My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 160

Elara’s POV

The recovery room was too bright and too quiet. Elara kept her eyes closed against the fluorescent lights overhead, trying to pretend she was anywhere else but here in this sterile space that smelled like disinfectant

and fear.

Her body felt wrong. Empty in a way that went beyond physical. For months she’d carried two lives inside her, felt them moving and growing, and now there was just this hollow ache where they used to be.

She could hear Marcus breathing beside her bed, the rhythm uneven like he kept forgetting and then remembering. His hand held hers with a grip that bordered on pain but Elara didn’t ask him to let go.

“You should sleep,” Marcus said quietly.

“Can’t. Every time I close my eyes I see them taking the babies away. I keep hearing that silence when Baby B came out.”

“He cried eventually. You heard him cry.”

“Barely.” Elara’s voice cracked. “He could barely make a sound, Marcus. Our son is fighting for his life right now and I can’t even be with him.”

“The NICU nurses said we can visit in a few hours once you’re more stable. Dr. Harrison wants to make sure you’re not bleeding anymore before you try to move around.”

Elara finally opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Marcus. He looked like he’d aged ten years in the past few hours. His face was gray with exhaustion and stress, his eyes bloodshot, his hair standing up in every direction from running his hands through it.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Almost nine.”

“The shareholder meeting is at two.”

Marcus’s jaw tightened. “I know.”

“You need to go.”

“I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving our children while they’re in the NICU fighting for their lives just to go play corporate games with Penelope.”

“It’s not a game, Marcus. It’s everything we’ve been working toward. All of this, everything we’ve survived, it was leading to today. You can’t just not show up.”

“Watch me.” Marcus leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. “I don’t care about the company right now. I don’t care about Penelope or the board or any of it. Our son might die, Elara. Do you understand that? The doctors said the next few hours are critical. What kind of father would I be if I left to go to a meeting?”

17:02 Mon, May 11 M…

Chapter 160

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“The kind who’s fighting for his children’s future and for their legacy. For everything their grandfather built that should belong to them someday.”

“They won’t have a legacy if they don’t survive.”

Elara felt tears burning in her eyes but blinked them back. “Baby A is stable. The doctors said she’s doing well for twenty-eight weeks. And Baby B has an entire team of specialists working on him right now. There’s nothing you can do here that they can’t do better.”

“I can be here. I can be present for my family instead of abandoning them when they need me most.”

“You’re not abandoning us. You’re fighting for us.”

Marcus looked up at her and the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable. “How can you ask me to leave right now? How can you possibly think I should walk out of this hospital and go sit in a boardroom while our babies are in intensive care?”

“Because I know you. You’re going to sit here and torture yourself with guilt about things you can’t control. You’re going to replay every decision you made that led to this moment and convince yourself it’s all your fault. But Marcus, this isn’t your fault. The twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, the early delivery, none of that is on you.”

“I stressed you out. The situation with Aurora, the fights we had, all the chaos with Penelope. Your body went into labor because you were under too much strain.”

“My body went into labor because our son needed surgery and waiting would have killed him. That’s what Dr. Harrison said. If we’d waited even another day he might not have made it at all.”

The door opened and a nurse came in to check Elara’s vitals. She worked quietly and efficiently, making notes on a tablet before looking up with a kind smile.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Thorne?”

“Like someone cut me open and took my babies.”

The nurse’s expression softened. “I know it’s hard. But you did an incredibly brave thing today. You gave your children a fighting chance.”

“Can I see them? Please, I need to see them.”

“Dr. Harrison wants you to rest for another hour or so, then we can get you into a wheelchair and take you to the NICU. Your babies are both stable for now. Baby A is breathing well on her own and Baby B is on a ventilator but holding steady.”

After the nurse left, Elara and Marcus sat in silence. She could feel him struggling with the decision, could practically see the war happening inside his head.

“Dante can handle the meeting,” Marcus said finally. “I gave him all the evidence about Penelope this morning. He knows what to present and when. He can do this without me.”

“But it won’t have the same impact. The board needs to see you standing up to her. They need to see you

17:02 Mon, May 11 M.

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