Chapter 257 A Plea Too Late

Chapter 257: Chapter 257 A Plea Too Late

The next morning, Eira stepped out of Sterling Tower’s private elevator and found Ethan waiting in the lobby.

The sight of him made her stop.

Security had been instructed to keep Sebastian, his family, and Serena off Sterling property.

Ethan Yates, however, wasn’t on the restricted list. His family name had been enough to get him past the front desk.

The receptionist hurried over. "Dr. Crawford, I’m sorry. He said he was here as a personal friend and asked to speak with you. We logged his name and alerted the executive floor."

Eira glanced at Ethan, who stood near the marble fireplace with his hands in his coat pockets.

A humorless smile touched her lips.

The moment Ethan saw her, he stood and crossed the marble lobby.

"Eira."

She stopped several feet away. "What do you want?"

"Sebastian’s been through hell." Ethan’s voice was low and careful. "He collapsed at Mercy General and didn’t wake up until the middle of the night. He kept calling your name while he was unconscious."

Eira’s face remained calm.

"He won’t admit it now that he’s awake, but he wants to see you," Ethan continued. "If you went to him just once, it might give him something to hold on to."

First Isabella had cried outside Number Nine. Now Ethan had shown up at Sterling Tower before breakfast to plead Alpha Sebastian’s case.

Alpha Sebastian had always been kind to everyone around him. Everyone except Eira.

She tilted her head. "If you were in my place, would you still be asking me to visit him?"

Ethan’s mouth tightened.

"He knows he messed up," he said. "He lost Hale Group. His future is falling apart. His mother has a brain tumor, and now the baby is gone. How much more does he have to lose before you’re satisfied?"

"My four years were miserable too," Eira said. "But I’m not the one who lost a company. I’m not lying in a hospital bed. I’m not facing a brain tumor, and I didn’t lose a child."

She held Ethan’s gaze."So I suppose my pain doesn’t count?"

"That’s not what I’m saying."

"Isn’t it?" Eira asked. "Whoever suffers the loudest gets to play the victim?"

Ethan fell silent.

He had defended Alpha Sebastian for years. He had told himself that Alpha Sebastian made mistakes but was still a good man.

Yet standing beneath Sterling’s security cameras, with Alpha Killian’s guards watching from the front desk, Ethan could not bring himself to argue with her.

Eira turned toward the elevator.

"You’re destroying him," Ethan called after her. "Sebastian doesn’t deserve to die over this."

She stopped.

Then she looked back over her shoulder.

"You should tell that to Serena."

Ethan’s face changed.

"I was never the one pushing him," Eira said. "I was the one they both pushed until I had nowhere left to go. Don’t come after me again. If you do, I’ll ask security to escort you out."

She walked away without waiting for his answer.

Ethan stayed where he was. He could not persuade her, and he did not dare repeat her words to Alpha Sebastian. The truth would hurt, but not as much as another rejection from Eira.

Still, somewhere beneath his loyalty, he knew she was right.

Some things were better said to Serena.

--

By the time Ethan reached Serena’s private room at Mercy General, her sobs echoed through the door.

Before he could knock, Alpha Victor swept in with Olivia Winthrop, Serena’s sharp-eyed aunt. Both wore expressions of anger rather than concern.

Serena had been crying against Jennifer’s shoulder. The moment she saw her grandfather, she went still.

"Grandfather," she whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Alpha Victor walked to the bedside and studied her pale face.

"What happened?"

Robert and Jennifer both began to speak.

"I want to hear it from her," Alpha Victor snapped.

The room fell silent.

He looked at Serena.

"The miscarriage. How did it happen? When did you become pregnant, and who was the father?"

Serena’s face drained of color. Fresh tears filled her eyes.

"Dad," Jennifer pleaded, "she just came out of surgery. This can wait."

"No, it cannot."

Alpha Victor’s anger had been building for days. Serena had become involved with a married Alpha, spent hundreds of millions of his money, dragged the Winthrop name into lawsuits, and ended up pregnant outside the relationship.

He had personally raised her to be disciplined, polished, and untouchable.

Now he looked at her and saw a scandal he could no longer control.

"How did you become this?" he demanded. "How could you throw away everything for a man who was never yours?"

Robert immediately stepped in front of his daughter.

"She knows she made mistakes," he said. "She’s already paying for them. The settlements, the legal bills, the damage to her health. She’ll learn from this."

"Damage to her health?" Olivia repeated.

Her eyes moved to Serena. "You mean the doctors aren’t sure you’ll be able to have children again?"

The last trace of color drained from Serena’s face.

She had not expected anyone to say it out loud.

"Aunt Olivia," she whispered, "I know you’ve never wanted me living under the Winthrop roof. But do you really have to kick me while I’m already down?"

Olivia’s lips parted, then closed.

Serena looked so pale and broken that even she could not bring herself to argue.

"Enough," Jennifer said quietly.

Alpha Victor stood at the foot of the bed, his chest rising and falling beneath his dark wool coat. For once, he had nothing left to say.

Olivia brought him a chair. Robert guided him down while Jennifer pressed a glass of water into his hand.

Alpha Victor stared at Serena for a long moment.

"You’re beyond saving," he said at last. "There’s nothing left for me to fix."

"Grandfather, please!"

He turned and walked toward the door.

Serena tried to climb out of bed, but a sharp pain tore through her abdomen. Robert and Jennifer caught her before she could get up and eased her back against the pillows.

"Don’t move," Jennifer pleaded. "You just had surgery."

Serena had cried so much that her eyes were swollen nearly shut.

Ethan stood near the window, watching the family fall apart around her.

She turned to him.

"Did Sebastian send you?" Her voice shook. "Why didn’t he come himself? Now that the baby is gone, is he satisfied? Are we finally even?"

Ethan’s expression tightened.

"The miscarriage was an accident."

"He knew I was pregnant." Serena gripped the blanket. "Why would he shove me if he didn’t mean to hurt me?"

"There’s no one left to blame," Ethan said quietly. "Sebastian is sick too. His mother has a brain tumor, and he’s barely holding himself together."

Serena went still.

"His mother has a brain tumor?"

"Yes."

Her first thought was not about Margaret’s fear or pain.

It was about money.

Alpha Sebastian had already lost most of his assets. If every remaining dollar went toward his mother’s treatment, what would be left for Serena?