Page 232 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

“That’s not what I need to hear.”

I drag a hand over my jaw and turn away, because the thought of Bryce in the same room as her, looking at her body, making her feel exposed, makes something ancient and violent rise in me.

Mine, some primitive part of me snarls.

I tell myself it’s protection instead of possession, though the line between them feels dangerously thin right now… except I’ve already failed to protect her once in the last twenty-four hours.

The realization tastes of blood.

“Celeste stayed,” Addy says.

That pulls me back. “What?”

“She didn’t leave with him. He ordered her to, basically. She stayed.”

I look at her.

Addy’s face is pale but determined now. “She said he’s been getting worse. Controlling, angry, secretive. He told her he had some project here. Something that would prove he was necessary. Something that should have been his.”

The air leaves the room. “What did you say?”

“She didn’t know details. Just that he’s obsessed with his laptop, taking calls outside, barely sleeping.” Addy swallows. “She said he keeps saying once this is over, everything changes.”

Bryce. The backdoor, the archived systems, Megan.

My hands tighten on my knees until my knuckles ache.

“Ethan?”

I force myself to unclench my fingers. “That helps.”

“It does?”

“Yes.”

“Because of the work thing?”

“Yes.”

She waits.

I say nothing else.

Her expression closes by a fraction, and I hate myself for it, but I cannot give her the full horror yet. Not while she is sitting there with hospital discharge papers in her bag and fear under her skin. Not when I barely understand the shape of it myself.

She gives a small nod, as if that confirms what she already suspected.

Then she looks down at her hands again. “There’s more.”

“What happened?” I ask.

Her lips part. Close. She gives a tiny, humorless laugh. “I practiced this in the car, and somehow none of the versions sounded less insane.”

“Addy.”

She looks at me then, and whatever I see in her face makes my heart stop.

“The ultrasound happened this morning.”