EPISODE3
1317 Words
CHAPTER THREE
Midtown Medical — Pediatric Wing
Ana had always thought hospitals were cold because of the temperature. She never realized it was the silence—the kind that settled between heartbeats when waiting for news that could change everything.
Now, that silence followed her into Noah’s room like a shadow.
She hadn’t expected to see Cassian there, already seated beside Noah’s bed, sleeves rolled up, speaking quietly to the little boy as if they’d met more than five minutes ago.
He looked terrifyingly at ease.
Noah, coloring quietly on his tray table, looked up as she entered. “Mama, look. Mr. Thorne helped me with this part.”
Ana’s heart stuttered. Mr. Thorne? That’s what he called him?
Cassian glanced at her, and for a brief moment, his gaze softened. “You’re late.”
“I had to speak with Dr. Mallory. They wanted to run more labs.” She stepped around the machines and sat on Noah’s other side, brushing her hand through his hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. My arm doesn’t even hurt today.”
“That’s because you’re braver than your mom,” Cassian said mildly.
Noah giggled.
Ana narrowed her eyes. “Funny.”
Cassian didn’t look at her. “He asked if I was his real dad.”
Ana froze.
“I told him I didn’t know yet,” Cassian continued. “Because we’re still figuring that out.”
Ana’s voice dropped. “You’re not supposed to—”
“I’m not supposed to what, Ana? Speak to him? Be here?”
“Confuse him.”
Cassian turned to face her fully. “He’s already confused. He’s four. But he’s smart. He knows something’s off. He knows you’re hiding something.”
Noah looked between them with a frown. “Are you two fighting?”
Ana smiled weakly. “No, baby. Just talking.”
Cassian straightened. “Ana, I’d like a moment alone with him.”
Her head snapped up. “Why?”
“Because he deserves to get to know me—without you watching me like I’m about to steal him.”
Ana hesitated.
Noah reached for her hand. “It’s okay, Mama. I want to show him my Spidey comics.”
She sighed. “Okay. Five minutes.” She kissed Noah’s forehead and stood. Her eyes lingered on Cassian a beat longer. “Don’t overwhelm him.”
Cassian raised a brow. “You’re one to talk.”
Ana walked out before she could say something she’d regret.
—
She leaned against the corridor wall, trying to catch her breath.
Everything was happening too fast. One moment she was alone, the next—Cassian Thorne, the man she ran from, the man who still haunted her sleep, was bonding with her son like he’d been waiting for it.
And maybe he had.
A memory flashed:
Four Years Ago.
Ana sat on the edge of the hotel bed, legs swinging off the side, twisting her fingers. Cassian leaned against the window,his glass of wine untouched.
"Do you want me to stay the night?" she asked, voice barely audible.
Cassian turned his head. "That's not part of the arrangement."
“I know. I just thought maybe—”
He walked over, crouching before her. “We agreed on no names. No attachments. You get what you need. I get what I want. That’s it.”
Ana nodded. But her eyes betrayed her.
Cassian sighed. “You can leave, Ana.”
She blinked. “You… you remembered my name?”
He stood. “I remember everything.”
—
The door behind her opened.
Ana jolted from her memory. Cassian stepped into the hallway, hands in his pockets.
“He likes superheroes,” he said flatly.
“I know.”
“He wants to be a doctor when he grows up.”
Ana smiled faintly. “He changes his mind every week.”
Cassian’s tone was softer now. “He’s sharp. Observant. Too calm for his age.”
“Like someone else I know,” she said.
Their eyes met.
Cassian broke the silence. “He has my eyes. My hands. The way he tilts his head when he thinks—that’s me.”
Ana swallowed. “You believe me now?”
“I believe the DNA test confirmed what I already suspected.”
“And?”
“And now we figure out how this works. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Ana’s walls went up. “You don’t get to walk in and demand custody. That’s not how any of this works.”
“I’m not demanding custody.” Cassian’s voice was deadly calm. “Yet.”
She blinked. “You’re unbelievable.”
“And you’re lying again.” He pulled something from his inner jacket pocket—a photo.
Ana’s blood turned to ice.
The hotel room. The original image. Her face. His face. Caught in a flash of intimacy no one else was supposed to witness.
She looked at him. “Where did you get that?”
“It slipped under Noah’s door last night.”
Her stomach dropped. “That’s not possible. Who would—”
“I was hoping you’d tell me.”
“I swear, I don’t know.”
Cassian’s jaw clenched. “Then someone else from your past does.”
Ana shook her head. “You think I planned this? You think I’m trying to blackmail you?”
“I don’t know what I think. But I do know someone wants to make us both bleed.”
She took the photo from his hand, eyes burning.
“I’m not your enemy, Cassian.”
“I want to believe that.”
A silence passed between them. Finally, Ana took a deep breath.
“You asked me four years ago if I wanted to leave.”
He remembered. “You said you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” she said, her voice cracking. “But I should have. Maybe then none of this would’ve happened.”
Cassian stepped closer. “And maybe then our son wouldn’t exist.”
Ana’s breath caught. “So what now?”
“We stop pretending we don’t want to know each other.”
Ana stared at him, unsure whether it was a threat or something dangerously close to… a truce.
But before she could answer, a nurse called from down the hall. “Ms. Rivera?”
Cassian’s phone buzzed. He checked the screen and stepped aside without a word, pressing the device to his ear.
Ana watched him closely. His posture was still, expression unreadable.
“Yes?” he said into the phone. A pause. “No, not yet. I’m handling it.” Another pause. “Don’t do anything unless I say so. I mean it, Mara.”
Ana’s chest tightened.
Mara.
She wondered who that was because the name sounded familiar.
Cassian’s voice lowered further. “If she tries to back out again, we’ll use it. But not until I say. She’s not the same girl from that night.”
A pause.
“No. She’s far more dangerous.”
He ended the call and turned back to Ana as if nothing happened.
“What?” he asked, noticing her expression.
“Who was that?”
“No one you need to worry about.”
She forced a shaky breath. “You don’t get to decide that.”
Cassian didn’t blink. “Actually, I do.”
Ana wanted to scream—but before she could say anything, the nurse rounded the corner with a clipboard in hand.
She turned to the nurse,”Sorry about that”.
The nurse nodded and approached them, clipboard in hand. “Doctor Mallo
ry would like to speak with you both. The results came out.”
Cassian and Ana followed her down the hall, side by side but miles apart.
And neither of them knew the storm those results were about to bring.
- Writer
