They wheeled me past the NICU again, this time because I begged them to. I asked the orderly to stop, just for a moment. He saw something in my eyes—desperation, maybe—and slowed the chair.
The divorce papers had dried hours earlier in a hospital hallway that reeked of disinfectant and something metallic beneath it. Behind the surgical doors, I had been unconscious, stitched back together after an emergency C-section that saved three premature babies and nearly cost me my life.
Machines had beeped steadily. Red lights blinked in the ICU darkness. A nurse had whispered a prayer under her breath while watching my unstable vitals.
Outside, Adrian Brooks stood in a tailored Italian suit, adjusting his cufflinks with steady hands. He took the pen from his attorney and signed his name without hesitation.
Ten minutes before that, my heart had stopped.
Adrian hadn’t asked whether his children were breathing on their own. He hadn’t asked if I would wake up. He asked only one question.
“How soon is it finalized?”
The lawyer answered quietly. Immediately.
A doctor stepped into the corridor, exhaustion carved into her face.
“Mr. Brooks, your wife is in critical condition. She needs—”
“I’m no longer her husband,” Adrian interrupted, snapping the folder closed. The sound echoed sharply. “Contact her family.”
“There’s no other family listed,” the doctor said, confused.
Adrian glanced at his watch. “Then update the file.”
He walked away, his polished shoes clicking across the floors of St. Matthew’s Medical Center in Chicago. On the walls hung photos of smiling newborns and grateful parents. Behind him, three tiny infants struggled for air inside incubators, almost fatherless before they had taken their first full breath.
By morning, I would wake up divorced, uninsured, and legally exposed. Adrian would already be in his black Bentley, driving toward downtown.
His phone lit up with a message from Vanessa Cole.
Is it done?
He replied with one word.
Yes.
As traffic swallowed him along Lake Shore Drive, he allowed himself a thin smile. The timing was flawless. No custody complications. No fragile wife distracting him. In weeks, his company would enter a critical investment round. Investors valued decisiveness, not vulnerability.