Isabella responded by pulling her hand away.

She turned her head, her shoulders trembling slightly.

“Rest well.” Kyla gave one last look at the pitiful figure on the bed.

Then she turned and walked out of the room.

Her steps were quick and purposeful as she approached the nurse’s station.

She grabbed the arm of a young nurse with a sense of urgency. “Hello, I’m a friend of Isabella’s. Can you tell me how her baby is doing?”

The nurse glanced briefly at the medical records.

She confirmed the tragic news. “The patient had a miscarriage. The child is gone.”

At those words, Kyla felt the last bit of worry melt away.

A true sense of ease washed over her.

Ethan strode into his office.

Beyond the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, the city pulsed with life.

Traffic flowed like a vibrant, ever-moving river.

He paid no attention to the view.

His forehead was creased in concentration.

His fingers tapped a restless rhythm on the smooth surface of the desk.

His heart thumped with a foreboding sense of dread.

A silent alarm warned him that something terrible was about to happen.

“Damn it,” he muttered, yanking at his tie with irritation.

During the earlier meeting, his mind had been elsewhere.

The memory of Isabella’s phone call haunted him.

Her voice had been frail and desperate, her words a tangled plea for help.

“Ethan… help me…”

Back then, he had dismissed her with a curt hang-up.

Now, the echo of her fear gnawed at him.

He might have overlooked something critical.

“Benjamin!” he barked into the internal phone line, his voice urgent.

“Yes, Mr. Blackwood?” Benjamin’s prompt reply came.

“Check on Isabella. Find out what’s going on with her,” Ethan commanded, his tone clipped.

“Perhaps it would be best if you reached out to her yourself, sir,” Benjamin advised, sounding confused.

Ethan’s fist clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white.

He brought it to his lips and coughed discreetly.

It was a weak attempt to hide his growing anxiety.

His voice, sharp and impatient, broke the silence. “Just go look into it!”

He slammed the phone down and began pacing his office.

Each step echoed his restlessness.

Calling Isabella now to show he cared?

That was never going to happen!

He had been dismissive, almost harsh, when he hung up on her.

Reaching out now would only wound his pride.

Deep down, Ethan began to rationalize his hesitation.

Unknowingly, his defenses were crumbling.

He had started to harbor genuine concern for the woman he had so casually brushed aside.

A soft, hesitant knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.

“Come in,” he called out, his tone more subdued.

Benjamin entered, his posture formal as he stopped before the desk.

“Mr. Blackwood, Mrs. Blackwood was in a car accident. She’s currently at the city hospital.”

“What?!” The word burst from Ethan, his face draining of color as he leaped to his feet.

The news hit him like a physical blow.

Isabella’s desperate call for help replayed in his mind.

It gripped him with a newfound panic.