Chapter 5 - The Glass Tower
The doorman at the Thorne Tower recognized me instantly.
“Dr. Brooks!” he said, his eyes widening in surprise as he looked at my visible pregnancy. “I... Mr. Thorne is on the top floor, but he didn't say you were coming—”
“Key card, Marcus,” I demanded, holding out my hand, my voice leaving zero room for debate.
Marcus swallowed nervously and swiped his master key card through the private elevator reader. The doors slid open, and I stepped inside, pressing the button for the 45th floor.
The elevator ascended silently, my pulse hammering in my ears like a war drum.
When the doors opened directly into the penthouse foyer, the familiar smell of sandalwood and marble hit my senses. The apartment was vast, minimalist, and cold—floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the glittering skyline of the city.
Elias was sitting at his large mahogany desk in the living room, a laptop open in front of him, a glass of scotch sitting untouched by his elbow.
When the elevator doors chimed, he looked up.
When he saw me standing there, holding the legal papers in my trembling hand, he closed his laptop slowly and stood up.
“Adelaide,” he said softly.
I marched across the polished hardwood floor, stopped right in front of his desk, and slammed the legal envelope onto his glass table so hard his whiskey glass rattled.
“You absolute bastard!” I screamed, my voice shaking the quiet room. “You manipulative, heartless coward!”
Elias didn't flinch. He stood there, taking the force of my anger with his head held high.
“Did you read the petition?” he asked calmly.
“Read it?!” I laughed bitterly, tears of rage springing to my eyes. “You are suing me for full custody of my baby! You cited my residency hours! You cited my income! You called my home an ‘insufficient domestic environment’!”
“It was the only way to get you into this room!” Elias yelled back, his composure suddenly snapping like a dried twig.
I froze. “What?”
Elias stepped around the desk, his eyes wild with a mixture of despair and passion. “Do you really think I want to take your baby away from you, Adelaide?! Do you think I’m that much of a monster?!”
“Then why did your lawyers send me this paper?!” I demanded, pointing a shaking finger at the desk.
“Because you blocked my phone number!” Elias roared, taking another step closer, his chest heaving. “Because you walked out of that hospital room three days ago and shut the door in my face! Because you were planning on raising my son in a tiny apartment, working eighty hours a week, pretending I don't exist, and robbing me of the chance to ever be a father to him!”
“You gave up that right when you let me leave six months ago!” I sobbed.
“I WAS AN IDIOT!” Elias screamed, his voice echoing off the three-story glass windows.
The sound hung in the air, vibrating through the massive apartment.
Elias dropped his head into his hands, sliding his fingers through his dark hair. “I was an idiot, Adelaide,” he repeated, his voice dropping into a broken, ruined whisper. “I was terrified. I was arrogant. I thought if I let myself love you, I would lose control of my life. And the second you walked out that door, my entire life became completely meaningless.”
He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face without shame.
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“I haven't slept in six months,” he choked out. “I stand at these windows every single night looking at the city, praying that you were safe. And when I saw you in that ER... pregnant with my child... I realized that my cowardice didn't just break your heart. It robbed my son of a family before he was even born.”
I stood there, paralyzed, watching the proudest man I had ever known collapse into pieces in front of me.
