Chapter 246 Self-Made Ruin

Chapter 246: Chapter 246 Self-Made Ruin

Serena watched her parents disappear down the hospital corridor. Then she returned to the room, the court papers still clenched in her hand.

She held them out to Alpha Sebastian.

"You were right," she said quietly. "I’ll deal with it. Whatever the court says I owe, I’ll pay it back."

Alpha Sebastian looked up, caught off guard by her sudden surrender.

Serena gave him a small, fragile smile. "If I had known those gifts would come with a price, I never would have accepted them."

Her gaze dropped to the papers.

"Not if I had to face all of this alone."

The bitterness in her voice reached him more deeply than tears.

The penthouse. The luxury cars. The jewelry she had worn to charity galas and family parties. Every piece had come from him.

Alpha Sebastian looked away.

"Don’t misunderstand me," Serena murmured.

She rested one hand over her stomach, still flat beneath the hospital gown. "I’m not asking you to fix everything. I’m only thinking about the baby."

His eyes followed her hand.

"If I lose everything fighting this lawsuit and end up having to pay millions, what will be left for our child?" Serena continued, her voice breaking. "No home. No car. Nothing to give them a future."

Alpha Sebastian’s chest tightened.

Then Isabella’s warning came back to him.

[If you hand Serena the last property in your name, how much more will Eira hate you?]

"Serena," he said slowly, "maybe we should discuss whether continuing this pregnancy is..."

"Don’t."

She pulled her hand protectively over her abdomen.

"Don’t say that." Her voice trembled. "You’ll scare the baby. Children can feel when they aren’t wanted."

Alpha Sebastian’s expression hardened.

"I’m not agreeing to anything. But I’m not going to let you use the baby to make every decision for me."

Serena fell silent. She leaned back against the pillows, crossed her arms, and turned her face away.

In the past, one wounded look from her would have sent him rushing to apologize.

This time, he stayed in his chair.

Serena watched him from the corner of her eye.

He really did not love her anymore.

Men were like that, she thought bitterly. They loved when it suited them, then stopped the moment it became inconvenient.

Neither of them slept much that night.

Serena lay awake, one hand resting over her stomach as she planned her next move. Alpha Sebastian sat by the window, his phone lighting up his tired face as he exchanged messages with Ethan.

Ethan already knew that Alpha Sebastian had resigned from Hale Group.

[What are you going to do now? he texted. If you’re willing to consider it, my family’s firm could use someone with your experience. It’s a more traditional industry, but the position is solid.]

Alpha Sebastian stared at the message before replying.

[I’ll figure it out after the court case is under control.]

Ethan answered almost immediately.

[What court case?]

After a long pause, Alpha Sebastian told him that Eira had filed against Serena.

The response took longer this time.

[I’m going to be honest. If the press picks this up, my family’s board may not let me bring you on. They’ll see you as a liability, no matter how qualified you are.]

Alpha Sebastian already understood.

Once the case entered the public record, anyone could find the basic facts. A married Alpha had betrayed his mate, spent a fortune on another woman, and was now facing the consequences in court.

Even without newspaper headlines, the story would follow him.

No major company would rush to place a senior executive in front of clients while that scandal hung over him.

Ethan could hear the despair in Alpha Sebastian’s messages.

He tried to cheer Alpha Sebastian up, but when that failed, he asked for the hospital’s address and promised to come by in the morning.

He arrived early with two paper cups of coffee and a bag of hot breakfast sandwiches.

Ethan was Serena’s friend too, but only because he had always been close to Alpha Sebastian. His loyalty had never been split evenly.

Seeing them together now, caught somewhere between former lovers and complete strangers, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I brought breakfast," Ethan said, setting the paper bag on the small bedside table.

He glanced at Alpha Sebastian. "How’s the baby?"

"The ultrasound was reassuring. The basic bloodwork is already in the chart." Alpha Sebastian looked at Serena. "We’re still waiting on the prenatal infection screens. The lab said they should post to the patient portal once they’re finalized."

Serena’s phone rested on the blanket beside her. She picked it up and opened the hospital’s patient portal.

Nothing.

She refreshed the page.

Still nothing.

"The HIV, hepatitis, and syphilis results haven’t posted yet," she said.

Ethan nodded. "Those were sent to an outside lab, right? They can take longer than the emergency tests."

"They told me they should be back today." Serena refreshed the page again. "I’ve been waiting for them for days."

A nurse appeared at the open door, tablet in hand.

"Serena Winthrop?"

Serena looked up immediately. "Yes?"

"Your remaining screening results are back. They’re in your chart, but the doctor still needs to review them with you." The nurse glanced at the screen. "I’ll let him know you’re waiting and bring you a printed copy."

Serena nodded, though her face had gone pale.

Before Alpha Sebastian could respond, his phone began to ring.

Isabella.

He glanced at the screen and let the call go to voicemail. He no longer trusted his sister to bring him anything but another problem.

The phone rang again almost at once.

Dad.

Alpha Sebastian frowned and answered.

"Dad?"

"Where the hell are you?" Alpha Roger’s voice shook over the line. "Your mother slipped in the bathroom. She can’t get up. Get home now!"

Alpha Sebastian’s stomach dropped.

"Did you call 911?"

"They’re on the way. I don’t care where you are. Just get here!"

"I’m coming. Keep your phone on."

He ended the call and turned toward Ethan.

"What happened?" Ethan asked.

"Mom fell. She can’t move." Alpha Sebastian was already moving toward the exit.

Serena looked up from the bed. "Sebastian?"

He stopped.

Then he turned to Ethan. "Stay with her. Make sure she gets the results, and have the doctor explain everything."

"Go," Ethan said. "I’ve got her."

"Thanks."

Alpha Sebastian hurried out without looking back.

Serena watched him disappear through the hospital doors. Her expression tightened, not with concern for Luna Margaret, but with frustration that he had left before seeing the results.

Ethan noticed.

Alpha Sebastian’s mother was injured at home and waiting for an ambulance, yet Serena looked annoyed that he had walked away.

How had he failed to see that for so long?

The nurse returned a few minutes later with a printed report.

"Here are the results," she said. "The doctor will be in shortly to review them with you."

Serena took the pages with trembling hands.

Her eyes dropped to the first line.

Then all the color disappeared from her face.