Hailey’s POV
I left the hospital the way I had entered it....silent, trembling, and bleeding from a wound no one could see.
Roy followed me down the hallway like a shadow, his footsteps uneven, desperate. He kept calling my name, his voice hoarse as if he had been crying for hours. Maybe he had. Maybe he had broken down the moment the doctor said the words.
No heartbeat. No baby.
But his regret did not soften the emptiness inside me. It did not return what had been taken. It did not erase the cruelty of Violet’s message or the picture that still burned behind my eyes.
I did not stop.
Roy grabbed my wrist at the elevator.
“Hailey, please. Just talk to me,” he begged.
I turned slowly, meeting his eyes.
“What do you want me to say?” My voice was calm, too calm. “That it’s okay? That
