chapter1038

Lydia walked over and sank onto the sofa, her face unreadable. "You don't get to talk about him," she said quietly.

Sandy let out a bitter laugh. "If it wasn't for me, he would've died ages ago. I'm the reason he had two more months. Me!"

"It doesn't matter now. If you want to take your kid and go look for him, I won't stop you."

Sandy's jaw clenched as she glared at Lydia, her eyes burning with resentment.

Lydia met her gaze, calm and steady. "If you don't want the baby, go to the hospital and end it. Stop dragging this out. It's not fair to the child.

At that, Sandy suddenly laughed, the sound sharp and broken. Lydia, you stole eighteen years of the life I should've had. Why am I the one left like this? Why?"

She honestly couldn't figure it out. She'd struggled her whole life. Why couldn't fate cut her some slack, just once? She was only eighteen. Her life should've been just starting. Other girls her age were out there, shining, heading off to school with their whole futures ahead of them. But she was trapped, labeled a murderer, locked away in this tiny world. What had she done to deserve this? She just couldn't accept it. She wouldn't.

"It's all your choice. If you work with the police, you'll be making things easier for yourself. Lydia stood to go.

Sandy called out suddenly. "Any news about Greg?"

No matter what, Greg was the only man she'd ever been with, and the father of her baby. She just wanted to know if he was okay.

Lydia paused and looked back. Do you want there to be?"

Sandy went quiet. If Lydia said yes, it meant they'd catch Greg soon. If not... maybe he really did get away.

"Sooner or later, he'll come back for you."

Lydia left. Sandy just slumped to the floor, defeated. So they had no word on Greg. That meant he was really gone. He'd left her and the baby behind.

Outside the building, Lydia checked in with Byron, then drove off to the hospital. It had been too long since she'd seen her grandmother. She needed to find a way to help her wake up.

Shem

She pushed open the door to the hospital room and froze. A figure in black was already there.

As soon as she saw who it was, her brows knitted. "What are you doing here?"

Iceblade stood up from beside the bed, flashing her a lazy grin. "What a coincidence. You're here to see Grandma too?"

Lydia walked in and shut the door. "Who let you in?"

After boot camp, Iceblade had left the country. Why was he suddenly back? She hadn't heard a thing.

He shrugged. "Relax. I just missed Grandma and wanted to see how she was doing."

"If you even think about messing with her..."

He cut her off, still grinning. "Come on. Grandma's always been good to me. Why would I want to hurt her? Do you really think so little of me?"

Lydia ignored him and went over to check on Mrs. Smith. Thankfully, everything looked stable.

Iceblade watched her with a sly, thoughtful look, his eyes impossible to read. "You've been poisoned, haven't you?"

Lydia's expression turned icy in a heartbeat, her eyes narrowing.

Iceblade backed off a little, hands up. "Hey, don't look at me like that. You made a huge scene in Country T. Maybe others don't know what happened, but we do. It wasn't hard to figure out."

Lydia didn't bother to answer. "It's none of your business."

Iceblade gave her a long dont new

look. Qth r people's lives don't

matter much to me. But if

something happened to you,d'd

actually be upset