Chapter 618:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

“I don’t give a damn what he said!” Garrett shoved him aside. “Take me to her. Now!”

His sanity was gone, shattered by a single word: surgery. All he wanted, all he needed, was to be at her side.

Sterling Langley stood by, utterly lost in the chaos. He stepped forward, trying to reason with him. “Garrett, be calm, your leg—”

Garrett ignored him completely. He staggered toward the exit, each step a monument to his pain, but he didn’t stop.

Brice was being helped to his feet by security. He watched Garrett’s broken retreat with a cruel, satisfied smile.

Casey had no choice. He muttered an apology to Sterling and hurried after Garrett.

The two of them, one limping, the other supporting him, cut a path through the glittering ballroom. Guests stared, their faces a mixture of shock and curiosity.

Garrett’s disheveled, desperate state was a stark, brutal contrast to the elegant surroundings.

Brooke watched them go, her brow furrowed. “What happened?” she asked Sterling.

Sterling shook his head, his own face pale. “I don’t know. But it has to be about Amelia.”

Garrett burst out of the mansion and into the pouring rain. The cold shock of the water on his face did little to clear his head.

𝗡𝘦𝘸 с𝘩а𝘱𝘁𝗲𝘳𝗌 𝗲𝘃е𝗋𝘆 wе𝖾𝗸 oո gа𝗹n𝗼𝘷e𝗹s.со𝗆

He grabbed Casey’s arm, his voice an ultimatum. “Give me Clarence’s number. Now.”

He was going to hear from his dear brother’s own mouth exactly what had been kept from him.

Casey knew there was no hiding it any longer. He pulled out his encrypted phone, dialed, and handed it over.

Casey helped Garrett into the back of the car, and the closing door shut out the storm and the noise of the party.

Garrett snatched the phone. Before Clarence could say a word, he snarled into the receiver. “What the hell happened to Amelia?”

There was a pause on the other end. Clarence could hear the raw, broken quality in his brother’s voice, and he knew the lie was over.

Clarence’s voice was as calm as ever, though tinged with a deep weariness. “She was attacked. It induced premature labor. She just came out of an emergency C-section. Mother and daughter are stable.”

Mother and daughter. The words restarted Garrett’s heart, but the relief was instantly consumed by a tidal wave of rage.

“Attacked? Premature labor? C-section?” Each word was ground out between his teeth. “You knew. You knew all of it, and you kept it from me. You let me sit there like a fool at that goddamn party while my wife and my child were fighting for their lives!”

He slammed his fist against the car window, and the reinforced glass groaned under the impact.

In the driver’s seat, Casey didn’t dare breathe.

“Telling you would have made you lose control,” Clarence said, his tone infuriatingly rational. “It wouldn’t have helped the situation. My first priority was their safety. Managing your emotions came second.”

“My emotions?” Garrett let out a hollow, bitter laugh. “Clarence, that is my wife. My child. They are not pawns on your chessboard.”

.

.

.