it off.

"Sofie, come on," Noah said, his tone filled with genuine concern. "You don't just show up at your penthouse in the middle of the night, waking up Thomas and Beatrice, because you didn't sleep well. What really happened? Just tell me."

Sofia shook her head, her jaw tightening. The last thing she wanted to do was replay the agonizing events of the previous night out loud. If she started talking about it, she would break down all over again, and she didn't have the strength for that.

"Nothing happened, Noah," she insisted, trying to sound firm. "I was just feeling overwhelmed and needed some space. I’m fine, seriously. You don't need to cross-examine me."

She kept dodging the question, shifting around in the bed and refusing to look him in the eye. Every time he tried to push for details, she shut him down, repeating the same empty phrases. She just wanted him to drop it so she could disappear into her own head.

Noah watched her carefully, noting her trembling hands. A dark thought crossed his mind. There was only one person who could reduce Sofia to this kind of heartbroken state.

"It better not be Ryan," Noah added, his voice turning cold.

The moment the name left his mouth, Sofia froze. Her breath hitched, and a sharp flash of pure hurt washed over her features. It was as if Noah had ripped open a fresh wound, forcing her to remember the exact thing she was trying to forget. She didn't say a word, but her sudden stiffness gave her away completely.

Noah knew right then. It was because of Ryan.

A wave of intense heat rushed through Noah’s veins. He clutched his hands into tight fists, his knuckles turning white as a deep, burning anger took over. His face darkened, his jaw clenching hard. Seeing Sofia this broken because of another man, especially him, made his blood boil. He wanted to break something, but he forced himself to control his temper.

He stood up abruptly from the bed. He couldn't stay in the room looking at her like this without losing it completely.

"You should come downstairs and have breakfast with us," Noah said, his voice tight and forced as he tried to mask the fury vibrating through his chest.

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and walked straight out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a firm click.

As he walked down the hallway, Noah stopped and leaned his hand against the wall, taking heavy breaths to steady himself. The anger inside him was suffocating. For years, he had been trying to bottle up his true feelings for Sofia. Ever since they were young, he had been completely in love with her. But Sofia had only ever seen him as her best friend, the one person she could always count on.

Even though he wanted so much more, he had never said a word. He was absolutely terrified of destroying their friendship. If he confessed and she didn't feel the same way, everything would change, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing her completely. So, he had forced himself into the role of the supportive best friend, hiding his own heartbreak while watching her give her heart to guys who didn't deserve her. And now, Ryan had broken her, leaving Noah to pick up the pieces, completely helpless.

Back in the bedroom, Sofia wasn't having it that morning. The offer of breakfast meant absolutely nothing to her. She had no appetite, and she certainly didn't have the energy to sit at a table and pretend to be fine while Beatrice and Noah stared at her with pitying eyes.

She still could not believe what had happened the previous night. The memories felt like a cruel movie playing on a loop behind her eyelids. She slumped back down against the pillows, her body feeling incredibly heavy and drained. She lay there sulking, staring blankly up at the ceiling as the reality of her situation settled in.

A sharp, ragged gasp escaped her lips as a fresh wave of panic hit her. Unable to handle the light filtering through the windows, she grabbed the heavy duvet, pulled it all the way up over her face, and buried herself completely in the dark, wishing the rest of the world would just disappear.

Meanwhile, Noah hadn't gone down to the kitchen to eat. He marched straight out of the penthouse, his keys gripped tightly in his fist, ignoring Beatrice as she called out his name from the dining room. He got into his car, slammed the door shut, and started the engine with an aggressive twist. He was seeing absolute red.

He drove like a madman through the morning traffic, his mind completely hyper-focused on one single goal: finding Ryan. Within twenty minutes, he pulled up to the high-rise corporate building where Ryan worked. He left his car parked carelessly in the drop-off zone, ignored the security guards at the front, and took the elevator straight up to the executive floor.

He marched up to the main desk outside Ryan's private office, his presence loud and intimidating. Ryan's assistant looked up from her computer, her eyes widening in surprise at the sheer anger radiating off Noah.

"Where is he?" Noah demanded, his voice dangerously low, resting his palms flat on her desk as he leaned in.

The assistant swallowed hard, visibly uncomfortable under his intense glare. "Um, Mr. Ryan isn't in the office today, sir," she stammered, checking her screen nervously. "He hasn't come in yet this morning."

Noah stood there for a long, agonizing second, his teeth grinding together. He wanted to kick the office door off its hinges just to make sure she wasn't lying, but he knew the assistant was just doing her job. The fury inside him was practically clawing at his chest. Without saying another word, he turned around and stormed out of the office, the elevator ride back down doing absolutely nothing to cool the boiling rage in his stomach.

He wasn't ready to give up. He got back into his car, threw it into drive, and tore away from the curb, heading straight toward the wealthy neighborhood where the Hart family house was located. If Ryan wasn't at work, he had to be there.

The drive was filled with Noah gripping the steering wheel so tight his hands ached, cursing Ryan’s name under his breath over and over again. He wanted a confrontation. He wanted to drag Ryan out by his collar and make him answer for what he did to Sofia.

But as he finally turned onto the familiar, tree-lined street and the massive, ornate iron gates of the Hart family estate came into view, the harsh reality of the situation began to crash down on him.

Noah slowed the car down and pulled over to the side of the road, just a few yards away from the closed gates. He kept the engine idling, staring at the massive house through the windshield. His chest was heaving with angry, irregular breaths. He wanted nothing more than to drive straight through those gates and cause a massive scene, but the rational part of his brain was fighting its way through the anger.

He knew he couldn't do it. If he went in there and started a massive fight at the Hart family house, the fallout would be catastrophic. It wouldn't just be a private matter between them anymore; it would turn into a massive public scandal. In their social circle, a scene like that would ruin the reputations of everyone involved. It would destroy business alliances, create bitter enemies, and cause endless trouble for the entire family dynamic, including his own family's standing and businesses. The collateral damage would be too high, and Sofia would end up caught right in the middle of the mess, facing even more humiliation.

The sheer realization of his own helplessness made Noah’s blood boil even hotter. He was trapped by the rules of their world, unable to protect the woman he loved the way he wanted to.