Page 219 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

“No.” I stare back at the logs. “But I’m running out of explanations that make sense.”

Jeffrey leans both hands on the desk. “We need to contain this before Sara finds out you’re personally hunting him down and turns it into a crisis calendar.”

“Sara already knows enough.”

“Sara knows there’s a breach. She doesn’t know your former business partner embedded a backdoor into a safety demo tied to the most important public presentation this company has made in years.”

“She will in ten minutes.”

“She’ll kill someone.”

“I’ll ask her to wait.”

Jeffrey gives me a humorless look. “Generous.”

I drag a hand over my face, exhaustion and fury grinding together beneath my skin. Addy is in the hospital. Oliver is in the next room. Bryce may have compromised my company, mysystem, my past, and somehow, impossibly, all of it is happening at once.

My phone buzzes in my hand.

Addy.

Everything in me stops.

I answer before the second vibration. “Addy.”

There’s a tiny pause. “Hey.”

I close my eyes. “How are you?”

“I’m okay.” She sounds tired. Too careful. “Still here. Luci arrived.”

Relief hits hard enough that I have to grip the desk. “Good.”

“You called her.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

“You shouldn’t have been alone.”

There’s another pause. I hear movement on her end. Hospital noise. A distant voice. My chest tightens.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“For what?”

“For leaving. For not coming back. For not being there this morning.”

“Ethan…”

My stomach sinks as the guilt overcomes me again. “I should have handled it differently.”

“You had Oliver.”

Jeffrey turns away, giving me privacy he knows I barely deserve.

Addy exhales softly. “Are you okay?”