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Chapter 410
Chapter 410:
She had splashed cold water on her face. Her mascara was faintly smudged. She looked fragile and exhausted in precisely the right measure, leaning against the doorframe with a weak, apologetic smile directed at Julian.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered, her voice trembling to perfection. “The smell of the seafood — it just hit me so suddenly p>
Julian opened his mouth, ready to offer his congratulations.
Cole exploded.
He shoved his chair back so violently it crashed to the floor. He grabbed his linen napkin and snapped it onto the table.
𝘓at𝘦𝗌t 𝘤𝗁ар𝗍𝘦𝘳𝗌 𝘰𝗇
“We are leaving,” he snarled.
His voice was a low, guttural growl that shook the crystal glasses on the table. He did not look at Julian. He did not look at Crawford. He marched across the room, grabbed Alycia firmly by the upper arm, and dragged her out into the hallway.
The interior of the Maybach was as cold as a morgue.
Cole gripped the leather steering wheel with both hands, his knuckles bone-white. He stared straight ahead at the wet asphalt, his jaw locked so tight his teeth ached.
Alycia sat in the passenger seat with her hands folded in her lap, staring out the window. The dark, violent energy radiating from his body terrified her.
Cole suddenly jerked the wheel.
The massive car swerved across two lanes of traffic and slammed to a halt in front of a brightly lit, 24-hour CVS pharmacy on the Upper East Side. He killed the engine.
“Get out,” Cole said. His voice was completely dead, stripped of all emotion.
Alycia’s stomach dropped. “Cole, what are we doing here p>
He turned his head. His eyes were hollow.
“Get out of the car,” he repeated.
She swallowed hard and opened the door.
They walked into the empty pharmacy. Harsh fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Cole moved with aggressive, purposeful strides directly to the family planning aisle, scanned the shelves, and reached out for the most sensitive digital pregnancy test on display — a box advertising 99.9% accuracy in bold print.
He turned around and pressed it firmly into Alycia’s hands.
“Go to the bathroom,” he said, his voice like cracking ice. “Now p>
Alycia’s breath caught. She looked at the box, then up at his cold, unforgiving face. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She nodded weakly and walked toward the back of the store, pushing through the restroom door.
Cole remained in the aisle, staring at the closed door.
His heart pounded a frantic, desperate rhythm against his ribs. Deep in the darkest corner of his soul, he was praying — praying to a God he didn’t believe in that the test would come back negative.
Inside the bathroom, Alycia locked the door.
Her tears vanished instantly. Her face hardened into a mask of cold calculation.
She opened her designer clutch and reached into a hidden zipper pocket, pulling out a tiny glass dropper bottle. The clear liquid inside was a highly concentrated synthetic HCG hormone solution — her father had paid a disgraced doctor fifty thousand dollars for it.